On July 28, at the Wynn Palace in Macau, the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026 list delivered the year’s biggest surprise. Hope & Sesame, a speakeasy tucked behind a Cantonese café in Guangzhou, took first place, up from 7th last year. It’s the first time a bar from mainland China has topped the ranking.
The bar turns ten this year. Its menu leans on clarification, sous-vide infusions, and in-house distillations, all served in a setting that stays understated despite the technical firepower. A second room hidden behind the main bar runs live jazz and pours the Wintermelon-High, a sparkling cocktail built around chrysanthemum, ginger, and grapefruit.
The fall from grace is just as sharp: Bar Leone, in Hong Kong, which topped both the Asia and World’s 50 Best Bars lists in 2025, drops to third this year. Between the two sits Zest, in Seoul, holding steady at No. 2 for the second year running, thanks to a zero-waste menu that turns peels and pulp into house-made sodas and spirits.
By city, Bangkok leads with eight bars in the top 50, ahead of Hong Kong (seven) and Seoul (four). Singapore places four bars in the main ranking, led by Jigger & Pony at No. 9, and eleven when counting the extended list. Jigger & Pony co-founder Indra Kantono also picked up the Roku Industry Icon Award 2026.
Two more individual awards went to Hong Kong: Shelley Tai, of brand-new entry Mius (No. 36), won both the Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award and the SevenRooms Best Bar Design Award. In total, this year’s top 50 spans 22 cities, from Guangzhou to Hiriketiya, a small surf town on Sri Lanka’s coast.