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Ashlyn Chak

“I think it’s every bartender’s end goal to open their own bar,” says Birs Wong, a fashion designer turned bartender who co-founded Bar Mind in Hong Kong’s Central neighbourhood.
The new bar’s minimalist concept is reflected in everything from its cocktails to interior design, which is rendered in concrete, stone and wave patterns – and does not have any bottles of spirits on display.
Wong began her journey in the bar industry in 2019 after coming to the realisation that high fashion is not something a lot of people regularly engage with.
“I felt that fashion design and bartending are both about creativity, but the latter is a more widely appreciated art form,” she says.

Wong opened Bar Mind with her partner and fellow bartender Jo Lo, who previously worked at Hong Kong bars DraftLand and Room 309.
The two met five years ago and have been together ever since. While they had always floated the idea of opening a bar together, it took time for them to feel comfortable enough to work together.
Things took a turn after Lo won the Diageo World Class Hong Kong & Macau bartending competition in 2022 and Wong brought home the same title in 2023.
The pair went on to do guest shifts at bars, but began to feel stuck in 2024, when they struggled to find an establishment that best represented them.
“It was time for us to start a new chapter in our careers,” says Lo, who joined the bar industry after studying hotel management at university.
Wong says many bars in Hong Kong lean towards “fancier and more complicated” concepts whereas she prefers simpler presentations.
“We wanted to go with a minimalist approach,” Wong says. “Not without garnish, but with more attention on cocktail pairings, layers and how the flavour profile evolves.”

As a result, Bar Mind’s main focus is on cocktails and hospitality. The bar strips away all the non-essentials, including bottles of spirits behind the counter that are a feature of most bars.
“We want the guests to focus on our drinks and hospitality,” Lo says. “Our long bar station incorporates lighting to make it feel like a stage for us and the team to showcase our techniques.”
The bar, which soft-opened in June, currently offers just eight drinks, half of which were designed by Wong and inspired by her and Lo’s award-winning cocktails from previous competitions.
“The concept of the menu is ‘the flavour of memory’,” she says. “The word ‘mind’ in our bar name has different meanings when translating from English to Chinese – memories, beliefs, reflection.”

One of Wong’s favourite creations is A Taste of Home, a margarita-style drink with tequila, bitter melon, lime and a powdered rim made with dehydrated fermented black beans and Longjing tea.
Instead of sugar, bitter melon juice and a few drops of rattan pepper oil are added to the drink for extra layers and a long aftertaste.
For the umami cocktail, Wong was inspired by her family’s love for tea and a Hong Kong dish that her parents often cooked when she was growing up: stir-fried bitter melon with fermented black beans and dace.
“I created this in a competition at a time when my family immigrated to the UK,” she says. “My version of the dish is a little spicy but not too spicy, only to pick up the flavour.”

Lo’s pick is the Streetwise Boulevardier, comprising Campari, bourbon, Sichuan pepper, chilli oil and hoisin sauce.
“This is the most adventurous and experimental drink out of the eight on the menu. In a way, it may be more catered to the bartender’s taste buds,” she says. “People either love it or think the flavours are too strong, as it has more layers.”
The inspiration comes from a popular Hong Kong dai pai dong (open-air food stall) dish – clams cooked in spicy wine sauce – and comes with a little Babylonia snail on the side.

Most of Bar Mind’s cocktails come with a small snack on the side, harking back to Wong’s love for food and drink pairings.
Another main focus of the mindful bar is hospitality.
“To me, hospitality is not just drinking shots with guests, but adapting to the needs and moods of each guest who walks through the door, and giving them a good experience that they remember fondly when they leave the bar,” Lo says.
“I’m more introverted,” Wong says. “So rather than directly talking to you, I prefer to pay close attention and read between the lines to see whether you even want to talk.
“Not everyone who goes to a bar wants to talk to the bartender. Some people just want to have a quiet drink on their own. I think that’s the hospitality we have to do.”
Bar Mind, 11 Elgin Street, Central


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Some of the signature drinks in Bar Mind’s first menu, many of which use locally sourced ingredients. Photo: Bar Mind

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Lo (left) and Wong says they want guests to focus on Bar Mind’s drinks and hospitality. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Bar Mind’s A Taste of Home was adapted from a cocktail Wong created for a bartending competition. Photo: Bar Mind

Bar Mind’s Streetwise Boulevardier is Lo’s favourite cocktail on the menu. Photo: Bar Mind

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Food & Drink

Partners in life and business, Birs Wong and Jo Lo went from winning awards to opening Bar Mind, a stripped-down spot dedicated to nostalgia


Partners in life and business, Birs Wong and Jo Lo went from winning awards to opening Bar Mind, a stripped-down spot dedicated to nostalgia.


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Hong Kong bar power couple’s new cocktail joint mixes memories with minimalism

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Partners in life and business, Birs Wong and Jo Lo went from winning awards to opening Bar Mind, a stripped-down spot dedicated to nostalgia

Partners in life and business, Birs Wong and Jo Lo went from winning awards to opening Bar Mind, a stripped-down spot dedicated to nostalgia