restaurants

The 50 Best Bars in the World in 2023, According to the ‘50 Best’ List

Landing a spot on the list is a coveted honor for any bar. Here’s 2023’s list.
Barmans hands sprinkling the juice into the cocktail glass filled with alcoholic drink on the dark background
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Attention cocktail lovers and avid travelers: The 50 best bars in the world—deemed so annually by the 50 Best voting body—were announced at a live ceremony in Singapore today. According to 2023’s list, Barcelona’s Sips—the conceptual, self-described “drinkery house”—is the best bar in the world. Also topping the list this year were New York’s Double Chicken Please (number two), and Mexico City’s Handshake Speakeasy (number three). Among the awardees, nine hail from North America.

Sips in Barcelona’s Eixample neighborhood specializes in craft cocktail theater, featuring lots of smoke and edible clouds, and geometric glassware topped with idiosyncratic adornments. An apple, gin, and kiwi cocktail at Sips is suspended in an egg-like glass structure. Double Chicken Please—where you’ll find such drinks as the “Cold Pizza” fragranced with burnt toast, tomato, and basil—rose the ranks this year from sixth place to second, after taking the top spot in the guide’s list of North America’s best bars in March. Also in New York, Katana Kitten and Overstory retained spots on the list this year, as did Miami’s Café La Trova. Jewel of the South, a bar located in New Orleans’ French Quarter, snagged the 49th spot on the list this year. Dante in New York, which ranked number one in 2019, didn’t make the list in 2023.

The 50 Best organization is a closely watched arbiter of dining and drinking across the globe; inclusion on a 50 Best list can change a business’s status—and reservation books—overnight. For bars, the distinction has become perhaps even more sought after in recent years—and it’s compelled them to turn out increasingly over-the-top concoctions to set themselves apart. Sips is a prime example of this phenomenon, serving sculptural, eccentric creations topped with coffee clouds or delivered in fun (but arguably impractical) glassware like, say, a metal set of hands. 

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“Seemingly every ambitious new bar program is bent on charting virgin territory in the realm of more,” Matt Buchanan, a contributing editor to Bon Appétit, wrote in a recent article on the rise of a new maximalist cocktail culture. By amping up all of their drinks, and leaning into theatrical presentation, bars hope it will land them “on both increasingly prestigious ‘best bars’ lists and the kinetic TikTok feeds of fickle, clout-hungry influencers.”

For all its influence, the 50 Best organization has been subject to plenty of critique over the years. Many argue that its scouting process favors regions with well-funded tourism boards and establishments that offer free or discounted food and drink to scouters. Detractors say the list isn’t representative of the geographic and cultural diversity of the restaurant world; indeed, this year’s list, despite its global purview, features not a single bar located in Africa.

And where Michelin inspectors pay for their own meals, 50 Best scouters are subject to no such stipulations. 50 Best has conceded to the possibility of drinks being gifted to voters and maintains no restrictions against the practice. Still, since 2018, the organization has instructed all of its voters to remain anonymous, which does, in theory, help avoid preferential treatment. The voting body is composed of “drinks experts,” according to the 50 Best website, “including bartenders, bar managers, drinks consultants, brand ambassadors, drinks writers, historians, and cocktail aficionados.” These 680 voters “are simply asked to name the seven bars in which they have enjoyed the best experience over the previous 18 months.”

Whether you view it as a bar bible or scan it with a dose of side-eye, the latest 50 Best Bars list is a snapshot of drinking culture at this moment. Below, find the full list.

Disclosure: Jamila Robinson, Bon Appétit's editor in chief, is the US & Canada East Academy Chair for The World's 50 Best Restaurants. Robinson was not involved with this coverage.

  1. Sips, Barcelona
  2. Double Chicken Please, New York
  3. Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City
  4. Paradiso, Barcelona
  5. Connaught Bar, London
  6. Little Red Door, Paris
  7. Licorería Limantour, Mexico City
  8. Tayēr + Elementary, London
  9. Alquímico, Cartagena
  10. Himkok, Oslo
  11. Tres Monos, Buenos Aires
  12. Line, Athens
  13. BKK Social Club, Bangkok
  14. Jigger & Pony, Singapore
  15. Maybe Sammy, Sydney
  16. Salmon Guru, Madrid
  17. Overstory, New York
  18. Zest, Seoul
  19. Mahaniyom Cocktail Bar, Bangkok
  20. Coa, Hong Kong
  21. Drink Kong, Rome
  22. Hanky Panky, Mexico City
  23. Caretaker’s Cottage, Melbourne
  24. Café La Trova, Miami
  25. Baba au Rum, Athens
  26. CoChinChina, Buenos Aires
  27. Katana Kitten, New York
  28. Satan’s Whiskers, London
  29. Wax On, Berlin
  30. Florería Atlántico, Buenos Aires
  31. Röda Huset, Stockholm
  32. Sago House, Singapore
  33. Freni e Frizioni, Rome
  34. Argo, Hong Kong
  35. A Bar With Shapes for a Name, London
  36. The SG Club, Tokyo
  37. Bar Benfiddich, Tokyo
  38. The Cambridge Public House, Paris
  39. Panda & Sons, Edinburgh
  40. Mimi Kakushi, Dubai
  41. Scarfes Bar, London
  42. 1930, Milan
  43. Carnaval, Lima
  44. L’Antiquario, Naples
  45. Baltra Bar, Mexico City
  46. Locale Firenze, Florence
  47. The Clumsies, Athens
  48. Atlas, Singapore
  49. Jewel of the South, New Orleans
  50. Galaxy Bar, Dubai