Two Singapore bars make it to World's 50 Best Bars listing
Yamini Chinnuswamy for The Straits Times
At the World's 50 Best Bars awards held in Hong Kong on Oct 8, only two Singapore bars made the cut, compared with four in 2024. Both bars were also ranked lower on the 2025 list.
Jigger & Pony at Amara Hotel is ranked No. 9, down from No. 5 in 2024, while Nutmeg & Clove in Purvis Street is at No. 50, down from No. 28.
In late September, Native was announced to be No. 84 in the 51-100 list, down from No. 67 - the only Singapore entrant in that group.
Atlas, which was No. 43 in the 2024 list, did not rank anywhere in the top 100 in 2025. It also did not make the top 100 of the Asia's 50 Best Bars ranking for 2025, which was announced in July.
Singapore's other top 50 entrant in 2024 was Analogue Initiative at No. 47, but it closed and went into an indefinite hiatus in November of that year.
The top spot for World's 50 Best Bars 2025 was taken by Bar Leone in Hong Kong, which was No. 2 in 2024.
It is the first time that a bar from Asia has topped the World's 50 Best Bars ranking.
The casual Italian-inspired watering hole, which opened in late 2023, also topped the Asia's 50 Best Bars ranking in 2025 for two years running.
While accepting the award on stage during the ceremony, its co-founder Lorenzo Antinori joked: "Does anybody have CPR ready?"
He added: "On behalf of the team, I want to dedicate this recognition to Hong Kong and the Asian bar community. We are truly humbled and honoured to be on this stage tonight."
The top bar for 2024, Mexico City's Handshake Speakeasy, took second place.
Mr Uno Jang, creative director and partner at Singapore's Jigger & Pony Group, also received the trophy for the Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award 2025, having been announced as the winner in September.
The bartender award is part of the annual awards and is the only category that is peer-voted. Voters are bartenders from venues ranked on The World's 50 Best Bars 2025.
Meanwhile, the World's 50 Best Bars list is voted on by an international academy of more than 800 drinks experts, including bartenders and drinks writers.
Each voter casts eight votes based on his best bar experiences of the previous 18 months.
The list has been published annually since 2009.
1. Bar Leone (Hong Kong)
2. Handshake Speakeasy (Mexico City, Mexico)
3. Sips (Barcelona, Spain)
4. Paradiso (Barcelona, Spain)
5. Tayer + Elementary (London, England)
6. Connaught Bar (London, England)
7. Moebius Milano (Milan, Italy)
8. Line (Athens, Greece)
9. Jigger & Pony (Singapore)
10. Tres Monos (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
