Singapore’s Jigger & Pony has taken the No.1 spot on the list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020, sponsored by Perrier. As the news began to sink in, 50 Best caught up with owners Gan Guoyi and Indra Kantono to see how it feels to become the continent’s hottest drinking destination
It’s a new No.1 for Asia and a return to the top spot for Singapore as Jigger & Pony was announced as The Best Bar in Asia 2020, sponsored by Perrier.
The ceremony for Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020 took on a more sober format than in previous, more rambunctious years. Motion graphics took the place of bartenders’ embraces as the Asian continent and the rest of the world continue to face up to the novel coronavirus pandemic. After much consultation with the bar industry in Asia, 50 Best decided to go ahead with the digital announcement to recognise and appreciate the bars and their teams’ hard work over the past year.
This year’s top honour sits with Gan Guoyi and Indra Kantono, co-owners of Jigger & Pony, who entered the hospitality world only eight years ago. In 2016, Jigger & Pony entered the first edition of Asia’s 50 Best Bars list and last year it won the Highest Climber Award, moving 33 places up the ranking. “I’m just starting to digest the news, but this feels incredible,” says Kantono as 50 Best spoke to one half of Jigger & Pony’s ownership pair immediately after their win was announced.
“It’s a testament to how hard the team has worked for this over the years. It’s an incredible honour to be voted by our peers all across Asia and it’s an incredible responsibility to represent our team, our city of Singapore, and our entire industry across Asia, especially during this time. Every bar is kind of hurting but we all have one eye on the recovery phase and I can’t wait to work together with everyone to get our team on the recovery path.”
Indra Kantono, co-owner of Jigger & Pony, Singapore with the trophy
Guoyi and Kantono are atypical bar owners. Kantono majored in finance and consulting before turning to bar craft, while Guoyi worked her formative years as a flight attendant. Together, they combine the business acumen and hospitality personality that’s integral for running a continent-beating bar. “Guoyi, my wife, was a flight attendant on Singapore Airlines and she used to say that it's the best hospitality school in Singapore,” says Kantono. “After a few years of flying, she realised that she loved hospitality and wanted to continue doing it, but perhaps without having to change time zones every other day.
“I used to work for a consulting company called Bain & Co and one thing I realised after leaving is that it kept being ranked as one of the best places to work. My experience there really informed me about how to build a team and a programme where bartenders and hospitality professionals can join us, grow with us and develop with us. A lot of my work right now is being the culture officer, creating an environment and a set up where our bartenders feel they can focus on their craft and the hospitality with our guests.”
Inside Jigger & Pony
Opening in 2012 in the Amara Hotel, Jigger & Pony began making waves in its first few months. A lounge bar in design with the spirit of a nightclub coursing through its veins, it seems to attract a crowd which embraces laybacks as it does slow-sipped Martinis, creating a kind of unique spirit that works on every level. “The bar is founded on a purpose that has been there since the day we opened in 2012,” says Kantono. “We wanted the bar to be a place where people could find comfort, forge friendship and share happiness and build relationships between guests and bartenders.”
The Jigger & Pony concept isn’t unique, it’s just executed exceptionally well. Proper service, delivered by an experienced team who hail from all corners of the globe. “We are very proud of the diversity in our staff,” says Kantono. “We don’t hire based on age, where people come from or what they used to do. Everybody joins Jigger & Pony for that same convivial ethos. The word comes from ‘convivere’, ‘with life’, so we try to welcome our guests into our home. Jigger & Pony is the living room of the city. Even today, we don’t have a room that we can orchestrate as we're still under the restrictions of the Circuit Breaker in Singapore, but that doesn’t stop our team from conducting it virtually, through deliveries, virtual masterclasses, interviews, and still reaching out to our audience who are now at home.”
The team also looks at fresh ways to reinvent bartending archetypes. Its menu of elevated classic drinks, for example, takes the form of a magazine, with features and news stories about the cocktail world interspersed with its drinks list. “Jigger & Pony has always had its roots in classic cocktails,” says Kantono. “They never go out of fashion, but every now and then, classic cocktails can be dismissed as a bit run of the mill. We realised that classics have a lot more stories to tell than a drink that is created just out of the blue. We were trying to find a happy medium that doesn’t interfere with guest enjoyment, so we came up with the magazine format because most people know how to browse a magazine and pick up the information quickly. It allows our bartenders to express their creativity and the stories behind each of the drinks, while remaining true to our roots in classic cocktails.”
Jigger & Pony, The Best Bar in Asia 2020, sponsored by Perrier
But for now, Kantono and Gouyi will revel in the knowledge that they are the first-couple of Asia's bar scene. “I’m going to have a highball, a simple whisky highball,” he says, before assessing the global situation in bars as a whole. “No matter what, human relationships are never going away; they will continue to be the purpose of why we do what we do. Many bartenders and hospitality professionals want to have that human connection and deliver happiness to other people – that’s never going to change. We might have to adjust and invent new ways of doing that, but I have no doubt that as a community, we'll be able to achieve that mission. I want to tell bartenders and bars around the world that we’re not going to disappear. If anything, human relationships will be there forever.”
Congratulations to the whole Jigger & Pony team, deserving winners of The Best Bar in Asia 2020, sponsored by Perrier.
Now allow them to show you around their bar:
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