Seoul's Zest enters World's 50 Best Bars list

Food & Travel

Published: 18 Oct. 2023, 16:52 Updated: 20 Oct. 2023, 09:31

Seoul's Zest enters World's 50 Best Bars list

Winners of 2023 World's 50 Best Bars pose for photos after the ceremony in Singapore on Tuesday. [WORLD'S 50 BEST BARS]

Zest bar on Tuesday entered the ranks of the World's 50 Best Bars.

Placing 18th, it nabbed the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award, given to the bar with the highest ranking among newly debuted bars on the list. This year saw 11 new entries, in Bangkok, Berlin, Dubai, London, Melbourne, New Orleans, Paris, Rome, Seoul, Singapore and Stockholm.

Zest, in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, is best known for its zero-waste approach and use of local ingredients. Its co-founders Demie Kim, Noah Kwon, Jisu Park and Sean Woo use mixers made from recycled plastic, incorporate honey from urban beekeepers in Seoul and harvest their own herbs and edible flowers by hand, according to 50 Best Bars.

The bar also ranked fifth on the Asian edition of the 50 Best Bars list, announced in July. Moving up 43 positions from the previous year, it was awarded the Nikka Highest Climber Award 2023.

"With a share of the profits funneled into local ecological projects, Zest is at the very forefront of the modern sustainable bar movement," the rankings platform writes on its website.

Zest bar's cocktail [JOONGANG PHOTOS]

This year's World's 50 Best Bars list features bars from 28 cities. First place went to Barcelona's Sips. It is the second time for a Barcelonian bar to nab the top spot, following Paradiso’s win in 2022.

World's 50 Best Bars said that Sips combines "elegant design with cutting-edge technique to create an unfussy and playful ‘drinkery house.’"

Sips was founded by veteran bartenders Simone Caporale and Marc Álvarez. 50 Best credited the duo for using a "disruptive approach to creative mixology" that offers a "multi-sensory, immersive drinking experience."

“As the brainchild of cocktail-world icons Marc Álvarez and Simone Caporale, Sips was destined for greatness even before it rocketed into the list at No. 37 just a few short months after opening in 2021," William Drew, director of content of 50 Best, said in a press release Wednesday. "The bar seamlessly translates contemporary innovation and technical precision into a playful cocktail program, accompanied by the warmest hospitality, making it a worthy winner of The World’s Best Bar 2023 title.”

In other parts of Asia, Bangkok, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo each had two bars listed on the rankings. Bangkok’s BKK Social Club, at No. 13, was named the Best Bar in Asia.

Other accolades of the ceremony included the Industry Icon award that went to Renato Giovannoni of Florería Atlántico in Buenos Aires; the Campari One To Watch award that went to Lady Bee in Lima, Peru; and the Nikka Highest Climber Award that went to Himkok in Oslo.

This year's ceremony was held in Singapore, the first time it was held in Asia since its founding in 2009. World’s 50 Best Bars annually releases a global ranking of bars around the world, voted on by 680 experts.

BY LEE JIAN [lee.jian@joongang.co.kr]