Lan Kwai Fong Street is deservedly called Hong Kong’s “bar counter”: this is where the most famous drinking establishments are located, and the Central business district surrounds it. The street earned its “alcoholic” fame back at the end of the last century. Since then, you can find the very best bartenders, the very best cocktails, and even the very best prices here.
From three o’clock in the afternoon until nine o’clock in the evening, “happy hours” are in effect almost every day, or — in the German manner — “carousing time,” during which the pricing policy becomes even more flexible. For example, you can buy two glasses of beer for the price of one, and the bar’s most popular dish becomes half as expensive.
The history of the most entertaining street in Hong Kong began in 83. Before that, the area was considered industrial: between textile factories and printing houses, there was hardly room for anything other than flower and tobacco kiosks. Therefore, when German businessman Allan Zeman opened a restaurant and bar here for his foreign partners, many thought his idea was doomed to fail.
No one believed that bars in the center of such a “serious district” would become popular. Since then, the district has become even more business-oriented, and the popularity of its drinking establishments has risen to the limit. Small cafes turned into nightclubs, and Lan Kwai Fong became the center of the island’s nighttime entertainment life.
When arriving in Hong Kong, tourists, as a rule, try to visit the famous corner that has become a full-fledged attraction in its own right. In general, the atmosphere in the establishments is friendly, democratic, and restrained in a European way.
