3 China Bars Secure Spots on The 2025 World's 50 Best Bars List

At a ceremony held last night at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong, the world's bar industry heavyweights gathered from far and wide to celebrate the future of the global cocktail industry. With that, the picks for the 17th edition of the World's 50 Best Bars Awards are in, and three Chinese bars made the 2025 list. Spoiler alert: One of them has also just been crowned the best bar in the world, and will be opening an outpost of this brand in Shanghai.

As a lead-up (and follow-up) to last night's awards, Hong Kong's bar scene has been chock-full of guest shifts, pop-ups and masterclasses from lauded bars and equally renowned mixologists from around the globe.

China Moving on Up

Hong Kong's own Bar Leone has officially been named the No. 1 bar in the world, and the first ever Asia bar to take the top spot. Bar Leone, which only opened in 2023, sits in Central and was founded by seasoned barman Lorenzo Antinori (previously of The American Bar at The Savoy, Dandelyan, Argo, etc) and Justin Shun Wah. After swinging its doors open for less than a year, Bar Leone exploded onto the scene as the 2024 No. 1 bar in Asia (the first time ever for a bar to debut at the top spot on the list), and the No. 2 bar in the world. Now, just one year later, it has summited the global bar peak.

Orbiting around the concept of "cocktail popolari" – or "cocktails for the people" – the revived classics-style libations are at once unpretentious and approachable, inspired by the neighborhood bars of Rome's backstreets. Incredible news for us Shanghaiers, as Bar Leone's second outpost is slated to open in Shanghai at the end of this month! We wrote about it here.

Next up, Guangzhou's pride and joy, Hope and Sesame, clinched the No. 29 spot, its first time making it on the World's 50 Best Bars list. Famed for its inventive cocktails, whimsical presentation and standout team led by none other than Asia's 50 Best Bartender's Bartender 2025 award winner Andrew Ho and his business partner Bastien Ciocca, Hope & Sesame has continually pushed boundaries and worked hard to put China's cocktail scene on the map.

Aside from Bar Leone at No. 1, Hong Kong's Coa – led by Asia's 50 Best Industry Icon 2025 Jay Khan – has snagged a continuous spot at the World's 50 Best table for seven years running (since it debuted at No.49 in 2019), coming in this year at No. 38. A shrine to all things agave, Coa houses an extensive collection of 200 handcrafted Latin American liquids spanning tequila, mezcal, raicilla, and more. We are very lucky to have Coa's second location, Coa Shanghai, on our home turf.

Shifts in Regional Influence

This year saw the 1-50 list cover 29 cities (1 more than last year), with eight new entries (down from sixteen last year), from Bratislava to Tokyo. London continues to take home the most wins (four) in the top 50 list for Europe, with Paris and Athens each claiming three spots. New York retains its crown as the cocktail capital of the Americas, also with four venues in the top 50 list, followed by Mexico City, Lima, and Buenos Aires, each with two bars on the list. In Asia, Tokyo scored three spots on the list, followed by a three-way tie between Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong, with two bars in each location winning a coveted spot.

Quick Stats

This year's list covers 29 cities across the world.

Eight bars debuted on this year's 1-50 list, spanning cities like Athens, Bratislava, Guangzhou, Lima, New York, Oslo, Tirana and Tokyo.

Europe holds the title of most bars on the list with 23 bars, while Asia is home to 11 top 50 bars. North America comes in third with seven bars, followed by South America with six, Australia with two, and the Middle East with one.

The top bar in Africa (Hero Bar in Nairobi), is on the extended list at No.69.

The same top 3 bars in the world as last year – Bar Leone, Handshake Speakeasy, and Sips – came in as the top 3 bars again this year, just in a different order (last year was Handshake Speakeasy at No.1, Bar Leone at No. 2, followed by Sips at No. 3).

World's 50 Best Bars 2025 Full List

Before revealing the full list, a little background (assuming you haven't skipped ahead already): The list is compiled based on anonymous voting by the World's 50 Best Bars Academy, an influential, gender-balanced group of more than 800 bartenders, bar owners, drinks writers and cocktail aficionados across the region, who vote for what they believe constitutes a "best bar experience."

Now, the moment you've been waiting for! Here's the full World's 50 Best Bars 2025 list:

Special Award Winners

Bartender's Bartender: Uno Jang (Jigger & Pony, Singapore)

Art of Hospitality: Lady Bee (Lima)

One To Watch: Bar Mauro (Mexico City)

Industry Icon: Simone Caporale

Legend of the List: Baba au Rum (Athens)

Best New Opening: Sip & Guzzle (New York)

Sustainable Bar: The Cambridge Public House (Paris)

Best Cocktail Menu: Backdoor Bodega (Penang)

Highest New Entry: Mirror Bar (Bratislava)

Highest Climber: Moebius (Milan)

Best Bar Design: Tigra + Disco Pantera (Sydney)

The Extended 51-100 List

On September 24, the 51-100 list was also released as a buildup to the full awards. "The extended 51-100 list is another opportunity to celebrate the passion, creativity and world-class hospitality that define the very best in the business. From brand new destinations and emerging markets to beloved favorites, the extended ranking shines a light on even more of the world's finest bars," adds Emma Sleight, Head of Content for The World's 50 Best Bars.

Unfortunately, no bars from the Chinese mainland made this extended list, but the silver lining is that three bars from Hong Kong (Argo at No. 56, Gokan at No. 70, and The Savory Project at No. 86) and one in Taiwan (Vender at No. 74) made the cut. A total of 16 new entries were included in this year's ninth edition of the 51-100 list, plus six re-entries, spotlighting up-and-coming bar scenes and tried and true institutions alike.

Here's the full list of 51-100 World's 50 Best Bar winners 2025:

So there you have it! Time to start sipping, slurping, and sculling your way across the globe to visit as many of these dram dens as your budget, schedule, and stomach (read: liver) will allow!

And if you missed it, here are last year's 2024 World's 50 Best Bars Awards results.