After a decade of London and New York City domination, winners of The World’s 50 Best Bars began to diversify. Bars in Barcelona and Mexico City took first place before anywhere in Asia but 2025 was the year a Hong Kong bar claimed the title for the first time. A love letter to Rome’s neighbourhood bar culture and its cocktail popolari, Bar Leone‘s win is symbolic of Hong Kong’s increasingly eclectic bar scene.
In the early 2010s, Hong Kong had its first wave of craft cocktails, which, unlike cities like Tokyo and New York, took shape without an obvious lineage to build on. What emerged as a result feels distinctly progressive.
‘There is so much diversity and that’s one of the strengths of Hong Kong,’ says Lorenzo Antinori, who founded Bar Leone in 2023, pointing to the city’s multicultural population and status as a cultural and economic hub. Another factor is that ‘the community here is very tight. There is a very open relationship between the different bars,’ Antinori explains. Gavin Yeung, a lifestyle journalist who co-founded Kinsman, the city’s first heritage-led cocktail bar, notes that almost every cocktail bar is in the Central district, which helps explain this sense of community. ‘I think Hong Kong has the most bartending guest shifts on the calendar,’ he says.
But the fact that every bar is within a kilometre radius of each other ‘means you really have to stand out,’ Yeung explains. ‘If you have a concept that’s neither here nor there, people tend to gloss over it.’
There is so much diversity and that’s one of the strengths of Hong Kong
– Lorenzo Antinori, Bar Leone
Heritage is one way bars distinguish themselves. Whilst Kinsman is the only bar singularly focused on local spirits and design, the importance of local culture is spreading. ‘Since we opened, we have seen more bars becoming more open to the idea,’ says Yeung, citing the example of The Kimpton incorporating Cantonese spirits across its entire drinks menu on opening night.
Beyond heritage, taste itself is shaped by the city’s environment. Hong Kong’s subtropical climate has always meant people tend towards lighter, brighter, more easy-going drinks. Its location also means there’s influences from other parts of Asia, especially Japan. ‘Hong Kongers travel to Japan so much that when they go to a Japanese bar, they really look for the most authentic impression of that,’ says Yeung.
Amongst all these influences, success is far more exacting. Strong branding and high volumes have been crucial to survival in this high-rent, high-wages environment, and this even extends to hotel bars; the dark-spirits-and-live-jazz DarkSide at the Rosewood and Japanese izakaya-style Aubrey at the Mandarin Oriental are two examples.
‘It’s like the Galapagos Islands,’ Yeung explains. Just as ‘a lot of different bird species end up evolving the same shape…a lot of bars also end up converging upon the same model, even though the concepts are very unique and diverse.’
Six of the best Hong Kong bars
Bar Leone
Sheung Wan
At Bar Leone, becoming the world’s best is down to the details. Warm red lighting, vintage Italian movie posters, football memorabilia, velvet curtains and an Italo-disco playlist co-create an environment that is both fun and sultry but far from style over substance. A simple menu delivers showstopping drinks: a yuzu Negroni that balances refreshment with depth; a silk-smooth, cardamom-spiced Caffè Paradiso with a subtle saline edge; and the Olive Oil Sour, where a Woodford Reserve whisky sour is velveted by Italian olive oil and accented with marsala. The plump olives and focaccia generously loaded with mortadella and whipped ricotta are ideal companions to the drinks but if dinner calls, indulge in hearty beef lasagna or meatball marinara.
Kinsman
Soho
Vancouver-born Yeung grew up in Hong Kong and began playing around with cocktails during the pandemic, exploring how to incorporate Asian ingredients like yuzu and local teas into classic drinks. A pivotal moment came when he stumbled across a heritage group’s Facebook post about pork-fat infused rice wine. He bought a bottle for $60HK (less than £6) and was struck by its bouquet of pandan, rose and vanilla. He brought it to a guest shift at neighbourhood cafe-bar Dio and the rest is history. An atmospheric, ruby-toned bar was born, its walls painted with Chungking Express murals, international spirits abandoned for Cantonese and Mainland Chinese ones. The current menu is based on Chinatowns around the world. Yeung’s favourite on it is the Papaya Van Winkle — an Italian bitter-style creation inspired by the Cantonese dessert soup of papaya and snow fungus, reinterpreted with a green papaya and Chinese herb wine backbone. Food is equally considered, with locally inspired dishes like chilli crab spring roll with lime and curry leaf; eggplant chencun noodles with douchi and white sesame; and shrimp toast with smoked pork lard and chilli sauce.
Mius
Sheung Wan
At one of the hottest new bars in town, smooth oak wood panelling is juxtaposed against a curvaceous stainless-steel bar bathed in softly glowing light. Here, it’s all about classics with a slight twist: a vodka Martini becomes a Tomatotini with tomato shrub, dill, lime, and aromatic basil oil; a Negroni is given new dimensions with strawberry-laced Campari, grenache and pink peppercorn. There are some more creative numbers, such as the must-try nightcap Fig Ol’ Days – a smoky, earthy blend of scotch, fino sherry, fig leaf, and palo santo. Graze on crispy chicken with ginger and sansho pepper or chive and pork dumplings in a broth enriched with sake and kombu.
Quinary
Soho
One of the early pioneers of the city’s bar scene, celebrated bartender Antonio Lai, takes an experimental, multi-sensory, molecular approach to mixology, complete with theatrical flourishes like dry ice. Sitting at the illuminated bar amid moody black interiors and watching the spectacle unfold is the best way to experience it. The current menu connects flavour to memory and cultural heritage: O Venice is a Tai O-inspired Negroni-esque drink made with shrimp oil fat-washed Tequila, sichuan pepper mezcal, strawberry Campari and clarified clamato juice; Maritime Bay takes you elsewhere with ten-year-old Talisker, nori-infused vermouth, cold brew gunpowder oolong cordial and saline. If that all sounds too adventurous, the classics section at the back of the menu offers drinks like a barrel-aged Negroni and Rosita.
COA
Sheung Wan
Pakistan-born Jay Khan and Nepal-originating Ajit Gurung opened Savoury Project in 2023 – a good alternative to Quinary for those after savoury-forward drinks – but COA, which opened in 2017, is their first bar and remains the city’s only agave-focused venue. The influence of the Savoury Project lab is felt, with local flavours woven into agave cocktails throughout: la Chinesca brings together Tequila, coriander and jalapeño brine with ginger honey and sesame; and Smacked Cucumber combines chilli mezcal with Chinese salad sauce. While the cocktail menu leans towards Tequila, an impressive mezcal menu features premium expressions from agave jabalí, tepeztate, and coyote. But even for the most devoted agave spirits aficionado, the Ancho Highball makes the perfect aperitivo.
Sugar King
Soho
A minuscule bar on the stairway down from Hong Kong Island’s upper levels, Sugar King lures you in with its vintage feel, old-world mahogany cabinets and contemporary Latin urban pop. The drinks menu is Cuban-focused, with rotating Daiquiri options, alongside pleasing remixes: a Cuba Libre twisted with preserved lime, green mango and cola amaro; a Negroni built on Guatemalan rum with coconut, and Cynar alongside white vermouth and Campari. The snacks menu leans into cured meats and local products, such as coppa di testa pastrami with pickled fennel and herb aioli on Pineapple Bakery brioche.
