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Montana

Hong Kong

70s Miami meets refined Cuban classics

When a bartending supergroup forms to open a bar, there's anticipation... and expectation. Almost the moment it opened, Montana was a smash hit.

A couple of stints at the helm of bars named The World's Best Bar on the CV will probably embolden you, because Simone Caporale (Sips and Boadas), Lorenzo Antinori and Justin Shun Wah (both Bar Leone) certainly weren't playing it safe.

They went full theme – and full fun. And really, you couldn't place a pin better in space and time than 1970s Miami. The party starts at the door, as the team shouts "ritmo" (rhythm), the Cuban music envelopes you and the welcoming host guides you to your seat. There's standing too, and a mezzanine of tables upstairs that looks down to the action, which is centred around a long bar tended by lively bartenders in crisp white shirts and black bowties.

Mercifully, the drinks aren't '70s replicas – it wasn't the cocktail's finest decade – but instead Montana takes Cuban (and wider Caribbean) classics and refines them using fresh ingredients, but keeps the aesthetic fun. So that means there's rotisserie-roasted pineapple and toasted coconut in your piña colada and also a kitsch paper umbrella.

The other must-try is the Montana Daiquiri, which is drawn from a Cuban Club de Cantineros manual and comes with a lick of maraschino liqueur and a float of raspberry eau-de-vie – the challenge is keeping the order to one.

Montana is a permission slip for the serious cocktail drinker to have some serious fun.

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