Tokyo? New York? Buenos Aires? Singapore? If there was ever a good excuse for a cocktail, it would be the joy of travel, and if there was ever a good excuse for joyous travel, a world class cocktail seems perfectly acceptable too.
Getting there deserves a drink, settling in deserves a drink and of course, celebrating any trip probably also – yeah, you get the idea. The World’s 50 Best Bars List is out for 2019, after an unveiling in central London. Here’s a round up of the big winners, including New York, which has reclaimed the world’s best bar, with Dante. Speaking of New York, it’s got 3 of the top 10, with Nomad and Attaboy each claiming the honours.
Dante is in, Dandelyan is out. In fact, Dandelyan is over – it’s transformed into a new concept called Lyaness in the same location at Sea Containers London. Of the world’s top 50 best bars, the top five are now evenly split with 2 in New York, 2 in London, and Buenos Aires making its first foray into the top 5. Dante, the wonderfully simple and clean New York Greenwich Village bar tops this years list after coming in 9th in the 2018 rankings. Nomad in New York places fourth for the second year in a row while London’s The Connaught and The American Bar take places 2, 5 respectively.
For travel happy cocktail enthusiasts, the new 2019 list provides a great destination list. Tasting your way through spots 5-10 would require jaunts to Athens, Singapore, Mexico City and Hong Kong, and the 10-15 list adds Lima. That *should* keep you busy, at least for a few weeks, and when you need further inspiration, 45-50 bring Beirut and Rome into the mix.
My Two Cents, Or Sips
I’ve explored the bars on the World’s 50 Best List for years, and though it’s all subjective, I’ve hardly ever had an experience which wasn’t enlightening and highly enjoyable. I never thought Dandelyan deserved a top spot, so I’m glad to see a new bar take the top notch.
If you want to add some fun to your next trips, peep the top 50, see if it crosses with any of the cities you’ll visit and celebrate with a nice drink. Not that anyone asked, but I’d rate Atlas in Singapore as my all time favourite, Bar High Five in Tokyo right near the top and Dante and other New York options right where they belong. Expect to see Mister Paradise in New York climb the rankings in a big way next year. Trust me. Cheers!
This list can be fun but so many of the places are pretentious, trying way too hard to be cool, or both. Great for those who want to see and be seen, though.
Are we now, in 2020, allowed to go to all of those cities? Mexico City? And…Isn’t New York one of the Covid-19 hot spots?