Having opened a little over a year ago, it’s the first time that a new opening has collected the top honours in any 50 Best Bars announcement.
Lorenzo Antinori’s bar dethroned Hong Kong’s Coa which dropped to fourth place having taken the top spot for the previous three years.
Zest from Seoul, whose co-founder Demie Kim also collected the Bartenders’ Bartender Award ahead of the announcement of the list, took second place while Jigger & Pong completed the podium, falling one place from second in 2023.
Alongside the announcement of the list, several special recognition awards were presented. Singapore’s Atlas, which placed number 49, picked up two special recognition awards - the Legend of the List Award, and the Best Bar Design Award, which was awarded for the first time as part of Asia’s 50 Best.
Nest by Pun in Taipei collected the Best Cocktail Menu Award, The Savory Project from Hong Kong, which was founded by the team behind Coa was named Best New Opening at number 19, and the eighth-placed Penrose from Kuala Lumpur collected the Highest Climber award having been placed number 50 in 2023, while Yangdup Lama, owner of Sidecar in New Delhi, collected the Industry Icon Award.
Elsewhere, Fura from Singapore collected the Sustainable Bar Award which is independently audited by the Sustainable Restaurant Association, and Dry Wave Cocktail Studio from Bangkok collected the One to Watch award which is presented to a bar that sits outside the list that is expected to crack the top 50.
The list painted a picture of strong performances from the region’s most established cocktail scenes, with eleven bars hailing from Singapore and nine from Hong Kong.
THE LIST
1 Bar Leone, Hong Kong
2 Zest, Seoul
3 Jigger & Pony, Singapore
4 Coa, Hong Kong
5 Bar Benfiddich, Tokyo
6 Nutmeg & Clove, Singapore
7 BKK Social Club, Bangkok
8 Penrose, Kuala Lumpur
9 Argo, Hong Kong
10 The Aubrey, Hong Kong
11 Virtù, Tokyo
12 The Cocktail Club, Jakarta
13 Vesper, Bangkok
14 Hope & Sesame, Guangzhou
15 Sago House, Singapore
16 Night Hawk, Singapore
17 Darkside, Hong Kong
18 Mahaniyom Cocktail Club, Bangkok
19 The Savory Project, Hong Kong
20 Bar Cham, Seoul
21 Bar Us, Bangkok
22 The St. Regis Bar, Macau
23 The SG Club, Tokyo
24 Penicillin, Hong Kong
25 Offtrack, Singapore
26 Quinary, Hong Kong
27 Pantja, Jakarta
28 Craftroom, Osaka
29 Smoke & Bitters, Hiriketiya
30 Vender, Taichung
31 Native, Singapore
32 Origin Bar, Singapore
33 The Curator, Manila
34 The Bellwood, Tokyo
35 Analogue Initiative, Singapore
36 Bar Trigona, Kuala Lumpur
37 Bar Mood, Taipei
38 Employees Only, Singapore
39 Barc, Kathmandu
40 ZLB23, Bengaluru
41 Reka, Kuala Lumpur
42 Fura, Singapore
43 CMYK, Changsha
44 The Public House, Taipei
45 Mostly Harmless, Hong Kong
46 Alice, Seoul
47 The Haflington, Hanoi
48 Le Chamber, Seoul
49 Atlas, Singapore
50 Pine & Co, Seoul
