Asia’s 50 Best Bars: 4 Singapore bars make the list, with Jigger & Pony at No. 9

Four Singapore bars have made the Asia’s 50 Best Bars list for 2026. Jigger & Pony at Amara Hotel is the island’s top-ranked entrant in 2026 at No. 9, down from No. 3 in 2025. 

At the awards ceremony in Macau on July 28, Indra Kantono, co-founder and managing director of the Jigger & Pony Group, received the Roku Industry Icon Award. The honour was “in recognition of his transformative influence on Asia’s bar landscape and his role in shaping Singapore’s emergence as a global cocktail capital”.

“I am incredibly humbled and deeply grateful to receive the Roku Industry Icon Award 2026,” Kantono told The Straits Times. “I believe that hospitality is one of the most powerful ways to bring people together. This award belongs entirely to our teams (across the Jigger & Pony group) in Singapore and Jakarta.”

Hope & Sesame in Guangzhou was awarded the top spot, up from No. 7 in 2025. Considered to be the first speakeasy bar in southern China, it opened in March 2016 in Guangzhou’s historic Dongshankou district.

It was in the Asia’s 50 Best Bars rankings for the past seven years and was No. 29 on The World’s 50 Best Bars 2025.

The top bar of 2025, Hong Kong’s Bar Leone, slipped to No. 3 in the 2026 ranking.

Singapore’s other entrants to the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026 list are Nutmeg & Clove at No. 12 (from No. 24 in 2025), Offtrack at No. 16 (No. 23) and Origin Bar at No. 43 (No. 60). There were five Singapore bars on the 2025 list.

Seven Singapore watering holes made the No. 51 to 100 list, announced on July 14: BOP at No. 52 (new entry), Side Door at No. 57 (from No. 53), The Elephant Room at No. 58 (re-entry), Native at No. 80 (from No. 45), Cat Bite Club at No. 86 (from No. 44), Bar Bon Funk at No. 90 (new entry) and Stay Gold Flamingo at No. 97 (re-entry). 

Bangkok has the most bars in the top 50 ranking out of any Asian city, with eight venues: Dry Wave Cocktail Studio (No. 4), Bar Us (No. 6), Lennon’s (No. 7), Bar Sathorn (No. 17), BKK Social Club (No. 20), Opium (No. 25), G.O.D (No. 31) and Aqua Bar (No. 48). 

The Asia’s 50 Best Bars list is based on votes by the Asia’s 50 Best Bars Academy – a group of regional industry professionals including bartenders, bar owners, drinks writers, educators and cocktail aficionados. It is organised by British media company William Reed, which also manages The World’s 50 Best Bars and The World’s 50 Best Restaurants accolades.

Next up is The World’s 50 Best Bars awards, which will take place in Milan on Oct 7.

On July 23 in New Orleans in the United States, Kantono won the Best International Bar Mentor title at the 20th Spirited Awards, which took place during the annual Tales Of The Cocktail festival.

At the same awards, another Singapore bar was also recognised: Fura in Amoy Street, which was named World’s Best Bar as well as Best International Restaurant Bar.

Top 10 bars of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026

1. Hope & Sesame, Guangzhou

2. Zest, Seoul

3. Bar Leone, Hong Kong

4. Dry Wave Cocktail Studio, Bangkok

5. Mo Bar Shenzhen, Shenzhen

6. Bar Us, Bangkok

7. Lennon’s, Bangkok

8. Boilermaker, Goa

9. Jigger & Pony, Singapore

10. Obsidian Bar, Shenzhen