It is a massive yr for the Asian bar trade. For the primary time ever, the World’s 50 Greatest Bars finale will probably be hosted in Asia, scheduled for Singapore this October. One other first was simply marked, nevertheless, with the first-ever internet hosting in Hong Kong of Asia’s 50 Greatest Bars 2023, that I attended a number of days in the past. One other hallmark is the truth that this was the primary full-scale gathering of the bar neighborhood in Asia since 2019. Attracted by a slew of occasions within the run-up to the finale — largely within the nature of bar takeovers by a number of the bar world’s most outstanding personalities and bars — this had the added benefit of exposing me to quite a few numerous venues throughout Hong Kong that I’d usually haven’t visited, from izakayas (Japanese type ingesting homes) to scrappy dive bars and speakeasies resembling The Aubrey on the Mandarin Oriental – Izakaya, High quality Items Membership – Dive Bar, The Pontiac – all spherical enjoyable bar, amongst others,
Let me circle again first, to a 2018 go to to the town and a chat with my go-to man for bar suggestions — Dev Sehgal, a Hong Kong bar veteran who has been within the metropolis for a decade and as insiders say, the OG of Hong Kong bars. Presently the beverage supervisor on the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong, and for a number of years earlier than that, he was the bar supervisor of eight 1/2 Otto E Mezzo Bombana, the one Italian restaurant outdoors of Italy to get three Michelin stars. You have to go to Coa, he says. A coa, if you’re curious, is a long-specialised software used to reap agave, the plant that’s then used to make agave spirits like mezcal and tequila. Coa, the bar launched in 2017,just isn’t straightforward to seek out. With the phrases ‘Coa’ written in an especially small font on a brick wall outdoors the bar, it whispers, quite than shouts its presence in Central Hong Kong.
The staff of COA at Asia’s 50 Greatest Bars 2023
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association
I discovered as I entered, the exact same Coa displayed on the wall inside, and Jay Khan, the founder behind the bar. Jay’s frequent visits to Mexico, received him fascinated by the agave, particularly as he informed me then, “They’re the one spirits that categorical their flavour naturally.” Versus say, darkish spirits like whisky the place the majority of the flavour comes from maturation, or gin, the place it’s a vary of botanicals that contribute to the flavour.
Coa, once I visited in 2018, was pretty empty, and it has been a difficult few years for Jay and his staff to remain pure to their mission. Though the rewards had been sluggish to return, it has since been a heady trip for them, coming in twice now as the #1 bar in Asia, and as I go to two days earlier than the finale, I’m lucky to be whisked in by Jay, as a result of the road outdoors is a block lengthy.
Beckaly Franks, founding father of The Pontiac and winner of Asia’s 50 Greatest Bars 2023
| Picture Credit score:
Particular Association
Asia’s 50 Greatest Bars 2023, hosted by Mark Sansom, Director of Content material, for World’s 50 Greatest Bars, is a tightly hosted affair of simply 75 minutes, save for the final 10 minutes in terms of the announcement of the High three bars in Asia. Previous to that, it has been a bumper yr for India, with a document 9 bars within the High 100, 5 within the positions 51-100 (Americano, Hideaway, PCO, Residence, Hoot’s) and 4 within the High 50 (Copitas, The Bombay Canteen, The Dwelling Room by Masque and Sidecar). No shock that it’s New Delhi’s Sidecar that receives the Amaro Lucano award for the #1 ranked bar in India, clocking in at quantity 18 on this yr’s checklist.
Within the run-up to the finale in October, the bars are abuzz with rumours of who may emerge as number one. Wouldn’t it be Coa for a record-breaking third yr, or would it not be Singapore’s Jigger and Pony, with their breathtaking new cocktail menu, or would it not be the Bangkok Social Membership, from the 4 Seasons Bangkok? For a number of years, it has been a toss-up between Jigger and Coa, and as you might need guessed by now, it’s Coa once more that triumphed.
I ask Indra Kantono, the co-founder of Jigger and Pony, if he feels that this could possibly be the yr for an Asian bar to be recognised as the #1 on the planet. “Whereas it’ll be wonderful to see an Asian bar be recognised because the primary on the planet, we imagine that it’s extra necessary to foster the expansion of the bar tradition and neighborhood,” he says.
Jay echoes Indra’s phrases within the media interplay that follows. When requested, how Coa will proceed to stay related, he says, “We’re going to proceed to stay the identical”. Amen.