The best things to do in Hong Kong this week (September 8-14)

Rising Filipino pop band SB19 is embarking on their first world tour, and Hong Kong is on their list. For those who don’t know them, this quintet is the first Filipino act to receive a Billboard Music Award nomination back in 2021, and they’ve also reached top slot in the Billboard World Digital Song Sales Charts with this year’s hit Dam. Catch Pablo, Josh, Stell, Ken, and Justin at the MacPherson Stadium on September 13 and 14. Tickets run from $599 to $799, and VIP concert-goers will receive a VIP-exclusive photocard, a laminate and lanyard, as well as access to the hi-bye event after the show.

Hong Kong’s largest annual Hungry Ghost Festival celebration, the Yu Lan Cultural Festival, will be held on September 12 to 14 at the Moreton Terrace Temporary Playground in Causeway Bay. The Yu Lan Festival is a long-standing tradition that holds major cultural importance within the local Chiuchow community, and the objective of the celebration is to honour the dead through community events, ceremonies, and performances. 

Look forward to activities such as the Festival Treats competition where teams compete to collect the most rice pack offerings, the Festival Offerings competition, guided Yu Lan cultural tours, various interactive workshops, cultural exhibitions, an immersive theatre experience, and even themed claw machines. Admission is free.

Hong Kong’s High Skools have something to really look forward to, as Epik High has confirmed the Hong Kong leg of their 2025 Asia tour. This will be the first time that the South Korean hip-hop group has performed on our shores in six long years so we’re most definitely hyped for it.

Mark your calendars for September 14, when Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz will take the stage at AXA Dreamland. Tickets run from $880 to $1,680, with VIP and SVIP ticket holders receiving early entry, holographic photo cards, Hong Kong-exclusive commemorative tickets, the chance to win autographed posters by raffle, and access to a group photo session with Epik High. 

Priority pre-sale begins on Wednesday, July 9 at 6pm exclusively on Off Grid, while general sales go live on July 23 at 12 noon on Klook. Concertgoers who have purchased their tickets before September 5 can participate in a lucky draw for special benefits, so keep an eye on their social media for winner announcements.

Whether you’re a casual Instagram user or a photography fanatic, you’ve likely come across a post by Accidentally Wes Anderson (or AWA for short), a platform known for showcasing moments in daily life that replicate the American filmmaker’s signature symmetrical style. This internationally acclaimed art project has held exhibitions in cities such as London, Tokyo, Seoul, and Los Angeles, and this July, it’ll be arriving in Hong Kong for the first time at The Mills and Airside simultaneously. Find more information about these exhibitions here.

Stay cool during Hong Kong’s brutal summer by grabbing an icy treat from Snack Baby, one of Hong Kong’s top gelato shops. From now until September 13, the gelateria is holding a pop-up at BaseHall 02, where they’ll be offering a rotating selection of their crowd-pleasing gelatos. Expect flavours such as BB Cinnamon, olive oil dark chocolate, speculoos, pistachio crunch, as well as Strawberry Moon, a BaseHall exclusive strawberry sorbet swirled with strawberry coulis. Snack Baby’s gelato offerings will be updated every fortnight, and customers can enjoy up to three gelato flavours in each cup ($68), so be sure to swing by and try their new flavours.

Mandarin Oriental The Landmark, Hong Kong is continuing its Tastemarker series at LMO Freshly Baked this month with celebrated chef May Chow of the award-winning modern Chinese eatery Little Bao, who brings a range of comforting dishes that are available to take away from the Landmark Atrium location.

LMO Freshly Baked’s time-limited menu includes a Szechuan three yellow chicken sandwich ($88) with punchy vinegar, chilli, ginger, and more aromatics, and a refreshing tomato, plum, and perilla salad with prawns in a sour plum dressing ($98) that is great for the hot weather. But our favourite of Chow’s creations has got to be the Hong Kong-style curry brisket pie ($98), which features slow-cooked beef shin in a nostalgic curry sauce – the kind that you get from cha chaan tengs, with a flavour profile that sits in between Indian and Japanese curries – encased in a buttery, flaky pastry. 

In need of a sweet treat to cool down this summer? The Lobby Lounge at Regent Hong Kong is churning out exclusive ice cream creations that are sure to please any dessert fiend. Stop by from now until September 28 to indulge in their decadent Pistachio Gold Baklava flavour, featuring rich honey pistachio ice cream, crispy kataifi, roasted pistachios, and sweet honeycomb.

For those who couldn’t fend off scalpers to snag the latest Labubu series at PopMart, you’ll be delighted to know that Belgian premium chocolatier Godiva has collaborated with this mega-popular franchise to launch the Icy Delights Collection, featuring the cheeky creatures as the stars of the show. Snack on three indulgent soft serve flavours and two creamy milkshakes, all inspired by Dubai chocolate – yet another viral sensation that Hongkongers can’t get enough of.

Each sweet treat is generously topped with dried mixed berries and crispy pistachio-flavoured kunafa, and comes in limited edition Labubu 3D packaging. Plus, the soft serves include a limited-edition stainless steel Labubu ice cream spoon, which is sure to add a touch of playfulness with each scoop.

This summer, Tai Kwun is running a special exhibition that explores the cinematic trope of the undercover agent, the duality of light and darkness in these movie characters, and what makes them so appealing to Hong Kong audiences. If you’re a film buff or a fan of the heroic bloodshed genre, you’ll enjoy walking through recreations of scenes from classic crime films, showing the process of covert operations from beginning undercover missions to eventually finding difficulties in re-entering society. 

We won’t spoil too much, but look out for the iconic tea house shoot out in Hard Boiled, the psychiatrist’s office in Infernal Affairs, a gun fight in a hideout in City on Fire, and most dramatically, a disastrous car chase breaking the fourth wall, where visitors can either play a role on set or pose from the director’s chair behind the camera.

See more details on this special exhibition here.

M+ is hosting this adaptation of Trevor Yeung’s solo show that represented our city at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia. Drawing inspiration from his surroundings that include pet shops, seafood restaurants, public fountains, feng shui arrangements, and more, Yeung examines the relationship between humans and aquatic systems. See pet fish shops and filtration systems that are abandoned and devoid of aquatic life, and a defunct fountain in a European courtyard. The exhibition runs from June 14 to October 12, and entry is $120.

Immerse yourself in the forgotten days of the Kowloon Walled City at this epic movie set exhibition, located on the original site of the infamous Kowloon Walled City. Featuring incredibly detailed recreations of shops and other setups from the award-winning Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, the exhibition will let visitors travel back in time to the Walled City in the 1980s.

From the local cafe to the dental clinic, the attention to detail is truly impressive. There's even a small 'screen room' mimicking the rooftops of old buildings back in the day, where visitors can sit and watch the neighbourhood turn from day to night, and listen to the roaring sound of low-flying airplanes over the Walled City area.

Check out our guide for everything you need to know about the exhibition, from dates and opening hours to highlights not to be missed.

From August 1 to October 31, the Hong Kong Film Archive (HKFA) is staging a centenary tribute to Fung Wong-nui, the Cantonese opera legend, to celebrate her impact on Chinese performing arts. Screenings of 16 classic films starring the seminal actress will be shown as part of ‘Phoenix on the Silver Screen – A Centenary Tribute to Fung Wong Nui’ in the HKFA’s Morning Matinee series, making Fung’s influential work accessible to a wider audience.

HKFA has curated a selection of Fung’s films under four categories – ‘Gems of Cantonese Opera,’ ‘The Unforgettable Villainess,’ ‘Martial Heroine,’ and ‘Comedy and Drama’ – to give audiences a comprehensive overview of the actress’s accomplishments and versatile style. Post-screening talks will take place after select screenings, led by notable figures in the performing arts industry such as Cantonese opera veteran Professor Yuen Siu-fai and Ko Lai, one of Fung’s own disciples.

From the Magnavox Odyssey – the first home-use video gaming console – to the latest Nintendo Switch 2 release, gamers have seen the rise and fall of many trends and technologies from the 70s to the present day, and you can now reminisce on them all at this exhibition on gaming, its art and designs, and collective memories.

Airside is hosting the ‘Restart! Beyond Gaming Exhibition!’, which explores how gaming extends beyond simple personal entertainment and has become an integral part of Hong Kong’s cultural tapestry. Check out the wall of gaming consoles to find vintage consoles such as the Atari 2600 from the 70s, the Nintendo Famicom from the 80s, over 300 Nintendo games from the 80s and 90s, and more; and try your hand at ‘The King of Fighters ‘98’ and ‘Bubble Bubble’ on arcade machines.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of ‘Little Fighter 2’, the exhibiton will feature the remastered game with an Airside-exclusive backdrop of the famous Kowloon Walled City for an added touch of Hong Kong heritage.

The second edition of the Chinese Culture Festival (CCF) returns to Hong Kong this summer with over 280 performing arts programmes, film screenings, exhibitions, and other events. 

Running from April 16 through to September 28, keep an eye on the schedule of upcoming CCF performances and events here. Tickets will open for sale from April 15, and prices will differ depending on the specific events, but there will be a limited-time discount of up to 30-percent off until April 30.

Head to the Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM) to find our city’s first comprehensive exhibition dedicated to Mughal art. The Mughal empire was one of the world’s most powerful kingdoms that encompassed much of modern-day Indian, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, ruling from the 16th to the 17th centuries. Though they ruled a mainly Hindu population, the Mughals were Muslim with Mongol origins, and were known for their rich culture and architecture – the Taj Mahal is one such legacy from this empire.

Over 100 artefacts from the golden age of the Mughal dynasty, from paintings and jewellery to weaponry, architectural segments, and even some rare surviving textiles from this period are now on show – Hong Kong is this exhibition’s only Asia venue after its London premiere in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Under the rule of three emperors, the Mughal court greatly fostered artistic development and embraced cross-cultural influences, shown here in jade pieces that have incorporated motifs from the Chinese court. Highlights include a casket with mother-of-pearl inlays, a thumb ring from Emperor Akbar’s reign with western enamelling that shows the Mughal court’s hybrid aesthetic, and a beautiful dagger sheath and hilt lavishly decorated with gold and red gemstones.

‘Treasures of the Mughal Court’ runs until February 23, 2026, and tickets are priced from $150 which also grants access to HKPM’s thematic exhibitions in galleries one to seven.