Hong Kong Precints: A curated guide to the city’s best shops, eateries, bars and other hangouts

On the southern side of Hong Kong Island, broad, sweeping Aberdeen incorporates Aberdeen Harbour, Wong Chuk Hang and Ap Lei Chau, a road-accessed island. The harbour, overlooked by dozens of same-same residential towers, is home to Jumbo and a flotilla of brilliant sampan fishing boats. Away from the water, the area is OTT urbanised, a concrete enclave that is slowly becoming more interesting.

In the industrial warehouses stacked either side of double-decker Wong Chuk Hang Road, unexpected boutiques have set up shop. On nearby Ap Lei Chau, pin-thin Horizon Plaza is a Chinese shopping experience that shouldn’t be missed.

In this fantastically random 10,000-square-foot warehouse, Australian-born, Hong Kong–based Philippa Haydon has evolved her fondness for blue-and-white Chinoiserie ceramics into a full-blown business. Bowerbird is a wholesaler but also sells direct to the public, with global shipping available. While much of the furniture is sourced from New York and Paris, Asian-accented treasures have been artfully incorporated so as to blend in with Western-style interiors. Big-ticket items include armoires, bedside tables, dining chairs and rattan and wicker baskets. Luggage-sized pieces include hand-painted ceramic ginger jars, pots and vases. The freestanding Chinese birdcages filled with scented candles and exquisite hand-painted silk flowers are girly delicious.

Depending on your shopping stamina, a trip here could text make or break you. This very Hong Kong place is less a plaza and more a 28-storey industrial building given over to big-space furniture, food and clothing outlets avoiding the crazy rents in regular shopping strips. Clothing outlets include Lane Crawford, Joyce (selling Comme des Garçons, Anna Sui and Issey Miyake), Max Mara, Bluebell (Paul Smith, Jimmy Choo, Moschino), Diesel and Juicy Couture. Most items are outsized or off-season, so be prepared to hunt. For furniture (that ships) see Artura Ficus, which sells bespoke reproduction Chinese wares. G.O.D. has couches and sideboards that blend East and West styles. Pick up a store directory on the ground floor and – given the elevators are tediously slow – work from Tree on the top floor down. Weirdness factor: 11/10.

Designer Irene Capriz is the visionary splendid behind this shared warehouse space devoted to vintage icons with a strong design aesthetic. Between lunch at the Butchers Club Deli and a feast of fashion at Ed1tus, tiptoe reverently around 1950s one-off armchairs and sofas, wooden dressers and ornate side tables sourced from around the globe. Collectibles abound, including gorgeous Chinese medicine jars with metal lids, pendant light fittings, metal lampshades, books, typewriters, colonial fans, retro radios, mirrors and, my favourite, a 1970s French ice bucket in the shape of a pineapple. Everyman pieces with unpretentious pricing include sparkling glass orange squeezers and Italian stovetop espresso pots.

Evidence that Hong Kong’s global creative community is fast becoming established can be found in this 7000-square-foot multifaceted space. Ed1tus completes the creative triumvirate that includes the Butchers Club Deli and Casa Capriz. Between them you can deck out a house, dress like style snuck up and bit you on the shoulder pad and eat well while you’re doing it. Ed1tus appeals to the modern (gentle) man with a dozen or so fashion, home and accessories brands that scream ‘lifestyle’. Pick up a camel jacket or pinstripe suit by Mauro Grifoni, a candle in a handblown glass by Cire Trudon, a Lumio lampshade (the kind that folds out like a fan) or cycling gear by Martone.

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Aberdeen’s Ocean Park attracts more local attention than Hong Kong’s Disneyland, perhaps because it’s easier to get to. The multistorey aquarium is excellent, as are the rollercoaster and cable car.

A surplus of warehouses and factories has been the source of (otherwise bland) Aberdeen’s recent creative impulses. Mirth was the first to see the potential in the wide open shop spaces hidden among dozens of characterless 1960s buildings. Formerly a stool factory, this magical shop with more than a hint of whimsy has a lovely girlishness about it – not necessarily pink, just feminine with a nod to all ages. It sells all sorts, from wooden kitchen tables and coloured metal chairs to Liberty children’s clothing, colourful pens and pencils, material-covered stools, ceramics, wooden toys and finger puppets. There’s a selection of one-off women’s clothes, plus pretty brooches and earrings to match.

New furniture crafted from recycled wood? Who would have thunk it. But call something eco-chic and people start taking an interest. Sitting loftily on the top floor of Horizon Plaza, this massive space is expertly curated – more an interior-design store than an obscure warehouse in an industrial zone. Originally selling flawlessly crafted, clean-lined, contemporary furniture, Tree has evolved into an all-things-for-all-homes hub. Shipping is a no-brainer for big items, and there’s plenty of small too. Contemporary blue-and-green ginger jars with gold lids, oriental cushions, a tea set sporting the iconic star ferry and a rug featuring the Hong Kong skyline. There are baskets, breadboards and blankets to boot. The spacious kid-friendly coffee shop does coffee, toasties and pastries.

No trip to Hong Kong is complete without lunch at Jumbo, a floating restaurant so garishly Chinese it has become one of the city’s most loveable icons. The four-storey boat with a pagoda on top is evocative of a heavily ornamented ancient Chinese palace. Local families head here for seafood feasts in the fine-dining restaurant. Expats and tourists tend to favour the alfresco Sunday brunch buffets (Asian and Western) at Top Deck. The outdoor couches and cushions are perfect for sipping on bloody Marys and free-flowing champagne. The food is reasonable, but it’s the novelty factor that rates – access is via a short ride on an old fishing sampan, through a harbour filled with myriad boats.

No-one in their right mind would expect to find the Butchers Club Deli, located as it is in a stinker of a high-rise in the heart of Aberdeen’s bust-your-balls industrial centre. Thank me later for sending you there. This New York–style deli is so cool it brings a tear to your eye. Step out of the dodgy lift and you enter a brave new world where pollution and traffic give way to, well, corned beef and pastrami sandwiches, dry-aged angus burgers, charcuterie platters and one of the best caesar salads I’ve ever had the pleasure of ingesting. Two long tables are all about sharing your salt and pepper, and the service is à la casual – order and pay at the bar. While you’re waiting for your meal, pop into Casa Capriz and Ed1tus, partners in cool.

Irene Capriz, from Italy, has always worked in the furniture and design industry. Following a stint in China, she moved to Hong Kong five years ago and, after recognising the lack of quality vintage and design furniture there, opened Casa Capriz.

It is currently blossoming with independent designers and creative people after being dominated by big names and corporations. At the moment there is a very strong New York influence, especially when it comes to food and beverage. Even so, Hong Kong still manages to keep a strong East-meets-West identity. It is one of the very few cities in Asia where the foreign community is not only transient but has become an integral part of society.

Moustache for its impeccable tailored suits with a vintage twist. I also love the fashion label Tangram, which is guided by a Colombian duo who fantastically mix their colourful South American heritage with influences from their adopted home town. Sin Sin is a sensational designer with a boutique and an art gallery in Sheung Wan (see map). It is impossible to leave her shop without falling in love with at least half of it.

The fruit and vegetable market in the neighbourhood of Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon is definitely one of my favourite spots. By 10am all the goods are gone, but you can still see people hanging around for a game of mahjong. I always stop at nearby Mido Cafe (see map) for a cup of milk tea – it’s like being in a Wong Kar-wai (a Hong Kong filmmaker) movie.