Argo
Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong
Over the past five years, Hong Kong was struck by a double whammy of strict pandemic protocols and sociopolitical upheaval, leaving many international visitors wondering if the city they knew and loved would be able to maintain its vibrancy. If the bar world is your measuring stick — and considering the Western-leading attitudes of such establishments, there are worse metrics — Hong Kong is thriving.
Hong Kong accounts for 13 of Asia’s top 100 cocktail bars, including the number one entrant, Bar Leone, which underwent a meteoric rise after opening in June 2023. “We’re a neighborhood bar, and I think it’s important to create spaces that are accessible and approachable,” says co-founder Lorenzo Antinori. “After COVID, people want to have fun, and I think in the bar scene now there is definitely lots of interest in simpler concepts.”
That’s the case at Bar Leone, which oozes a fun vibe that enchants guests the moment they walk through the doors. Sure, there are inspired, well-made cocktails, with signatures such as the Filthy Martini and Yuzu Americano, a trio of house Negroni riffs and seasonal cocktails such as the Olive Oil Sour, but it’s the hospitality and energy, and a locals-first approach, that’s responsible for the bar’s soaring overnight success. “Tourists are like a one-night stand,” Antinori says. “But at the end of the day it’s of course a balance between the two sides.”
There’s been an evolution underway across Hong Kong’s bar world, with the city’s cocktail culture shifting towards individual owners and proprietors rather than corporate conglomerates. While hotel bars are still thriving, there’s no better case in point for this cultural shift than Antinori himself, who ushered in Argo‘s rise — the flashy cocktail bar calls the Four Seasons Hong Kong home — before leaving to open his own venture.
“Fine-dining restaurants are struggling right now, while small operators are doing well,” Antinori says. “The dynamics and the vibe of a standalone venue are much more appealing these days versus a hotel bar. And I still love the Four Seasons, but maybe some hotels should open spaces that are just more fun.”
Many of the city’s independent bar owners have gone on to expand their footprint with new locations and offshoot concepts. From Penicillin — whose owner, Agung Prabowo, also founded The Old Man and saw it ranked as the number one bar in Asia in 2019 before moving on from the concept — came Lock Down and Dead &. From Coa — which took home the number one ranking for three straight years from 2021-2023 — came The Savory Project, and from Quinary came The Opposites.
“The dynamics of Hong Kong have changed,” says Ajit Gurung, co-founder of The Savory Project and Coa’s head of operations. “It used to be a lot of big bars, but now it’s a lot of small bartender-owned bars. It seems like they’re all bartender-owned now, and it’s shifted from these big corporations to small, independent bars.”
Bartenders are trained and grow to be managers, and then move on and open up shop for themselves, looking at neighboring establishments as friends and community members rather than rivals. “In Hong Kong, we don’t see each other as competition, we’re all really close,” says John Coronado, manager of Penicillin and Lock Down. After I visited both establishments, Coronado walked me down the street to Coa, introduced me to their team and made sure I got a spot inside. That type of hospitality, in service of a rising tide lifts all boats mentality as opposed to self-promotion, is rare.
“The industry in Hong Kong is all very connected,” Gurung says. “I think it’s kind of like what happened in New York 10 or 12 years ago with people learning and then moving onto and opening up their own places.”
The secret sauce across the city is that ethos of community, and the way that bartenders and bars support one another. “We opened the type of bar that bartenders want to spend their time in, I’m more comfortable doing that,” Antinori says, as opposed to remaining in the more rigid, corporate world of a hotel bar backed by a major, multinational luxury brand.
As if on cue while I’m conversing with Antinori at Bar Leone, Gurung walks in the door on his night off. The industry doesn’t just recommend each other out of rote habit, they frequent their favorite spots and check in with their favorite bartenders whenever they can. It’s an authentic appreciation and respect for one another that certain more competitive, cutthroat bar scenes could learn a thing or two from.
Let’s dive a bit deeper on some of the above establishments, plus a few bonuses, to get a sense for what sets them apart.
At Penicillin, sustainability is the bar’s top priority. Not only have they partnered with ecoSPIRITS to reduce their bar’s footprint, they’ve gone a step further by developing a program where they plant a tree each time a particular drink is ordered. Cocktails put discarded ingredients from local restaurants and purveyors into starring roles, by fermenting pineapple buns into alcohol, using oyster shells to flavor vodka and turning avocado pits into ice cubes, for instance.
The back bar doesn’t feature any branded bottles, as the team redistills or otherwise alters nearly every spirit they use, starting from standard-level products stocked from ecoSPIRITS. There’s a fermentation room as well as a lab where the team then twists, tweaks and transforms new signature ingredients. Offshoot Lockdown, meanwhile, opened across the street in September 2023 and focuses on riffs of Prohibition-era classics.
At The Savory Project, Gurung puts often surprising, bold flavors to use in his drinks. “Savory cocktails have a bad reputation, like you can’t have more than one, but we want to change that,” he says. Drinks include options such as the popular Thai Beef Salad, adorned with a beef jerky snack, the Biryani, incorporating ghee and masala, and the Pepper+Corn, with ingredients such as charred corn husk, cumin, tomato and MSG.
Savory drinks are also in the spotlight at forebear Coa, spurring on the debut of its newer sister bar. Signatures include the Mole Negroni, incorporating poblano and cacao husk into a tequila-base Negroni, and a Bloody Beef Maria, a clarified beef broth Bloody Mary. A large illustrated agave menu breaks down the category by variety and serves as a useful explainer for newcomers in the small, always-packed space.
Bar Leone stays busy and bumping, and is stylized as a well lived-in Italian bar and cafe that belies its less than two years of existence. Come for the revelry, enjoy the top-notch service and be confident ordering any of the Italian-inspired drinks, but perhaps stay for the bar snacks, such as the renowned focaccia mortadella sandwich. “We don’t need to find a cure for cancer,” Antinori says. “Our goal is finding the beauty in the simple things.”
Despite a move towards this type of smaller, bartender-owned establishment, Hong Kong’s hotel scene still showcases a number of hotspots. Visit The Bar at the Peninsula Hong Kong for classic drinks in an elegant setting, backed by an extensive spirits collection and live music. It’s a small lounge where you’ll be tempted to hunker down for several rounds, and a counterpoint to the showier scene in the hotel’s rooftop space Felix, where views of the skyline across Victoria Harbour beckon. Head mixologist François Cavelier gets more creative in the latter setting, and the restaurant even pairs dishes with his lineup of inventive cocktails.
One of Cavelier’s prior stops happens to have been DarkSide at the Rosewood Hong Kong. It’s a glitzy space with an elaborate, moving Murano glass display on its ceiling, along with a famed spirits room housing prestige bottles, a barrel of its own Cognac to sample and a chocolate table studded with treats for pairing. The current Yin Yang menu features light side and dark side libations delivered to guests in fanciful glassware, and if you’re feeling lucky or just at a loss, you can spin a wheel and order whichever drink it lands upon.
And if all of that wasn’t enough, in Hong Kong, even the airport has you covered for cocktails. Hell, even the airline does. Cathay Pacific offers signature cocktails aboard its flights, such as the Cloud Nine, and you can also order classics such as a Negroni. When in doubt, flight attendants are knowledgeable about mixing drinks, so you can tell them the ingredients and format of a drink you’re craving and they’ll make it happen.
Before takeoff, head to Intervals from creative director Tori Chow, a stylish space set within Hong Kong International’s Sky Bridge, perched almost 100 feet over the runways with a view of the airport action. “It’s all about time, and even if you just have a short amount of it, we’ll make a cocktail flight for you,” says beverage manager Imelda Ng, who used to work with Antinori at Argo.
Different signature flights are based on the length of time you have to spend before your flight boards, with pre-built options ranging from 15 to 45 minutes and featuring a selection of either mini cocktails or no-ABV drinks depending on your preferred state of mind for that upcoming long haul. The bar is actually part of the Plaza Premium group of lounges, and therefore offers perks for Priority Pass and Lounge Key members.
Still thirsty? I was aiming to visit four or five bars per night during my most recent visit. If you can keep up, add Bourke’s, Tell Camellia, Mizunara: The Library, The Aubrey, Mostly Harmless, Yardbird, Gokan, Orchard, Social Room, The Diplomat, Pontiac, La Cabane, Courtroom, The Green Door, Honky Tonks Tavern, Ronin Snack Bar and The Iron Fairies to your list. That should keep ya busy for a while.
