Coa retains title as Asia’s best bar, three years in a row 

Hong Kong hosted Asia’s 50 Best Bars for the first time on July 18. The 2023 ceremony took place at Rosewood Hong Kong, in partnership with the Hong Kong Tourism Board, marking the event’s first live awards ceremony and full-scale gathering of the bar community since 2019. 

The list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023 featured 13 new entries and bars spanning 17 cities. Singapore led with 11 bars, including Jigger & Pony, which ranked No.2 and was named The Best Bar in Singapore for the third year. 

Meanwhile, Hong Kong put on an incredible display with eight bars featured on the list. Coa achieved the remarkable feat of holding the No.1 spot for three consecutive years and being awarded The Best Bar in Hong Kong. 

Established in 2017 by bartender-owner Jay Khan, the bar takes its name from the agave harvesting tool and showcases a vast collection of over 200 bottles of tequila, mezcal, and other handcrafted Mexican spirits like raicilla, bacanora, sotol, and charanda. 

Climbing up seven spots to No.3 is BKK Social Club, which is named The Best Bar in Thailand. Tokyo’s Bar Benfiddich comes in at No.4, moving up from last year’s No.5 and taking the title of The Best Bar in Japan. Seoul’s Zest climbed 43 places to No.5 and won the Nikka Highest Climber Award and The Best Bar in Korea.

Other Hong Kong bars on the list include Four Seasons’ Argo, which came in at No.8, Rosewood’s DarkSide at No.9 and The Aubrey at Mandarin Oriental, which climbed 21 places to No.17. 

Further down the list, Penicillin ranked at No.26, and Quinary came in at No.31. Omakase cocktail bar Mostly Harmless debuted at No.33 and Hong Kong’s stalwart cocktail bar The Old Man re-entered at No.47.

For the full list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023:

• 1. Coa (Hong Kong)
• 2. Jigger & Pony (Singapore)
• 3. BKK Social Club (Bangkok)
• 4. Bar Benfiddich (Tokyo)
• 5. Zest (Seoul)
• 6. Tropic City (Bangkok)
• 7. Nutmeg and Clove (Singapore)
• 8. Argo (Hong Kong)
• 9. Darkside (Hong Kong)
• 10. Sago House (Singapore)
• 11. Indulge Experimental Bistro (Taipei)
• 12. Vesper (Bangkok)
• 13. Cham Bar (Seoul)
• 14. The SG Club (Tokyo)
• 15. Analogue Initiative (Singapore)
• 16. Republic (Singapore)
• 17. The Aubrey (Hong Kong)
• 18. Sidecar (New Delhi)
• 19. The Cocktail Club (Jakarta)
• 20. Virtu (Tokyo)
• 21. Manhattan (Singapore)
• 22. Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar (Bangkok)
• 23. Lamp Bar (Nara, Japan)
• 24. 28 Hong Kong Street (Singapore)
• 25. Le Chamber (Seoul)
• 26. Penicillin (Hong Kong)
• 27. Atlas (Singapore)
• 28. Alice (Seoul)
• 29. Pantja (Jakarta)
• 30. Employees Only (Singapore)
• 31. Quinary (Hong Kong)
• 32. Stay Gold Flamingo (Singapore)
• 33. Mostly Harmless (Hong Kong)
• 34. The Curator (Manila)
• 35. The Bombay Canteen (Mumbai)
• 36. Bar Trigona (Kuala Lumpur)
• 37. Southside Parlour (Seoul)
• 38. Copitas (Bengaluru)
• 39. Hope & Sesame (Guangzhou)
• 40. Smoke and Bitters (Sri Lanka)
• 41. Vender (Taichung)
• 42. Native (Singapore)
• 43. The Public House (Taipei)
• 44. Bee’s Knees (Kyoto)
• 45. High Five (Tokyo)
• 46. Soko (Seoul) 
• 47. The Old Man (Hong Kong)
• 48. The Living Room (Mumbai)
• 49. The Bellwood (Tokyo)
• 50. Penrose (Kuala Lumpur)