Advertisement
Food and Drinks
Lifestyle100 Top Tables

Your Hong Kong weekend drinks guide for October 16-18

Check out the World’s Best Bars of days gone by, discover Yume’s original concept, and sip your first ‘cursed concoction’ of spooky season

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Yume – opening at the former address of Quality Goods Club in Hong Kong and, before that, Drop – will begin the evening as a cocktail lounge before transforming into a Japanese-inspired nightclub. Photo: Handout
Josiah Ng
As Hong Kong recovers from the raucous party that was World’s 50 Best Bars and the enormous number of guest shifts by visiting bars, the city’s beverage scene is deservedly having a quieter weekend.

If you’re looking for more of Hong Kong’s world-class mixology this weekend though, you could do worse than visiting some of the award nominees – who are still delivering the same first-rate beverages, but now without the crowds.

Separately, in Central, Yume takes over the former address of Quality Goods Club and, before that, Drop. And kick off spooky season with Terrible Baby and its seasonal tipple.

Thursday, October 16

Former World’s Best Bars beckon

The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 awards ceremony was held at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on October 8. Photo: Dickson Lee
The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 awards ceremony was held at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on October 8. Photo: Dickson Lee
In the wake of the whirlwind that was World’s 50 Best Bars, it should come as no surprise to find longer queues forming at Hong Kong’s winning establishments – not least Bar Leone, the first Asian bar ever to take the global No 1 spot. Coa was named World’s 38th Best Bar, while Argo, Gokan and The Savory Project made the top 100.
Advertisement

Historically, though, these are not Hong Kong’s only bars to have made the illustrious list. While changes in staff, tweaks in concept or menu updates may have led to some fantastic establishments sliding off the top rankings, the time is ripe to revisit these bars while the wait is shorter, but the drinks and vibes no less world-class.

Penicillin was named World’s 71st Best Bar in 2023, and it remains a bastion of sustainable cocktails in Hong Kong. Last seen in the same year, when it was ranked 97 in the world, DarkSide arguably remains Kowloon’s premier cocktail destination, with a menu of Hong Kong culture-inspired signatures. Going back to the dark days of the pandemic, Hong Kong’s mecca of molecular mixology Quinary was named World’s 50th Best Bar in 2021, while The Old Man nabbed the No 15 spot in 2020. While the latter has seen a changing of the guard, its new menu focused on intimate relationships is worth checking out.
Advertisement

Where and when:

Penicillin, L/G, Amber Lodge, 23 Hollywood Road, Central, 5pm-2am

Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x