A feast for the taste buds! The Great American BBQ, hosted and sponsored by the Texas Beef Council, USMEF and the USDA, took place at the KCC on 4 November 2025.
A cornucopia of US beef-themed dishes complemented by US wines, US spirits and US cheese ensured members of the food industry a tasty and fun night off as restaurateurs, food producers, and food distributors relaxed together… Simply the Best!
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At an event in Hong Kong, sponsored by the Hong Kong Tourist Board, “The World’s 50 Best Bars” this week announced Hong Kong’s Bar Leone as the World’s Best Bar in 2025.
Bar Leone is certainly a good bar – sadly now to be drowned in people wanting to say they’ve ‘drunk in the World’s Best Bar’! – but is it the World’s Best? Sadly, The World’s 50 Best Bars website doesn’t list any criteria to support the award.
What constitutes ‘best’ is apparently left to the judgment of 800 “drinks experts”. Each voter casts eight votes based on their best bar experiences of the previous 18 months, with a maximum of five bars in their own country. The list is the result of a simple vote count – no totals are released. No breakdown of where the ‘experts’ are from or how many are based in each country/region.
So congratulations to Bar Leone and the other bars on the list, but take the list with a large pinch of salt and get out and explore different bars to find those you enjoy.
Bar Leone
11-15 Bridges Street
Central
Hong Kong
Open: Tuesday-Sunday 17:00-late
No Reservations
images: The World’s 50 Best Bars
King Gnu have confirmed they are bringing their CEN+RAL Tour to Hong Kong. The tour starts in February 2026, Hong Kong dates are yet to be confirmed.
The enduring love and popularity of live music was on full display last night at Queen Elizabeth Stadium as many of the predominantly female audience for Norwegian duo M2M‘s concert were younger than 25… ie born after the duo’s albums were released and the songs first became hits.
Truth be said it didn’t feel like 25 years ago that we were first listening to Don’t Say You Love Me, Everything You Do, Pretty Boy, Mirror, Mirror… the songs sounded as fresh today as they did when first released – perhaps it was just me who felt a tad ‘old’ when Marion and Marit were talking about how long ago the songs were released.
It was fun to hear the hits live, but perhaps the most emotional part of the concert was to hear Marion sing It’s All Coming Back to Me Now – her duet with Meatloaf. There’s a great live version of Meatloaf singing and chatting with the audience and recounting a story about him and Marion (can’t find a link, but here’s a link to the music video). Great to hear the other side.
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Set list:
The Day You Went Away
Everything You Do
The Minute
I Don’t Wanna Talk About It
Love Left For Me
Pretty Boy
Here I Am
Don’t
Under The Surface
If A Song
What You Do About Me
Driving
Don’t Save Me
It’s All Coming Back To Me Now
Mirror Mirror
Everything
——
Don’t Mess With My Love
Don’t Say You Love Me
M2M – The Better Endings Tour
Date: 8pm, 29 April 2025
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Stadium
Tickets: $2,088, $1,288, $888, $688 from Urbtix
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) annual Chinese New Year Night Parade lit up the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui to celebrate the first day of the Year of the Snake.
The, Unfold a Year of Good Fortune, themed parade featured nine floats and 46 performing groups representing 14 countries: including K-pop girl band, Kep1er, and Thai boyband, LYKN.
Find out more events to celebrate the start of the Year of the Snake at the HKTB Guide to Chinese New Year in Hong Kong website.
International Chinese New Year Night Parade 2025
Date: 8pm, 29 January, 2025
Venue: Tsim Sha Tsui
Tickets: Free
The Hong Kong New Year Countdown fireworks display, organised by the HKTB, welcomed in New Year with a “Symphony of Happiness” theme that offered blessings for 2025 by revealing the myriad states and stages of the five natural elements – metal, wood, water, fire and earth – over Victoria Harbour.
New Year’s Eve Fireworks
Date: Midnight, 31 December, 2024
Venue: Victoria Harbour
Tickets: Free
photos: HKTB
An idyllic autumn Hong Kong evening played host to this year’s USMEF Great American BBQ at the Kowloon Cricket Club on 29 November 2024.
Hosted and sponsored by the Texas Beef Council, USMEF and USDA, the BBQ promotes and showcases US beef and Hong Kong’s talented chefs. There’s beef cooked straight, smoked, dry-aged, Tawan hotpot style, burgers, and sausages to name a few of the different ways… A feast for the taste buds!
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The King Parrot Group celebrated the opening of their latest restaurant King Ludwig am Meer in Soho West with a party on 10 November, 2024.
Okay, I know many of you will go ‘Soho West!’ Well, think of Sai Wan Ho’s Soho East in the West. It’s a short walk from Nam Cheong MTR, and while it is all high-rise concrete and glass… The waterfront promenade is pet friendly, faces west to catch the sunset, and even boasts a view of Hong Kong Island. You can also, sort of, walk along the water’s edge all the way to West Kowloon and thence to TST and the Star Ferry.
All in all, in a very manufactured way, it is rather a nice place to grab some fresh air – especially now you can enjoy a cold beer at King Ludwig and sit outside!
All images copyright bc magazine/ Simon Durrant – all rights reserved
