A HONG KONG KIND OF MARCH香港3月

Warm up to the Hong Kong Sevens 香港七人欖球賽賽前熱身活動

IN HONG KONG,

you might know March as ‘art month’ or ‘food month’. Why? Because there are two upscale art fairs – Art Basel Hong Kong (1) (29-31 March) and Art Central (2) (27 March-1 April) – and a big food festival called Taste of Hong Kong (3) (22-25 March).

We usually consider March as ‘The Unofficial Hong Kong Sevens warm up’. The 2018 Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens is held over 6-8 April, and to prepare for the event, there’s loads of fun stuff happening in Causeway Bay’s Lee Gardens (4) across three weekends from 24 March.

The first weekend (24-25 March) kicks off the Lee Gardens fun: there’s a ‘StreetMAZE’, with seven giant rugby related artworks dotted around Lee Gardens (scan all seven QR codes and five more at sponsors’ booths to win a prize). Also from 24 March you can take part in the Cathay Pacific scrum challenge: test your power against a scrum machine to win air tickets. Over Easter weekend (30 March-2 April) it’s the EggssentiallyArt! Rugby Edition, which celebrates egg waffles, the much-loved Hong Kong street food, made in rugby ball shapes. There’ll also be musical performances, art installations and visiting international rugby teams.

Then there’s the Beach Fives (5) in Repulse Bay (17-18 March), which is half beach festival and half serious rugby tournament – basically a scaled- down Sevens on sand.

You’ll need to eat, too. New in town is sexy sushi joint Fumi (6) in Lan Kwai Fong’s California Tower; a new Central outpost for superb Italian Pici (7); and a permanent location for PDT (Please Don’t Tell) at The Landmark, Mandarin Oriental, the first ever other than the original New York bar. Crystal Jade group has opened an airy and Jiangnanthemed restaurant in Wan Chai, while Yum Cha (8), opposite Causeway Bay’s Times Square, is promising to recapture the flavours of typhoon shelter cooking – though we’re not sure typhoon shelter diners ever served cute bao with chocolate moustaches.

香港的3月是公認的「藝術月」或者「美食月」，皆因本月香港會舉行兩場大型的藝術盛會，分別是3月29至31日的巴塞爾藝術展香港展會（ 1）和月3 27日至41月 日的Art Central藝術展（ 2）。另外， 3月22至25日則有規模盛大的Taste of Hong

Kong美食節（ 3）。我們通常將3月視為「香港國際七人欖球賽非官方前哨戰月」，因為全球最喧鬧的欖球賽事2018國泰航空/滙豐香港國際七人欖球賽定於468月 至 日舉行。除了主要戰場香港大球場之外，由3月24日起三個周末，銅鑼灣利園區（ 4）會化身熱鬧好玩的欖球遊樂場，以迎接賽事來臨。

全城欖球狂熱在3月24至25日的周末於利園區展開，那裡 設置了七個跟欖球有關的巨型藝術品的StreetMAZE（記得掃描七個作品的QR碼和五個贊助商攤位的QR碼以贏取獎品）。同時，由3月24日開始你可以參加國泰航空scrum challenge挑戰，與攻防訓練機對壘，贏取機票。至於在復活節的周末（ 3月30日至42月 日）則有「雞蛋仔藝術節」欖球版周末，屆時香港人最愛的街頭小食雞蛋仔會做成欖球形狀。同時更會有音樂表演、藝術裝置及訪港的國際欖球隊亮相。

淺水灣亦磨拳擦掌，於3月17至18日舉行Beach Fives（5）活動，它是海灘節，亦是戰況激烈的欖球比賽，可說是沙灘上舉行的迷你七人欖球賽。

民以食為天。位於中環蘭桂坊加州大廈的壽司店Fumi（6）為顧客精心炮製令人垂涎三尺的美食，同區還有全新的高級意大利餐廳Pici（7），而紐約著名酒吧PDT（ Please Don’tTell）則首次於海外開設分店，並選址在置地文華東方酒店長期營業。翡翠飲食集團在灣仔開設空間寬敞的翡翠江南，呈奉精緻的江南菜。位於銅鑼灣時代廣場對面的中菜館飲茶（ 8），則為大家重現避風塘美食的精粹，不過我們不肯定當年避風塘的食店曾否炮製過畫上朱古力鬍子的可愛點。