The crowning glory of Hong Kong’s bar scene, Bar Leone, is spreading its wings and going global! After swiftly gaining multiple accolades in the two years they’ve been open, the Italian bar has chosen Shanghai as the site of their new branch, which is set to open around October this year.
Co-founders Lorenzo Antinori and Justin Shun Wah announced on Instagram, ‘We can’t wait to join the thriving Shanghai bar scene, meet old friends and make new ones along the way.’ Bar Leone 2.0 is going to be in the Jing’an district, within the beautiful former French Concession. Antinori has also told us that it will be a two-storey space, so we can expect the Shanghai branch to be much more spacious than the Hong Kong original in Soho.
With a focus on community and ‘cocktail popolari’ – cocktails for the people – Bar Leone is much-loved in Hong Kong for their unpretentious and ultra-palatable drinks served with none of the bombastic flashiness that fancy bars sometimes suffer from, but all of the moreish flavours. They also dish up fantastic bar bites, including their famous mortadella sandwiches and signature smoked olives. The combination of pared-back, perfected basics and great hospitality has won Bar Leone the coveted title of Asia’s Best Bar for the second year in a row, and you cannot walk down Bridges Street without seeing queues waiting outside.
Bar Leone’s upcoming Shanghai location joins other well-known Hong Kong drinking ventures that have made their way up to the mainland Chinese city, such as our first closed-loop sustainable bar Penicillin and the well-known agave spirit-focused Coa (which held the title of Asia’s Best Bar for three times before Bar Leone pipped them to the spot). In fact, we’ve had it straight from Antinori that the new location sits just a few minutes walk from Coa Shanghai, so we can essentially have a Hong Kong bar crawl in China soon.
Bar Leone is now in the process of putting together their Shanghai team, so if you’re interested in working for one of the best bars in the world, get in touch with their staff!
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