The crowd at this year’s Asia’s Best Bar Awards at Rosewood Hong Kong was so alive you’d think you’d stumbled upon the FIFA World Cup final – and these five top bars embody the quintessence of the region’s vibrant beverage scene. cheers!
#1 COA
The Hong Kong bar has secured the top spot for the third year in a row, and is the first to win the award since Best Bar in Asia was launched in 2016. Coa’s menu promises tequila spirits education and is the first bar of its kind in Hong Kong. The area – the constant stream of new openings hasn’t diminished its popularity in the slightest, if you look at the nightly queues outside. The team’s Savory Project will qualify for next year’s roster – we can’t wait to see if this streak continues. stress free.
COA, 6-10 Sin Hing Street, Central, Hong Kong
#2 Jiger and the Pony
A permanent fixture on Asia’s best bars list, Singapore’s Jigger & Pony was also honored with the Rémy Martin Legend Bar award this year, and rightfully so. The core concept of the bar is conviviality and the atmosphere is refined and unpretentious. Its latest menu focuses on the revival of classic drinks, but also on emerging Asian spirits such as Haku vodka and Himalayan gin.
165 Tanjong Pagar Road, Amara Hotel, Singapore
#3 BANGKOK SOCIAL CLUB
With Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok’s Bamboo Bar absent from this year’s list, Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok’s No. 3 Social Club confidently takes the title of best bar on the Chao Phraya River. Helmed by Philip Bischoff, this opulent hotel exudes Buenos Aires glamor with its grand bar and verdant chandeliers. Appropriately, the cocktails are named after Argentinian places and faces, such as the Pampas or the Hand of God.
Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok, 1 Charoen Krung Road, Bangkok
#4 Ben Fidic
Restaurant goers are familiar with the farm-to-table concept, but at Benfiddich, Japanese mixologist Hiroyasu Kayama has taken it to the next level, concocting cocktails with seasonal herbs grown in his garden. The bar is filled with vintage bottles and vials, reminiscent of a pharmacist’s laboratory. As this 14-seat bar is quickly becoming one of Tokyo’s hot spots, reservations are essential.
1-chome 13-7, Nishi-Shinjuku, Tokyooh
#5 Enthusiasm
This year’s winner of the highest climber award, up 43 places from 2022, is Zest, a minimalist, zero-waste bar in Seoul’s Gangnam district. The company has gone above and beyond in sustainability efforts, upcycling the peel and pulp as an ingredient and producing its own soda and tonic water in-house, eliminating the need for cans or plastic bottles.
26 KR 55, Dosan-daero 55-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Check out the full list here.
