Time Out Bar Awards 2020 winner: Best Rooftop Bar

Translated from the French phrase 'L’Enfant Terrible', an expression often used in the world of creative arts to describe the clever yet unconventional, passionate yet egotistical, Terrible Baby shakes up a cool selection of sustainable cocktails and offers an impressive collection of rosés and gins. The bar is also linked to an outdoor terrace and music room, where you can even record or mix your own tracks. The concept is cool, the décor is cool, the aesthetic is cool. You get the picture.

When it comes to rooftop spaces in this city, the widely accepted rule is if you've got it, flaunt it. That’s what The Murray hotel does with Popinjays, the crowning gem of its F&B portfolio. Accessible by a private elevator, the penthouse venue has a bar on one side and the restaurant on the other. It's encased in floor-to-ceiling windows with a wraparound terrace that looks out in all directions to surrounding high-rises. The space is a stunner, a cool blend of class and playfulness, with plenty of Kaws artwork to embellish the walls. While most of the cocktails here do not come cheap, you'll quickly find that the prices are surprisingly reasonable for a five-star hotel.

 Time Out Awards

2019Best Rooftop Bar 

Sitting sky-high, quite literally, on the 118th floor of the ICC, Ozone is the highest watering hole not just in Hong Kong, but also the world. Even a sawdust bowery serving tepid beer would attract the masses up here with the promise of fantastic views across Victoria Harbour. A narrow leathered elevator (which vaguely reminds you of a padded prison cell) shoots you up to the bar, where inside, you’re immediately greeted by moody lighting, avant-garde seating, and walls of refracted swirling glass, but what seals the deal is the completely unobstructed view of western Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. And, with one of the finest wine lists in town and a great cocktail programme, the drinks here are almost as impressive as the view.

Sevva is a pretty incredible space. A 360-degree balcony offers stunning views of the skyscrapers in Central and Admiralty, the harbour, and the opposing Kowloon skyline – perfect for sundowners and sunsets. The furnishings, meanwhile, look as though they came straight out of a magazine and demand appreciation for their style and effortless elegance.

Encompassing the entire 32nd floor of the swanky business hotel East in Tai Koo, Sugar is a soaring establishment that sells itself as ‘bar + deck + lounge’. It’s a tag that succinctly sums up the highlights of this ultra-cool space, except that it omits Sugar’s finest feature: the utterly breathtaking views. Enjoying sweeping vistas with a drink in hand is hardly a new thing to our spoilt eyes in Hong Kong, but Sugar’s panoramas provide a new, eastern take on our urban jungle. The view dominates from every corner of the bar.