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[title]Late-night eating
It's never a good time to stop eating, and for soaking up the grease you’ve always got your obvious 24-hour options in Central and Wan Chai: Flying Pan for non-stop breakfasts (G/F, 9 Old Bailey St, Central, 2140 6333; 3/F, 81-85, Lockhart Rd, Wan Chai, 2528 9997); Tsui Wah for noodles and sizzling prawns (5D-19 Wellington St, Central, 2525 6338); and Hay Hay (72-86 Lockhart Rd, Wan Chai, 2143 6183) for greasy char sui. Café O (2 Arbuthnot Rd, Central, 2868 0450) serves up non-stop pizzas, pasta and more at weekends.
In Tsim Sha Tsui, newly opened Relish Pan (Shop 3, 1-3 Hart Ave, 2722 4001) serves Western-style big breakfasts around the clock. Classier late-night dining options are to be found at Japanese restaurant Iroha (1/F, 23-25A Cameron Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, 2311 4700), where delicious cuts of Wagyu beef are served up until 3am (last order 2.30am). For a Japanese grill in the heart of Lan Kwai Fong, try En (Unit E, 4/F, 38-44 D’Aguilar St, Central, 3102 2255), open until 2am Monday to Thursday, and 4am on Fridays and Saturdays.
Late-night sport
If you like your sport to involve late-night drinking and only minimal physical exertion, get yourself to Hong Kong Bowling City (Hall A, G/F, Emax, HITEC, 1 Trademart Dr, Kowloon Bay, 4620 3010). The ten-pin bowling arena boats 48 lanes and is open daily until 1am. By the same token, you’d probably also enjoy a lazy game of darts. Hit up iDarts Club (2/F, Katherine House, 53-55 Chatham Rd South, Tsim Sha Tsui, www.dartslive.hk, 2827 7701, open until 4am) for a futuristic version of the game with stadium-like viewing spots of the action. If that’s still not doing it for you, carry on the night’s sporting and imbibing action with some billiards at Racks (7/F, 2-8 Wellington St, Wyndham and Wellington Sts, 2868 3762, open until 3am) or Wan Chai rival Scratch (2/F, 89 Lockhart Rd, 2529 8080, open until 3am). In Tsim Sha Tsui, Joe’s Billiards (11/F, 1 Knutsford Tce, 3188 1919, www.joesbilliards.com, open till 5am) is the place to go.
Late-night coffee
The diminutive Pop Bites (UG/F, 3-5 Old Bailey St, Central, 2525 4141, open until 11pm on weeknights, 2am at weekends) is a popular spot to sate late-night coffee cravings, while three Pacific Coffee stores (52-54 Wellington St, Central; 43 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central; G/F Miramar Shopping Centre, 132 Nathan Road, Tsim Sha Tsui) stay open until 1am on weekends. In Mong Kok, the camera-themed Pixel Café (Rm 1, 20/F, 570-572 Nathan Rd, 3586 2032) keeps its doors open until 2am daily, and Yau Ma Tei’s Life Café (G/F, 104 Portland St, 2384 5310) is up all night, serving food and brews until 3am on weekdays and 4am at the weekend.
Late-night shopping
Temple Street Night Market (near Jordan MTR Station, Exit A, and Yau Ma Tei MTR Station, Exit C) is the old faithful, so you know what to do: get there to buy quality knock-offs of your favourite paintings and stock up on your supply of cheaply manufactured sex toys. Meanwhile, APM mall (418 Kwun Tong Rd, Kwun Tong, www.apm-millenniumcity.com) reckons it is the leading destination for late-night shopping in Hong Kong, keeping its retail outlets open till midnight and its eateries cooking until 2am. For your midnight grocery needs, there are 24-hour Wellcome supermarkets in Causeway Bay (25-29 Great George St; and G/F, 503-505, Jaffe Rd), Shek Kong Tsui (562-566 Queen’s Rd West), and Mong Kok (438-444 Shanghai St).
Late-night action
About the only time you can hope to get in a round of golf in Hong Kong is after work, which is problematic, considering golf’s usually a sport played during the day. The Skycity Nine Eagles Golf Course near the airport (3760 6688, shuttles available from Tung Chung MTR Station and Airport Terminal 2) gets around that problem with massive floodlights that allow play long into darkness hours. The last tee-off time is 9pm and the course closes at 11pm.
For a more rigorous workout, you can pay the annual membership fee of more than $35,000 to join Island Shangri-La’s 24-hour gym (8/F, Island Shangri- La, Pacific Place, Supreme Court Road, Central, 2820 8583, www.shangri-la.com). Or, you can take to the hills with a head-lamp for some night trekking. Favourite night-hike spots include Lantau’s Sunset Peak (Lantau Trail stages 1 & 2, 9km, start at Mui Wo), Yau Tong’s Devil’s Peak trail (6km-7km) and the New Territories’ Pat Sin Leng (Wilson Trail stages 9 & 10, 17.4km), whose name means ‘Mountains of the Eight Immortals’. The range has eight peaks, each named after a different immortal and makes for a suitably scary evening excursion.
On a different bent, you could terrorise a few unsuspecting squids by hiring a boat for a spot of night squid fishing. Several services in Sai Kung rent boats for evening excursions. A good way to start is by visiting the website www.boattrip-rental.com or by calling 9866 6006.
Late-night relaxing
The Chinachem Golden Plaza Cinema (77 Mody Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui East, 2311 3004) and UA Langham Place (8 Argyle St, Mong Kok, 3516 8811, www.uacinemas.com.hk) are about the only places you can catch after-midnight film screenings these days, although it might also be worth popping your head into the Kwun Chung Theatre (26 Kwun Chung St, Jordan) if you’re interested in some adults-only flicks.
For massages, you might as well venture into one of the numerous late-night joints in Mong Kok for a foot rub or some acupuncture (many are open until 3am), or you can get pampered at Let’sSpa (B/F, The Broadway, 54-62 Lockhart Rd, Wan Chai, 2866 9221, www.letspa.hk), which is open daily until 1am.
Once you’ve done that, you can wander round some of Hong Kong’s many open-all-hours parks until daylight breaks and the old folks start their dawn tai chi routines. Lai Chi Kok Park (Mei Foo MTR Station), with its Chinese garden, podium, playgrounds, jogging trails, soccer pitch, and 200-seat amphitheatre is a good place for that, as is Victoria Park (Causeway Bay).