Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023, sponsored by Perrier, will be held in Hong Kong on 18th July, so 50 Best has rounded up an indispensable guide to restaurants and watering holes in the Fragrant Harbour. From fancy French fine dining to eclectic cocktails in rowdy dive bars, get stuck into some of the best food and drink Hong Kong has to offer
BARS
Argo
Essential order: Argo Martini
In the ground floor of the Four Seasons Hong Kong, with tidy views over Victoria Harbour lives Argo. The bar takes its name from the ship in the ancient Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, which was the vessel they sailed in to claim the Golden Fleece. Argo’s innovative cocktail menu predicts the future of drinking, using alternatives to ingredients which may become extinct and paying particular attention to locally or Asia-sourced ingredients. The bar’s extensive spirits menu – the Field Guide – is split into five sections: Modernist Spirits; Collaborative Creations; Philanthropic and Socially Conscious; A Sense of the Land, and Clash of the Worlds and is a showcase of some of the world’s most innovative spirits – think gin created by AI and molecular aged whiskey. The Argo Martini is the bar’s steadfast, featuring a hydrosol base flavoured with rotating citrus or savoury ingredients and topped with ice cold bespoke gin made especially for the bar.
Four Seasons Hotel, 8 Finance St, Central, Hong Kong
Coa
Essential order: La Paloma De Oaxaca
This Oaxacan-style watering hole is founder Jay Khan’s shrine to agave spirits – think tequila, mezcal, sotol, raicilla and lesser-known products from Mexico. Coa has Hong Kong’s – if not Asia’s – largest and most unique collection of agave spirits, and Khan is more than happy to wax lyrical about his favourite spirit category and share his unparalleled knowledge with drinkers. Named after the machete-like tool used to harvest agave, Coa isn’t just about the spirits, the craft cocktails here are stand-out too. The bar’s legendary La Paloma de Oaxaca elevates the classic Paloma with tequila blanco, mezcal joven, fresh lime juice and craft grapefruit soda finished with an umami-laden worm salt rim. The bar is reflective of Khan’s favourite Oaxacan venues, decorated with paintings of alebrijes, or Mexican spirit animals; different agave varieties and Mayahuel, the goddess of agave. Coa also runs the bi-monthly Mezcal Mission, an agave masterclass which donates all proceeds to local charities.
6-10 Shin Hing St, Central, Hong Kong
DarkSide
Essential order: Gibson
Housed in the Rosewood Hotel, DarkSide is named after the colloquial nickname for Hong Kong’s Kowloon side and focuses on all things dark: spirits, chocolate and vintage cigars. The bar boasts an impressive collection of rare dark spirits such as exclusive casks of Grande Champagne cognac aged in oak or single harvest tawny port from 1994, as well as fortified wines and amaro. Live jazz elevates the elegance of DarkSide, and the classic cocktail menu is also served alongside whatever the bar’s current innovative signature menu is – think drinks inspired by the eight phases of the moon or popular Chinese game mahjong. The bar’s Gibson is one of the best in town, with a perfect balance of savoury onion brine, gin and riesling. The bar also created its very own amaro, fully produced in Hong Kong using botanicals foraged from the SAR’s outlying rural islands.
Rosewood Hong Kong Victoria Dockside, 18 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Mostly Harmless
Essential order: Daily menu
Led by veteran bartender Ezra Star, Mostly Harmless is an intimate bar decorated in wall to ceiling white tiles on which the staff write the guest’s names and the day’s cocktail menu in magic markers. Choose your water vessel from a quirky selection of cups, mugs and glasses and get stuck into the drinks. The almost-daily-changing menu of four cocktails features ingredients picked up from the team’s visits to Hong Kong markets and farms, meaning lots of seasonal produce and unusual combinations using various base spirits. The omakase-style bar also serves solid classic cocktails, some featuring twists from the farmers they work with, such as the tomato Martini.
2/F, 110 Queen's Rd West, Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
Penicillin
Essential order: The Original
Hong Kong’s first closed-loop venue is led by bartending veteran Agung Prabowo. Named after the antibiotic, this lab-like bar has a huge focus on sustainability, using local ingredients and upcycling waste from restaurants in the area wherever possible. Fermentation is also key here, with the bar’s “Stinky Room” showcasing the team’s current experiments. Cocktails at Penicillin use unusual flavour pairings and are created using modern culinary techniques, such as Prabowo’s iconic take on a clarified Bloody Mary, The Original. Made using vodka distilled in a rotary evaporator with clams, clarified spiced cherry tomato juice, clear salted coconut syrup and clarified lemon juice, the super savoury sip is topped with a briny oyster leaf for the ultimate flavour pairing.
L/G Amber Lodge, 23 Hollywood Rd, Central, Hong Kong
Quinary
Essential order: Earl Grey Caviar Martini
Quinary is one of Hong Kong’s first craft cocktail bars and paved the way for many of the SAR’s award-winning bars, founded by Charlene Dawes and bartender Antonio Lai. The charismatic Lai is known for his brand of multisensory mixology and implemented culinary equipment in his bar programme such as rotary evaporators, centrifuges and sous vide machines years before they became de rigueur in bars. Drinks at Quinary are quirky and Insta-worthy, and the bar’s Earl Grey Caviar Martini literally sells by the thousands annually. Made with citron vodka, triple sec, apple juice, elderflower syrup, fresh lemon and lime juice, the bar is topped with a tower of foam and peppered with balls of spherified Earl Grey “caviar”.
56-58 Hollywood Rd, Central, Hong Kong
The Pontiac
Essential order: Hobnail
Hong Kong’s stalwart American-style neighbourhood dive bar is the brainchild of Beckaly Franks, whose rock and roll attitude and advocacy for inclusivity has made the bar a safe space for everyone, and popular with the LGBTQI+ community thanks to its celebration of pride. The all-female team is led by force of nature Jen Queen, who tends bar with her team to a playlist that can range from pop to death metal depending on the mood. Bras and feather boa dangle from the ceiling and on quiet days, guests can be seen chilling at the bar, whereas at weekends, they’re more than likely to be seen jumping on top of it to dance as the night wears on. Make sure you stick around for the bar’s infamous “Midnight Special”, where the staff pour laybacks from on top of the bar into the mouths of eager patrons. Franks’ Hobnail is a must try, with blended Scotch whisky, rich ginger syrup, fresh lemon juice, Averna and aromatic bitters.
13 Old Bailey St, Soho, Hong Kong
RESTAURANTS
Aqua
Essential order: Italian fassona beef tartare
With some of the best views in Hong Kong on the 17th floor of the H Zentre, Aqua serves a menu of Italian and Japanese fare. Think black truffle pastas alongside fresh sashimi platters, and a stellar selection of cocktails to boot. Aqua features an a la carte menu, as well as two tasting menus featuring stone-grilled wagyu sirloin and more unusual Italian dishes such as duck ragu with tagliatelle, dark chocolate and ricotta salata cheese. Aqua is also renowned for its weekend brunch with unlimited champagne and Italian and Japanese-inspired starters, and its rooftop bar with panoramic views of Victoria Harbour to the sound of live DJs.
17/F, H Zentre, 15 Middle Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Hansik Goo
Essential order: Tasting menu
Chef Mingoo of lauded Seoul restaurant Mingles offers authentic Korean cuisine with a modern twist at his Hong Kong outpost. Hansik simply means Korean food, but broken down, han means one and sikgoo means family, so expect family-style home food, with smatterings of royal inspired cuisine and modern flair. The homely-style restaurant moved locations in 2021 and serves just one tasting menu with optional add-ons such as Korean fried chicken and seafood pancake. Fancy tweaks to traditional dishes include baby octopus juk – Korean-style porridge – with caviar, and bibimbap with striploin and eel – toppings not usually associated with the popular Korean dish. Finishers include desserts such as the sweet and savoury doenjang – fermented soy bean paste – crème brulee.
1/F, The Wellington, 198 Wellington St, Central, Hong Kong
The Chairman
Essential order: Thick cut Chairman-style char siu (Cantonese roast pork)
One of Hong Kong’s most iconic restaurants, The Chairman has recently moved location to fancier digs and uses locally sourced ingredients as much as possible. Think Cantonese food that focuses on tradition rather than showy techniques, but tradition done damn well. The Chairman’s menu varies depending on seasonal availability but must-try dishes include razor clams steamed with lemon aged over 10 years and mixed herbs, the tender thick cut char siu, the photogenic flowery crabs and show-stopping camphor wood smoked goose. All sauces are made in house, and many of the restaurant’s cured preserved meats and pickles come from their small farm in Hong Kong. It’s also worth noting that The Chairman shuns traditional Cantonese ingredients such as shark's fin, sea cucumber and bird's nest in a desire to be more eco-friendly.
3/F, The Wellington, 198 Wellington St, Central, Hong Kong
Caprice
Essential order: Land and sea tartare (Australian wagyu beef and Gillardeau oyster, Kristal Caviar)
Some of the finest French cuisine in Hong Kong comes with stunning views of Victoria Harbour to boot. Caprice has operated under the watchful eye of chef de cuisine Guillaume Galliot since 2017, add its highly Insta-worthy wagyu and oyster tartare with Kristal caviar and equally delicious and innovative laksa-inspired king crab and confit egg are worth the price tag. The tasting menu features 10 appetisers – half of which are lighter cold dishes and the other half bold hot dishes such as langoustine ravioli with veal sweetbreads and mushrooms in a shellfish bisque emulsion. Six seafood and six meat main courses follow including Périgord milk-fed veal on saffron risotto, with green asparagus and orange blossom. Just make sure you save room for a cheese plate, as Caprice’s is one of the best in town.
Four Seasons Hotel, 8 Finance St, Central, Hong Kong
Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023, sponsored by Perrier, will be revealed at an event in Hong Kong on 18th July at 8.30pm local time. The ceremony will be livestreamed on 50 Best Bars TV YouTube channel and 50 Best Bars Facebook page. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to stay up to date with all the news and announcements.
