Bar manager Jen Queen of The Pontiac shares why building a safe space around the bar scene in Asia is more important than the drinks itself.
For Jen Queen, bar manager at Hong Kong’s leading queer bar The Pontiac, the art of bartending and her two decades embedded in the space has been more about people rather than what is mixed inside a cocktail glass.
A hyphen separating the time period between her youth spent in Ohio and the three years she has worked at The Pontiac does not do justice to the years dedicated to serving and propping up the communities and bar spaces in a host of unique markets dotting the world.
“My mother ran a neighbourhood dive bar when I was a kid,” Jen remembers. During an interview with the drinks expert over the phone, community was, and still is, an integral part about the drinking experience to her. “My mother created a community space, booze diplomacy in the neighbourhood.”
At 21 years old, Jen left Ohio for San Francisco to explore Queer culture, which she credits to her growth as a human. She left there with a love of agave spirits & classic cocktails. San Diego came next where she opened several venues, worked in consultancies to develop drinks programmes in venues, and began her own bars. People were at the forefront of bar culture in southern California.
“I had such a wonderful supporting community and so many people that inspired me. We were all about taking care of people and making delicious things. Everyone was supportive of your concept or the art you create. I relate most of my career and my beginnings to San Diego and San Francisco.”
Why did Jen leave the US where she began her career to venture to Cambodia and Myanmar to work as a bartender? The right opportunity came knocking: a chance to bond evolving nations and people over alcohol.
“I picked up a call from a friend of a friend asking me if I wanted to open a bar in Cambodia. The team in Phnom Penh were looking to cultivate a community, an atmosphere in the capital and openly teach at a lot of different places to raise the whole drinking scene little by little.”
“It sounded interesting at the time. I had never been to Cambodia. I was happily intoxicated and accepted the role on the phone!”
Jen describes her first day landing in the capital city as chaotic. “I landed on the first night in Phnom Penh at the local rum distillery Samai Rum and went straight to slinging drinks. We were set to host a weekly Thursday pop up with DJs, a big bar, and lots of drinks. Almost everybody in Phnom Penh turns up to the event because it is that one night you can do.”
Over three years in the developing country, where foreigners number in the hundreds working in the NGO, educational, and tourism sectors, and a growing number of Cambodians are studying English and educating abroad, Jen aided the flourishing of the bar scene.
“I touched every bar you can think of in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Battambang, Kep, and Kampot. It was a really unique opportunity to get to see so much growth and to be a part of so many different concepts in Cambodia.”
As evident throughout her career, Jen prefers a bar project to build everything from the ground up. Daily small talk, bar regulars, happy hour happenings, and the culture surrounding a bar cannot be manufactured but created organically. Jen has had a special touch for that.
After Cambodia, Jen followed a tip off from a contact in Yangon to join a consultancy for a year – that turned into four. “I really, really loved Myanmar. I found it to be such an interesting time where the country was going through a lot of growth and hope.”
Ultimately, after her stint consulting with bars and restaurant groups across the country, she left Yangon as the Myanmar coup d’état in February 2021 took control of the country. Hong Kong came calling as she joined Beckaly Franks and the Roopchand brothers at The Pontiac leading their bar programme.
The nearly-decade old bar in Soho has represented a culture not widely prominent in the bar or larger F&B scene: queer culture. “The team at The Pontiac are primarily queer/non-binary or femme identifying. An all-FLINTA forward bar team is something you do not see much in this region.”
“For this to be done in Hong Kong is a really special thing. For the first time in my career, 20 years on, having a queer, femme-forward bar team has been one of the most inspirational moments of my life.”
Jen acknowledges her responsibility managing the bar and delivering that safe space for Hong Kong’s queer community. “It’s an honour to pass the torch from an icon like Beckaly, someone who has increased visibility for and given platform and voice to this community through this amazing little venue. It is a big responsibility and it’s a beautiful thing.”
During a thirty minute interview, Jen only briefly touched upon her connection to the craft of creating drinks – she has a soft spot for mezcal being a certified mezcalier and enjoys good bourbon and whisky growing up in America’s Midwest – yet she is persistent in voicing out her mantra of people, community, and culture first, and the drinks will flow second.
Respect and manners, she says, are important for building her drinks community in Hong Kong and Asia. “You learn to engage with people in different ways. In Myanmar, for example, you would never see someone get angry with you. That would be considered a big loss of face. I am much softer in that regard when engaging with people. I won’t let someone control my emotions in a bar setting.”
“In the States, if a bartender had messed up your cocktail you could say, hey pull that back, and it wouldn’t be an issue. If I had done that in Cambodia, it would be very disrespectful to yell something like that. It causes embarrassment.”
Educated with dozens of cocktail recipes under her belt, Jen finds herself still learning about how to create comfort for guests beyond their icy alcoholic drink, even twenty years on in her bartending journey. “I have learnt and am still learning how my teams want to be respected, how to gain trust, how to make friends with people that drink at our bar.”
“There is so much space for us to create within this F&B scene. We can do a lot more if we band together for things, work as neighbours to grow a culture within our big community.
“My favourite thing to have ever been given in my career was the trust and an opportunity to impart onto anyone’s drinking community.”
Beyond her work at The Pontiac and visiting friends at neighbouring bars in Soho and Central, Jen says she typically finds herself soaking up Thai food, margaritas, and the atmosphere at the infamous Infinity Bar in Lan Kwai Fong, another community she is a part of comprising bartenders and late-night restaurant workers. “It’s just what you do!”
Visit Jen at The Pontiac today and experience one of Hong Kong’s top queer bars and the daring cocktails they make.
