A common complaint heard about Wanchai is that there are few bars where one can have a drink or two, and maybe a bite to eat, and yet be able to have a conversation at a normal volume, free from the attentions of working girls hoping that you might be up for another type of intercourse later.
So I’ve recently been going more to The Cannyman and it really does live up to its marketing slogan of “An Oasis in Wanchai”.
The environment is nicely done – a cosy area with comfortable chairs and sofas around a fireplace, a bar with plenty of stools, a (small) pool table, and a few alcoves each seating four are all within quite a small space but it works well. The alcoves in particular are quite well insulated from the rest of the bar and still work even when the “rugger buggers” turn up (the bar is the home of The Potbellied Pigs RFC). They also have one big screen and a number of smaller ones with various sporting events on. Being a rugby pub that takes priority, but they seem to be open to requests for anything else that is being shown. Cricket seems to be the second choice. This isn’t really a soccer pub, although they have it if no rugby or cricket is on.
And the food is really rather good. I guess the bar benefits from being in a hotel and hence having rather better kitchen facilities than a standalone bar. But the prices here are a little more reasonable than, for example, the Dickens bar at the Excelsior or the Chinnery at the Mandarin. I have been twice now for the excellent Christmas set menu which is very good value at $198 for five courses at dinner time. Most recently we had a vegetarian amongst us, and, to my surprise, the “vegetarian haggis” was really rather good (in fact deemed better than the nut roast by the veggie in question). Off the standard menu the “Haggis Burger” is really most excellent.
I’m not really in a whisky phase at the moment, but the bar prides itself on its whisky selection, and they have Marston’s Pedigree as their guest beer (for several months now). It is served too cold and too gassy for my taste, but unfortunately this is to the Hong Kong taste, so I guess we have to take what we can get. One of the very few things I miss about the UK is hand-pulled real ale at cellar temperature. They also have bottles of London Pride in the fridge which, for an extended session, they can pull out so they are at a better temperature when you drink them.
The wine selection is a little pricey (or maybe I’m just spoiled by FCC pricing) – so expect to pay $55-70+ for a glass. Unfortunately, the pricing on the bottle list doesn’t seem to have benefited from the removal of duty. There are bottles available in Wellcome for less than $100 which are far better than most available here at $70 a glass. Having said that, I quite like the Alice White Cab Sauv at $55 a glass (yes, it’s a red wine with “white” in its name – not too hard a concept surely? They also have the Alice White Chardonnay, which my veggie friend seemed to like.)
The service here is a bit variable. They have a couple of staff who are absolutely useless (you need to stand in front of them waving your arms and speaking very slowly and simply to get any service; they don’t recognise the names of some of the drinks they serve), and some who are very good indeed. The useless ones tend to have been there at lunchtime in my experience. Fortunately we had the good ones on my most recent visit, including the extremely cute Nepalese girl who my (Indian via the UK) friend chatted up in Hindi for a while. It is very clear that the regulars, most of them, I suspect, being Fat Boys, do get very good service indeed.
So all in all this is a great place to know about. If you’re still looking for a place to have a UK-style Xmas lunch or dinner then this is definitely the place to go, and whenever you’re in Wanchai then it is definitely the place to go for a proper pub without the mayhem.
