Elite Concepts launches TAKE 5 at H Queen’s, a rare live music bar and cocktail venue tucked within its new Central restaurant AVALON — and it may be the most considered drinking den Hong Kong has seen in years.
There is a particular kind of bar that every great city needs but rarely gets right: intimate, music-forward, unhurried — a place where the cocktails are sharp, and the sound is sharper. Hong Kong has long punched below its weight in this regard. TAKE 5, the new live music bar from Elite Concepts (the group behind Ye Shanghai), may well be the corrective the city has been waiting for.
Opened quietly within AVALON, its new restaurant at H Queen’s in Central, TAKE 5 operates as a self-contained venue with its own entrance, atmosphere, and programming — a bar that borrows its name from Dave Brubeck’s canonical jazz standard, and from the musician’s shorthand for a five-minute break between sets. The name, then, is both a cultural wink and an organisational philosophy: step away, sit down, and let the evening slow to something more deliberate.
The Sound: Live Music at the Centre of Everything
What distinguishes TAKE 5 from Central’s broader cocktail bar scene is its genuine commitment to live performance. Music curator Skip Moy — a jazz guitarist and audio production specialist with decades of experience spanning international concerts and studio work — oversees both the rotating performance calendar and the venue’s sound design. That dual role matters. Too many bars treat music as wallpaper; here, it is architecture.
The programming rotates between jazz, dynamic vocalists, original singer-songwriters, and occasional visiting guest artists. The intimate scale of the room is deliberate: this is a space calibrated for listening, not just atmosphere, where a performer’s subtlety can actually land. It positions TAKE 5 as one of the very few dedicated live music spaces in Central — and the only one embedded within a full-service restaurant.
The Cocktails: Jazz Standards in a Glass
The bar programme is helmed by Sandeep Kumar, one of Hong Kong’s most respected bartenders. Trained under the internationally renowned Giancarlo Mancino and formerly of The Wise King (Asia’s 50 Best Bars), Kumar has spent over two decades refining an approach built on classical structure with selective Asian inflexion. At TAKE 5, that philosophy takes the form of five signature cocktails — each priced at HK$110 and named for a jazz standard.
Misty, with cocoa-washed tequila, mango, calamansi, passionfruit and fresh jalapeño, is fruit-forward with a clean, slow heat on the finish. At the same time, Skylark builds on butterfly pea gin with Luxardo maraschino and violet. It promises to be visually arresting before revealing its botanical complexity. Meanwhile, Green Dolphin Street pairs aged rum with pistachio shrub, citrus and a ricotta foam for an aromatic and textural experience in equal measure, and Four, the menu’s most spirit-forward, blends rye whiskey, absinthe and Mancino rosso vermouth that’s softened with vanilla and Heering cherry. Finally, Angel Eyes closes the list with vodka, olive oil, roasted coffee, kopi vermouth and cacao. It’s earthy, bittersweet, and unhurried.
The Bites: Considered and Unfussy
Culinary Director Jarrod Verbiak’s bar menu is brief and well-judged. Chilled Prawn Cocktail with Horseradish Cocktail Sauce (HK$188 for five pieces) and House-Smoked Maple Glazed Bacon with Hot & Sour Pickles (HK$88) speak to a kitchen that understands what bar food should do: satisfy without competing with the glass in your hand.
TAKE 5 is located within AVALON at H Queen’s, 80 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong.
