Worlds Top 10 Bars

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By chefgrad

10 - BabyCream


Suite 4m, Altantic Pavilion Albert Dock Liverpool

Telephone: 44 (0)151 709 7097

The Cream team left Liverpool in 2002 but they've returned with this high-tech mini re-incarnation in the Albert Dock. A restaurant-bar-club in the space once occupied by Beige Bar, BabyCream is packed with unique high-concept computer-age spaces. Visit the ladies-only Girl's Powder Room: a hideaway designed for pampering and gossip where the ceilings are made of padded black satin and the gals in clear perspex chairs. In the main downstairs bar check into your personal Bedouin tent with its Video-CD console for compiling your own music. And there is the Virtual World Bar: window-like television screens that change your setting from bright sunset to gentle harbours to underwater ocean scenes so you can travel the world. All of which leave us with the one question: how do we get a drink around here? They take care of this with hundreds of beers, shorts and designer cocktails among them gems like the Japanese Slipper (Sake and Midori shaken with fresh lime and Gomme syrup).

9 - Riva


Dircksenstrasse 142 Mitte Berlin, 10178

Telephone: 49 030 24 72 2688

Hours: Sa-Th from 8pm, F from 7pm

Website

Chic cocktail bar in ultra hip Mitte, cordoned off with thick dark curtains and named, rather oddly, after the 1970s Italian football star Luigi Riva. (Maybe there just wasn't call for a bar called Beckenbauer in Berlin.) Dark and moody, it's an odd tunnel-like space with a curved ceiling painted in bright red, yellow and purple squares. The oval-shaped centrepiece bar is all designer glitz and perfect for perching yourself at since you get to see most of the babes in the room, but leather benches run along the walls and give a good view too. Riva's picture hangs behind the bar meanwhile, begging the question: have the models in here come to gaze at the Italian Stallion or to sample the exotic selection of martinis and champagne cocktails? You decide.

8 - Match EC1

45-47 Clerkenwell Road London, EC1 M5RS

Telephone: 020 7250 4002

Hours: M-Th 11am-12am F 11am-2am Sa 6pm-2am

Website

One of first arrivals in the East End, Match is still one of the best places to enjoy a superlative Martini east of Soho. Mixed bags of city folk and cocktail aficionados mingle in a relaxed split-level environment with a sunken bar, featuring slate and exposed brickwork. A must for all Martini lovers, but mind the apples and pears on the way out, treacle.

7 - Bar 89

89 Mercer Street New York, NY 10012-4402

Telephone: 001 212 274 0989

Hours: Mon - Sun 12pm - 1am

Another swanky Sex and the City-style food-bar where the glass-door designer bathrooms are as talked about as the tall drinks. Unisex cubicles on the first floor, they look at first as if everyone can see you doing your thing. But drop the latch on the door and they become miraculously opaque. Cocktails are large, powerful and pricey, but perfectly prepared by barmen who seem as intense as hit men as they crush the lime and mince the mint for the mojitos. Arty wall installations, and high booths make for a busy interior although it looks like a large, airy diner. Take a booth, order a beer and tuck into one of their delicious portabella sandwiches.

6 - The Collection

328 Bridge Road Richmond Melbourne

Telephone: 61 3 9429 8333

Hours: Mon-Fri 4pm-1am; Sat & Sun 2pm-1am

Website

Dozens of fresh fruit cocktails mixed by award-winning bartenders make the Collection an essential stop in Melbourne. A small red-walled den with a backlit bar, funky tunes, swanky upholstery and a projector beaming movies onto the wall, your concoctions run from short drinks to long drinks, martinis to classics and a plethora of champagne cocktails. Try the Mac B - Makers Mark Bourbon with fresh raspberries, lemon and raspberry liqueur and you are tasting pure essence. Fridays and Saturdays get crazy so get their early for the best night out in town.

5 - Velvet

2 Canal Street Manchester, M1 3HE

Telephone: 0161 236 9003

Hours: M-Th 11am-12pm F-Sa 11am-2am Su 11am-10pm

You'll never frighten the goldfish under foot as you climb the stairs to this eccentrically cool bar. Lie back on chunky purple chairs, order from an eclectic menu and a drinks list as long as your leg. And if the bar gets too busy, the toilet televisions are tuned to the QVC shopping channel for that last minute purchase!

4 - George V Hotel Bar

31 Avenue George V Paris

Telephone: + 33 1 49 52 7000

Known as Le Bar amongst the rich and famous who frequent it, the bar of the fabulous and recently revamped Four Season's property has kept it's old world charm while adding 'magnifique' modern twists to the classic cocktails it has always served. Plush, elegant and refined, its patrons get to lounge in fine leather chairs sipping Champagne specials or fruity Martinis while imagining what life was like in the Belle Epoque. Beautiful mahogany walls are 'the colour of cognac', and though the cocktails are tasty, Cognac is what we recommend you order. Salut, garcon!

3 - Zakudia Bar and Food

2a River Level Southwark Bridge Road London, SE1 0HA

Telephone: 44 (0)207 021 0085

Hours: Su-W 12pm-11pm Th-Sa 12pm-12am

Website

A short walk from Tate Modern and the magnificent Borough Market, Zakudia, on the south bank, combines both the fine art of the former and fine food of the latter in a relaxed setting that perfectly suits this thriving part London. A light and airy space with panoramic views of the River wherever you sit, its perfect for post gallery relaxing, pre club cocktails or dinner with jazz-fusion sounds. Dishes include salads, mini-meals or Mediterranean-Asian mains such as a juicy Zakudia steak sandwich on grilled wasabi mayo with sweet potato chips. But it's the elegant and refreshing cocktails that make this the best place to while away your time. Try their Diva made with fresh blackberry shaken with crème de mure and Absolut Kurant and finished with Champagne; or their Bellini mixed from white peach pure and topped with Champagne. And say cheer

2 - Bar Bacca

43 Franklin Street Belfast

Telephone: 00 44 (0)28 9023 0200

Hours: M-F 12pm-1am Sa 4pm-1am

Website

Sumptuous and exotic café bar that's rightly been voted Belfast's bar of the year. A café serving tasty Thai, Indian and Chinese dishes during the day, it takes off its apron and turns into a smooth, dark lounge bar at night, exuding all the calm of a Buddhist monk. Fittingly too, since the Far Eastern theme includes a giant Buddha above the door at the entrance, various Oriental furnishings and artifacts around the room, and friendly unpretentious locals who've left behind all their attitude in the less karmic areas they've come from. Music runs from garage and house to acid jazz, but we come here mostly for the drinks: cocktails that include Champagne Sorbet and Chocolate Martinis at under £4 a go. The specialty though is their tasty Arc beer - a drink that makes it's own ice crystals when poured.

1 - Der Raum

438 Church Street Richmond Melbourne

Telephone: 00 613 9428 0055

Hours: Tu-Su 5pm - 1am

Website

For those of you with no grasp of the Germanic tongue, Der Raum means The Room (pretty phonetic really) though the place is smaller, cosier and infinitely hipper than your average Bavarian Beerhall. Indeed, cocktails are the thing here: innovative and generally top-notch, made with fresh fruit rather than cordials and syrups. Pop down on a Thursday when the bar-tenders get experimental and willing guineau pigs are required to sample their creations. Saturdays are also a good bet when guest DJs bring a bit of Latin atmosphere to the joint. Drinks here may cost a bit more than average but expertise is always worth paying for.

source:

Tipsy Ultra Lounge - Hanoi, Vietnam

Honorary mention - Only because I've been there and loved it. One of my personal favorite.

Phone: (04) 928 8231

URL: www.tipsyultralounge.com

Email info@tipsyultralounge.com

Description: A new stylish place to chill in Hanoi after dark. Ultra lounge, indeed.

Happy Hours: Every day from 4:00 pm - 8:00 pm Buy 2 get 1 free beer & 30,000VND cocktails ($2)

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Comments

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mggoat  says:
2 years ago

if the heinekens and shots of tele n jameson are more than three dollars a peice, then these bars suck.

Le  says:
2 years ago

Never heard of these places before. I wonder how the list was made....

chefgrad profile image

chefgrad  says:
2 years ago

Aside from th honorary mention, the list was compiled by patrons of these bars. Overall rating was the decision factor...

B  says:
2 years ago

Don't see the Absolut Icebar here!

John  says:
2 years ago

Maybe this should be called the UK's best bars. I highly doubt these are the best

NewfieAtHeart  says:
2 years ago

Wow, all these bars suck. Most of them don't even look like a bar. They all seem like some glamouized dance club or restaurant in which they can charge outrageous amounts for their drinks. The only people that would go to a place like these have more money than brains.

locom1nd  says:
2 years ago

the caribou would be easily #1 if if you didn't have to be a member

Whitney05 profile image

Whitney05  says:
2 years ago

Very cool! I think some of those bars would really mess with my head with I'm buzzin' or drunk. Colors and such...

barryrutherford profile image

barryrutherford  says:
2 years ago

I like the George V Hotel Bar as my pick of them...

Paraglider profile image

Paraglider  says:
2 years ago

Choice of where to drink is highly personal, but I'd have to say these mostly seem the kind of places that I would avoid. For 'proper' London bars, how about Queen Victoria (London Rd, Paddington) or the Black Friar (north side of Blackfriars Bridge) or The Hope (by Smithfields Market).

thomas  says:
2 years ago

I agree, choice is personal. I checked out the source of this list, a website by Jameson. These places were actually voted on, you can go on there site and vote if you're not happy with the results :P www.worldsbestbars.com

Maka  says:
2 years ago

Thanks Great info!

laffe  says:
2 years ago

Very nice collection there.

Great information mate.

http://www.ultimateguidetocheerleading.com

saso  says:
10 months ago

this is amazing

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