On weekends, Kidult opens inside a Tsim Sha Tsui Japanese restaurant with cocktails inspired by the 2000s and a feeling of youth, mixed by Kosa Law
”We are trying to create a space for people to escape from reality,” says Kosa Law of her new bar in Tsim Sha Tsui, opening late June inside a Japanese restaurant.
The mixologist polymath, who also dabbles in cocktail content creation online, has established Kidult for bar-goers to regress in age – for just one night – with cocktails ranking low in alcohol percentage.
“I like playing around, but at the same time, I need to face the reality that I have to work like many Hong Kongers do. I want to embrace this philosophy that growing up is a responsibility, but being tipsy and a kid on the inside is your right!”
Hong Kong has become a cocktail destination of increasing gravity and gravitas in recent times. The 50 Best-winning bars scatter around SoHo in close proximity to earn patronage without demanding an extra excursion.
At Kidult, Kosa is attracting patrons – millennials and Gen Z with a proclivity for the 2000s and all-things Japanese – to Tsim Sha Tsui for a nostalgia trip with its convergence of trends.
Only 10 craft cocktails are served at the bar, four tap cocktails and six signatures, all made with small portions of alcohol.
“Specialising in low ABV drinks, we can ensure you don’t have a hangover and a clear mind to face your job the next day!” Kosa jokes. “Hong Kong is a city that is quite eager to explore low ABV drinks,” with a growing list of cocktail bars slinging mocktails and low ABV variants.
Kidult’s tap cocktails are shaped by Kosa’s childhood memories, rooted in 1990s- and 2000s-era iconography. The gin-base Bit Boy with lychee syrup and mangosteen juice cocktail is adorned with a playable Game Boy, while the Baby Flame, made with vodka, peach syrup, sea buckthorn juice, and Chinese spicy powder, is served with a charizard magnet. Sailor Moon and Son Goku-theme drinks complete the bright four-piece.
Kidult makes a sensible and vogue move to theme their signature cocktail menu with a Cantonese twist, an ever-present motif with cocktail menus around the city.
The Mala Sour, powered by tequila, aperol, and peppercorn spice, takes cue from noodle chain TamJai Mixian with its spicy mix and Cantonese name (十小辣). Inspired by Hong Kong and southern China’s coconut chicken hot pot tradition, the Coconut Chicken Martini brings a savoury chicken broth twist to a dirty martini.
Oolong tea and VSOP mix with the Crazy Love, with green tea and pandan fusing with whiskey for the Sticky Ricevardier.
Open on weekends from 9:30PM, Kidult takes over Grandmama Cafe at night, a Japanese homecomfort eatery serving slow-cooked beef tongue, chicken liver parfait canelle with baguette, and honey soy grilled corn, dishes also served on the bar’s short food menu.
Once food service finishes at the restaurant, party hats, decorations, stickers, and Kidult-themed posters go up, which complement the space’s 1990s feel. Simple and Japanese in design, “I want our Gen Z customers to come for one or two drinks and to just chill,” Kosa tells.
Kosa is joined by co-founder Alex Ng, a local authority of Hong Kong mixology with experience writing menus and managing teams Hong Kong Island-side at Four Seasons Hong Kong, Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong, and Quinary.
This is Kosa’s second bar venture and Kowloon operation, formerly mixing at ohm… cafe and bar. Yet, opening Kidult in cocktail central on the Island was not in the plan.
“I didn’t really have a plan [for Kidult], my friend [operating Grandmama Cafe] said ‘we have this space, we can share it together and work something out.’ We didn’t choose lots of places to open, maybe we could open in Central or maybe Tsim Sha Tsui. Ending up here was just random.”
Cocktail bars opening outside hotels in Tsim Sha Tsui is a rarity, yet with recent independent entrants like Niwas, Arka, Kowloon Walled City, Draft Land, and See You Tomorrow, the tide is turning. “This area can be a good place for bar hopping in the future,” Kosa hopes.
Still in honeymoon phase, the mixologist is still on a “new page of discovery. We are only open three nights a week, so it is easy to make it full, but the new challenge comes when we plan to open more days of the week.”
9:30PM on a school night may be the right time for kidults to visit Kosa’s bar for a nightcap and midnight snack.
Kidult welcomes all in need of feeling young to Tsim Sha Tsui for fruity, low ABV cocktails.
