Hong Kong’s new wave of cocktail bartenders mix it up a little differently

Bartenders who started out in the 1990s aspired to be Tom Cruise’s character in the film Cocktail where he deftly threw bottles in the air – called flairing – and picked up sultry women.

So much has changed since then, as bartenders have become more than just pretty faces. They are now highly skilled at creating drinks using a variety of spirits and ingredients, and are now becoming promoted as much as well-known chefs.

Bartenders – also known as mixologists – from establishments such as New York’s Please Don’t Tell (better known as PDT) and The Dead Rabbit, Tokyo’s Bar High Five, and Candelaria from Paris have come to Hong Kong to give customers a taste of their style while making them thirsty for better cocktails locally.

Antonio Lai Chun-nam has witnessed the development of Hong Kong’s bartending scene since the 1990s when he started working as a server at Planet Hollywood at the age of 19. He remembers watching the bartenders juggling bottles, which inspired him to get behind the bar, too.

Lai’s career went through a series of stops and starts in various food and beverage ventures in Hong Kong and the mainland, until he finally met his business partner, Charlene Dawes in 2011. They started Quinary on Hollywood Road, followed by Origin, Envoy and VEA.

In almost two decades Lai has seen cocktails evolve in the city from pina coladas and lychee martinis to his signature Earl Grey martini that comes with whiffs of smoke.