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Move over London. Move over New York. There's a new cosmopolitan cocktail capital: Barcelona is home to Paradiso, the newly crowned best bar in the world.
For the first time since the World's 50 Best Bars list was created in 2009, a bar outside of New York or London earned the number one spot on the list.
Paradiso, from owners Giacomo Giannotti and Margarita Sader, is a Mediterranean-style speakeasy accessed through the freezer door of a pastrami bar in Barcelona's trendy El Born district. The bar rose from #3 in 2021.
“It is a great honor to win and a great responsibility. We will work hard to live up to being the best and stick to our principles. Our cocktails try to push creativity,” Giannotti told 50 Best on Tuesday night.
“But it all comes down to hard work. The more you work, the more you discover and the more creative you can be. “We’ll celebrate and then we’ll go back to the bar doing what we do.”
The 50 Best winners were announced on Tuesday afternoon in Barcelona, the first time the ceremony has been held outside London.
The vibrant city of Catalonia is home to three of the top 10 bars on the 2022 list. Sips was the “biggest riser” this year, jumping from 37th in 2021 to 3rd this year. Two idiots made it to 7th place.
Four bars in Spain made the top 50: Salmon Guru in Madrid took 15th place.
Italy also had a strong showing in the 2022 top 50, with bars from Rome, Florence, Milan and Naples making the list. Newcomer L'Antiquario Napoli took 46th place, placing the southern city of Naples in the top 50 for the first time.
Florence also made its first appearance on the list, as did Portugal's capital, Lisbon.
Although London was knocked out of the top spot, the city remains one of the world's top cocktail destinations. Five London bars feature on the list, including The Connaught Bar, which fell from number one for two years running to number eight in 2022.
London's Tayēr + Elementary, which award ceremony host Mark Sansom calls “one of the most original bars on the planet,” remained at No. 2 as of 2021.
Europe dominated with more featured bars than any other region.
The list is the result of votes from 650 bartenders and bar owners, drinks writers and cocktail experts.
New York rebounded from a less dazzling performance than usual in 2021 to become the city with the highest-ranked bars on the 2022 list. New York is home to six bars in the top 50, including Double Chicken Please at No. 6 and Katana Kitten at 9.
Double Chicken Please won Best New Entry for its strong debut. Sansom, chief content officer of The World's 50 Best Bars, told CNN Travel that the bar has “almost Michelin-quality cuisine,” an example of a growing emphasis on food programs in the world's top bars.
In Singapore, 33 Manhattan also offers “very, very elevated bar food,” Sansom said.
Mexico City is another cocktail capital of North America with four bars in the top 50, including No. 4 Licorería Limantour, winner of the Best Bar in North America award.
Alchemical de Cartagena is the Best Bar in South America at number 10. There are three bars in Buenos Aires on the list and one in Lima.
In Asia, Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong had two bars in the top 50. At number 12, Singapore's Jigger & Pony won Best Bar in Asia.
Dubai had three bars in the top 50, including number 38 Zuma, winner of the Best Bar in the Middle East and Africa award for the third year in a row.
In India, New Delhi's Sidecar jumped 21 spots to 26th place.
The best bar in Australasia is Maybe Sammy in Sydney at number 29.
1. Paradiso, Barcelona (Winner: Best Bar in Europe)
2. Tayēr + Elementary, London
3. Sips, Barcelona (Winner: Highest Climber)
4. Limantour Liquor Store, Mexico City (Winner: Best Bar in North America, List Legend)
5. Little Red Door, Paris (Winner: Sustainable Bar Award)
6. Double Chicken Please, New York (Winner: Best New Entry)
7. Two idiots, Barcelona
8. The Connaught Bar, London
9. Katana Kitten, New York
10. Alchemical, Cartagena (Winner: Best Bar in South America)
11. Handshake Speakeasy, Mexico City
12. Jigger & Pony, Singapore (Winner: Best Bar in Asia)
13. Hanky-Panky, Mexico City (Winner: Art of Hospitality)
14. Bangkok Social Club, Bangkok (Winner: Best New Opening)
15. Salmon Guru, Madrid
16. Baby Kong, Rome
17. Coa, Hong Kong
18. Florería Atlántico, Buenos Aires
19. The clumsy ones, Athens
20. Baba au Rum, Athens
21. Café La Trova, Miami
22. Attaboy, New York
23. Satan's Whiskers, London
24. Tropical City, Bangkok
25. Kumiko, Chicago
For the full list of the 50 best, visit the World's 50 Best Bars site.
With bar visits restricted by the pandemic, patrons are more likely to stay in one location, Sansom said, and bars are offering more live entertainment, as well as upgrading their food programs to keep guests occupied for hours. .
And the lines between food and drink are blurring.
“The techniques and flavors associated with cooking and gastronomy are emerging in craft drinks and cocktails,” Sansom said, again citing New York's Double Chicken Please.
The bar's Back Room menu offers a variety of food-inspired cocktails, from Waldorf salad (whiskey-based with apple, celery, ginger ale, and walnut bitters) to Japanese cold noodles (rum-based with pineapple, cucumber, coconut, lime and sesame). oil).
Two Schmucks in Barcelona also focuses on the flavors associated with food.
“Their Curry Colada is one of the best cocktails I think I've ever had,” Sansom said.
Tools like the centrifuge that came from scientific laboratories to restaurant kitchens in recent decades have also appeared in craft cocktail bars in the last decade, he said.
And custom glassware that sometimes inspires the drink rather than the other way around is increasingly important in many bars, including the world's best bar, Paradiso.
After the last few years, great hospitality is more important than ever, Sansom said.
“Post-pandemic, bars are much more aware of the value of each individual customer and making them feel loved, safe and secure when they enter those environments.”
Cover image: Paradiso in Barcelona is the number one bar on the list of the 50 best bars in the world in 2022 and the winner of the Best Bar in Europe.
