Life Style

Mostly Harmless, a Hong Kong bar ranked 45th on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list in 2024, is best known for its omakase cocktail menu, which changes daily and features ingredients sourced locally.On March 27, it made an unexpected move to serving only mocktails – non-alcoholic drinks – and has since expanded its menu of elevated bar snacks.It was a pivot, albeit one that may be temporary, that came about partly because the bar in Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island was forced to reapply for its liquor licence, explains owner Ezra Star.“We did our best and thought things were going the right way; then we were informed that what our licensing consultant told us wasn’t accurate. So we changed course and are just following what’s required to reapply.”Ezra Star owns Mostly Harmless, a cocktail bar in ...

Teeth, the only exposed part of our skeletons, have fascinated people throughout history. And dental fashion has long been a marker of status and beauty.For thousands of years, starting around 3500BC, people of the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley adorned their teeth with gold and gemstones to signal wealth and spiritual power.In Japan, ohaguro or tooth blackening, done with an iron solution or plant extracts, was practised for centuries, mostly by women, and symbolised loyalty and maturity. It was banned by the country’s government in the late 19th century.The European Renaissance that ran from the 14th to the 17th centuries embraced tooth filing, a process in which teeth were sharpened into points.Whether gilded, sculpted or darkened, teeth have always been more ...

Besides the Qin dynasty’s standardisations pertaining to Chinese writing and currency, equally significant was that of carriages’ axle width.

Hong Kong couple Ivy Ip, 45, and Kenneth Kwan, 52, had been married just four years in 2021 when they received life-changing news: Ip was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer.She quickly underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy and a 10-hour surgery – her first ever – to remove her uterus, ovaries, gallbladder, spleen and more.To the couple’s dismay, the cancer returned in a few months.One of Ip’s paintings depicts her and her husband in a field. Photo: Courtesy of HKCFThe first group course she joined, in 2022, was called “Inner Beauty” and designed for gynaecological and breast cancer patients.An art therapist checked in on participants at the start of each session, then gave them a prompt and the freedom to move around the room, grab materials they felt drawn to, and create. At the...

Shannon T.L. Kearns is ready to talk. Ready to talk about why being a man can be confusing. To talk about masculinity, hopefully without the word “toxic” in front of it. And to talk about why, as a transgender man, he has a unique perspective on all of that.Kearns hopes his self-help book, No One Taught Me How to Be a Man, will spark conversation about what manhood means.He says his “big dream is that groups of men will buy it and read it and have conversations and create community around the topics and ideas”.The book says that, yes, a lot has changed in our culture and is still changing. That can be confusing. But it also can be an opportunity to rethink what it means to be a man.The cover of the self-help book by Shannon T.L. Kearns.“We get to choose what our embodiment of masculinity l...

Now that the explosive finale to The White Lotus has premiered, are you ready to go to Thailand for your experience? Without the killing and bloodshed, of course. One of the main filming locations for season 3 was the Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui, in the northwest of the island.There are many reasons to go to Koh Samui and it is an ideal location for families, providing parents an environment where they can relax.While southern areas like Chaweng and Lamai are known for their vibrant nightlife and crowded beaches, the north offers a quieter atmosphere; it is more accessible, with calmer waters and plenty of local charm.Samui International Airport is in the northeast of the island, meaning families arriving or departing can avoid long transfers on the island’s winding roads, where traffic ...

An unreleased song by the late Taiwanese pop singer Teresa Teng, a darling of East Asian audiences from the 1970s to the 1990s, has been discovered in Japan and will be released in June, a source familiar with the matter said this week.The light pop song, probably recorded in the mid-1980s, was a joint work of composer Takashi Miki and lyricist Toyohisa Araki, the duo behind Teng’s hits in Japan including “Toki no Nagare ni Mi wo Makase” (“Give yourself to the flow of time”).The song, with a tone different from Teng’s dramatic Japanese melodies such as “Tsugunai” (“Atonement”), will be included in a three-CD album of Miki’s compositions to be released on June 25, according to the source.An official of Universal Music found the song recorded on a tape stored in a warehouse in Tokyo several ...

Because of its name, I used to think allspice was a mixture akin to five-spice, ras el hanout, quatre epices and shichimi. It does actually taste somewhat like a blend of strong, aromatic spices such as clove, cinnamon, nutmeg and peppercorns.The fruit of a type of myrtle shrub, allspice is important in Caribbean cuisines, especially that of Jamaica, which grows much of the world’s supply and where it is used in the spice mixture for jerk-style barbecued meats.In Europe, it is used in some types of sausage and meatball, in mince pies and Christmas pudding, and in spiced breads such as lebkuchen, honey cake, gingerbread and pain d’epices.In aromatherapy, allspice essential oil is believed to be an aphrodisiac, help with digestive problems and have antioxidant and sedative qualities; it is a...

An exhibition celebrating jewellery made by the prestigious French luxury goods company Cartier since the start of the 20th century, including watches and tiaras, will open at London’s V&A Museum on April 12.“It never goes out of fashion … we see it being worn by English aristocracy 100 years ago and Hollywood royalty practically today,” Helen Molesworth, a senior jewellery curator at the V&A and exhibition curator, said at a private launch of “Cartier” this week.She said the connection between Cartier and the British royal family dates back to 1902, when King Edward VII issued his first royal warrant, a certificate for providing goods and services to the royal family.The Rose clip brooch, dated from 1938, was owned by Britain’s Princess Margaret. Photo: AFPA panther bracelet creat...

This is the 48th instalment in a biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.Few actresses embody the cultural zeitgeist of 1990s Hong Kong quite like Carman Lee Yeuk-tung.Her portrayal of Little Dragon Maiden, or Xiaolongnü, in the 1995 TVB drama series The Condor Heroes 95 defined a generation’s ideal of femininity in the wuxia fantasy world created by martial arts novelist Louis Cha Leung-yung, better known as Jin Yong.Her portrayal of the ethereal, sword-wielding nun who possesses qualities of loyalty and independence and an unbreakable spirit despite personal trauma was lauded by the author himself as the embodiment of the character he created. Now, 30 years later, she is still regarded by many as the best casting of a Cha heroine.Carman Lee and Lou...