We’re joined by Lorenzo Antinori, a partner in the Hong Kong bars Bar Leone and Montana (with a second Bar Leone location in Shanghai), to talk about his journey from Rome to Hong Kong via bartending in London and Seoul, and about his focus on classic cocktails in these acclaimed bars.
Lorenzo Antinori was taking a break from his law studies in Rome when the cocktail bug bit. After working at bars including the American Bar and Beaufort Bar at London’s Savoy Hotel, he headed for Charles H. in Seoul before landing in his current home city, Hong Kong. Today, he’s a partner in the lauded Hong Kong spots Bar Leone (with a second location in Shanghai) and Montana, and this year Bar Leone won a Spirited Award for Best International Bar Team at Tales of the Cocktail. He joins us to talk about his bartending journey, his focus on classic cocktails, and how he’s bringing Italian cocktail culture to Hong Kong with Bar Leone while celebrating the Cuba-Miami connection at Montana.
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Paul Clarke
Hey everybody, welcome back to Radio Imbibe from Imbibe Magazine. I'm Paul Clarke, Imbibe's Editor-in-Chief.
And one of the things we set out to do earlier this year as we were planning ways to celebrate Imbibe's 20th anniversary was to take the kind of coverage we've done for two decades now, focusing largely on the U. S., Canada, and Mexico, and expand it beyond our accustomed North American base. Imbibe has always looked globally to some extent, of course, in our explorations of wine and beer and spirits and everything else across the drinks spectrum, but as we've grown and developed over the years, our larger world and larger culture have only grown smaller in some ways. We're linked online and by social media, and beverage professionals all around the world are frequently obsessive travelers, sharing information and inspiration with each other and helping to drive creativity and innovation forward.
Hong Kong is perhaps one of the best places on Earth right now to see this kind of international influence and creative cross-pollination. There are a number of bars and bar professionals working to put Hong Kong on the global cocktail map. Chief among them is our guest for this episode, Lorenzo Antinori, a partner in Bar Leone in Hong Kong with a companion bar in Shanghai, and also a partner in Montana, a Hong Kong bar opened in partnership with Simone Caporale. Lorenzo has been working in Hong Kong for years now, and between Bar Leone, which takes inspiration from his native Italy, and Montana with its influences of classic bars in Havana and Miami, he's an impact not only in China, but also on the global cocktail circuit, as exemplified most recently with Bar Leone's win for best international bar team at the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards in New Orleans this past July.
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Paul Clarke
Lorenzo, welcome to Radio Imbibe.
Lorenzo Antinori
Hello, guys. Thank you for having me.
Paul Clarke
Absolutely. And, you know, I'm glad to have the opportunity to talk to you because you've done many, many things over the years, and in some ways, it seems like you're still just kind of getting started. You still have a lot ahead of you. You're a co-founder of Bar Leone in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which you opened the first in 2023. And you're also a co-founder of Montana, also in Hong Kong, that opened in 2025. I want to talk about each of these places in a moment, but before we do, I should ask, how did a nice guy from Rome who had plans to be a lawyer wind up running several of the world's most prominent bars in Asia?
Lorenzo Antinori
Well, yes, that's a good question. I asked this question to a lot of my colleagues, that maybe they didn't necessarily plan a career in the bar industry, and they all said the same. They all replied to me, I didn't know what else to do. And that's kind of for me the same. You know, I started my law journey in Rome. I did law school for three years, and then I just got stuck. And it took me ages to do exams. It took me ages to, you know, really finishing my courses. So I remember taking a year break and going to Australia. And that was sort of like my Eureka moment, because in Australia, I started to work as a part-time bartender. I sort of fell in love with the industry. But it wasn't really planned. It was that really first mojito that I made, that dive bar in Melbourne that made me understand that, okay, maybe this is more fun than law school. And then I got back to Italy, and I told my mom, my parents, hey, I'm just quitting the university career, and I'm going to move to London. And that's basically what happened.
Paul Clarke
And I want to talk about your career path for a moment, because I'm hoping it might give us some insight into the character of each of your current bars. And early on, you mentioned you went to London, and you worked at the American bar at the Savoy in London, and at the Beaufort bar. These are, of course, historically significant cocktail bars, and they're still significant today. What kinds of experiences or insights did you gather from those initial experiences that would later serve you well as you moved to Asia and started opening your own programs?
Lorenzo Antinori
Those experiences were fundamental, because I sort of see them as the most important learning curve in my career, because it was my very first approach to the bar world, to the bar industry. I didn't really know, when I moved to London, anything about the craft of cocktail. I was just like an enthusiast, you know. I remember while I was studying in Rome, I would sort of like research cocktail books. know, my very first cocktail book was the Ted Haigh, Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. And I just fell in love about all those stories, but... But I didn't really have any clue about the technicality of cocktail making. So, when I made my research and decided to move to London, I knew that the American Bar was sort of like one of those meccas of cocktail making. And Erik Lorenz was the head bartender, he just won, I remember, World Class, the Global World Class, one of the first editions. So, for me, I was like, okay, this guy seems like this place is a legit place, but at the Savoy, I put the basis for my knowledge and for my sort of like, I built the backbone of who I am now, because I've learned the most important thing, which is hospitality and standards. I remember joining on the 23rd of December, 2011, as a bar back, and it took me a year before I actually started to not even make cocktails, but just step behind the bar as a bar back, because I spent eight months in the pantry in the back. But I think during that time I understood the importance of discipline, I understood the importance of rules, of standards, all the sequence of procedure that we had, the discipline in not just making cocktails, but the mise en place, the importance of the mise en place, the importance of the details. So, that was very important because I found that it helped me a lot in the years after to have a bit more of a disciplined mindset and a little bit more of a disciplined mindset. Of course, once I had the opportunity to work behind the bar, at the Savoy, we learned classic cocktails, which are the basics for any young bartenders that are enthusiastic about making cocktails, so I thought we need to learn the classics first. At the Savoy, my first cocktail that I ever made, I remember it was a White Lady. And these are cocktails that they are very rare these days, right? To make. It's very rare that a guest comes in and orders an hanky-panky, a Corpse Reviver number two, a White Lady. Well, at the Savoy, I was very lucky because, and also it was a different time, but I had the chance to make those drinks, to understand the structure of those cocktails, the DNA of those drinks. And this was important because I took that as my reference point for my creative process in the years after. I kind of realized these days, now that I'm a little bit more mature that you don't need necessarily a rotovap to make creative cocktails, you know? And as long as you know the formulas and you have a good knowledge on classics, you can swap and exchange ingredients around and still create wonderful concoctions, wonderful cocktails. And so the Savoy was that, it was understanding the basics, learning the formulas of the classic cocktails, and especially hospitality and service. Very important time.
Paul Clarke
Right, right. And then, likewise, you worked at Charles H in Seoul, and that was your first bar role in Asia, is that correct?
Lorenzo Antinori
Yes, I moved to Asia, to Charles H.
Paul Clarke
And what was that transition like coming from that bar in London, which had that very, you know, that long history behind it and that very kind of classic approach to it, and coming to another great bar, but in a different place, very different culture. What was that like for you as you were transitioning into that?
Lorenzo Antinori
It was the most traumatic experience I ever had because honestly, there is a totally different approach in service, in hospitality, but also like It was a very different culture. And I think for me coming from London, in an environment in a city that is very high-paced, but also very competitive, where there is like the bar industry in London at that time, it was really like, with New York, probably the best bar scene in the world, very competitive, very competitive, very high standards. Moving to Korea, where the bar scene was growing, you can see that things that were really growing, and there were some amazing talents. But at the same time, it's just different, culturally speaking, when it comes to cocktails. So it took me a while to adapt.
But at the same time I was probably professionally, it was the most important experience, because I realized how important it is to mold myself into whatever I will face in the future. It's never going to be the environment that is going to adapt to me for me. It's going to be me that I have to do as much as possible to adapt into the new environment, to understand the culture, to understand the habits, and these, consequentially, understand the industry. And I think, probably without Korea, I wouldn't be able open Bar Leone, because also in Charles H was my very first managing role. I was taking care of the beverage program for the hotel for the Four Seasons in Seoul. So it was not just really making cocktails or running a shift. It was really understanding a P&L, It was understanding, uh, cost. And most importantly, was understanding the needs of my team, of my colleagues, of my team members that I was responsible for. And I was sort of responsible to motivate them. And at the beginning was very, very tough because I had a very London approach. I was very, very tough. I was very, uh, maybe a little bit too intense. So things didn't go well at the very beginning, because of course my colleagues, they never experienced, uh, working with somebody, a westerner that was, that I had this of background. So very demanding. Uh, I was not very flexible mentally in understanding that it was just a different scenario for me and for them. It took me a while. It took me six months, but then I understood. And then we created a very special program. to be honest with you, I think the team is the one that really to take most of the credit for the time in charge. And Korea still has a special place in my heart.
Paul Clarke
And you know, your, your Hong Kong bars are relatively new. As I mentioned at the outset, the first opened in 2023. To start with the Bar Leone, I'll leave the description to you, but to get it started. It's a bar that's rooted in many ways in Italian drinking culture and aperitivo culture with a strong connection to the classic cocktails you were mentioning earlier and cocktails for the people. Is that fair to say?
Lorenzo Antinori
Yeah.
Paul Clarke
Is that a fair assessment?
Lorenzo Antinori
Yeah, we open Bar Leone in 2023 and the idea was to, since was my very first personal project. Of course, I had two business partners. I have two business partners, but I really wanted to do something that made me happy. And, uh, I really wanted to do the drinks that made me happy. And I also wanted to create a space that reminded me of home. so I took the chance to really, basically create a bar where I would have loved to go and hang out basically. And, uh, you know, when I was, I'm from Rome and I remember going with my dad and my grandmother in our neighborhood bar and it was a very humble place, you know, and as a bar in Italy, you know, it's not like a cocktail bar. A bar is open from the morning till the evening. You go for an espresso, you go for a, buy the newspaper, you stop at the counter, you stand at the counter, you have a little Amaro or you just have a little Tramezzino for lunchtime, orange juice. You know, it's a, it's, it's a place for the community. It's a place where people meet, everybody knows each other and there is a certain charm about those places that I wanted to recreate and bring to Hong Kong. But, of course, focusing more on the cocktail level.
So Bar Leone is exactly that. It's a tribute to the places that of my youth, to the places where I used to go with my mom, my grandfather and my dad. And we had to introduce the craft of cocktail, and the cocktails that we do are very simple. And that's why cocktail populare, which means cocktail for the people. I kind of find that these days we try to impress our customers more with these complicated, intricate words, intricate techniques, while instead sometimes it would be, I think, much more powerful to surprise guests by making simply delicious cocktail. So I wanted to reverse the script. And I think in New York and in the US, maybe you guys, it's more sort of common to see those places where the cocktails are very straightforward. They are amazing. They are delicious. And in New York, I remember, my favorite bars in the world when I first joined the industry were Milk and Honey, Pegu Club, Clover Club, PDT. Of course, I mentioned New York bars because that's where I spent most of my time traveling to. But, you know, I remember also Death & Co. So these were bars that I think somehow really influenced me because in London, I grew up with this idea of creativity, sort of like that has to sort of push the boundaries of what's known, you know, like and rely a lot of modern techniques. There are some definitely incredibly influential bars in UK and in London that shaped me as a professional. I think Dandelyan, where I worked working with Mr. Lyan, with Ryan C, but also The Artesian. But I think New York, for me, always was that place, the reference point where cocktails are made with spirits, modifier, syrup, citrus. And you know, those formulas that are very hard to fuck up. And I really loved that. And I really loved that. And these were the drinks that I loved to have. I think Satan's Whiskers is another bar in UK that influenced me a lot. And this is what we wanted to do with Bar Leone. You know, I think simple cocktails that everybody sort of understands that are approachable. We don't need a intricated menu wordings. And again, the idea was to create a space with Bar Leone, where people can come back multiple times through the course of the week, have a glass of wine, have a Negroni, spend time in a very comforting space, and I think that was the, the secret formula where we create a bar that is, it does things well, but they are also simple things, yeah, that maybe was not very common in Asia.
Paul Clarke
I'm glad you touched upon this because there's something I wanted to ask about, and that is while focusing on this classic approach and these kind of accessible, simple on the surface cocktails, there is also these require a good deal of technical understanding. Let me, put it that way. You don't need all the tools and technology, but you need an understanding of how to put it together. But also, they do still give you some kind of avenue for creative approach. You can still leave your creative imprint. You can take the Negroni or the Daiquiri
Lorenzo Antinori
Yes
Paul Clarke
and you can still approach that and think how can I do this in a way that is appropriate to my bar. How do you approach that?
Lorenzo Antinori
It's a good question. As a matter of fact, we are actually writing a book with Phaedon which will be published next year. And it's a, again, it's a book about Bar Leone and our approach to cocktail. Well, you know, I always refer to the guys at Death & Co. or like even, you know, Sasha Petraske, Sam Ross. They have sort of like formulated this theory of the cocktail archetypes and the potato face theory, where you basically. And this is sort of like what we develop in our own way at Bar Leone. You know, we have. We call our archetypes. There are different archetypes from the fizz, the martini, the sour. Our sour, we usually talk as a dry sour and rich sour as a dry sour. Those sours that are sort of like without egg white, rich sour with egg white. We have the daisies, we have the old fashions. So these archetypes are important because they basically provide us the blueprint for whatever cocktail we want to create as a new creation. Because we know that a daisy is a spirits, a liqueur, a citrus part. If we talk about an old fashion, we talk about spirits, sugar and bitter. So spirit, a sweetener and a bitter. And so we follow those formulas. But then we try to understand what's the end result that we want to achieve. And we basically work on swapping things around, and that allows us a lot of creativity.
But at the same time, it's very difficult because I feel that sometimes you have a little bit more of a narrow area of work. And especially for younger bartenders that are sort of exposed to all these creative tools and escamotage that can be applied to create new flavors. Young bartenders might see this approach a little bit limitative, but I feel that is a good challenge. So in Bar Leone, that's what we do. If we want to create a summery style Manhattan, for example, we know that the Manhattan is two parts spirits, rye whiskey, one part sweet vermouth and bitters. We just recently have, we call it during springtime, we just had last spring the spring break Manhattan. And it's basically a Manhattan where we make a very simple infusion of chamomile with sweet vermouth. We split the base of rye whiskey and we use a very young Cognac and bourbon. So you basically still have your 50 ml of spirits, but it's split into 25-25. You have your 25 ml, so we do 30 ml of spirits, so 30-30. And then you have your 30 ml, one ounce of vermouth that has been lightly infused with chamomile. And instead of the Angostura bitters, we added lavender bitters that we don't make, we just buy. And there you have it. And then suddenly you have a totally different cocktail, right?
Paul Clarke
Absolutely. And Montana is your more recent addition. It just opened last year in partnership with Simone Caporale. And you took a different tack with this one somewhat. You moved more in the direction of Cuban drinking culture and Miami and kind of mid 20th century approach. What was the impetus for that? Why did that call to... I mean, know, the Italian approach at Bar Leone made sense because you're Italian. where did you see something about Cuban cocktails where you said, "This is what we want this project to cover"?
Lorenzo Antinori
I think Montana, this project with Simone Caporale, it started because we all, we both have a deep love for classic cocktails. And Simone, he has also the co-owner Boadas, which is an iconic bar in Barcelona, one of, probably the oldest cocktail bar in Barcelona. And Boadas is connected to Cuba because of the history of, the original founder of Mr. Boadas, that used to work in the Floridita. We both traveled to Cuba many times. And to me, being a classic cocktail lover, I always look at the Cuban cocktail heritage as a very important part also in my career, because I think when I first started to browse and learn and research about classic cocktails, Cuba was always one of those places that you refer to, you know, El Presidente, the golden age, one of the first golden age. During the prohibitionism, the American bartenders used to fly to Cuba. And, uh, and, we decided to open this place that, uh, pays homage and tribute to the craft of Cuban cocktails, Cuba. And at the same time, we wanted to introduce, um, make it a little bit more modern and sort of setting it into the seventies, almost like celebrating that cultural, Expansion of Cuba in music and art and cocktail from the seventies. So music is a very important part of the venue as we have live music. We focus a lot on, of course, Cuban music. So Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoie, but also like Donna Summer and the disco from the seventies. So it's almost like a Cuban bartender migrating to Florida, expanding the cocktail culture and celebrating that rhythm of life. And it's a different venue from Leone, but at the same time, it's very similar because cocktails are very classically driven. Uh, it's a place that is very approachable, uh, very accessible. Uh, the difference is that of course we introduce the rhythm and it's definitely a place where the energy level is higher.
Paul Clarke
Right. Right. And you know, a term that keeps coming up with both of these bars is time capsule. and you mentioned very specifically on Montana with, with looking at that kind of, you know, mid century, you know, kind of like the disco era as well. What kind of experience are you hoping to put together and share with your guests, where it's not just the cocktails. It's not just kind of a style of drinking or a style of decor, but where the music is part of it. And the feeling is part of it and how that defines the whole situation.
Lorenzo Antinori
So basically, we wanted to create a space that is much more than a cocktail bar, where the music is part of the experience where, Uh, also like, it's a space where you can go at any time of the night before dinner, after dinner with live music. Bar Leone is more of a continental experience where you have food, more seated, more cozy, more comfortable. With Montana was like, okay, let's create a space that is, uh, more vibey. That is sort of catering as well towards more like a, almost like a place where can people can just hang out elbow on elbow next to each other. yeah. It was a good experiment because, especially in Hong Kong, there are no venues like this where you have live entertainment, quality cocktails, and it's open till late. So that was the reason why we wanted to open such a concept.
Paul Clarke
Right. Okay. And then we mentioned your two bars in Hong Kong, but we should note, I mean, Hong Kong is, is a larger city and it has, uh, you know, an existing bar culture and a cocktail culture. How do your two bars kind of fit in with this larger culture? And where do you see everything going in Hong Kong as a whole, when you, when you think about the cocktail culture?
Lorenzo Antinori
Hong Kong is amazing. It's definitely grew so much in the last few years. What I love the most about Hong Kong is the diversity of concept that we have. you have a, you have a high-end cocktail bar. you have, know, hotel bars with amazing programs. You have dive bars. We need to definitely cater to a, a very diverse audience. And I think also the proximity to China. China is a huge market, very new to cocktails. They're very excited. The customers from China coming to Hong Kong, they want to experience those bar. And the challenge is how we make those bar experiences interesting enough, but also approachable enough to an audience that is sort of like new to, the craft of cocktails. So I find it very interesting. There are lots of opportunities here.
Paul Clarke
And, you know, you've garnered lots of attention and awards over the past few years with these bars. And granted, Montana is still only been open for about a year now, but looking ahead, a few months or a few years, where are you hoping to go? So, where do you like to do or to share as you pursue this?
Lorenzo Antinori
You know, for us, for me personally, the goal is going to be always to create spaces that are consumer friendly and places that are, that have a quality program that are sort of like rooted into things that I'm passionate about. It sounds simple, but actually it's, it's, it's challenging because trying to make and create spaces that are approachable, simple, but yet curated and full of quality, that's the biggest challenge. But this is what makes us excited to me, my, myself and, and my business partner. So we have few other projects coming up in the next few months and they are always rooted into this idea of like curated simplicity, in the name of sort of like this cocktail popularity gospel that we try to share at least here in Asia, where simple things are done well. And hopefully get excited as many people as possible to cocktails.
Paul Clarke
Lorenzo, this has been amazing. I've enjoyed chatting with you and getting up to speed on you and your bars. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. And hopefully I can come visit you in Hong Kong sometime soon.
Lorenzo Antinori
I much appreciate your time.
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Paul Clarke
You can find Lorenzo Antinori on Instagram @LorenzoAntinori_. Bar Leone is on Instagram @BarleoneHK and Montana is on Instagram @MontanaBarHK. We've got those links for you in this episode's notes.
And that's it for this episode. Subscribe to Radio Imbibe on your favorite podcast app to keep up with all our future episodes. We've got tons of recipes and articles for you online at our website imbibemagazine.com. Follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Threads for all our day-to-day coverage. And if you're not already a subscriber to the print and or digital issues of Imbibe, then here's your opportunity to get on board. Just follow the link in this episode's notes and we'll be happy to help you out. I'm Paul Clarke. This is Radio Imbibe. Catch you next time.