Hong Kong's best and worst of 2010

Fast-food weddings, irate tour guides and 3D porn are just three of the things that got Hong Kongers writing, reading and talking this year

27 December, 2010

'Til obesity do us part: McDonald's introduced weddings packages in Hong Kong this year.

Best wedding: McDonald's wedding

Hong Kong became the first city in the world to announce McDonald’s nuptial packages for couples this year. The package has all the details to attract a wedding banquet cynic or a Golden Arches obsessive: a baked apple-pie wedding cake, dress made out of party balloons, kiddie party favors for guests, and, of course, catering by McD’s.

Unfortunately, alcoholic drinks are banned at the G-rated venue, so couples have to toast their union with soft drinks. Hong Kong couples can get hitched at McDonald’s starting January 1, 2011. Read more about it here.

Best movie hype: 3D porn

In the post-"Avatar" world, if your visuals aren't 3D, you're not trying hard enough. One segment of the movie industry where they tend to try to be hard enough is pornography. Producer Stephen Shui Jr. who made the original "Zen and Sex" 20 years ago has now made a US$4 million 3D version.

Although the film has a 2011 release date, tourists from mainland China have already booked in advance to travel to Hong Kong to watch the film.

Best rebirth: The Globe

A bigger, better world at The Globe.

After being priced out from its original home on Hollywood Road, one of Central’s favorite watering holes managed to find a nearby location more than twice the original size for the same rent. Though its cozy, semi-basement location and warm decor are enough to recommend it, The Globe has also done more than any other bar to advance the cause of good beer. Visit for a huge and constantly-rotating list of brews, plus a lively and down-to-earth gastropub atmosphere.

Worst weather phenomenon: No T8

Not a single T8 typhoon warning was hoisted this year, the first typhoon-less year since 2006.

Plenty of storms passed us by, including the Super Typhoon Megi, which got everyone hoping for a holiday, only to disappoint us yet again. With no public holidays between July 1 and mid-autumn, we needed a break, but Mother Nature just didn’t deliver.

Best underdog theater show: Cowboy

As part of the Hong Kong Movement Arts Festival, Cowboy is the brainchild of the multi-talented artist Lee Chi-man. Condensed to one short hour, Lee wows the audience with his powerful mime, breathtaking stunts and perfectly timed fire-play.

Audiences are invited to sit on stage while Lee gives his all in the performance. Special mention must go to lighting designer Sunfool Lau who, with the use of handheld equipment and quirky placements of lights, creates a dramatic atmosphere for the show.

Best food movement: Eat local

The New Territories isn't all about junkyards and housing estates. The local food movement made bigger strides this year than ever before, with new restaurants dedicated to serving locally produced fare, old family farms finding new life in organic vegetables and even a new project, Hong Kong Honey, that has turned an industrial area rooftop into a honeybee farm.

Best activist: Chu Hoi-dick

Chu Hoi-dick

Three years after he helped rally young Hong Kongers to support the preservation of the Central Star Ferry Pier, In-Media co-founder Chu Hoi-dick was one of the leaders of the movement condemning the high-speed rail to Guangzhou, which will destroy Tsoi Yuen Village. While both causes eventually failed, Chu has succeeded in mobilizing what is now called the "Post-80s Generation" in Hong Kong.

Best new cafe: Holly Brown

With the explosion of new cafes over the last couple of years, Hong Kong’s coffee scene continues to expand. More and more independent shops are paying serious attention to quality java.

King of the indies is Holly Brown, which surprised everyone with a massive two-story space in Central, a gelato counter and Hong Kong's first barista champion. Watch out, Starbucks, real coffee has gone mainstream.

Best new shopping mall: The One

Malls are important in Hong Kong. We hide within their air-conditioned confines during summer and in the cozy embrace of consumer limbo removed from reality all year round.

One of a spate of glossy new malls in Tsim Sha Tsui, The One stands out. Forget the silly name, this is a mall to explore. With an eclectic retail mix that includes the first non-Japanese locations of many Japanese brands.

It’s also home to intriguing concept stores such as Lost & Found, and several floors of bars and restaurants with outdoor terraces and the city’s most astounding skyline views.

Worst art exhibition: Hope and Glory

This is art? Of a sort.

It made for a memorable opening-night party and we admire artist Simon Birch’s hard work and dedication. But this year’s big-ticket art show, Hope & Glory: A Conceptual Circus, was an anti-climax. The circus-as-allegory concept felt overdone while the individual installations were gimmicky. Art critic Robin Peckham was being snarky when he wrote that, “Simon Birch is out to singlehandedly destroy the integrity of the Hong Kong art world -- and the exhibition is awful too.” He was also right.

Best new local game: Mark Leung’s Revenge of the Bitch

An insane vanity project that makes fun of classic RPGs and forces you to do battle with adorable kittens? Sounds awful. But it’s actually a lot of fun to play.

Independently produced by local game developer Mark Leung, Revenge of the Bitch was released earlier this month and is already generating buzz in the world’s indie games community. It can be bought online for HK$100.

Best fad food overkill: Frozen yogurt

Frozen yogurt in Hong Kong has come a long way since TCBY died a drawn-out death years ago. It's hard not to spot a frozen yogurt joint in Hong Kong's crowded shopping districts, and many are homegrown.

From Yo Mama to Yogo to Crumbs, the frozen yogurt market is saturated. And we, the consumers, win. Until the sight of more yogurt starts making us ill.

Best new beverage trend: Craft beer

The beer's great. The pour could use some work.

Hong Kong’s first craft brewery got its start earlier this year when Cathay Pacific pilot Pierre Cadoret launched Typhoon Brewery by making English ale in a small Mui Wo space. Soon after, a group of beer lovers banded together to start Foreign Devil, which imports craft brews from three of the world’s best breweries: Rogue, Baird and North Coast. The beers are available at CitySuper and on the Foreign Devil website.

Best mobile phone recording: Tour guide rant

A Hong Kong tour guide hit a raw nerve in mainland China by showering a busload of mainland tourists with insults after they refused to shop on a trip to the S.A.R.

“Spend more, you’ll be happier … next you’ll be telling me you don’t need to eat at meal times. I will lock you out of your hotel rooms, because you don’t need them [either],” the tour guide screamed into the mic on the tour bus.

Unfortunately for her -- and fortunately for mainland tourists, who have long been pressured to buy at specific vendors so that tour guides can collect commissions -- the seven-minute tirade was captured on a mobile phone and soon made the rounds online.

The video prompted the Hong Kong Travel Industry Council to introduce controversial reforms to salvage Hong Kong’s battered tourism image.

Best celebrity scandal

The arrest of TVB general manager Chan Chi Wan dominated Hong Kong headlines for months. The executive was also the popular host of the celebrity talk show "Be My Guest." He was suspected of corruption involving a shell company that was awarded TVB's production contracts.

Chan was released on bail. Then, in a dramatic turn, charges against him were suddenly dropped and he returned to work in time for TVB's big anniversary program.

As the scandal played out, Chan gave infamous quotes, prompting YouTube spoofs of his press conferences.

Worst breach of privacy: Octopus card scandal

Octopus Holdings Ltd. spread its tentacles a little too far.

Since launching in 1997, the Ocopus card has been adopted by 95 percent of people in Hong Kong for traveling, shopping and even dining. Hong Kong Octopus Holdings Ltd. former chief executive Prudence Chan admitted in July that since January 2006 the company has earned HK$44 million in revenue by selling its clients' personal data to merchants. Chan resigned and the firm will donate HK$44 million to charity.

Best upcoming band: Supper Moment

Hong Kong pop indie band Supper Moment formed in 2006 and signed to Redline Music this year. They are known for poetic lyrics and easy listening melodies.

The band was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Commerical Radio awards, a guide to the year's most popular music. The band will release an album next year and has a spate of gigs lined up.

The group call themselves Supper Moment because they want Hong Kongers to hear their music and be reminded to cherish the moments that they have with the people they love -- such as dinner with their family. Aw.

Best pizza: Paisano’s

Many agree. Paisano's is number one.

Paisano’s already had a cult following after it opened in Sai Kung last winter. Now that it has a location in Central, its popularity has exploded. This modest pizzeria gets everything right: huge slices, hand-tossed dough, succulent tomato sauce and, at HK$25 per slice, value. What makes it really stand out is that Paisano’s is not owned by a faceless restaurant group. Owner Al Morales is a former New Yorker who is often in the shop chatting with customers.