These are the bars that won the Best-in-Class awards at Tatler Best India 2026

ZLB23 is a Kyoto-inspired speakeasy tucked inside The Leela Palace Bengaluru. The space blends Japanese influences with Prohibition-era touches, but the service is what makes it stand out. The team, predominantly female, operates with an intuition that makes guests feel seen. They remember preferences, anticipate needs and guide guests through a cocktail programme featuring Asian-inspired pours and fat-washed spirits. The service is precise without being stiff, attentive without being intrusive. In a room designed for secrecy and exclusivity, the team makes every guest feel like they belong. That sense of belonging is the foundation of great hospitality, and ZLB23 has built an entire experience around it.

Gracy Chourey works behind the bar at Soka, a Bengaluru neighbourhood joint that has grown from a local favourite into a platform for international collaborations. The industry is male-dominated, and she has carved out a space through skill and presence. Her bartending is technically strong and her palate is clear. She understands that a bar is not just about drinks but about the people who drink them. In a space that thrives on warmth and energy, she has become essential. Her trajectory is one to watch, not because she is a rising star in a conventional sense, but because she has the discipline and curiosity to keep growing. 

Barbet & Pals is a thirty-eight-seat speakeasy that dispenses with secrecy and theatrics in favour of something rarer: genuine conviction. Founders Keshav Suri and Himanshu Kaushik grew up in the Himalayan foothills, and they have brought that landscape to the city in liquid form.

The menu reads like a personal journal, with each cocktail tied to a place or a memory. The Jatira blends red rice tea, bergamot, dalle chilli and water celery leaves. Another drink was born in a college town in the hills, inspired by late-night conversations and local ingredients. A third was created for a guest who asked for something unexpected and became a permanent fixture. The selection rotates every few months, each edition exploring a different Indian region through foraged ingredients and personal narratives.

The bar is named for the native barbets that inhabit the hills, and the avian theme appears in small details like bird-embossed stirrers and lapel pins on staff uniforms. In a city that often rewards spectacle over substance, Barbet & Pals trusts its instincts. The innovation here is restraint, which is harder to pull off and ultimately more rewarding for the drinker. Suri and Kaushik have built something that does not need to announce itself. The drinks do the talking.

Boilermaker captures something essential about Goa’s drinking culture. Co-founded by craft beer pioneer Nakul Bhonsle and acclaimed mixologist Pankaj Balachandran, the bar reimagines the classic dive bar with unpretentious charm. Industrial steel meets the warmth of a backyard gathering. The menu centres on the beer-and-shot ritual, but the cocktails are sharp and composed, featuring local spirits and ingredients. What sets Boilermaker apart is the atmosphere. When an order goes in, the room erupts in a rowdy countdown and song. This is the natural energy of a place where people come to relax and be part of something communal. As for the drinks, Bhonsle brings his deep understanding of craft beer, while Balachandran’s mixology background ensures the cocktails are never an afterthought. Together, they have built a bar that feels both rooted and fresh, a place where the ritual of drinking becomes a shared experience. Boilermaker captures the easy, social spirit of Goa in a way that feels effortless, which is precisely why it is so difficult to replicate.

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Learn more about Tatler Best and the Asia-Pacific awards programme

The Tatler Best bars in Asia-Pacific