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There was a bit of a furore among the F&B and hospitality industry in July when the results of the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list dropped and Hong Kong’s Bar Leone, which won the title of the World’s Best Bar in 2025, slipped slightly down the list to third place – but our city has come out swinging once again, as Bar Leone has just been named the World’s Best Bar for the second year in a row!
The 18th edition of The 50 Best Bars’ live awards ceremony was held in Milan on October 7, with a list that features outstanding drinking spots from 26 cities and Bar Leone sitting pretty at the top. Co-founded by Lorenzo Antinori and Justin Shun Wah, Bar Leone brings a taste of traditional bars in Rome’s Trastevere district to the heart of Hong Kong with cocktail popolari (‘cocktails for the people’), warm hospitality, a banging mortadella sandwich, and the most addictive smoked olives.
Hong Kong is also represented by three other bars on the top 50 list, cementing our status as Asia’s leading cocktail city. Argo at the Four Seasons Hong Kong has reentered the chat at No. 25, which is a great comeback from its position in the 51-100 extended list last year. There are also two new entries from our city: Montana at No. 36, followed by Gokan at No. 41.
The Cuban-inspired Montana is also Antinori’s brainchild in collaboration with Simone Caporale, the mixologist behind Sips in Barcelona (which has ranked at No. 16 on the list, by the way), and serves our favourite coffee cocktail in the city. Gokan’s founder, the globally respected mixologist Shingo Gokan, was also honoured with the Roku Industry Icon Award.
As for how everyone else fared on The 50 Best Bars 2026, Milan’s Moebius Milano is No. 2, followed by Alquímico in Cartagena at No. 3 and Bangkok’s Bar Us at No. 4, with Line in Athens rounding off the top five bars in the world this year.
Click here to see the full list for the World’s 50 Best Bars 2026.
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