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.”
Read Full Article At Source
