I met Lorenzo Antinori<\/strong> during those Savoy years, when he moved on from the American Bar<\/strong> to the Beaufort<\/strong> alongside Chris Moore \u2014so I have known him personally for more than ten years. From Seoul he went to Hong Kong and the Four Seasons<\/strong>, where he built Argo<\/strong>, a bar that landed at #3 in Asia and #28 in the world. He walked away from it in 2023 to open a forty-five-seat room on a steep street at the edge of Central, Hong Kong’s financial heart.<\/p>\n I got in touch and asked him to talk about a few very specific things that are on a lot of people’s minds in this industry, along with some questions about himself and about Bar Leone, which became a global phenomenon remarkably fast. First, I wanted to know whether that line from 2017 had been a conviction or a wish. “It was absolute conviction<\/em>“, he answered, without hedging. Moving to Asia back then felt like stepping into the future of hospitality \u2014you could feel the hunger in the industry as it grew, and Asia offered dynamism, agility and an extraordinary respect for produce and technique that you did not easily find elsewhere. And the 2025 win, he explains, wasn’t his: “Winning World’s Best in 2025 wasn’t just a win for Bar Leone; it was validation for an entire region that had been quietly setting global benchmarks for years.”<\/em><\/p>\n He keeps returning to a phrase that has almost become a slogan: neighbourhood bar. Which is to say, he is clear that the Bar Leone crowned best bar in the world last year is a thoroughbred neighbourhood joint. I asked him for his own definition, not the one in the dictionary.<\/p>\n A real neighbourhood bar, he explains, “isn’t defined by its design or location \u2014it’s defined by familiarity and lack of pretense.”<\/em> Ease of entry is another criterion. “It’s a place where the barrier to entry is zero, where you can walk in alone in shorts or a suit, grab a quick cold beer or a classic cocktail, chat with the bartender, and feel recognized.”<\/em> It is, he says, “an extension of the living room or the local Italian piazza caf\u00e9 where I used to go for cornetti with my father.”<\/em><\/p>\n What’s interesting is that he also has a test for it. He calls it the regular test.<\/p>\n “If local neighbors on Bridges Street, local shopkeepers, and familiar faces can still get a seat, feel welcome, and afford to drop in twice a week despite the global spotlight and long queues, then we’re still a neighborhood bar. If we ever become an exclusive velvet-rope destination where regulars are pushed out, we’ve lost the plot.”<\/em><\/p>\n I’m holding on to that one, because it is the easiest thing in the world to say and the hardest to keep \u2014 especially when there are dozens of people standing outside your door.<\/p>\n The drinks list at Bar Leone<\/strong> leans overwhelmingly on ingredients that are already sitting on the back bar, with no rotovap and no lab kit for manufacturing new ones. The garnishes are classic and spare \u2014neatly cut citrus peels, good olives. Meanwhile, every one of their recipes is published on their website. What other bar does that?<\/p>\n Since it opened, Bar Leone<\/strong> has been widely credited with a “return to simplicity” \u2014and in Hong Kong itself, the conversation about where the scene is heading now revolves around neighbourhoods, classic drinks and rooms without unnecessary ornament.<\/p>\n I asked him whether he recognises himself in what others are now calling a trend. His answer opens with a sentence that, to my mind, deserves to be printed and pinned above a fair few back bars:<\/p>\n “Simplicity isn’t a trend; it’s a discipline.”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n His argument is practical, not philosophical. “When you strip away elaborate garnishes, modern machines, and ten-ingredient redistillations, you have nowhere to hide. If a three-ingredient cocktail is unbalanced or temperature-flawed, it’s instantly obvious.”<\/em> That, he says, is why bartenders fear simplicity: “complexity feels like a security blanket \u2014it makes you feel like an ‘artist.'”<\/em> And I agree 1000%.<\/p>\n So where exactly is the line between simplicity and laziness drawn? “Simplicity requires relentless precision \u2014obsessing over ice quality, citrus acidity, dilution, and glass temperature. Laziness is taking a classic recipe, executing it carelessly with warm glassware or mediocre ingredients, and calling it ‘minimalist.'”<\/em> And then the clincher: “True simplicity requires twice as much work behind the scenes to make it look completely effortless in front of the guest.”<\/em><\/p>\n That is not a figure of speech. The Leone Martini<\/strong> comes out pre-diluted, straight from a bottle sitting in the freezer, and is served in a chilled glass on a custom wood and brass tray. The work was done hours earlier. You just don’t see it.<\/p>\n I asked him to set aside what’s in the glass and tell me what has actually changed about what a bar is<\/em>, from the time he was starting out at The Savoy to today.<\/p>\n The biggest shift, he answers, “isn’t in the glass \u2014it’s the demystification of hospitality. In 2010, the trend was about dark speakeasies, solemn bartenders in waistcoats, and complex rules. Today, guests want warmth, speed, and emotional connection over theater.”<\/em> The room itself has to feel alive and democratic rather than intimidating, and the regular now weighs the vibe, the music, the lighting and the human interaction at least as heavily as the technique \u2014 “just as much as, if not more than, a liquid nitrogen technique.”<\/em><\/p>\n Underneath that, though, sits a harder truth he doesn’t dodge: the margins have tightened dramatically. Rents, labour, supply chain. Bars today, he explains, are obliged to run with far sharper business discipline than they were fifteen years ago.<\/p>\n In September 2025, a month before Bar Leone<\/strong> was named the best bar in the world, the team announced its little brother in Shanghai. So this was not a decision that followed the title \u2014 it had been taken beforehand. And before settling on that city, they had looked at Jakarta, at Bangkok, towards the Middle East, even at America. So although I could guess the answer, I wanted to hear from him which city he thinks is ready for its moment.<\/p>\n “Watch Shanghai and Bangkok,”<\/em> he tells me. Shanghai in particular, he explains, has an incredible depth of talent, sophisticated consumers and an appetite for new concepts that few global cities can match \u2014 which was, of course, exactly why he opened there.<\/p>\n The most useful part, though, is his criterion. The sign that a city has come of age is not, he says, when expensive hotel bars start opening. “It’s when young, independent local bartenders start opening small, passion-driven venues in local neighborhoods, supported by a strong domestic regular crowd rather than relying purely on expat or tourist traffic.”<\/em><\/p>\n Last May a “Bar Leone”<\/strong> appeared on Instagram in New York with no connection to them whatsoever. Given that he gives his recipes away for free, I asked him what it actually is that can’t be copied.<\/p>\n The code, he tells me, “is the intangible energy of the room \u2014 the warmth of Italian hospitality, the tempo of the music, the effortless banter, the way the team anticipates what a guest needs before they ask, and the collective soul of the crew behind the counter.”<\/em> And then: “You can copy our recipe specs, order the same glassware, and buy the same red tiles, but you cannot copy the chemistry of human beings who care deeply about their craft and each other.”<\/em><\/p>\n The distinction he draws between homage and theft is as clean as a recipe: “Homage takes an idea, credits the origin, and adapts it with personal integrity. Theft is copying a full identity wholesale to capitalize on someone else’s sweat and brand equity without understanding why it works.”<\/em><\/p>\n On 8 October 2025 Bar Leone came out on top of the world, at a ceremony held on its own turf, in Hong Kong. This past July, at Asia’s 50 Best Bars \u2014 a different award, more narrowly focused on the Asian market \u2014 it placed #3, behind Hope & Sesame<\/strong> in Guangzhou. Either way, I asked him whether anything had changed, in both directions.<\/p>\n After the summit, he explains, came immediate international visibility and raised expectations. “People fly in with a mental checklist, expecting magic.”<\/em> The team’s response was to reinforce its own foundations rather than change to suit the hype: “it forced us to double down on our core values rather than changing who we were.”<\/em><\/p>\n And when the number goes down? He says it with a calm I didn’t expect from someone who admits to being competitive: it’s “actually a healthy reset. Awards are a snapshot in time, not an identity.”<\/em> The pressure never leaves, nor should it. “If you don’t feel pressure to deliver every single night, you’ve stopped caring.”<\/em> The focus, he concludes, “remains squarely on the guest sitting in front of us on Bridges Street today, not on a trophy from last year.”<\/em><\/p>\n Shanghai was, in his own words, the first exercise in scale. And it worked, he explains: the ethos of Bar Leone \u2014 “approachable, high-quality Italian bar culture”<\/em> \u2014 translates across borders, provided you adapt thoughtfully to the local context “without diluting the core soul.”<\/p>\n But I wanted a number from him. How many Bar Leones fit before it stops being Bar Leone?<\/p>\n “Very few.”<\/em> It isn’t a fast-food franchise, he explains; it leans heavily on personal touch, culture and operational integrity. The figure he has in mind is two, at most three flagships in key cities where he can keep direct, hands-on oversight. Past that, “it ceases to be a neighborhood bar and becomes a chain.”<\/em><\/p>\n I left this one for last, without steering him in any direction. Simply: what does he think of the Greek scene, and has it developed an identity of its own.<\/p>\n The answer was more emphatic than I expected. The Greek scene, and Athens in particular, “is easily one of the most exciting in the world.”<\/em> What Athens does better than almost anywhere else, he says, is “high-volume hospitality paired with world-class bartending.”<\/em> Bars like Line, Clumsies and Baba Au Rum proved years ago that you can serve hundreds of people an hour without sacrificing either the quality or the fun.<\/p>\n And the closing line, which I’m keeping exactly as he wrote it:<\/p>\n “Today, Athens has unmistakably forged its own confident identity \u2014 it’s an exporter of bar concepts and global talent now, not an importer.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lorenzo Antinori on Bar Leone, the regulars of Bridges Street, and the test he never stops running In January 2017, a Roman bartender not quite thirty, who had come up through the American Bar at The Savoy and Dandelyan, was preparing to move to Seoul. 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<\/p>\nThe regulars’ test<\/h3>\n
Where simplicity ends and laziness begins<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/MEZCAL-NEGRONI-POPOLARELos-Siete-Misterios-Doba-Yej-Tapatio-Reposado-Cocchi-Vermouth-di-Tori-819x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhat has changed about bars since 2010<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Martedi-LEONE\ud83e\udd81\u2764\ufe0f\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf0barleonehk-cocktailpopolari-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe next city, and the signal<\/h3>\n
The code, and the thieves<\/h3>\n
From one to three<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/LEONE_PRESS_GDK-15-2-1-1-1-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\nHow many Bar Leones fit in the world<\/h3>\n
And Athens<\/h3>\n