He Moved to Hong Kong and Set up a Bar That’s Been Crowned Asia’s Best

Lorenzo Antinori, the 37-year-old founder of the world’s second-best bar, hardly ever drinks.

The Italian founded Bar Leone in Hong Kong in 2019. Just five years later, in 2024, The World’s 50 Best Restaurants ranked it the second-best bar in the world, clinching the top spot in Asia.

It won the same award in 2025, edged out of the top spot worldwide by the Handshake Speakeasy in Mexico City.

Antinori manages the bar seven days a week and is working on opening his second bar in Hong Kong this month. He’s single, drinks a Negroni once to twice a month, and, after a career full of twists, told Business Insider he regrets nothing.

Law school, banana farm worker, and finally bar owner

Antinori went to law school in Rome — but he says law felt “too stiff” for him.

In 2010, after three years in law school, he dropped out and booked a one-way flight to Australia. There, he dabbled in everything from working on a banana farm to being a barback in a strip joint and a hostel manager.

Then came short bartending stints at The Savoy in London and the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul.

“I always had experience working in the nightlife. So that’s sort of what drove me even more to choose this direction,” Antinori said.

And when Four Seasons in Hong Kong offered him a position in 2017, he jumped at the chance.

But Hong Kong was not love at first sight.

“When I saw it from afar, it always looked extremely busy, and kind of trashy, like a big amusement park,” he said.

“But when I moved here, I fell in love with the city. I loved the contrast with having a very modern, busy, and high-paced city, but then you have so much nature around,” Antinori said.

In 2019, he launched his own bar, Bar Leone, in Hong Kong’s western Sheung Wan district.

An ode to his Italian roots

Antinori wanted Bar Leone to feel like an Italian café. The bar’s walls are decorated with pictures of Italian actors like Sabrina Ferilli, local football teams, and composer Ennio Morricone.

He called his drinks “cocktail populari,” Italian for “cocktail for the people.” They’re priced from 120 Hong Kong dollars, or about $15, to HK$150.

One of his most popular drinks is the “Olive Oil Sour,” made from whiskey sour, cherry whiskey, lemon, honey, and olive oil blended with egg white.

Besides drinks, Bar Leone is also known for its focaccia stuffed with cured pork.

The bar serves 200 to 300 customers every night.

To Antinori, a good bar is defined by good service, music, and quality. And his pet peeve is bad lighting — especially if it’s too bright.

“You can’t have the same lighting and music from 5 to 11 p.m.,” he said.

The bar clinched second place on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ list of the best 50 bars in 2024 and 2025.

The UK-based publishing company’s write-up this year said, “The team are known for their warm hospitality and passion for delivering top-notch service. Their dedication to excellent food and drinks ensures that guests not only enjoy a taste of Italy, but also feel like they’ve made a new friend in the process.”

It also won the top spot on lifestyle magazine Tatler’s 2025 best bars list.

Bogged down by steep rents and poor staff retention

Success did not come immediately.

He had many doubts about opening a bar in Hong Kong, a country known for its sky-high rental rates and living costs.

“And I think if you set up a business and you don’t have doubts, there is something wrong,” Antinori said.

Particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, rents skyrocketed and people’s behavior changed, he said.

“It’s very hard to compare Hong Kong before Covid with the one now. There are fewer people, fewer tourists,” he said.

According to data from the Hong Kong Tourism Board in June, total visitor arrivals to the city dropped from 55.9 million in 2019 to 34 million in 2023.

Numbers improved slightly in 2024, with 44.5 million visitors coming into Hong Kong in the year.

Tourists now prefer other destinations in Asia, like Bangkok, Antinori said, where they can enjoy great experiences and services for a much lower price.

Another issue he had was with worker retention, saying that he could not find young workers.

“We are living in times where the younger generation doesn’t necessarily feel the need to work in our sector,” he said.

Too busy to drink

Running a bar in one of the most expensive cities in the world is a 24/7 job, Antinori said. He’s up at 7 a.m. every day, and after a quick run and a cup of tea, it’s straight to emails and admin.

He gets to the bar at 11 a.m. for meetings, then has a 4:30 p.m. briefing with his staff before shift starts at 5 p.m. He’s in the bar until 10 p.m. daily, seven days a week.

“I don’t really drink. I only drink if there’s a special occasion,” he said.

“It’s a very, very boring life,” he said.

In spite of the time-consuming work, Antinori said he regrets nothing.

His bar was a tribute to a café his grandmother and aunt used to run in Rome in the 1970s, called Café Leon. Bar Leone is his way of carrying on the family legacy.