Simone Caporale and Lorenzo Antinori to open Hong Kong bar
Montana will launch this summer, created by Sips Barcelona’s Simone Caporale and Bar Leone’s Lorenzo Antinori.
Caporale opened Sips in 2021, which was named the World’s Best Bar at the Spirited Awards 2023. He is also behind the Muyu liqueurs range, non-alcoholic ‘spirit’ Zeo, and Amaro Santoni. Prior to opening Sips, he led Artesian at The Langham hotel for five years.
Rome-born Antinori opened Bar Leone in Hong Kong in 2023. It was named Best New International Cocktail Bar at the 2024 Spirited Awards.
The new bar will be located on 108 Hollywood Road in Hong Kong and will draw from ‘the craft and legacy of the Club de los Cantineros, Cuba’s legendary bartenders’ guild’. Further inspiration comes from Miami of the 1970s, with the bar aiming to be ‘a vibrant homage to an era when Cuban cocktails were at their peak, and disco music set the rhythm’.
The bar’s name is taken from a ‘little-known classic’ found buried in the manual of the Club de Cantineros.
Its menu will focus on Cuban classics, such as the El Presidente. Montana’s take on the serve combines rum, quince vermouth, orange curaçao, saffron and bitters, which is then “aged” in a dulce de leche-coated bottle. The Santa Marta Daiquiri follows the original recipe created by the Club de los Cantineros in the 1930s, combining rum, lime, Maraschino and a float of kirsch eau de vie. The cocktail is ‘ritualistically’ served with bespoke shakers and celebrated nightly with ‘La Hora del Daiquiri’.
Meanwhile, the Rum & Coke Sour reimagines the Cuba Libre with Italian amaro, ginger falernum, cola syrup, and lime.
The food menu will feature nods to Havana, including the BBQ Pineapple Helado, a signature dessert featuring spiced, rum-marinated pineapple slow-roasted on a rotisserie, served with vanilla ice cream and Caribbean sea salt.
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