Bar review: Potato Head, Sai Ying Pun – it’s not just the beach that’s missing

The vibe: this newly opened Hong Kong outpost of Bali’s celebrated Potato Head Beach Club brings a touch of the tropics to trendy Sai Ying Pun, with a shop selling Balinese goods, fine dining restaurant Kaum and a spacious bar that doubles as a coffee shop. Backpackers and beach bums would feel at home in the casual ambience, with well-worn 1960s-style wooden furniture and Indonesian rugs, warm, friendly service and music played on what looks (but doesn’t sound) like an old-fashioned home stereo.

The drinks: the cocktails are designed to incorporate Indonesian elements in presentation (consistently stylish) and flavours, yet despite the exotic ingredients and premium liquor, were rather tame – or perhaps they just don’t work as well in an urban setting. The Rosella Margarita (HK$120, rosella-infused Ocho Tequila, orange curacao, vanilla syrup and lime), could have done with more lime and the tequila was masked, rather than balanced, by the rosella and vanilla.

My companion expressed a craving for coconut (surely a seminal tropical ingredient), only to find there was nothing on the list. However, the bartender obligingly improvised a blend of coconut juice, spiced rum, palm sugar and curacao (HK$120). Served in a fresh coconut and decorated with a lighted cinnamon stick, it looked good but tasted bland – plenty of coconut, too little alcohol.