Tazmania Ballroom

The «clubbing» scene in Hong Kong maybe quite depressing these days. To each his own, one can still find places to enjoy the time if you look beyond «clubbing». And Tazmania is always around for you.
In the crazier years, I used to come here often. Like Mondays. And Thursdays (for the ping pong every Tue/​Thu), and then Fridays and maybe Saturdays too. It’s always a good «buffer zone» after dinner and before you go somewhere else.
It’s never too quiet. Well on a Monday night it can be quiet but hey, you have the whole pool table for yourself. And it’s never too crowded. They’d even raise one of the pool table overhead to spare some space for guests.
You come early at 6:30pm, you can grab some of their feed buffet finger food. If you come later (like after 1am), you can just treat this place as your yet another club and pop some champagne.
It’s definitely on the higher end of price tag. But it’s a good strategy to keep the kids away, really.
The only downfall is it closes «early» at 3am even on weekends. There were a couple of times, again, in the crazier years, where girls would check their bags to the cloakroom and forgot to get it back, when they wandered off to some other bars/​clubs till a bit too late.

Taz is definitely top of my list in terms of places for Happy Hour. They do a buy-​1-​get-​1 drink until 9pm, they also provide a selection of snack buffet. Sometimes when we go there for happy hour, there’s enough food provided for us to skip dinner altogether. They play light chill-​out music during happy hour, it’s so nice to relax there with a few friends after a whole week of work.
In terms of ambience, they have a massive space with three pool tables in the middle. There’s lots of space for sitting and lounging that can accommodate large group of friends. They also have small tables for 2 – 4 people. What I like most about Taz is the flexibility of the venue. They provide an outdoor space for smokers so they don’t have to leave the building, it’s a good area to people watch people walking in and out of LKF hotel — trust me, on Friday nights, and it’s always fun to do that.
The pool tables get fun as it gets deeper into the night. When the bottles get poured, that’s when the boys get a little competitive. Usually, however, after the amount of drinking, neither parties are very good at the game anymore.
The versatile space of the venue converts into a dance floor, playing more of the top 40s music.
The drinks are around 100 – 150 for wine or cocktail, it’s relatively pricey for cocktails with no gimmick — regular jack and Coke or Gin and Tonic — which is why happy hour is such a steal.

Taz. Also known as Tazmania Ballroom. This place has a special meaning to lots of people I know. It is a pool hall lounge/​club. It is an after dinner spot to go to which usually ALWAYS turns out more fun than expected, or it’s just a place to hang out and play some pool amongst the fashion forward trendy people of Hong Kong, either way, Taz is a place where fun/​music/​dancing/​lounging is pretty much guaranteed. Its smoky, and mysterious, sexy vibes mixed with loud bass music and good looking people. Seats are spread out, which leads to an outdoor patio where you can enjoy the occasional cigar with your cocktail in hand. You’ll see many people surrounding the pool tables, enjoying their drinks and playing a game of pool while socializing and grooving to the sexy lounge music. Located inside the Lan Kwai Fong hotel with a balcony that looks out on to LKF, Taz is one of my favorite places to hangout at with my friends.

Ping Pong and Glam. These two words are rare associated together and even less so in the same venue– truth be told they can’t be further apart. But what if we told you there was a bar, in the heart of Lan Kwai Fong, where you will can play ping pong and sip away on your vice; whilst lounging in one of the finest bars around?
Tasmanian Ballroom is located on the 1^st floor of the Lan Kwai Fong Hotel, with a balcony that gives you a good view of the streets below. This is a place to see and to be seen at– celebrities and socialites frequent this bar so its a nice place to sit back and gawk. The drinks served are the usual fare though it’s the setting of the location which will really impress, not to mention the pingball machine and free food (dim sum and a selection of other items) that seeks to add to the experience. Happy hour does end quite early and seats are taken up quite quickly so it may be a good idea to get there as soon as your boss will allow you to (or be willing to turn a blind eye to!). On a separate note all guys will be required to check their bags and the dress code is enforced at times– do yourself a favour and try not to look like you are on a hike and you should be fine. Smoking is allowed in the outdoor areas but as mentioned the tables do fill up very quickly.
Its not the cheapest bar in town but its definitely one of the nicest!