Club Cliq – Hong Kong’s first “real” club?

Wednesday night I checked out a large new club called Cliq, opened on the second floor of the On Hing building in Central. Most nightlife people will know this building as previously home to Hei Hei Club, which was on the third floor, or Sugar, which is currently located on the ground floor.

Taking up 7,000 square feet, which is large by Hong Kong standards, the designer additionally made smart use of the space. Well positioned bars and seating areas optimize the dance-floor, and make Cliq seem like Hong Kong’s first real club. Other popular nightspots around town, while big, have proportionately smaller dance floors.

The event on Wednesday featured M.A.N.D.Y., two Berlin based d.j.s and beat makers.

One thing that stood out immediately – people were dancing! Another thought that quickly followed – they actually had room to move.

The overall decoration is sparse, and cold, which is what one would expect for a dance club. I didn’t see any bells and whistles, or attempts at cutting-edge design – which was refreshing. On first glance, the seating areas seem well thought out. There are a good amount of large booths and tables which makes booking a spot for a night out with friends ideal. The soft opening of Cliq was on Tuesday night, however many members of Hong Kong’s nightlife were in Macau for the grand opening of the new MGM casino.

It’s too early to tell what crowd will be calling Cliq home. Wednesday night featured a handful of models and nightlife denizens in addition to music lovers who came out to hear the pair of German d.j.s. play. The mixture of local to foreigners was about even.

Cliq is divided into two rooms. Each of the rooms is large and contains a d.j. booth. The back room was closed on Wednesday night.

The front room, contains the d.j. booth set atop a stage, which is where I presume visiting d.j.s will play. There are two large video displays on the wall in back of the booth.

The sound was at a decent volume, not too loud, which is one of my top complaints about other Hong Kong clubs. I hate walking out with my ears humming as if I’d just been to a concert.

It seems like Cliq is another members club, but they do allow non-members entry for a fee. This is similar to Volar and Dragon-i who both admit non-members who pay a cover charge on nights with international d.j.s. Due to their large dancefloor, Cliq may become popular as a venue to catch d.j.s that are too big for a normal club, but too small for a massive rave-style venue. It will be interesting to see the dent Cliq will make in the next few months.

Club Cliq address: 2/F On Hing Building, On Hing Terrace, Central, Hong Kong (across from M-88 on the corner of Wellington Street and Wyndham.)