Bar review: My House, Wan Chai - cocktails and a down-to-earth crowd

Sit down at the central bar and take in your surroundings: shelves housing vinyl records that can be played during the day on one of seven private consoles; a deck for DJswith the city lights as a backdrop. But before images of annoying hipsters enter your thoughts, think again. This place is unpretentious, and on a Wednesday just a month after opening it was heaving, helped by a girls-only gathering of pilots that was in a party mood even before the DJ started spinning.

The drinks:MyHouse is big on “natural” wines (made in small batches with minimal chemical and technological intervention). It’s the cocktail list that is this bar’s biggest draw, though, and barman James French is a font of knowledge. “You like pineapple? Then try this,” he says, pointing to the 26/F, a mix of rhum agricole, Lillet Blanc, pineapple syrup, grapefruit bitters and an absinthe rinse that was a lot more delicate on the palate than you might expect. Next up was the aptly named Mi Casa (HK$100), a mix of Mina Real mezcal, watermelon juice, homemade watermelon syrup, lemon juice and orange bitters. It was the Osakan Summer (HK$110), a combination of White Oak Akashi (aged three years), strega, Amaro Averna, lemon juice, forest honey and chocolate bitters that won the tango of the taste buds – a perfect winter blend.

The gin-friendly Sir Edmund Celery (HK$110)was cool and refreshing; despite the additions of pineapple, vanilla syrup, lemon juice and a creamy egg-white foam, the celery bitters stole the show – not my cup of tea. The Blue Stone (HK$100), a mix of vodka, lemon juice and homemade vanilla syrup with a simple frozen pink grape, was lush.