Four of the best hidden Hong Kong bars and their clever facades

Don’t be fooled by the unassuming exterior – from an umbrella shop to a ping pong club, some of Hong Kong’s best bars are hiding behind false fronts. Here’s our pick of the ones worth visiting

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Umbrellas line the exterior of Foxglove. Photo: Christopher DeWolf.

Published: 1:04pm, 26 Oct 2016Updated: 3:36pm, 4 May 2021

Is it an umbrella shop? No, of course not. It’s a bar. Foxglove is just one of a new generation of watering holes that hide behind deliberately misleading façades.

“There are so many bars in Hong Kong, people are looking for something different,” says Bikal Ghale, manager of Foxglove, a jazz bar accessible through a sliding door in an otherwise inconspicuous umbrella shop.

For designer Ashley Sutton, hiding a bar behind a false façade is a way to turn a simple evening drink into an almost theatrical experience. His latest bar, Ophelia, is tucked behind a mock bird shop called Mr. Wong’s Aviary. “I want people to feel romance as they enter,” says Sutton. Creating a fake shop as a buffer is also a way to counterbalance the bar’s drab location on the first floor of a shopping centre. “I had to put something there to break down that experience of walking through that horrible mall,” he says.

“I dream a lot,” says Sutton, and that was how he came up with the concept for Ophelia, which is the name of a glorious Javanese peacock that was Mr. Wong’s most prized possession. Wong is a fictional character, of course, but a good back story is crucial to any hidden bar, even if it’s invented. Sheung Wan’s Mrs. Pound claims to be the passion project of a mysterious former burlesque dancer, while in Sai Ying Pun, Ping Pong Gintonería is housed inside a former ping pong club.

There’s a fine line between novelty and gimmickry, though. It’s important to know that, once the secret door swings open, you’ll be treated not just to a surprise but a good one. With that in mind, here are four bars that aren’t what they seem – and whose secrets are worth getting to know.