Eastside Tavern, East Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

It seems that this bar has changed hands since I was last here.

Eastside Tavern, East Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong

The first inkling I had that something was up was when the bar wasn’t opening as early as it used to and there were signs on the door saying that they didn’t accept credit cards whereas they had before.

It was a Sunday afternoon and a mate and I were looking for somewhere to watch the Hawthorn v Richmond AFL match. I’d popped in on the way back to my hotel the night before to ask if we could watch the game here and they said yes, as long as it was being broadcast.

We duly arrived after spending the morning up at Sham Shui Po geeking out a little to find the Essendon v Brisbane match on the TVs, so we thought we were set for an afternoon of beers and footy. It wasn’t busy, probably half a dozen people, a majority, if not all were Australian.

Two pints of Asahi were duly ordered as we settled in. The Essendon v Brisbane match drew to towards its conclusion as pints of Carlsberg and Kronenbourg were ordered and then an NRL match came on the TV… Sigh… they broadcast the crap Essendon v Brisbane match but not the Hawthorn v Richmond match.

I didn’t look to see if the food menu had changed as we’d been eating all morning but the beer menu was still full of good choices.

We decided to decamp and head back towards the more touristy area of Tsim Sha Tsui.

I asked for the bill and pulled out my credit card to see what they would say. They asked for cash but I said I preferred to pay by card and they magically found their credit card terminal – so much for not taking credit cards!

We headed over to Fatt’s Place for a couple more beers and to then find somewhere to eat.