Four Seoul bars earned places on Asia's 50 Best Bars 2026, with Zest ranked No. 2 and named the Best Bar in Korea.
The rankings, sponsored by Perrier, were revealed Tuesday at Wynn Palace in Macao.
Zest held the No. 2 spot for a third consecutive year and took the Best Bar in Korea title for a fourth straight year. The bar, which is located in Seoul's Gangnam-gu, works to a zero-waste philosophy, making its own sodas and spirits in-house and finding use for leftover peels, pulp and produce. Its Jeju Garibaldi is built on freshly squeezed hallabong juice, with the peels repurposed to infuse the house gin.
Alice, a speakeasy in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, reached through a flower shop and a hidden door, ranked No. 13. The bar leans on an Alice in Wonderland theme and uses molecular techniques in its cocktails.
Bar Cham, set in a traditional hanok in Seochon in Jongno-gu, ranked No. 33, down from No. 6 a year earlier. Its team walks guests through Korean spirits from across the country, with soju at the center.
M+MS Bar, also in Gangnam-gu, entered the list for the first time at No. 42. It opens as a cafe in the afternoon and turns to an evening cocktail menu, drawing on an in-house brewery and fermentation. Among its drinks is the Yama, made with sour kimchi and tuna.
The list also saw a change at the top. Hope & Sesame in Guangzhou was named the Best Bar in Asia 2026, ending a two-year run by Hong Kong's Bar Leone, which held the No. 1 spot in 2024 and 2025 and slipped to No. 3 this year. Hope & Sesame is the first bar in mainland China to take the title.
yoohong@heraldcorp.com
