In Depth bar review: Ever fancied unbalanced cocktails amid drab grey concrete walls at full Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong prices? This is the watering hole for you …
- Goodbye, Honi Honi tiki bar’s chilled out beach vibes … hello, In Depth’s brutalist concrete walls and hit-or-miss drinks menu – but at least there’s still shisha
If Lemna wasn’t evidence enough, Hong Kong’s cafe/bar trend shows no sign of abating. Another new entry in this genre is In Depth, which occupies the space formerly belonging to tiki bar Honi Honi on Wellington Street.
The new venue, which also offers shisha, is unrecognisable. The cosy beach hut vibe has been replaced by a sadly sterile – and what feels like low-effort – brutalism. It’s all bland grey concrete walls and floors. The establishment’s Instagram account spins this as a way to “bring spotlights to our barista and bartender” but really, a rain cloud has more vibrancy. Even the chairs are a depressing shade of grey.
The hope then is that the drinks will liven things up. Dual concepts, recognising they are not dedicated cocktail bars, tend to offer drinks a little cheaper than average, but In Depth leverages its Central location to charge full whack. Wine starts from HK$110 and all cocktails are HK$140.
There are just six cocktails on offer, all based on the theme of a journey along the Silk Road and the tea trade. The Kashmir Milk Punch offers a mix of Havana Club rum, Yaguara Cachaça, sugar cane, oolong tea, whey, honey, mixed spices and acid solution. The drink is well-presented but it’s overwhelmingly sweet, the alcohol failing to cut through the waves of honey and sugar.
The Qymaq Old Fashioned is the punch’s contrasting evil twin. It’s a generous pour – our glass is so full it’s almost overflowing. Made with a vanilla black tea, the sweetness at the front is rapidly shoved aside by a very muscular alcohol-forward finish that blasts you with Michter’s bourbon. It’s not bad, but it could certainly do with more balance.
The 3 Shots & Cktl is, as the name implies, three shots of miniature cocktails. This is the best of the lot. The gin and sencha combine nicely, the botanicals pairing well with the grassy notes of the tea. The floral notes of darjeeling tea work similarly well with gin in the second shot. The third, a combination of whisky and lapsang souchong, marries the smokiness of the tea with a pleasant sweetness from the whisky.
Splitting the focus between cocktails, coffee and shisha might broaden the pool of In Depth’s potential customers, but this lack of focus has resulted in a shallow take on contemporary mixology. If the prices were lower we’d be more forgiving, but at HK$140 In Depth ought to be offering better.
