“The experience we try to bring is one of disappearing from Hong Kong,” says Max Traverse, the co-founder of Honi Honi, a brand new tiki cocktail lounge in Central. “You come up from the lift, and you’re outside.” He gestures to the floor to ceiling sliding glass windows, which open out into a spacious terrace lined with bamboo and tropical foliage. It’s not the first time Traverse has made his mark in Hong Kong; the renowned bartender was previously at Le Boudoir, the bohemian, Parisian-styled watering hole on Wyndham Street. Honi Honi is a completely new scene, with an interior styled by Tim Shepherd of design firm Three Wise Monkeys, a personal friend as well as business partner of Traverse.

“It has a real beach feeling,” Traverse emphasises. “The inspiration was between a 1920s Fairmont hotel, Don the Beachcomber, the Hurricane Club in New York City and Mahiki in London. It’s a Polynesian, Caribbean-style bar, a relaxing bar.”

Traverse says he wanted to be a bartender ever since he was 11, though it wasn't until he was in his 20's that his dream came true. Now in his 30's and in Hong Kong, he hopes to bring something new to the scene. “[Hong Kong] is a good place to start building something – there are too many places that look like each other.”

In the video above, Traverse and Honi Honi’s manager, Fabien Marcault, show us how to make some of the bar’s signature cocktails (recipes below). They also whip up a bespoke drink designed for Hong Kong Tatler Dining, dubbed the Miss Tatler.

 

Lucky Star
½ sugar cube
20ml absinthe
1 piece lime peel
50ml Pampero Anejo rum
1 star anise

Add the absinthe to the bottom of a rock glass. Set the sugar cube on a spoon and balance it on the glass. Soak with an extra splash of absinthe and carefully light. Twist the lime peel above the glass. Allow the sugar to burn until it is starting to caramelise, then transfer the sugar to the glass and stir until dissolved. Add the rum and ice and stir well. Rub the lime peel around the rim. Stir well and top with a whole star anise.

Miss Tatler
15ml lychee puree
10ml lychee liqueur
2 drops cranberry bitters
20ml Grey Goose vodka
Taittinger Brut champagne

Place the lychee puree, lychee liqueur, cranberry bitters and the vodka into a cocktail shaker and shake to combine. Strain into a tall champagne flute and top up with champagne. Decorate the glass with an orchid.

Honi Honi Kiss
20ml passionfruit puree
20ml guava juice
vanilla syrup
Taittinger Brut champagne

In a cocktail shaker glass, mix together the passionfruit puree, guava juice and vanilla syrup. Top with champagne and stir well. Then, pour the mixture into a second glass from a height, “pulling” the mixture as you go. Repeat several times to aerate the cocktail. Pour into a champagne flute and float an orchid on top.

Bounty Hunter
dessicated coconut
20ml coconut syrup
20ml coconut milk
2-3 drops Aztec chocolate bitters
30ml Baileys
30ml bourbon
raw cacao

Wet the rim of a tiki mug and dip into dessicated coconut. In a cocktail shaker, add the coconut syrup, coconut milk, chocolate bitters, Baileys and bourbon and shake well. Fill the tiki mug filled with ice, then pour over the cocktail and grate some raw cacao over the top.