A teacher by trade, Warren Baumberg has always harboured an interest in tourism. The native New Zealander found his way to Hong Kong three years ago and, like many newcomers, sought out the best spots for drinking. But he wasn’t quite sure where to go – or got ripped off on the way. So a year ago, Baumberg launched the Hong Kong Pub Crawl as a way for backpackers and locals alike to meet and visit some lesser-known bars. Time Out finds out how the Pub Crawl Master spends his weekends...

Thursday
This is, of course, Pub Crawl – so it’s a work night. I’ll be up at the IFC Roof Garden (1 Harbour View St, Central) from 8pm-8.45pm then we’ll cruise to Insenses (13 Lyndhurst Tce, Central) and Sense 99 (2/F-3/F, 99 Wellington St, Central) at 9pm. Then we’ll go to some classic favourites. Baby Buddha (18 Wo On Lane, Central) has some deadly Long Island Ice Teas – they’re quite infamous. Then we’ll head to Otto Lounge (15-16 Lan Kwai Fong, Central). They’ve really got the friendliest manager and bar staff – there’s such a good vibe there. We’ll finish up at Fly (24-30 Ice House St, Central) for their indie night. I’ll sit back at the rails, relax and watch the models and hipsters get down. We go till about 2am or so, but I hear stories about people staying out till 8am and missing their flights the next day.

Friday
I’ll start in the afternoon, after work. Most of my friends are in Sheung Wan so we’ll grab some food at the Sheung Wan Market Cooked Food Centre (2/F, Sheung Wan Municipal Services Bldg, 345 Queen’s Rd Central, Sheung Wan). It’s always nice to go local. And then we’ll go on to a little bar called Café Nirvana (65 Wing Lok St, Sheung Wan). It’s super casual and so un-Hong Kong, it’s awesome. Then I’ll happily hit Le Jardin (10 Wing Wah Lane, Central) for the fun atmosphere and random mix of people to round off the tour.

Saturday
Presuming it’s going to be sunny, it’s always nice to get off Hong Kong Island whenever I can, so I might take the ferry to Sok Kwu Wan on Lamma and do the hike across. Then maybe we’d grab some food at Deli Lamma (36 Main St, Lamma). They’ve got good Nepalese curries. Then we’d come back to Hong Kong island to a place with one of my favourite views – Habitat Lounge (29/F, QRE Plaza, 202 Queen’s Rd East). From their rooftop, you get a nice reverse angle of Hong Kong. For the rest of the evening, I’ll go down to Wan Chai with some 7-Eleven drinks, walk along and bump into various people that you see.

Sunday
I quite often like to have this as my exploration day and go to new neighbourhoods. Mong Kok, Prince Edward, Sham Shui Po and Yau Ma Tei are my favourites. I like to get lost for a few hours, go down all the little alleyways and find some secret shops or cafés and bars. One of my all-time favourite places is Fresh! Home-made Food (34 Temple St, Yau Ma Tei). The people who run it are literally the friendliest, always chatting away and will fill you in on all the neighbourhood gossip. If I want to finish it off with a drink, I quite like Phonograph (2 Austin Ave, Tsim Sha Tsui), which is a really nice, chilled out bar.
Interview: Andrea Yu