Hotels

Avoca bar seasonal cocktails launch: The flagship cocktail bar on the 38th floor of Mondrian Hong Kong, raises a glass to a Hong Kong summer with three new seasonal cocktails that draw from the city’s everyday rituals, a continued mission to put Kowloon firmly on the global cocktail map paired with a guest shift alongside bartenders from one of Kowloon’s best kept secrets, as well as its stylish annual pride month celebrations.

For Head Bartender Rolf Flaminiano and the Avoca team, the new seasonal trio continues the bar’s signature approach of translating Hong Kong’s lived flavours into the glass, rather than reaching for nostalgia at arm’s length.

Espresso Your Cherry is a tribute to a city that runs on caffeine, from the cha chaan teng counter to the third-wave coffee bar. Ratafia Rossi, cold brew, vanilla, modern solution and cherry soda combine into a drink as alert and unapologetic as the city itself.

Mandarin Spritz captures the moment between the city rush and the seaside ease, the feeling of stepping off the ferry on a Sunday morning. Aperol, Pisco, pineapple, Prosecco and a finish of mandarin and bergamot soda make for a sun-on-skin pour built for golden hour.

Yik Lik Dor (Cantonese for Yakult) tips its hat to the little bottle that punctuated every Hong Kong childhood. iichiko Saiten Shochu, Holzer Original, probiotic dairy, passionfruit, super lemon and Chinese black tea reframe a familiar comfort as something grown up but unmistakably local.

“Seasonal cocktails are where we get to play closest to the source, the everyday Hong Kong moments that don’t always make the guidebooks but absolutely shape who we are,” says Flaminiano. “From the morning caffeine fix to the Yakult in the fridge, these are the flavours we grew up with.”

The brand new seasonal cocktails from Avoca will be available from 1 July until 31 August.

Avoca bar seasonal cocktails: Proud of Kowloon culture

The Kowloon showcase lands at a moment when Avoca is leaning further into its identity as Kowloon’s culture-forward cocktail bar, with a perspective that is distinct from, rather than secondary to, the long-dominant Central scene. Long misunderstood yet deeply vibrant, Kowloon has always been a hub of culture, creativity, and nightlife. From cha chaan tengs and dai pai dongs to late-night music venues and bustling markets, its stories continue to inspire a new generation of bartenders and creatives.

“It’s not about Kowloon versus Hong Kong Island,” says Flaminiano, who was born and raised in Kowloon. “Kowloon offers something completely different, and especially in Avoca’s case, we’re surrounded by an abundance of historic and contemporary art and cultural happenings. We want to tell those stories with pride and gusto.”

That perspective runs through everything Avoca does. The signature menu translates 12 specific Hong Kong tastes, from Clay Pot Rice on Temple Street to the Egg Waffles of Mongkok’s former pedestrian zone, into 13 signature cocktails, with a Liquid Menu that nods to the perfume testers found in the city’s shopping arcades. The bar’s music programme, curated by Avoca’s resident DJs, moves with the rhythm of the district itself: 90s hip hop infused with local Hong Kong beats during the week, a rotating cast of guest DJs from Hong Kong’s clubs across the weekend, with their sets archived on the Avoca Hong Kong Spotify account so the night carries on at home.

The art keeps moving too. Avoca draws from its neighbours including M+, the Hong Kong Museum of Art, the West Kowloon Cultural District, and Mondrian Hong Kong’s own guerilla art space The Corner Shop, as well as from the layered history of Kowloon street art itself. The inaugural Avoca Art Series, launched earlier in celebration of Art Month, is a limited-edition cocktail collaboration where Rolf’s mixology meets a local artist’s vision. Edition 1, titled “King of Kowloon,” is a tribute to Tsang Tsou Choi, the late calligrapher whose ink strokes once covered Kowloon’s walls. The namesake cocktail blends Hong Kong craft gin and dry vermouth with oolong soda, toasted coconut foam and grated coconut charcoal, a nod to the coconut candies of Tsang’s era. It is served in a custom vessel by local glass artist Kwan of Soekjing Studio, designed to evoke the way ink disperses in water. Limited to 200 individually numbered servings; the glass is the guest’s to take home.

To Avoca, Kowloon has its own heritage, vision and future, in global mixology, in art, in music. And the bar exists to tell those stories, one glass at a time.

Avoca
Address: 38/F, Mondrian Hong Kong, 8A Hart Avenue, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon
Opening Hours: Daily 06:30 – 01:00
Tel: (+852) 3550 0338
E: avoca.hk@mondrianhotels.com