Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China (Gastrosofie). It still exists, the bar for old men and it is also called that, but it is written and spoken in English, even if it is located on the Pearl River Delta, more precisely: on Hong Kong Island. „The Old Man“ in Hong Kong is not just a classic bar for the best, it is the bar for the best far and wide.
Developed by industry legends Agung Prabowo, James Tamang and Roman Ghale, this award-winning bar ranks high in the top 100 in Asia. According to its makers, the name is „inspired by the life and times of the writer Ernest Hemingway and derived from his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel ‚The Old Man and the Sea'“. You can’t see the sea in the heart of Hong Kong, but you can see the sea of houses. If you want the sea, you have to go out, get out of the bar in the Soho district and a few corners further on Hong Kong Island to be able to look at the water.
The drinks and cocktails have English names. One of the most modern cocktails of „The Old Man“ is called „Hills Like White Elephants“ (from 1985) and consists of honey meadow Riesling, bamboo Sous-Vide-Americano-Bianco, salted Fino-Sherry, carbonated cava berries and pea sprouts.
With “Winner Take Nothing” (from 1933), almost classic ingredients are used to prepare rotovap guava gin, baby carrot sous vide suze, tarragon, blackened carrot bug, soda and dill.
If you want rum instead of gin, I recommend a „To Have and Have Not“ from 1937. A dream for an old man and it consists of blackened oat rum, rectified Coca-Cola, coconut leaves and vanilla foam.
You guessed it, the titles of the spirits come from Hemmingway’s spiritual effusions. Really every drink is named after one of his famous texts, in which novel ingredients are used in a highly creative way, sometimes with daring culinary influences.
“A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” from 1933 with roasted sweet potato and rye whiskey, eggplant ink, smoked pandan vermouth, raspberry vinegar soda and onion ash would have been his favorite.
The fact that the bar is not only fine, but also small means that reading a book by the reporter, correspondent, war correspondent, writer and Nobel laureate in literature, adventurer, deep-sea fisherman and big game hunter is possible, but not necessary. Conversations with other good guests at the L-shaped bar, which is equipped with a bronze cooling strip in the middle to keep the drinks at an optimal temperature, are still in vogue
The Old Man
Address: № 37 Aberdeen Street, Central, Soho, Central, Hong Kong
Contact: nikita@theoldmanhongkong.com
Opening times: Mondays to Saturdays from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Sundays from 5 p.m. to midnight
Dress code: upscale, old style
