RichKat Craft Brewing (Central)

RichKat's Central bar is a compact taproom on Pottinger Street, the stepped granite lane known as Stone Slab Street, and it was one of the Shenzhen brewery's first two Hong Kong openings in 2024. The company was founded in Shenzhen in 2017 by Gavin Hemple, a Leicester-born homebrewer who came to China in 1998 and later worked in Hong Kong hotels, and it has since grown to nearly 200 taprooms across China, with around five in Hong Kong.

Everything is brewed at the company's own facility in Sanshui, Foshan, and the beer is sent out unfiltered and unpasteurised, with live yeast left in. Its beers have medalled at the World Beer Awards, the Australian International Beer Awards and the Brussels Beer Challenge. The board covers light, fruity, hoppy and dark styles: look for the Star Boy Hazy IPA, Osmanthus Wheat and Chocolate Imperial Milk Stout, alongside Chinese-accented beers such as a hawthorn kölsch, a lychee oolong sour and a chenpi white tea lager, plus monthly seasonals. Most of the range is available on draught or in cans to take away.

Value is a big part of the pitch. A 2024 report put draught pours from HK$72 and cans from around HK$30, and RichKat runs some of the cheapest happy-hour and free-flow deals among Hong Kong's craft beer bars, with a two-hour free-flow offer at most of its branches; the Central bar's happy hour is listed as 3pm to 5pm.

Inside there is seating for only around a dozen people, so do as the after-work crowd does and drink on the granite steps outside. There is no kitchen here, only snacks, so eat elsewhere in SoHo or Central first. The staff know the range well and are happy to steer you, which makes it an easy stop for solo drinkers and a cheap first round before a night out in Lan Kwai Fong or SoHo.