1
Bar Leone
Hong Kong
- Accolades
- The World's Best Bar 2026, sponsored by Perrier
- The Best Bar in Asia 2026, sponsored by Perrier
Italian nostalgia meets classic cocktails – and a lot of fun
The crown of The World's Best Bar might sit heavily, but not for Bar Leone. This bar, themed around Italian pop culture – think football, aperitivo and huge sandwiches – is soft of touch and light of heart. Leone is an unapologetic ode to simple pleasures.
The walls are strewn with football memorabilia, the crowd spread around tables laden with easy-going Italian classic cocktails – negronis, martinis, old fashioneds – and small plates delicious enough to threaten your dinner reservation. You could easily be in a neighbourhood bar in Rome, the sort of place that owner Lorenzo Antinori remembers so well, but the bar's ethos of 'cocktail popolari' is a theme that has flourished beyond the cradle. In Hong Kong, there were almost-immediate queues at the door when it opened, which only got longer when The 50's Academy of voters corroborated the appreciation. It has now won the top spot in The 50 Best Bars Asia and the global edition – twice.
None of it happened by chance. Owner Antinori was well known to the cocktail world long before he launched his first solo project with Hong Kong partner Justin Shun Wah in 2023. After a career in hotel bars, Antinori recognised the moment for something different. Bar Leone is an antidote to high concept, to themed menus and overwrought cocktails. It rejects complexity for simplicity, earnestness for fun – even humour. Bar Leone knows that the bar experience is all in the details – the warmth of the greeting, the pitch of the lighting. Even the vintage photo of the pope on parade in a Ferrari, or the speaker that choruses 'hallelujah' while you're in the toilet. Every moment matters.
.jpg)
