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This brand-new bar was just crowned the best in Asia
The brand-new location has knocked a three-consecutive-year winner off the top spot
Written byLiv Kelly
Contributing WriterFriday 19 July 2024Share
What makes a great bar to you? A super-long wine list or an innovative cocktail menu? A dimly lit space with a sophisticated vibe or something a bit more lively? Whatever your style, Asia is packed with great bars – and now we know exactly where to find the very best ones across the continent.
The Asia 50 Best Bar Awards just announced this year’s winning drinking dens at a very swanky ceremony in Hong Kong’s Rosewood Hotel. The winning bar – voted as such by members of the bar industry, media, and mixology experts – was Bar Leone, an Italian cocktail spot in central Hong Kong.
‘We have a bar scene in Hong Kong that is vibrant. It’s always been very strong but I can see that after the pandemic there were new ideas and new business models,’ Lorenzo Antinori, Bar Leone’s co-founder, told CNN, ‘Diversity and energy: those are the words we associate with the bar community here.’
Bar Leone knocked another Hong Kong bar Coa off the top spot, a venue that had held the title for the last three years running, but this year claimed fourth place. However, The Savoury Project, the latest opening by Jay Khan who runs Coa, was named best newcomer.
Singapore had the most bars on the list, claiming 11 of the top 50 spots. Hong Kong claimed nine, Seoul claimed six and Tokyo and Bangkok both claimed four.
These are the 50 best bars in Asia
- Bar Leone, Hong Kong
- Zest, Seoul
- Jigger & Pony, Singapore
- Coa, Hong Kong
- Bar Benfiddich, Tokyo
- Nutmeg & Clove, Singapore
- BKK Social Club, Bangkok
- Penrose, Kuala Lumpur
- Argo, Hong Kong
- The Aubrey, Hong Kong
- Virtù, Tokyo
- The Cocktail Club, Jakarta
- Vesper, Bangkok
- Hope & Sesame, Guangzhou
- Sago House, Singapore
- Night Hawk, Singapore
- Darkside, Hong Kong
- Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar, Bangkok
- The Savory Project, Hong Kong
- Bar Cham, Seoul
- Bar Us, Bangkok
- The St. Regis Bar, Macao
- The SG Club, Tokyo
- Penicillin, Hong Kong
- Offtrack, Singapore
- Quinary, Hong Kong
- Pantja, Jakarta
- Craftroom, Osaka
- Smoke & Bitters, Hiriketiya, Sri Lanka
- Vender, Taichung, Taiwan
- Native, Singapore
- Origin Bar, Singapore
- The Curator, Manila
- The Bellwood, Tokyo
- Analogue Initiative, Singapore
- Bar Trigona, Kuala Lumpur
- Bar Mood, Taipei
- Employees Only, Singapore
- Barc, Kathmandu
- ZLB23, Bengaluru, India
- Reka, Kuala Lumpur
- Fura, Singapore
- CMYK, Changsha, China
- The Public House, Taipei
- Mostly Harmless, Hong Kong
- Alice, Seoul
- The Halflington, Hanoi
- Le Chamber, Seoul
- Atlas, Singapore
- Pine & Co, Seoul
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