Hong Kong’s Bar Leone again came out tops in Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025 following its win last year, which comes after a three-peat by fellow Hong Kong bar COA.
Bar Leone has again landed the title of best bar at Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025. Announced at a glittering awards ceremony at Wynn Palace Macau, Lorenzo Antinori’s Hong Kong Italian-themed Bar Leone proved it was no flash in a pan by clinching top honours on the coveted list for the second successive year.
Bar Leone’s stunning repeat win also means that Hong Kong bars have held on to the top spot for five years running, with Mexican-inspired craft cocktail bar COA before them making cocktail history for being the first-ever bar win pole position for three consecutive years — from 2021 to 2023 — since the awards began in 2016. It leads a gaggle of five other Hong Kong bars in the Top 50: Argo (No.11), COA (No.17), Penicillin (No.27), The Savory Project (No.32), and Gokan (No.33).
“We’re thrilled to gather in Macau with Asia’s vibrant and passionate drinks community. Congratulations to Lorenzo Antinori and the entire team at Bar Leone for the incredible feat of retaining the No.1 spot, and for delivering a consistently outstanding drinking and hospitality experience that brings a bellissimo slice of Rome to Hong Kong,” declared Emma Sleight, Head of Content for Asia’s 50 Best Bars.
But it is Bangkok that pushes its claim as Asia’s newest and most eminent cocktail capital with a total of seven bars on the list, more than any other city. Gastronomy-themed Bar Us was Bangkok’s best performing bar at No.4; it is followed by Dry Wave Cocktail Studio (No.5), BKK Social Club (No.19), G.O.D (No.26), Vesper (No.29), Opium (No.43), and Bar Sathorn (No.48).
Singapore’s usually illustrious cocktail scene suffered a blow with just five entries on this year’s list, compared to a whopping 11 back in 2024. Pioneering bar Jigger & Pony continues to wave its cocktail credentials as Singapore’s best bar at No.3 — the same as last year — followed by Offtrack (No.23), Nutmeg & Clove (No.24), Cat Bite Club (No.44), and Native (No.45).
In an earlier announcement, five Singapore bars made the supplementary 51-100 list for Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025. They were Side Door (No.53), Sago House (No.56), Origin Bar (No.60), Night Hawk (No.77), Employees Only Singapore (No.89).
But the city that bears watching? Jakarta. The Indonesian capital’s cocktail scene has surged in recent years, with a new slate of different-themed cocktail bars that’s reinventing the city’s nightlife scene. On the list are chill cocktail haven Modernhaus (No.12), hotel jazz lounge The St. Regis Bar (No.22), cosy indie joint Carrots Bar (No.34), and slick Jigger & Pony transplant Cosmo Pony (No.38, pictured above).
Another city to watch is Bengaluru, which saw three of its bars skyrocket to the upper echelons of the list with Soka (No.28), ZLB23 (No.31), and Bar Spirit Forward (No.37). In total India counted a total of five bars in the latest rankings, with New Delhi’s Lair leading at No.8 and Boilermaker from Goa coming in at No.30.
This year’s list also featured a total of 20 wholly new entries and spanned some 20 Asian destinations, a testament to the rapid spread of cocktail culture across Asia in recent years. Cities represented for the first time on the list include Changsha, Shenzhen, Kumamoto, Phnom Penh, and Tainan.
“With 20 new entries, the most in recent years, this list is a testament to the boundary-pushing creativity of Asia, with truly memorable drink experiences waiting to be explored by cocktail enthusiasts,” shared Sleight.
“The region’s bars continue to redefine excellence in cocktail culture, as seen in the talent and creativity of this year’s winners,” Sleight added.
The Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025 awards announcement was part of a week-long celebration from 11 to 15 July at Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace Macau with an entire slew of cocktail-focused revelry including dozens of guest shifts, cocktail pairing dinners, and bar pop-ups that showcased the region’s thriving bar scene and dynamic spirit.
Highlights during the week included Aperitivo Canto by Campari that saw Bar Sathorn (Bangkok), Opium (Bangkok), Bar S-OTTO (Paris), Bar Leone (Hong Kong), Moebius (Milan) and Idle Hands (Singapore) take over Wynn Palace’s own Wing Lei Bar, as well as Inventor’s Laboratory, which brought together bar industry icons Julio Bermejo, creator of Tommy’s Margarita, and Sam Ross, inventor of the Penicillin and Paper Plane, together for an epic guest shift.
You can find the full Asia’s 50 Best Bars list for 2025 here below or more at the World’s 50 Best Bars website.
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