Hong Kong’s Bar Leone crowned number 1 at The World’s 50 Best Bars

2025 marks the year that Hong Kong hosted the prestigious awards ceremony for The World’s 50 Best Bars for the very first time – an honour especially prominent since this is only the second time that the ceremony has ever been held in Asia. Well, the confetti is still floating in the air, the party is going strong, and the 17th edition of the winning list has just been announced. Hong Kong is once again ranking high on the list, with the city’s favourite Bar Leone being crowned first place as the World’s Best Bar this year.

Hong Kong’s own Bar Leone, which was recently ranked as Asia’s Best Bar, has risen from its number two rank at last year’s World’s 50 Best Bars in the short two years that it’s been open to be proudly crowned the top bar worldwide. This also marks the first time that a bar based in Asia has been given the top slot. Last year’s crowned winner Handshake from Mexico City has now dipped slightly into number two position, while Sips from Barcelona rounds off the top three. (Incidentally, Sips’ founder Simone Caporale has also collaborated with Bar Leone’s Lorenzo Antinori earlier this year to launch their Cuban-inspired bar in Hong Kong called Montana.)

The top 50 list was mostly European- and South American-dominated this year, with the only other Asian bar within the top 10 being Singapore’s Jigger & Pony coming in at rank nine. As for our other neighbouring cities, Bangkok’s Bar Us ranks at number 15; Zest from Seoul at number 16; Tokyo’s Bar Benfiddich at number 18; and Guangzhou’s Hope & Sesame at number 29. Hong Kong’s famous agave spirits-based bar Coa – which was once crowned the best bar in Asia for three years in a row – now ranks at number 38 in The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025. Rounding off the Asian bars within the top 50 is Tokyo’s Virtu at number 45; The Bellwood at number 48, also from the Japanese capital city; Bangkok’s BKK Social Club at number 49; and finally Singapore’s Nutmeg & Clove at number 50.

Other notable wins include the Roku Industry Icon award going to Simone Caporale, while South Korean Singapore-based Uno Jang from Jigger & Pony went home with the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award. Penang’s Backdoor Bodega is a testament to the Malaysian food capital with the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu award, while buzzy family-owned bar Laby Bee from Peru won the Mitcher’s Art of Hospitality Award, as well as ranking number 13. 

The prestigious World’s 50 Best Bars list was compiled by over 700 beverage experts across 28 global regions, comprising bartenders, consultants, writers, and cocktail specialists who have sipped their way around the world. Voters casted seven votes based on their own bar experiences in the previous 18 months.

Relive the highlights of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 ceremony on the 50 Best YouTube channel.

The complete list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025

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