Hong Kong, China

Tuve

Price per night from$153.44

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (including tax) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (HKD1,200.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

Rough with the smooth

Setting

Lively Tai Hang haunt

Boutique hotel Tuve – discreetly set behind Causeway Bay in Hong Kong – is a riddle wrapped in galvanised steel and white marble. Housed in a sleek black monolith reminiscent of spy headquarters, guests stay in minimalist rooms lined in concrete and wood, with puzzle-box furnishings. Photographer Kim Høltermand’s snaps of Sweden’s fog-swathed Lake Tuve partially influenced the hotel's moody ambience, but any chilliness is offset with warm lighting and cloud-soft beds.

Smith Extra

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Late check-out till 2pm (subject to availability)

Facilities

Photos Tuve facilities

Need to know

Rooms

64.

Check–Out

Noon, but flexible, subject to availability. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Luggage can be stored on request.

Prices

Double rooms from £132.71 (HK$1,320), including tax at 10 per cent.

More details

Rates don’t usually include breakfast.

Also

Rooms seem sparse at first, with a wall-mounted TV, chair, bed, block of marble and a wooden box, but the latter opens to reveal a desk, city guide and minibar. The block of marble can be used as a stool, and the minibar’s stocked with treats such as Brouwerji de Molen beer, Antipodes water (allegedly the purest you can buy), Potocki vodka and Fevertree tonic water.

At the hotel

Free WiFi throughout. In rooms: 40” flatscreen TV with cable channels, Bluetooth speakers, a drip-coffee maker and kettle, gourmet snacks and drinks in the minibar, and Le Labo bath products.

Our favourite rooms

Each room looks like it leapt from the pages of Wallpaper– an edgy warehouse space shrunk to cosy proportions and refined. Premier rooms are a generous 30 square metres: palatial compared to the average Hong Kong hotel room. Bright, open, and set on the higher floors, they’re less likely to be troubled by the crowd and traffic noise below.

Packing tips

A Field Notes pad for jotting down design tips – you're sure to be inspired. Hong Kong is packed with superlative shops and quirky markets, so clear a section of your suitcase for new acquisitions.

Children

Welcome, but there’s little for them to do onsite, no special kit and no extra beds (one child under-12 can share their parents’ bed). Little Smiths can dine in the restaurant at any time, and staff will happily heat up milk or baby food.

Food and Drink

Photos Tuve food and drink

Hotel restaurant

None at present, but there's something exciting in the works.

Room service

There’s no room service, but there are Clearspring Sicilian almonds in your minibar to nibble on and a bevy of dim-sum joints and cafés nearby.

Location

Photos Tuve location
Address
Tuve
16 Tsing Fung Street, Tin Hau
Hong Kong
China

Tuve sits on a busy side street in the buzzy Tai Hang area, on the Hong Kong Island side of Victoria Harbour. It’s a 20-minute drive from Victoria Peak, and the Man Mo Monastery.

Planes

British Airways and Cathay Pacific fly direct to Hong Kong International from the UK, US, Australia and major destinations in Asia and China. One-way transfers, arranged by the hotel, are HK$900 for four, HK$1,000 for up to six, with an HK$100 supplement from midnight to 6am.

Trains

Hong Kong Hung Hom station is a 15-minute drive from Tuve; a train ride here from Beijing and Shanghai can take up to 24 hours, but Guangzhou is a relatively short two-hour ride away. The closest Metro Station is Tin Hau, just a five-minute walk. A Metro tourist day pass is HK$65 for 24 hours, and if you’re there for more than a few days, invest in an Octopus Card (a HK$50 deposit, then top up when needed). Tickets from Hong Kong Airport are HK$115 one-way, HK$238 for a return trip.

Automobiles

It’s possible to apply for a temporary driving licence in Hong Kong for a small fee, subject to passing a written test, but city-wide Metro links out to Kowloon and lantau Island make it an unnescessary hassle. If you do acquire a licence, keep in mind that it may not be valid in mainland China.

Other

Star ferries run a frequent service from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island, but it’s more of a tourist attraction. A high-speed TurboJet runs from Macau to Hong Kong every 15 minutes (around an hour’s journey), from 7am to midnight.

Worth getting out of bed for

From Tuve’s peaceful inner sanctum, the Tin Hau district is a sensory onslaught, with rushing traffic ahead and on the flyover above, a flurry of pedestrians and pockets of activity wherever you look. Causeway Bay is densely packed with malls and market stalls; Lee Gardens is a temple of high-fashion boutiques, a spree in Hysan Place covers 17 floors, and Jardine’s Crescent market has ironic tees and colourful accessories galore. The lower terminus for the tram to Victoria Peak is a 10-minute taxi ride from the hotel; the vertiginous journey ends at a viewing platform overlooking the harbour, Kowloon and the mountains beyond. On descending, pick up antique propaganda posters and other curios along Hollywood Road, and pop into PMQ for sculptural jewellery pieces, niche labels and cool homewares; Cat Street market along Upper Lascar Row has unique vintage pieces. Oil exhbition space is a 10-minute walk from Tuve for intriguing artwork, and industry big-hitters – the Gagosian and White Cube – lie to the west, by smaller spaces, such as Hanart TZ and Saamlung galleries. K11 Art Mall, on Hanoi Road, is a hot-bed of artsy happenings. For a glimpse of Hong Kong history, visit Lin Fa Temple by the Central Library; each year from the 14–16 September, beasts snake their way past this monument during the Fire Dragon Dance festival. Or ride the Metro to Kowloon to stop by empire-red Wong Tai Sin Temple and meditate by the charming nunnery pagoda in Nan Lian Garden

 

Local restaurants

Whether you’re craving dumplings or golden, crisp-skinned duck, Hong Kong will sate your appetite. In North Point, a 15-minute walk away, hole-in-the-wall dim-sum joint Tim Ho Wan (+852 2332 2896) has turned the heads of Michelin-acclaimed chefs. Dairy isn’t a Chinese cuisine staple, but the cheese boards – and brunches – at Classified (+852 2857 3454) are excellent; more traditional pork and duck dishes are found at Golden China (+852 2545 1472) on Jubilee Street in Wan Chai. The won-ton noodles topped with beef brisket at Mak’s Noodle (+852 2854 3810) and the brûléed sago pudding at Fung Shing (+852 2881 7873) in Causeway Bay are both highly praised. To the west, Duddell’s (+ 852 2525 9191) is a slick dining space with warm woods, cool marble and sunshine yellow banquettes, and a garden terrace. Tattooed chef Nathan Green heads up Rhoda (+852 2177 5050), which has a similar industrial look to Tuve. It’s named after his grandma and the menu reveres high-quality local ingredients and shows Green’s impressive ingenuity, with pig’s head terrine and pineapple chutney, agria potato purée with asparagus and fresh truffle, and puddingy cheesecakes.The wine list was curated by Elliot Faber, the sommelier at superb beak-to-tailfeather eatery Yardbird (+852 2547 9273). Ho Lee Fook (+852 2810 0860) isn’t just amusingly named, it brings together the spirit of New York’s Chinatown with traditional Cha Chaan Feng teahouses in a sleek space on Elgin Street.

 

Local cafés

The hotel doesn’t serve breakfast, so head to Pacific Coffee on Ngan Mok’s street, the Coffee Academics in Causeway Bay, or Artisan Cafe (+852 2563 0055) on Electric Road for a strong brew and brunch goodies. Cafe Locomotive on Wun Sha street, is a quirky lunching spot that looks like a vintage train carriage, and Daruma on Tung Lo Wan Road is renowned for its packed ramen bowls. Pumpernickel (+852 2578 0854) on Lau Li Street has tasty baked goods. For a light dim-sum brunch, there’s Lei Bistro in Times Square (+852 2506 3022) or the Dining Room in Causeway Bay (+852 2648 2299).

Local bars

Hong Kong’s neon lights and non-stop activity make it feel like a night club that’s spilled out onto the streets; its bars live up to this promise – some bring the city’s bygone glamour up to date, and some tap into the city’s artsy undercurrent. In Wan Chai, the Optimist (+852 2433 3324) has bold geometric patterns and moody lighting – the negronis and wine list are both excellent; Ophelia (+852 2520 1117) is unashamedly decadent, with peacock-feather motifs and a cage for aerial performers. Hit Blue Butcher (+852 2613 9286) on Hollywood Road for curious savoury cocktails (the Pork Chop & Apple Sauce with bacon-washed Scotch and apple jam), then continue the night at graffiti-flecked Bibo Bar (+852 2956 3188), where there’s a mysterious library where the book spines face inwards. Before you head home, sip a signature, rubber duckie accessorised, bath tub cocktail at Ori-Gin Bar (+852 2668 5583) on Wyndham Street. 

Reviews

Photos Tuve reviews
Rebecca Tay

Anonymous review

By Rebecca Tay, Hotel-hopping writer

So you’ve already been to Croatia, Malta, Morocco and Iceland in your quest for a Game of Thrones-inspired adventure. If you’d like a taste of what entering the Wall might be like (you know, the big northern ice wall where the Night’s Watch live), well, entering the Tuve Hotel in Hong Kong might be the closest thing to it.

That’s what I think anyway. Mr Smith begs to differ, citing the brick construction of the cave-like entrance, but I mean, how many times have you entered a hotel through an arched cave? Anyway, aside from the bricks, the sub-zero temperatures at the entrance to the Tuve are surely what GoT (and, ahem, Jon Snow) dreams are made of.

It’s the most minimal hotel I’ve ever stayed in – so minimal, in fact, that it doesn’t even have a sign, just a small metal plaque embedded into the sidewalk. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was a sidewalk grate. And the befuddlement doesn’t end there: there’s no reception desk waiting for us at the end of the corridor, just a set of elevators, inside of which are two sets of buttons, and not a single sign.

Common sense kicks in and, once we’re on the first floor, we find we’ve been transported from one fantastical world to the next: gone are the Seven Kingdoms, and in their place is a more sci-fi world – one inspired by Interstellar, or even The Matrix. The reception area, essentially a huge concrete table with a smooth, copper top, is manned by two members of staff in dark matching blazers. I think I spy a Rick Owens retrospective in the stack of books with charcoal and black spines in the corner – though my eyes are still adjusting to the low light, so I can’t be sure. It’s all grey marble and textured concrete, and it’s cold. A welcome cold (especially after the stickiness of Hong Kong outside), but also cold in an emotional sense – like the stare you might get from someone much cooler than you.

The staff are super friendly, though, but it’s so unlike any other check-in experience we’ve ever had that we’re a bit out of our depth – not in a bad way, mind. New experiences and all that, right? Regardless, determined to show just how cool we can be, Mr Smith and I nonchalantly head upstairs to our 25th-floor room.

The hotel was named after a set of photos depicting a Swedish lake swathed in mist, taken by Danish photographer Kim Høltermand. We’d already experienced the moodiness of these photos, but in the rooms another version of Scandi minimalism emerges – a slightly warmer, more homely version (albeit designed to the nines), complete with steel beams, wood accents, chic amenities by Fresh, and glass-bottled fizzy water by Antipodes. There’s a box in the corner of the room that opens into a small desk-cum-bookshelf and a king-sized bed with crisp, white sheets, down pillows and a glorious mattress. Shimmery gold paint has been injected into deliberately chiselled crevices in the otherwise-smooth concrete walls – a detail that epitomises Tuve’s approach: a little goes a long way, and everything is there for a reason.

There’s no bar at the hotel (Mr Smith says the cocktail list would only serve one drink, a Rusty Nail; I say it would list vodka, soda optional, lime impossible), but this is Hong Kong, so outside choices abound. A few blocks away is a branch of the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant, Tim Ho Wan, which serves incredible dim sum with the fast, no-eye-contact, no-frills service Mr Smith and I love. We also head to Kowloon and eat a whole box of pan-fried soup dumplings standing up at Cheung Hing Kee.

If you fancy modern Chinese food in a cool environment, head to Ho Lee Fook (get it?) in Soho Central – the lettuce wraps are crazy delicious and we leave vowing to install a row of gold waving-paw cats in our own front entrance. The Tuve also has its own restaurant, an Italian joint called Silver Room, but when we head there for dinner the next night – our last – we’re told it’s closed on Tuesdays. Oops. We splurge on foot massages instead (though again, this is Hong Kong – land of good food and good foot massages – so while it’s definitely an indulgence, it’s not really a splurge), then, because it’s a crisp, clear night, head out to the Grey Café at Upper House for cocktails and views of the Hong Kong skyline.

When we come home a few hours later, I realize that the Tuve’s pared-back approach is mightily welcome in a chaotic city like Hong Kong. Entering the frosty, cave-like foyer is the equivalent of being handed a glass of ice cold water on a muggy day; its minimalist palette of greys, a breath of fresh air against the colourful cacophony outside. So, while elements of the Tuve may feel like a fantasy (Game of Thrones vs Interstellar – we’re still undecided), its sense of cool, calm collectedness is really what provides the escapism here.

 

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Price per night from $153.44