Christian Rhomberg in cool KEE Club, an exclusive venue for Hong Kong's elite

Way back in 1982, Austrian entrepreneur Christian Rhomberg opened Club 97 in Hong Kong's iconic Lan Kwai Fong entertainment area. Fast forward 25 years later, he is now one of the founders and managing director of members-only KEE Club, an exclusive restaurant and club for the city's glitterati. What is immensely satisfying, he says, is that often he finds three generations of the same family eating, drinking and partying under one roof in his private club.

‘My first job in Hong Kong was in 1980 as the Assistant Austrian Trade Commissioner. I met many people as Hong Kong is such an international business city. My boss asked me to open a bar with him. I did open a bar - Club 97 - but not with him. It was a great success and for 20 years, Club 97 was the club in Lan Kwai Fong, paving the way for many other clubs to open.

When the Yung Kee family (owners of the famous roast goose restaurant) approached me to come up with a concept for a wine bar, I said a private members' club would work much better. The KEE Club has the European touch of a private residence with nice art collections, some of which are mine. We have over 1,500 members made up of 60 per cent locals and 40 per cent foreigners and that is the ideal mix.

I know a lot of people from my Club 97 days. Many of my old clients have married and some of their kids have left home, so they are left sitting at home but still feeling young. We have created a place where three generations sometimes party under one roof.

None better

I tried to leave Hong Kong in 2000. Luckily, I am in a position where my family can be comfortable for the rest of our lives. We have a big, beautiful place in Innsbruck where I was born complete with a lake, forest and land to grow our own organic vegetables, but I found the pace of life very slow. People tend to have one job all their lives and there was not much excitement. I have a place in London but found that we did not want to live there. We checked out Brazil, Australia, the US and at the end of the day, kept on coming back to Hong Kong. Part of it is the convenience and for tax reasons and also my kids miss congee (rice gruel) and rice.

I like Hong Kong very much. The city is truly cosmopolitan. There are no racial problems and no prejudices; instead there is open communication and work is efficient. You can ring anybody up and if you are persistent, you can get them within three days. Anywhere else, it will take a month, if they come back to you at all.     

You can see the spirit of Hong Kong when Sars hit the city in 2003. At first people laughed, then became serious, later they wore masks. There was strong negative impact on many businesses so I invited all the bosses of well known brands such as Hermes, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, Cathay Pacific Airlines and Swire Property, to name a few, for lunch to discuss how we needed to portray Hong Kong after this crisis. What was so amazing was that after this lunch we had another breakfast meeting at the Hong Kong Club and about 70 people turned up – they were the “who's who” from property groups, hotels, big brand names, airlines – people who usually did not work together as they were competitors. Everybody was rooting for Hong Kong, to create a ‘back to business as usual' atmosphere. 

Vibrant mix

In my over 25 years in the entertainment industry, I have seen so many changes in Hong Kong. When I came here in 1980, there were no restaurants serving western food outside the hotels. There were probably two Australian pubs in Kowloon, Jimmy's Kitchen and Landaus (western cuisine with local slant) but no cool restaurants, bars or clubs. When we opened Club 97, Allan Zeman (a Canadian entrepreneur who is called the landlord of Lan Kwai Fong) followed and in true Hong Kong style, everybody jumped on the bandwagon. The staff at Club 97 was like a United Nations as the immigration policy then was relaxed. This created a vibrant atmosphere as different cultures brought in different concepts.

For a decade, many businesses opened and closed in Lan Kwai Fong. Then I went to SOHO (an area south of Hollywood Road) and set up Petticoat Lane with al fresco dining, a concept unheard of in Hong Kong. The escalator opened and SOHO took off as another entertainment district.

Nowadays, there are more cool clubs and bars. Twenty years ago, Hong Kong people could be educated overseas but they came back and took over the family business. Today they could be trained lawyers and accountants but they came back and started their own businesses or clubs so the whole night club scene thrived.

Brand potential

I find myself more interested in Buddhist teachings and health these days. Last year, I met the Dalai Lama in India as I am involved with a Tibetan Charity called Karuna Asia helping to build schools, hospitals, bridges and old folks' homes in Tibet. I'm also opening a Trans Cultural Health Centre in Innsbruck nestled among the lakes. The whole place is spatial art with a Japanese onsen (hot spring) and different types of treatment ranging from Chinese acupuncture to ayurvedic medicine. It will be ready next summer and I would invite fantastic artists around the world to create something there. If I have my way, I would love to build a 24 hour onsen where you have a quiet area or one where people can drink and mingle with others.

I would also want to expand the KEE brand to Southeast Asia, China and Tokyo but I am very careful about signing up the right partner. My intention is to build a management company filled with young creative people so that I can be in the background mentoring them.'

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KEE Club