Singapore leads Asia in World’s 50 Best Bars list

SINGAPORE — When it comes to top watering holes in the Lion City, you might want to head to Manhattan Bar at the Regent Singapore. The bar has picked up the Bols Genever Best Bar in Asia award as part of this year’s World’s 50 Best Bars ranking by Drinks International.

Headed by bar manager Philip Bischoff, the bar boasts the world’s first in-hotel barrel ageing room inspired by the districts of Manhattan.

Manhattan Bar, which jumped up 24 places to land at No 11, also leads the Asia ranking. Two other Singapore bars made it to the list: Familiar name 28 Hongkong Street, dropped seven places to land at No 14, and new entry Operation Dagger, debuted at No 21.

For the first time, seven bars from Asia made it into this year’s edition. Apart from the Republic’s three bars, the other top bars are Shanghai’s Speak Low (No 15), a new entry in the list; High Five in Tokyo (No 23), Hong Kong’s Lobster Bar (No 27) and Quinary (No 41).

This year’s ranking includes bars from 27 cities in 19 countries, with 11 new entries.

The world’s top bar, according to the list is the Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog in New York City, which took the top honors after hovering around the prize since 2013. This is the first time a New York City bar has been crowned No 1 in five years.

While there were a total of 14 American bars, more than any other country, Europe is still the epicentre of global cocktail culture, with 22 spots on the list ranging from Athens to Stockholm to London.

Central Station in Beirut took the trophy for Best Bar in the Middle East and Africa, while London leads the pack with the most bars per city.

An “academy” of 476 people including esteemed mixologists, eminent historians, and barflies cast votes for 652 bars.

Here's the list of all the winners (click to enlarge):