What a night! The one line that summed up all emotions at the grand banquet hall of the Wynn Palace, Macau, where the 2025 edition of Asia’s 50 Best Bars just concluded. My hands are still trembling from all the adrenaline and dopamine (and not at all from the copious amounts of amazing cocktails at 50 Best guest shifts held across Hong Kong & Macau over the past few days!) that was released as names were called out on stage and I saw friends and industry colleagues become heroes for the bar communities in the countries they represent. This was truly their moment.
Since the first time the list was announced in 2016 for bars in Asia, the 50 Best list has become the gold standard for bars on the continent to aspire to be recognised at – and it is this recognition that fuels a fire across thousands of bar teams in Asian countries who produce crazy concepts, delicious cocktails, excellent hospitality and cocktail cultures that transcend cities, eventually recognising 50 of the very best bars in Asia. A feat that perhaps is akin to winning a Michelin star for a chef. And last evening saw these stars rain down upon South Asia with 5 bars from India, 1 from Sri Lanka and 1 from Nepal in the Top 50, and 4 Indian bars and 1 Sri Lankan bar in the extended 51–100 list announced a couple of weeks back. We’ve come a long way from boozy LIITs, overly sweet strawberry daiquiris and shots of liqueur dunked in Red Bull.
Hong Kong retained its position as Asia’s cocktail capital with Bar Leone being declared No. 1 bar on the continent. This bar by Lorenzo Antinori and Justin Shun Wah has become an icon of the continent’s bar culture, with it being ranked as No. 2 on the world’s best bars list last October. At No. 2 is Zest, Seoul, and at No. 3 is Jigger & Pony, Singapore – marking its appearance an astonishing 7th time in the top 10 of Asia’s 50 Best list. Run by the industry’s most loved power couple, Guoyi Gan and Indra Kantono, Jigger & Pony has also produced some of the region’s finest bartenders who have gone on to open their own bars that feature on the list. With seven bars in the Top 50, Bangkok has the highest representation among Asian cities, with Bar Us at No. 4 and Dry Wave Cocktail Studio at No. 5.
Jay Khan, the legendary bartender who single-handedly heralded the agave revolution in Asia with his bars Coa Hong Kong & Shanghai, is this year’s Industry Icon – in a previous edition he was awarded the ‘Bartender’s Bartender’ award. Without a doubt, Jay is one of the industry’s most likeable personalities.
Bar Spirit Forward from Bengaluru opened India’s rankings as a new entrant on the list at No. 37. This omakase-styled neighbourhood bar, which has become a firm favourite of Bangaloreans and visitors to the city, was also ranked India’s Best Independent Bar at 30 Best Bars India earlier this year. At No. 31 is ZLB 23 – the Kyoto-styled speakeasy bar at The Leela Palace Bengaluru. Since its opening, ZLB 23 has signalled a revival of hotel bars in the country, with hotels now paying greater attention to better curated drinks programmes. At No. 30 on the list is Goa’s newest kid on the block, Boiler Maker – another new entrant. This Goan shack with the soul of a dive bar, opened late last year, is run by a gregarious team helmed by Pankaj Balachandran, who has made it into one of the state’s top F&B destinations. Coming back to Bengaluru for No. 28 and another new entrant to Asia’s 50 Best Bars list is Soka. Named after its maverick founders Avinash Kapoli and Chef Sombir Chaudhary, this tiny 30-something-seater bar in Indiranagar runs full across its three seatings every evening. As someone who has ardently followed F&B trends in this country, it fills me with joy to see Bengaluru and Goa leading India’s clout at a regional and global level. A natural evolution, I feel, of consumer trends and preferences which for the longest time have rallied between Mumbai and Delhi.
But the Delhiite in me received the ultimate ego boost when Lair New Delhi cracked into the hallowed realms of the top 10 of the list at No.8. After very long has India ventured close to where Jai Raj Solanki, Dhruvraj Vij and Navjot Singh took India’s Bar Industry to last evening. With this, Lair stands tall amongst a list of elite peers in the Asian bar industry and as the best bar in India on the list. A feat which they also achieved in January this year at 30 Best Bars India. Truly a team with the golden touch.
It was also South Asia’s moment in the room. Barc from Nepal and Smoke & Bitters from Sri Lanka shone – and how! Moving up quite a few notches on the list to No. 14, Smoke & Bitters was Sri Lanka’s best bar, and at No. 35 was Barc, which was adjudged the best bar in Nepal. They also won the coveted Art of Hospitality award – voted exclusively by a jury of 50 Best peers. The first bar from South Asia to win it. Abhishek Tuladhar, Founder of Barc, attributed his bar’s win to the legacy of hospitality by generations of Nepalese hospitality ambassadors who have led the way before him – and a duty he feels is his responsibility to continue.
Earlier in July, 50 Best announced the 51–100 extended list of bars that currently sit outside of the Top 50 but have an excellent chance of making it to the list in succeeding editions. South Asian bars had a standout performance in this list too, with Bar Outrigger from Goa at No. 55, New Delhi’s Sidecar at No. 62, The Bombay Canteen from Mumbai at No. 69, Raa from Sri Lanka at No. 84, and Hideaway Goa at No. 94. We are no longer a nascent or emerging drinks market. For quite some time now, India has occupied the position of being the world’s largest whisky market and is constantly being recognised for its quality domestic spirits. And our cocktail bars have just proved that we are a destination unto ourselves. If I had to describe this euphoric moment, I’d do so by borrowing a word from my friend Jai Raj – Balle!
A note on the voting process:
The voting for Asia’s 50 Best Bars is done by an independent and anonymous jury of 300 voters spread across the continent. This group comprises 25% drinks writers & educators, 25% well-travelled cocktail experts, and 50% bartenders and bar owners. No business owner or bartender is allowed to vote for their own bar, with their votes being made invalid in case of any deviation from the rules. The voting is confidential and the jury can vote for up to 7 bars, which they must have visited in the past 18 months. The final votes are tallied and adjudicated independently by professional services consultancy, Deloitte.
You can find the entire list of the top 50 bars and more details at the following link: https://www.theworlds50best.com/bars/asia/list/1-50
