Bar review: Club Primo, Central – good value and good fun

The vibe: offering an extended daily happy hour (good for drinking before a night on the town), Club Primo is aimed squarely at a hip, young clientele looking to chill out after work or before going clubbing – or to those who just want to play drinking games till the wee small hours. It’s a single big room with leather booth seating down one side, and the colour scheme is basic black, with dull gold chandeliers and blue lighting in the glass-topped game tables giving a touch of style.

The drinks: the happy hour deal is buy one get one free. Beer (HK$88) and wine (HK$90) choices are basic – just three commercial brand beers, and one red and one white Australian wine. Cocktails offer better options, with six signature drinks at HK$108 and classics at HK$88.

Out of the signature list, the best we tried was Lychee & Bloom (tequila, elderflower liqueur, lime juice, grapefruit, lychee purée) – well balanced and refreshing, with the elderflower adding an original note.

Nutty Man (vodka, pear brandy, amaretto, lemon juice, pear purée) was pleasant and not too sweet although the amaretto tended to overwhelm any pear flavour, and putting chopped peanuts around the rim was a mistake (the point of salt or sugar rims is to enhance the taste, but the nuts just got in the way). On Fire (bourbon, apricot liqueur, ginger, lemon juice, cinnamon syrup, egg white) didn’t set us on fire at all – the cinnamon drowned out the other flavours and left an odd aftertaste.

The biggest problem with all the cocktails was that the glasses were so full of large ice cubes you couldn’t stir the drinks, which didn’t help with balance or blending.