Montana, the riotously fun new SoHo bar from cocktail heavyweights Lorenzo Antinori and Simone Caporale, channels Cuba’s golden age through a Miami disco haze — and delivers Hong Kong one of its most exuberant drinking destinations yet.
It’s not often a new bar lands in Hong Kong that makes you want to both order a drink and dance a jig at the same time. But this is Montana — the new SoHo bolthole in Hong Kong by cocktail legends Lorenzo Antinori of Bar Leone and Simone Caporale from SIPS in Barcelona — and it is rocking.
The premise is simple: take Cuba’s golden age of cocktails, give it a Miami disco spin circa 1977, and shake like a bartender having a blast at a cocktail competition till the entire room erupts in applause. It sounds faintly ludicrous, because it’s more irrepressible dive bar than introspective cocktail lounge, but the result is such incredible fun.
It helps that Montana borrows from the same playbook that made Bar Leone great — good drinks, warm hospitality, and the kind of convivial chaos only great bars can conjure. Its Italian-themed cousin, after all, just got named Asia’s best bar for the second year running, so the founders probably think it’s something worth replicating.
Inside, the bar glows in amber and neon; the punchy soundtrack careens merrily from Tito Puente to ABBA. Maybe because it was opening week when we visited, but every table hummed with the clink of glasses and the buzz of people trying to have a conversation over Santana and Donna Summer.
The cocktails, as you can expect, are on point. Here Antinori and Caporale do what they do best — make classics simultaneously reverential yet mischief-laden.
There’s the namesake Montana Daiquiri, which apparently is inspired by a 1930s recipe that sees the classic prettied up with a float of kirsch eau de vie, or the Rum & Coke Sour, which takes the ubiquitous Cuba Libre and dresses it into something sharp, complex and almost grown-up. The Piña Colada? Here it’s a slushy. A gloriously kitsch, barbecued-pineapple, toasted-coconut, brain freeze-inducing slushy. You’ll grin like a fool and then order another.
And don’t forget the El Presidente, the Cuban classic here arriving after a spell rested in a bottle lacquered with dulce de leche to round out its usual sharpness — an idea so radical it borders on genius.
There’s food too, but let’s be honest — you’re not here for the eats. You’re here for the vibes, the good-looking crowd, the eclectic retro music, and those dependable drinks. Montana is for nights that stretch past midnight, for daiquiris you shouldn’t but will, for strangers who become friends across sticky tables.
In a city obsessed with accolades, Montana simply captures the magic of a great night out. And the awards may just follow.
[Photo credits: @danielgoh]
Montana
Address 108 Hollywood Rd, Central, Hong Kong (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 6pm to 1am Tuesdays to Saturdays; closed on Sundays and Mondays
Web www.montanabarhk.com
Instagram @montanabarhk
Follow us on Telegram to get updated on events and other spirited announcements!
