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Food and Drinks
Lifestyle100 Top Tables

Hong Kong’s continually evolving Japanese bar scene, with a twist

The likes of Bar De Luxe, Bar Anima and Mizunara: The Library are blending diverse traditions with omotenashi and ichigo ichie experiences

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Ginza-style bars like Bar De Luxe have given Hongkongers a taste of Japanese cocktail culture. Photo: Handout
Josiah Ng
You don’t have to visit Tokyo to sample a Ginza-style cocktail bar. Ever since Ichiro Hiidome opened BAR Executive Bar in Causeway Bay nearly 20 years ago, these most particular of drinking establishments have held a quiet sway in Hong Kong. Bar Butler (2011), Mizunara: The Library (2014) and Bar De Luxe (2016) all followed, bringing a shokunin (artisan) mindset to the city’s bartending industry, and they have all helped Hongkongers develop a taste for Japanese cocktail culture’s quiet precision and ritual.

But what, exactly, defines a “Japanese bar” in a city that isn’t Japan? Is it the hushed reverence, the exacting technique, the spirit-forward recipes, or something more intangible? The last 10 years have seen numerous popular bars come and go. Yet Hong Kong’s Japanese bars have not only endured but evolved with a cadre of new concepts like Madara, Gokan, Bar Tincture and Bar Sepia swelling their ranks, and a redefinition of what the label even means.

“There are more Japanese bars now because before, there weren’t many who trained in the style properly,” says Ivin Hui, head bartender at Bar De Luxe. “Unless you know Japanese, it’s very difficult to apprentice. These days, there are more who make that effort.”

Ivin Hui of Bar De Luxe. Photos: Handout
Ivin Hui of Bar De Luxe. Photos: Handout

Bar De Luxe’s origins are the most authentically Ginza of any Hong Kong bar. The establishment was founded in partnership with industry legend Hidetsugu Ueno of Bar High Five, a Ginza icon. All full-time hires at Bar De Luxe are required to go to Japan to train with Ueno-san personally – a factor that helped establish the venue’s credibility.

Yet even the most traditional establishments are not immune to change. Bar De Luxe’s original format was more solemn and reverential. After moving from Asia-Pacific Centre to H Code in 2021, the new setting fostered a more convivial atmosphere.

According to operations manager Joiz Wong, it was necessary for Bar De Luxe to “shift from a ‘pure’ Japanese style which some feel is rigid, reserved and very serious”.

Roy Chung, co-owner and director of Bar Anima, does not even consider his recently relaunched venue a Japanese-style bar, despite his 10 years’ experience at Bar Butler. “I don’t think the label, ‘Japanese bar’, is important,” he says. “I just happened to have worked at Butler and learned a lot that I now take into operating Anima. In fact, our hospitality compared to Japanese bars is quite different – it’s much more local.”
Bar Anima’s cocktails look further back into Japanese history for inspiration. Photo: Handout
Bar Anima’s cocktails look further back into Japanese history for inspiration. Photo: Handout
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