Hong Kong’s Wanchai district has long been known for its dubious nightclubs, but a new wave of hipster cafes and quirky bars is fast turning the neighbourhood into a place to see and be seen. The latest, most intriguing addition is Ophelia, an unabashedly opulent bar with dark and moody interiors by the Australian-born designer Ashley Sutton who first made his name with a handful of seductively themed watering holes in Bangkok (Maggie Choo’s is always top of our must-visit list).
For Hong Kong, Sutton wanted to reflect the territory’s iconic history, albeit through a somewhat cinematic lens: think opium-den-like secret hideaway. The entrance is disguised as ‘Mr. Wong’s Aviary’, a mock bird shop embellished with jade green ceramic tiles and a ceiling festooned with black birdcages. Sweep aside a curtain to find a dramatic 12-meter-long copper-dipped steel bar framed by two custom-design lounges upon which a pair of cheongsam-clad ‘muses’ recline seductively. Although the interiors are semi-open-plan, plush velvet bespoke-design sofas and ottomans are arranged to create cosy intimate clusters delineated by screens and semi-circular gateways, the latter a nod to the traditional entrances to Chinese parks.
The designer’s non-conformist spirit is also on show throughout with a subversive riot of peacock feather artworks, 600,000 ceramic wall tiles hand-painted with the pattern of a peacock feather’s ‘eye’, exotic swings and an enormous cage for nightly performances.
Our cocktail of choice: the sultry ‘Cheongasm’ with tequila reposado, house-made pomegranate cordial, La Quintinye Vermouth Royal Rouge, lemon, lime and cinnamon mist.
ADDRESS
1/F, 39A Lee Tung Avenue
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
‘Nothing just because it’s beautiful’: Performance artist Marina Abramović on turning her hand to furniture designMarina Abramović has no qualms about describing her segue into design as a ‘domestication’. But, argues the ‘grandmother of performance art’ as she unveils a collection of chairs, something doesn’t have to be provocative to be meaningful
-
The Peninsula Hotels broadens its artistic horizons with Victoria and Albert Museum partnershipThe Peninsula Hotels and Victoria and Albert Museum announce a multi-year collaboration set to produce world-class art experiences around the world
-
China’s Alila Shanghai hotel is a stylish hub of idle tranquillityAlila Shanghai, the brand's first urban resort in Greater China, is a serene bolthole amidst the pulse of the Jing'an district
-
2025 getaways: where Wallpaper* editors will be travelling to this yearFrom the Japanese art islands of Naoshima and Teshima to the Malaysian tropical paradise of Langkawi, here’s where Wallpaper* editors plan to travel to in 2025
-
Inside Club Bâtard, Hong Kong’s exclusive new members’ wine clubClub Bâtard brings together an exclusive mix of fine dining and drinking across three floors of Hong Kong’s historic Pedder building
-
Travel back to the Ming dynasty at Beijing’s new Mandarin Oriental hotelMandarin Oriental Qianmen merges traditional culture with contemporary needs in a 600-year-old historical building complex
-
Hong Kong hotel Lanson Place gets a serene new lookLanson Place Causeway Bay, Hong Kong is a luxurious hotel newly reimagined by Pierre-Yves Rochon
-
Kinsman cocktail bar shakes up Hong Kong scene with Cantonese spiritsKinsman is a Cantonese cocktail bar in Hong Kong that celebrates traditional spirits while also creating innovative concoctions for the future
-
Inside Palazzo Versace Macau, a lavish, mosaic-rich hotelPalazzo Versace Macau, the brand’s first hotel in Asia, continues to preserve Donatella Versace’s swanky hospitality vision
