At a lunch in Central in early July, John Ng recounted in a small lecture to a horde of journalists, both seasoned and young entrants, of the difference in craft and prestige between Hong Kong’s bartenders and chefs. The group eagerly held onto his every word as he explained his perspective.
“Why is it that Hong Kong and Asia have many top chefs, but very few top, top bartenders,” John asked at the table.
John is Asia’s 50 Best Bars academy chair for mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau, responsible for enlisting a panel of voters from the greater Chinese region – be that bartenders, mixologists, and cocktail historians – to join a group of 265 members in voting in the annual Asia’s 50 Best Bars list.
A wealth of budding bartenders in Hong Kong have asked him how they can achieve the same success and image that chefs in the city, and largely Asia, have received over the past 20 years. Asia’s chef culture, propagated by the likes of Alvin Leung, Gaggan Anand, Nobu Matsuhisa, and André Chiang, has become mainstream. Bartendending has just found its grip on the culture in the past four years.
“Bartenders are like artists, they have characters. You can compare them with tattoo artists and pop stars with their personality.” John explains of the comparison with chefs during a conversation over wine at MO Bar, his former workplace nine years ago. “Chefs are commercial artists. They follow strict rules. They are creative, but act in a safe way.”
Bartenders in the city and region notably do not follow the same regime that chefs ascribe to. Bars and alcohol are spaces and tools for relaxation or, inversely, controlled chaos. 10 years ago, that was not the case. “Everyone began on YouTube studying the Ginza cocktail making. They wore vests, bow ties, and white shirts everyday. No one wants to do that and go to that type of bar every single day.”
“Now, it is all about presentation and storytelling, interpreting your idea behind the drink. Drinking has become public and now bartenders are all about personality.”
The lack of hierarchy in Asia’s bartending communities, in contrast to Europe and the US, where wisdom and expertise is passed through generational mixologist teams, has aided the growth of renegade, personality-forward bartenders.
“We have seen more personalities come out and bartenders stand up for who they are. It is vital these days to have a key person, a personable brand, representing the bar, even if you have good drinks.”
With the growth of the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list, a commanding leader in regional awards for the bar industry, personality and celebrity status of bartenders has become key in gaining notoriety.
“People trust their bartenders now. They trust whatever [Lorenzo] Antonio is doing. Why is COA and The Quinnary busy everyday? Because they developed trust around town.” The key is investment: “time investment, to grow your network and trust with bargoers and the media; financial investment, to grow your promotions and your circle.
Lorenzo Antinori made history in July debuting at first on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024, a record for any bar since the list’s inception globally in 2009. In an interview with Foodie discussing the topic, Lorenzo is quick to establish the differences between bartenders and chefs and how, ultimately, bartending can continue to penetrate the mainstream.
“Alcohol will always be something that does not necessarily include everybody, whereas food is a vehicle for people to connect from different ethnicities, religions, and parts of the world,” he finds.
“Chefs these days are not just chefs, but a brand that reflects the type of cooking they do and by the way they communicate on social media or offline. That is the difference between bartenders and chefs.”
It has not necessarily been the advent of the 50 Best rankings that has brought bartending and cocktails into the mainstream and daily culture – it certainly has helped with boosting the PR of bars globally – but a push from bartenders, like the radiant and cheery Lorenzo, to create the personality brand for bars and cocktails.
“Since 10 years ago, you see bartenders deviating and branching out their career into different directions that does not necessarily cover bars, but goes beyond the perimeter of the bar into the media world.” Instagram has helped bartenders, globally, become personalities that represent everything drinking and beyond the cocktail glass.
Lorenzo describes it as a choice for bartenders striving to be personalities to drive business and prop up awareness of their bar. “The moment you create ‘a bar’, you have to be there every day, driving the business, making sure the identity of the space is properly communicated. But if you create a bar with a strong brand identity, people will easily connect with it.”
“We are already there,” he proclaims when asked if Hong Kong’s bartenders have become as prestigious as its chefs. “There are already so many bar personalities in Hong Kong. They do not have anything below the world famous chefs here.”
Above all, to become a personality, draw attention to your bar, and drive sales, Lorenzo advises the younger generation joining the industry to travel and experience the world, to work in different places, and master your craft. “You need to be really comfortable in being an ambassador of what you do.”
Having founded The Quinnary in 2012, Hong Kong’s most well known local bartending talent Antonio Lai is an ambassador for the city’s flavours, captured in drinks form. He shares the same sentiments as Lorenzo. “People need to eat regularly, but drinking is not an essential thing, that is why it is difficult to become a very well-liked chef,” he says.
“More attention and weight is given to chefs in Hong Kong, people treat them like celebrities. There are around only 10 bartenders in Hong Kong that can be considered celebrities, like Lorenzo, John Ng, John Nugent at The Diplomat, Jay Khan of COA, Gagan Gurung of Tell Camelia, and Ajit Gurung of The Savoury Project.”
With less prestigious award ceremonies crediting the bar industry, as opposed to restaurants’ Michelin Guide, 50 Best, OAD, and other local lists, Antonio states that fewer attention is paid for bars and their success. “There is not a strong enough motivation to get people to go to bars more regularly to drink.”
“One of the things that is difficult for us to face in trying to be as popular as chefs is the way that chefs are treated and the benefits they get in comparison to bartenders.” Chefs working in hotels and big restaurant groups, he explains, have biger budgets to create menus and travel to spread their cooking and message.
The issue preventing bartenders from gaining a regional or international reputation is the cost prohibition from flying in guest bartenders or travelling abroad to learn from other bars and countries. “We don’t have a normal way to pay to invite people to our bars.”
Like Lorenzo states, Antonio believes that investment is key. With Hong Kong’s capitalistic tendencies, money dictates the bar industry and determines the influence of what is popular to drink and who is popular making drinks. “You need money [in this industry] to take pictures [of your drinks], create a portfolio, upload social media posts, and market the bar.”
Yet, it comes down to the human touch of how to excel in the drinking space. “Personality, to be an interesting character, is what makes a bartender good in Hong Kong, and Asia. Your drinks do not have to be complicated, but they have to be quality. Hospitality has taken the most importance in this role of being a good bartender.”
“Ultimately, the most important thing is to be yourself, you can make your true colours shine.”
Jay Khan, whose bar COA led the pack in Asia three years running as the region’s best bar in 2021, 2022, and 2023, argues that the city’s bars and bartenders are already on par with many great cocktail cities, dismissing a need to compare the field to the rankings of chefs.
“Chefs and bartenders are not and do not need to be on the same playing field, they are different people creating different things. If you do not look at cocktails within the gastronomy space, the skills and knowledge that we possess deviates from what chefs have,” Jay tells Foodie during a conversation over the phone.
“The location of Hong Kong has made the city a great place, number one in Asia, to open a bar. Hong Kong’s food scene has been great all along, and the drinks scene can be stronger, but in the past 8 years we have seen an explosion of movement in Hong Kong.”
Despite rent rises and product increasing with inflation, the sentiment across the bar industry has stayed strong, in comparison to the troubles the restaurant industry has faced.
“So many bartenders are evolving and cocktail bars are opening, it’s just not stopping in Hong Kong. The standard of Hong Kong drinking has been overall very high.”
Hong Kong has now held the title for the best bar in Asia with Jay’s three consecutive wins and Lorenzo’s first in 2024, a testament to the Soho bar scene where many of Hong Kong’s top drinkeries call home. “It is a theme park for cocktail bars,” Jay jokes with the number of top bars located in close proximity with the neighbourhood.
Soho in Hong Kong is unlike any other area in Asia, the owner-bartender claims, which has provoked Hong Kong’s strength regionally in producing some of the best bars and bartenders. “The distance between bars in Soho has brought along more bar hopping and cohesion between bartenders, something you don’t have anywhere else.”
Jay says Hong Kong has “one of the biggest diversity of bars” in Asia. It would be hard to disagree with his view with the wealth of cocktail bars developing and sprouting up in the city. After all, the lines at COA, Bar Leone, and The Quinnary confirm that a bartender’s name pulls as much weight, if not more, than chef’s operating in Hong Kong.
