Hong Kong bartenders revive simpler, carefree era of cocktails

One night, about two years ago, three bartenders got together over drinks and decided to open a bar of their own. Roman Ghale, Agung Prabowo and James Tamang had all worked together at MO Bar before moving on to other hotels. They felt it was time to do something else. “We wanted to open a place where people could feel at home,” Tamang says.

After stumbling across an old Shanghai barbershop in an alleyway behind Bridges Street in Sheung Wan, the trio pooled their money, waited until the lease was up and converted the 1,000 sq ft hideaway into The Old Man, a bar dedicated to Ernest Hemingway. Each cocktail on the menu is derived from one of the classics enjoyed by the peripatetic writer as he drank his way through Paris, Spain, Key West in Florida and Cuba.

They took an unconventional approach to the bar’s layout. Inspired by the communal tables in the cafe where Ghale, Prabowo and Tamang met to refine their ideas, there is a single T-shaped counter, with no barriers between the customers and bartenders. “We wanted to host people the way you would host a guest at home,” Tamang says.

Just down the street, Jack Byrne wanted a similarly easy-going atmosphere at MEATS, a protein-heavy outpost from the fast-expanding Pirata Group. “I’m usually someone who tries to put function before aesthetics,” he says. “Everything’s quite carefree and easy-going – easy to make and easy to drink.”

As cocktails have become increasingly complex and expensive – the liquid equivalent of fine dining – more and more bartenders are looking to create a less fussy, less ostentatious atmosphere for their customers. “The cocktails we as an industry have been introducing the past few years have been complex and sometimes ego-driven,” American bartender Russell Davis recently told Observer Magazine. “But now, we are beginning to focus on the treatment of the actual ingredients, instead of complicating things with baby tears and unicorn sweat.”

That’s a philosophy shared by Saheb Ambekar, head bartender at Kennedy Town pizza parlour Alvy’s. “I always appreciate mixology,” he says. “It’s like art. But sometimes you just want a nice good drink with quality ingredients, without that mixology feel. In Central, a lot of places sell cocktails for HK$140 or more, but for me that’s too much.” Most of Alvy’s offerings hover around HK$90 or HK$100.