Cocktail chat: Agung and Laura Prabowo, Penicillin Shanghai
Following success in Hong Kong, closed-loop bar Penicillin is expanding to a second sustainable site in a new city.
*This interview was originally published in the June 2025 issue of The Spirits Business magazine.
Sustainability seems to be becoming a monthly theme in The Back Bar – and for good reason. While many venues are just waking up to its importance, others, like Penicillin in Hong Kong, have made it their mission from day one.
When Penicillin opened in 2020, it was the city’s first closed-loop bar. Less than five years on, the bar’s co-founders, Agung and Laura Prabowo, are ready to transport their concept to a new city: Shanghai.
When we speak, the bar is just a few days away from its official opening on 8 May. But already the ambition is clear. “The Shanghai bar – we’re trying to make it the same as Penicillin Hong Kong,” says Agung. “The core elements will be applied in Shanghai – the same concept – however, the design will be more elevated.” Visitors to the Hong Kong site will notice a similar striking bottle display in Shanghai, as well as neon lights, which were repurposed from local shops that closed down during the pandemic.
A key part of the concept at Penicillin is “using all ingredients to the fullest”, explains Agung. This is achieved through the bar’s four ‘chambers’: a laboratory, the main bar, the fermentation room (or “stinky room”, jokes Agung), and the kitchen. These different areas allow the team to recycle and upcycle ingredients that may otherwise have been wasted.
These four chambers will be replicated in Shanghai, but the site is “much better than
in Hong Kong,” Agung explains. “We have a proper lab and a proper kitchen, and in the fermentation room, we can play around with the temperature and the humidity.”
That commitment to sustainability remains central to everything the team does. “We are always telling our guests that it’s impossible to be 100% sustainable, especially here in Hong Kong,” he says. “We are still using electricity, water and ice. We aim to be 80% sustainable through recycling, upcycling – you name it, we do it.” One way the team pushes further is by collaborating with local businesses. Laura adds: “We work with restaurants, bakeries and coffee shops by collecting their waste and creating new ingredients for our cocktails.”
So, why Shanghai? “We’re just in love with Shanghai,” explains Agung. Plus, the city is beginning to align with Penicillin’s eco-conscious ethos. “In the past seven or 10 years, Shanghai has changed a lot,” he adds, explaining that the government has been promoting sustainability measures. “We’ve never lived in the city, and we’re still learning about it and its culture, but the energy of Penicillin is there.”
From a sustainability perspective, Shanghai has the advantage of having a wider range of produce than Hong Kong, where a lot of ingredients have to be shipped in. And, from a business point of view, things are generally cheaper – including rent – “but you can serve the cocktail at a similar price to Hong Kong,” says Agung.
While the Prabowos are hoping their concept resonates in a new city, they acknowledge there are differences between the two bar scenes. Shanghai has a huge population, while Hong Kong is a little smaller. “However, Hong Kong is very diverse, with a lot of tourists as well as expats,” says Agung. He believes Shanghai shares an international mindset with Hong Kong. “Local Shanghainese people – mostly they have been travelling, or they’ve lived in the US or Europe, or they studied there. They really know what they want to drink. They know exactly what brand they want.”
One major consideration when expanding into China has been the social media landscape. “In the rest of the world, it’s Instagram, Facebook, YouTube,” Agung says. “But in China, they have their own platforms – like Xiaohongshu [RedNote].” To navigate that, the team has enlisted a local PR agency for China-specific social media, alongside an international one to help communicate the launch more widely.
Learning the ropes
Despite their commitment to the new site, Agung and Laura know the importance of letting the Shanghai team lead – plus, they still have the Hong Kong site to maintain. “We want to go there often, but we need to make a balance,” Agung says. “As long as the team are following our standards, I’m very happy.”
The Shanghai team currently comprises six or seven staff members – “young and very passionate”, he adds – who are being supported to develop both technically and
in their guest communication skills.
At launch, the menu will mainly consist of Penicillin favourites. “We don’t want to be too experimental yet, because we’re still figuring out ingredients,” Agung says. Five Penicillin favourites will be on the menu while the team works on new cocktails inspired by local Shanghai ingredients – “things that we never see in Hong Kong”.
The bar’s R&D team is researching regional flavours and potential collaborations – for instance, with the many coffee shops springing up around the city.
One drink currently in development was inspired by Shanghai-made White Rabbit milk candy, which is paired with lacto-fermented banana. The team are hoping a partnership with the sweet factory is on the cards, with a desire to utilise waste from production.
The soft launch has been intentionally low-key. “We don’t want to push so hard because this is a new bar and the staff are still training,” says Agung. “When you open the same brand of cocktail bar in another country, people are always comparing. We want to make sure that everything’s perfect, as much as it is in Hong Kong.”
While they’re not finished yet, the pair are immensely proud of what they’ve built – both in Hong Kong and now in Shanghai. “We are so glad of the team we have right now,” Agung says. “We survived the pandemic, and we’re getting bigger and bigger.”
Penicillin has been a fixture on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list since it opened, but Laura sees accolades as a bonus – not a goal. “The awards aren’t everything – of course, they make us proud, but they’re just proof of the hard work from the team, from everyone in Penicillin. The awards are motivation to make sure everything is consistent, to do even better than we already did.”
Agung agrees: “As a business operator, they’re very important. But we want to earn them organically – not because we ask people to vote.”
As for a third Penicillin? “Maybe not yet,” says Agung with a smile. “Once we’re thinking of something, we will let you know for sure.”
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