Results
New York City, United States
Bar Chucho is a casual Mexican bar in New York City built around micheladas and cocktails with bar food to match. The space sits in a tier of neighbourhood drinking spots that prize informality and a focused drinks list over fine-dining formality. It draws a crowd that wants a well-made michelada and something to eat without the ceremony of a full tasting menu.
San Sebastián, Spain
Bar Ciaboga sits on Easo Kalea in San Sebastián's Gros-adjacent belt, where the pinxto counter tradition meets a more considered approach to what lands alongside the drink. The food programme here earns its own attention, not just as ballast for the glass. Worth knowing before the evening crowds fill the narrow bar.
Los Angeles, United States
Bar Clara occupies a ground-floor address on South Olive Street in downtown Los Angeles, operating within the city's quieter, more technically focused cocktail tier. The bar draws regulars who favour a lower-key format over the high-concept theatrics that defined the previous decade, with a drinks programme rooted in careful preparation and a sense of neighbourhood permanence.
Bentonville, United States
Bar Cleeta occupies a compact address on NW 2nd Street in downtown Bentonville, operating within a drinking culture that has matured well beyond what most visitors expect from northwest Arkansas. The bar positions itself in the spirits-forward tier of the local scene, where back-bar depth and considered curation define the experience rather than volume or spectacle.
Madrid, Spain
One of Madrid's most enduring addresses for classic cocktails, Bar Cock sits on Calle de la Reina in the Centro district, drawing a crowd that values craft and continuity over novelty. The room carries the weight of decades of Madrid nightlife, and the drinks program leans toward precision over spectacle. Arrive with time to settle in — this is not a bar that rewards rushing.
Paradise, United States
Bar Code Burgers sits on East Flamingo Road in Paradise, Nevada, a stretch that trades Strip spectacle for neighborhood practicality. The format is built around burgers in a city where casual dining often plays second fiddle to resort dining rooms. It occupies a price tier and atmosphere well below the Las Vegas mega-property circuit, which is precisely its appeal for residents and visitors seeking a lower-key meal.
Sydney, Australia
Bar Copains on Albion Street in Surry Hills is a collaboration between Morgan McGlone, Nathan Sasi, and Sali Sasi — three industry veterans whose shared history gives the bar its name and its character. The French word for friends shapes everything from the welcoming floor pace to a drinks program that rewards return visits. It sits in Sydney's most bar-dense inner-south corridor, competing on craft rather than concept.
Madison, United States
Bar Corallini on Madison's Atwood Avenue sits in the Eastside corridor where neighborhood bars shade into something more considered. The address puts it squarely in a pocket of the city where serious drinking has quietly taken hold alongside a committed back bar and an approach to spirits curation that separates it from the broader Madison tavern circuit.
Lecce, Italy
Bar Cotognata Leccese occupies a narrow address on Via G. Marconi in the heart of Lecce's baroque centre, where the Salento aperitivo tradition and a more considered approach to mixed drinks converge. The bar draws a local crowd that returns for its grounding in regional ingredients and an unhurried pace that resists the pressures of tourist-facing venues elsewhere in the city.
Montréal, Canada
Bar Courcelle occupies a stretch of Notre-Dame Ouest in Saint-Henri, a neighbourhood that has quietly become one of Montreal's most interesting after-dark addresses. The bar fits the area's pattern: lower-key than the Plateau, more considered than a sports bar, drawing a crowd that prefers depth over spectacle. It is a neighbourhood anchor with reach beyond the neighbourhood.
Los Angeles, United States
Bar Covell has anchored the Los Feliz wine bar scene for nearly fifteen years, operating on a stretch of Hollywood Boulevard that most LA bar-goers have historically overlooked. The format is deliberately low-key: no cocktail theatrics, no reservations pageantry, just a considered list of natural and European wines in a room that rewards slowing down. It remains one of the neighbourhood's most consistent reference points for the category.
Tucson, United States
Bar Crisol/Exo occupies a downtown Tucson address on West Simpson Street where the city's craft cocktail conversation is shifting from novelty toward technique. The dual identity — Crisol and Exo sharing a physical space — signals a bar program that operates on two registers, each worth understanding on its own terms. In a city still building its cocktail infrastructure, this address functions as a reference point.
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Bar da Lora occupies a corner of Belo Horizonte's Centro district at Rua Santa Catarina 201, where the city's appetite for serious drinking meets neighbourhood grit. The bar sits within a broader scene that has made BH one of Brazil's more interesting mid-tier cocktail cities, operating outside the Rio–São Paulo gravitational pull that tends to define national bar culture.
Charleston, United States
Bar Daniel occupies a particular tier in Charleston's bar scene: serious about its cocktail program without the theatrics that often accompany ambition at this level. The drinks lean precise and seasonal, the room reads intimate, and the overall register is calm confidence rather than spectacle. For a city whose bar culture has matured considerably over the past decade, Bar Daniel sits at a considered end of that spectrum.
San Francisco, United States
Bar Darling occupies a distinct position in San Francisco's cocktail scene, where the conversation increasingly centres on what's behind the bar rather than what's hidden behind the door. Known for a curated spirits program and an atmosphere that rewards attention, it draws a crowd that arrives with intent. Check availability directly for current hours and booking options.
London, United Kingdom
A sherry and cold tapas bar on Park Street in Borough Market's orbit, Bar Daskal occupies a niche that London's broader cocktail scene rarely addresses: the serious, unhurried case for fino, manzanilla, and amontillado alongside precisely assembled small plates. The format rewards those who slow down and pay attention, placing it in a different register from the high-concept cocktail programs that dominate SE1's after-dark reputation.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Bar de Cao sits on Avenida Independencia in Buenos Aires, occupying a position in the city's evolving bar scene where neighbourhood character and a considered drinks program intersect. The address places it in San Cristóbal, a district that drinks differently from Palermo's high-traffic corridors. For those tracing the city's cocktail geography beyond the obvious stops, it represents a worthwhile detour.
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Bar De Luxe sits in Central’s vertical drinking corridor, where Hong Kong’s serious cocktail rooms trade street-level visibility for controlled rooms and deeper back bars. The draw is spirits-led rather than spectacle-led: a polished, late-evening address for drinkers who care about bottle selection, balance and Central convenience more than novelty theatre.
Seattle, United States
Bar del Corso sits on Beacon Hill's Beacon Avenue South, one of Seattle's more residential and undersung commercial strips. The bar operates in the quieter register that defines the neighbourhood, placing it at a remove from the Capitol Hill cocktail circuit without sacrificing program depth. For Seattle drinkers who prefer substance over scene, that distance is the point.
Rome, Italy
On a cobblestone piazza steps from Santa Maria della Pace, Bar del Fico occupies the kind of Rome that tourists photograph but rarely sit down in long enough to understand. The fig tree in the courtyard sets the tempo: unhurried, rooted, and indifferent to trends. It reads as a neighbourhood bar by day and a natural gathering point for aperitivo by evening, with a drinks list that sits somewhere between Roman tradition and contemporary bar culture.
London, United Kingdom
Bar Des Pres sits inside London’s crowded premium drinking conversation, where restaurant-led bars, hotel lounges and technical cocktail rooms compete for the same evening. With little public database detail available here on price, hours, awards or booking channels, the sensible read is contextual: treat it as a London bar to plan deliberately, then compare it against the city’s stronger-documented cocktail addresses before committing a night.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Bar do Bode Cheiroso sits on Rua General Canabarro in the Maracanã neighbourhood, occupying the kind of no-frills position that Rio's most characterful bars have always favoured over polish. It draws from a tradition of boteco culture where the bartender's relationship with regulars defines the room as much as anything on the counter. For visitors oriented toward the city's lived-in drinking scene rather than its hotel-bar circuit, it represents a direct line to that tradition.
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
A neighbourhood bar in Belo Horizonte's Cachoeirinha district, Bar Do Careca occupies the kind of address that rewards those who look beyond the city centre. The bar draws a loyal local crowd and sits within a city that has long treated its botecos as serious cultural institutions rather than mere drinking stops.
Alcabideche, Portugal
Bar do Guincho sits on the Atlantic-facing edge of the Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, where the wind comes off the ocean without interruption and the light shifts dramatically through the afternoon. The bar occupies one of Portugal's most cinematically exposed coastal settings, making it a reference point for understanding what serious drinking looks like when the environment is doing half the work. See our full Alcabideche guide for wider context.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Bar do Mineiro sits on Rua Paschoal Carlos Magno in Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro's hillside bohemian neighbourhood, functioning as the kind of bar that locals return to out of habit rather than occasion. The food is straightforward boteco fare — the format that defines neighbourhood drinking culture across Rio — and the setting carries the worn, lived-in quality that no amount of interior design can manufacture.
Mexico City, Mexico
Bar Donceles occupies a storied address in Mexico City's Centro Histórico, where colonial architecture and a serious approach to Mexican spirits converge in one of the capital's most atmospherically charged drinking rooms. The bar sits inside the historic fabric of Donceles street, a corridor that has housed booksellers, print shops, and cultural institutions for generations. For anyone tracking the city's cocktail evolution, it belongs on the itinerary alongside Baltra Bar and Bar Mauro.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Bar dos Descasados occupies a characterful address on Rua Felício dos Santos in Santa Teresa, the hillside bairro that has long functioned as Rio de Janeiro's most concentrated pocket of independent bars and creative drinking culture. The bar draws on the neighbourhood's tradition of unhurried, conversation-centred socialising and backs it with a considered spirits program that positions it alongside the more curatorially serious venues in the city.
Denver, United States
Bar Dough sits on West 32nd Avenue in Denver's LoHi neighborhood, occupying the Italian-leaning end of a bar scene that takes its wine list as seriously as its cocktails. The address puts it squarely in a stretch where refined small-plates bars have redefined casual drinking in the city, with a cellar program that draws regulars back as reliably as the food.
Cascais E Estoril, Portugal
Set back from the dunes of Cresmina along the Cascais coastline, Bar e Duna da Cresmina occupies the kind of position that shapes a drink's entire character. The bar draws from the Atlantic-facing bar culture that defines this stretch of the Estoril Coast, where the line between beach club and serious drinking destination has grown increasingly blurred. For visitors working through Portugal's bar scene, it belongs on the itinerary alongside the region's more documented venues.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Set on the ground floor of a residential building along the quieter Urca shoreline, Bar e Restaurante Urca splits into a street-level bar and an upstairs dining room, each operating at its own pace. The venue draws a steady Carioca crowd for cold chopp and petiscos with the bay as backdrop. It sits closer to neighbourhood institution than tourist stop.
Barcelona, Spain
Bar Electricitat sits on Carrer de Sant Carles in the Barceloneta district, one of Barcelona's oldest neighbourhood bars and a reference point for vermouth culture in the city. The back bar carries a depth of bottled spirits that puts it in a different tier from the cocktail-forward venues that now dominate the local scene. Come for the atmosphere, stay for what's on the shelves.
Berlin, Germany
Bar Elisabeth opened in December 2023 on Sprengelstraße in Wedding, bringing a California-inflected sensibility to Berlin's wine bar circuit. The room pulls guests in for a single glass and tends to hold them considerably longer. For those tracking where Berlin's quieter, more considered drinking culture is taking shape, Wedding is worth the journey north.
Bogotá, Colombia
Bar Enano sits on Calle 79b in Bogotá's Zona Rosa corridor, where the city's most serious drinking culture has quietly matured over the past decade. The bar occupies the specialist tier of Bogotá's bar scene, where back-bar depth and curation discipline count for more than square footage or celebrity footfall. Arrive with patience for the list and time for a second round.
San Sebastián, Spain
Bar Etxeberria sits on Iñigo Kalea in the heart of San Sebastián's Parte Vieja, where the city's pintxos culture has been refined over generations into something closer to an art form. The bar operates within a tradition that prizes locally sourced Basque ingredients above everything else, placing it squarely in the neighbourhood's serious eating circuit rather than its tourist-facing periphery.
Melbourne, Australia
Bar Ferdinand sits inside Melbourne's serious cocktail tier, where the city's appetite for technical drinking programs has quietly outpaced most Australian cities. The room leans dark and considered, the kind of bar where the drink list rewards attention. For those who treat cocktail culture as a discipline rather than a backdrop, Ferdinand occupies a specific and valuable position in Melbourne's drinking scene.
Sydney, Australia
Bar Ferdinand sits in Sydney’s cocktail conversation at the botanical end of the spectrum, pairing mixed drinks with bar snacks rather than building itself around a full restaurant format. With no public awards, prices, hours, or booking data in the EP Club record, it is better read as a low-information, drink-led address to verify directly before planning a night around it.
New York City, United States
Bar Ferdinando belongs in New York City’s cocktail conversation as a venue to assess through programme discipline rather than hype. With no published EP Club record for awards, pricing, chef, cuisine, hours, or booking method, the useful reading is comparative: place it against the city’s technical cocktail bars, then plan with direct confirmation before going.
Montréal, Canada
Bar Furco has built a reputation as downtown Montreal's go-to wine bar, drawing the office crowd from surrounding streets and filling early on weekday evenings. The atmosphere is festive without being loud, the seating arrangement a mix of bar perches and tables that rewards guests who arrive before the post-work rush. Located at 425 Rue Mayor, it sits at the centre of the city's most animated after-work circuit.
Granada, Spain
Bar Gallardo occupies a corner of Granada's Ronda neighbourhood that most visitors walk past without stopping. The bar sits squarely in the city's tradition of serious drinking culture, where the glass in hand matters as much as the plate alongside it. For those tracing Spanish cocktail culture beyond Madrid and Barcelona, it earns a close look.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Bar Gallizia sits on Javastraat in Amsterdam's Indische Buurt, operating as the kind of neighbourhood bar that earns its regulars through consistency rather than concept. The East neighbourhood has shifted considerably over the past decade, and Gallizia has moved with it without losing its local character. For visitors, it offers a point of contact with a Amsterdam that operates well outside the canal-belt tourist circuit.
Seville, Spain
Bar Garlochí occupies a corner of Seville's Casco Antiguo on Calle Boteros, drawing a crowd that comes specifically for the back bar rather than the neighbourhood foot traffic. The space reads as a serious spirits destination in a city better known for manzanilla and montilla, placing it in a small peer set of Andalusian bars where the bottle collection does the talking. It is the kind of address that rewards repeat visits from those already oriented toward craft drinking.
San Francisco, United States
Bar Gemini occupies a corner of the Mission District at 2845 18th Street, placing it squarely in San Francisco's most competitive stretch of independent drinking. The bar draws a crowd that takes its glass seriously, sitting in a category where curation and atmosphere do more work than celebrity names or imported spectacle.
Procida, Italy
On Procida's main seafront strip, Bar Grottino di Scotto sits where island rhythm and aperitivo culture intersect. This is a bar shaped by the unhurried pace of one of Italy's least commercialised islands, where the drink in hand matters less than the hour it occupies. For visitors making the crossing from Naples, it offers a grounded point of entry into how Procida actually lives.
Cabrales, Spain
Bar Guillermina sits in Bulnes, a village in the Cabrales municipality of Asturias that has no road access — only a cable car or a mountain trail separates it from the valley below. That physical isolation shapes everything about the bar: the pace, the drink selection, and the kind of conversation that happens when a room is cut off from the noise of ordinary Spain.
Austin, United States
Bar Hacienda belongs in the Austin drinking conversation as a bar to approach through context rather than claims: there is no published EP Club record here for awards, pricing, hours, address, chef, or booking route. That absence makes the editorial read different: judge it against Austin’s increasingly technical cocktail scene, then verify logistics directly before planning the night.
Montréal, Canada
Bar Henrietta sits on Avenue Laurier Ouest in Montreal's Plateau-Mont-Royal, where the neighbourhood's European-leaning café culture shades into something with a sharper edge after dark. The bar operates in a tradition of drink-forward rooms that take their food programme seriously, placing it alongside Montreal venues where the kitchen and bar list are designed in conversation with each other.
Brooklyn, United States
Bar Heretic enters Brooklyn’s cocktail conversation at a moment when the borough rewards bars with a clear point of view rather than theatrical secrecy. Public venue data is limited, so the useful read is comparative: treat it as a cocktail-led stop to assess against Brooklyn peers for drink technique, room energy, and booking friction before building a night around it.
Philadelphia, United States
Bar Hygge occupies a corner of Fairmount Avenue where the Danish concept of hygge — warmth, ease, convivial comfort — translates directly into the glass. The cocktail program draws on the neighborhood bar tradition while operating at a level of intentionality that sets it apart from the Fairmount corridor's more casual options. It rewards those who show up without a plan and stay longer than expected.
Ciutadella, Spain
Bar Imperi occupies one of Ciutadella's most architecturally charged addresses, the storied Plaça des Born, where the city's trading and social history converged for centuries. The bar draws its character from that setting, positioning itself as a serious drinking destination in a town better known for its cobblestone promenades than its cocktail programs. Visitors arriving for the Menorcan summer season find here a measured, curated back bar worth sitting down with.
Trapani, Italy
Bar Incontro occupies a spot on Via Archi in Trapani's historic centre, operating in a city where the bar counter is a social institution as much as a drinking destination. The address places it within walking distance of the salt flats and the Arab-Norman street grid that defines the old town. For those exploring western Sicily's drinking scene, it represents a local fixture worth finding.
Melbourne, Australia
Bar Kaeru occupies a specific niche in Melbourne's bar scene: a sake-led drinking room with Japanese and Chinese-influenced snacks, pitched squarely at those who want depth over spectacle. The format rewards curiosity — sake flights, considered pours, and food that functions as counterpoint rather than afterthought. In a city that takes its bars seriously, Kaeru earns its place at the table.
Los Angeles, United States
Bar Keeper occupies a deliberate position in Los Angeles's Silver Lake drinking scene: part retail bottle shop, part neighbourhood bar, with a focus on spirits curation that draws enthusiasts from across the city. Located on N Hoover Street, it operates in a category that sits apart from high-volume cocktail theatre, appealing to drinkers who treat the glass as a research exercise as much as a pleasure.
Toronto, Canada
On Ossington Avenue, one of Toronto's most active bar corridors, Bar Koukla operates at the smaller, more intimate end of the neighbourhood's drinking spectrum. The address — Unit 2 on a stretch defined by independent operators — positions it alongside a peer set that prizes craft over volume. For visitors working through Toronto's bar scene, it warrants a place on any serious itinerary.
Newark, United States
Bar Left gives Newark’s cocktail-and-small-plates category a focused address rather than a dinner-first room with drinks attached. With public details limited, the useful read is comparative: place it beside the city’s Iberian restaurants, delis, and hotel bars as part of a tighter drinking circuit where the draw is the bar program and the food is there to pace the evening.
Cartagena, Colombia
Bar Lelarge sits inside Cartagena's cocktail scene as a address shaped by local and seasonal fruits, with a Cuban-influenced approach to mixing that sets it apart from the city's more internationally formatted bars. The drinks program draws on the Caribbean fruit pantry that defines the region, placing it in a specific niche within a city whose bar culture has matured considerably over the last decade.
Shanghai, China
Bar Leone has become one of Shanghai's most-discussed cocktail addresses, placing the city's evolving bar scene in sharper focus. Operating in a format that rewards technical precision over theatrics, it draws a crowd that tracks Asia's 50 Best Bar listings closely. For anyone mapping Shanghai's current cocktail tier, Bar Leone belongs on that list.
Paris, France
Bar Les Heures sits inside the Prince de Galles hotel on Avenue George V, occupying a tier of Parisian hotel bars where the drinks programme and kitchen operate as a unified statement rather than an afterthought. Against neighbours like Buddha Bar and the cocktail-focused rooms of the 8th arrondissement, it positions itself through the relationship between what arrives in the glass and what arrives on the plate.
Melbourne, Australia
Bar Liberty on Johnston Street is one of Fitzroy's defining wine-and-food addresses, the kind of place that earns genuine loyalty from those who've moved away from Melbourne and still think about it. The list leans natural and producer-driven, the food matches that register, and the room carries the particular ease of a bar that doesn't need to announce itself.
Mont Royal, Canada
Bar Limone sits on Côte-de-Liesse in Mont Royal, occupying the citrus-forward corner of Montreal's cocktail conversation. The bar's Italian-inflected name signals a programme built around brightness and acidity rather than the heavy spirit-forward pours that dominate much of the city's bar scene. For anyone tracking the evolution of Canadian cocktail culture, it belongs on the itinerary alongside Montreal's most discussed bars.
Kyoto, Japan
BAR Liquor Museum occupies a quietly singular position in Kyoto's bar scene: a dedicated showcase for Japanese whisky and spirits that functions less like a conventional bar and more like a working archive. Located in Shimogyo Ward near Kyoto Tower, it draws visitors who arrive with specific bottles in mind and leave having reconsidered the breadth of what Japan produces. Booking ahead is advisable.
West Hollywood, United States
Bar Lubitsch on Santa Monica Boulevard is one of West Hollywood's most enduring late-night bars, drawing a loyal crowd with its Russian-inflected spirit program and dimly lit, velvet-draped interior. The back bar leans heavily on vodka and Eastern European bottles that rarely appear elsewhere on the Strip. Plan for a walk-in, cash-friendly evening in a room that hasn't chased trends.
Milan, Italy
Conceived by filmmaker Wes Anderson and housed inside Milan's Fondazione Prada complex, Bar Luce operates as a working café that doubles as a set piece for mid-century Italian bar culture. The food and drink programme holds its own against the visual spectacle: aperitivo-hour classics, pressed sandwiches, and pastries anchor a menu calibrated for the long afternoon sit. Located on Largo Isarco in the Porta Romana district, it draws a mix of design pilgrims and neighbourhood regulars.
New York City, United States
Bar Lumière sits inside New York's current wave of technique-driven cocktail programming, where the emphasis falls on clarity, restraint, and method over spectacle. The room reads as intimate and considered, placing it alongside the city's more serious drinking destinations rather than its high-volume cocktail bars. For visitors who treat a well-made drink as seriously as a well-sourced plate, this is the tier to be in.
Adelaide, Australia
Bar Lune brings a considered wine bar format to Beulah Park's quieter stretch of The Parade, sitting at a remove from Adelaide's CBD drinking circuit without sacrificing the curation that defines the city's better lists. The bar trades in contemporary wine with a program shaped around discovery rather than familiarity, making it a useful reference point for the suburban shift in Adelaide's bar culture.
New York City, United States
Bar Maeda on Charlton Street brings a Tokyo-style cocktail sensibility to the western edge of SoHo, where Hudson Square's residential quiet makes it feel more like a neighbourhood fixture than a destination bar. The program draws on Japanese bartending discipline — precision, restraint, hospitality — in a city where that approach has moved from novelty to a recognised point of craft. A reliable address for serious cocktails without the theatre.
Montréal, Canada
Bar Mamie on Rue Beaubien is one of Montreal's most convincing approximations of a northern French estaminet, right down to the postcards the French owner sent his grandmother pinned in the bathroom. The bar draws from old-world neighbourhood drinking culture and plants it firmly in the Plateau-adjacent Villeray district, making it a reference point for the city's francophone bar scene.
Barcelona, Spain
Bar Manchester occupies a narrow address on Carrer de Milans in the Barri Gòtic, where the crowd skews local and the atmosphere runs closer to a neighbourhood tavern than a cocktail destination. It operates in the tradition of Barcelona's old-quarter watering holes: low-key entry, reliable pours, and a room that fills up on its own terms rather than through hype.
Pittsburgh, United States
Bar Marco occupies a converted firehouse on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh's Strip District, placing it at the intersection of the city's industrial past and its current food-and-drink ambition. The space trades on atmosphere as much as on the glass, making it a reference point for understanding where Pittsburgh's bar culture has landed in the past decade. It sits in a neighbourhood corridor that rewards explorers willing to move beyond the obvious.
Melbourne, Australia
Occupying a basement on Lonsdale Street, Bar Margaux operates as one of Melbourne's most dependable late-night rooms: a European-leaning bar where the cocktail list is considered, the wine runs deep, and the crowd skews local. It sits comfortably within the city's cohort of technically serious bars that resist spectacle in favour of atmosphere and repeat visits.
Barcelona, Spain
Bar Marsella on Carrer de Sant Pau has been pouring absinthe in the Raval since 1820, making it one of the oldest continuously operating bars in Barcelona. The bottles lining its shelves have gathered decades of dust — literally — and the interior looks almost identical to period photographs. It is a bar that drinks seriously, without performance or pretence.
Tokyo, Japan
Bar Martha occupies a quiet residential block in Ebisu, Shibuya, operating within the layered tradition of Tokyo's intimate neighbourhood bars. The setting sits at a remove from the high-profile counters of Ginza and Shinjuku, positioning itself inside a smaller, more local tier of the city's drinking culture. For those tracing Tokyo's bar scene beyond the obvious circuits, Ebisu rewards the detour.
Charleston, United States
Bar Marti occupies a distinct corner of Charleston's drinking scene, where poolside ease meets serious cocktail craft. The format — cocktails and light fare in a setting designed for lingering — fits a city that has long blurred the line between leisure and culinary ambition. For visitors planning time in the Holy City, it earns a place on the short list.
Melbourne, Australia
Bar Mercado brings Spanish and South American drinking culture to Melbourne, occupying a space where market-hall informality meets serious bar craft. The Spanish-South American overlap is an underrepresented format in the city's bar scene, and Mercado leans into the traditions of both — vermouth on tap, sharp spirits lists, and the kind of food that earns a place at the bar rather than beside it.
New York City, United States
Bar Mercer occupies the tavern-and-wine-bar tier that New York does quietly well: a format built for conversation over craft pours rather than spectacle. For those planning a low-key celebration or a milestone drink in the city, it sits in a neighbourhood of serious independent bars where the emphasis falls on what's in the glass rather than what's on the wall.
Toronto, Canada
Bar Neon sits on Bloor Street West in Toronto's Dufferin Grove and Bloordale corridor, a stretch that has quietly become one of the city's more interesting after-dark addresses. The bar occupies the neon-lit, late-night end of a neighbourhood scene that prizes drink curation over volume, making it a reference point for anyone tracking how Toronto's bar culture has shifted away from the purely theatrical.
Stockholm, Sweden
Born from Wine Trade's old Södermalm offices, Bar Ninja is the natural wine bar that importer Niklas Jakobson spent years working toward. The format is deliberately casual, the wine list shaped by direct producer relationships rather than distributor catalogues. In a city that increasingly separates wine knowledge from wine pretension, Bar Ninja sits firmly in the latter camp — informed without being formal.
Salt Lake City, United States
Bar Nohm occupies a corner of Salt Lake City's evolving bar scene where the drink list carries as much editorial weight as anything on the plate. Located at 165 W 900 S, it draws a crowd that expects more than standard well-spirit rotation. For a city still shaking off its reputation for restrictive drinking culture, Bar Nohm reads as a meaningful data point in the ongoing correction.
Portland, United States
Bar Norman occupies a quiet stretch of SE Clinton Street, operating within Portland's broader tradition of neighborhood bars that prioritize craft over spectacle. The address places it firmly in the residential southeast, where the city's most considered drinking culture tends to take root away from the central district's higher-traffic venues. A reference point for those tracing Portland's independent bar scene.
Portland, United States
Bar Nouveau brings French-inspired drinking to Portland's bar scene, framing its program around serious spirits curation and classic European technique. The back bar operates as the editorial argument: bottles selected with the discipline of a cellar list rather than a standard pour menu. For Portland drinkers who have moved past the craft-cocktail basics, this is where the conversation gets specific.
Lisbon, Portugal
Bar Old Vic occupies a narrow address on Travessa Henrique Cardoso in Lisbon's quieter northeastern quarters, positioning itself within the city's growing tier of spirits-forward drinking rooms. The back bar skews toward depth over breadth, making it a reference point for serious collectors and curious drinkers alike. Find it through our full Lisbon bar and restaurant coverage.