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Charmaine Mok

I was at a dinner the other night when a guest excitedly asked: “Did you know Bar Leone just opened in New York City?”
The original Bar Leone is a famed Hong Kong cocktail bar on Bridges Street in Sheung Wan. Opened in 2023 by Italian bartender Lorenzo Antinori, the popular watering hole has already been named Asia’s Best Bar twice (2024-5) by 50 Best and is its current World’s Best Bar.
Last year, it opened its second location in Shanghai’s Huangpu district. In March, the team served cocktails at the invite-only Governors Ball – the official after-party for the Oscars.
Given the similarity between the Hong Kong and New York bars’ names, and the fact that both employ a similar burgundy colour scheme and use motifs featuring a 2D lion holding a tray of cocktails, you would probably think that this was yet another chapter in the Hong Kong bar’s international expansion.
The thing is, the two are not connected at all.
In May, Antinori and his team were made aware of an Instagram account that had opened bearing the Bar Leone name. They quickly distanced themselves from it with announcements on their website and social accounts. They have since updated an official statement that reiterates they “are not affiliated, associated, or in any way connected with the New York venue now trading under the Bar Leone name”, and that they have “not authorised, licensed, endorsed or sponsored it in any way”.

As the case is still an “active matter”, the Bar Leone Hong Kong team was unable to comment any further when approached by the South China Morning Post. The SCMP has also reached out to Bar Leone New York for comment.
So who is behind the NYC opening? That would be Andres Diaz, described in the venue’s press release as “a New York City hospitality veteran with more than 15 years of experience in the restaurant industry”. He is also the founder of La Rubia and Her Name Was Carmen; Bar Leone took over the space previously occupied by the latter.
In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Diaz said the idea for Bar Leone’s lion theme came from someone on his branding team who had gone to see The Lion King on Broadway, and that the colour scheme of the theatre production happened to match the bar’s interior design.
It’s not the first time an internationally recognised hospitality name has had its name pilfered. In 2023, a Malaysian company attempted to launch The Chairman restaurant in a Kuala Lumpur shopping centre. The name and logo were nearly identical to those of The Chairman in Hong Kong, this year’s No 1 on the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list and a former winner in 2021.

In 2014, Jia Group’s popular Thai restaurant Chachawan was also duplicated without authorisation in Shanghai. That restaurant was forced to change its name following a social media uproar.
More recently, a new restaurant by the name of Amber has opened in Quarry Bay, though it serves modern Chinese cuisine – and has no affiliation with the three-Michelin-star French restaurant of the same name by chef Richard Ekkebus in Central’s Mandarin Oriental The Landmark hotel.
It is not just restaurants and bars. Eagle-eyed cafe hunters recently spotted the soft opening of a stylish cafe named Lowkey in Central’s Old Bailey Street, matching the minimalist aesthetic of a popular mini chain of coffee shops in Seoul. The South Korean cafe has since confirmed that the Hong Kong shop is not one of its own and that it does not have any international outlets yet.
Whatever the motive, naming your business after something significantly more famous is a bit of an own goal. It strips you of the opportunity to craft your own narrative, creates a very specific set of expectations and, honestly, makes it look as though you have been living under a rock all this time.


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Food and Drinks

The interior of Bar Leone in New York, which opened in Lower Manhattan on September 10, 2026. It is not connected to the award-winning Bar Leone in Hong Kong. Photo: Madeleine Thomas/BFA.com

Members of Hong Kong’s Bar Leone celebrate their win at the World’s 50 Best Bars 2025 awards ceremony at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal in Hong Kong on October 8, 2025. Photo: Dickson Lee

A signboard for a new restaurant at a Kuala Lumpur shopping centre seen in 2023 shows details incredibly similar to those used by Hong Kong’s The Chairman restaurant. Photo: instagram/david_yip

How this Hong Kong Gen Z coffee entrepreneur is filling market gap with her can-do attitude

Nikita Kuwadekar, founder of Busy Brew, Hong Kong’s first plant-based canned coffee brand. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Cans of Busy Brew oat milk latte. Hong Kong’s first plant-based canned coffee brand is stocked at various supermarkets and online stores. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Kuwadekar introduces Busy Brew’s oat milk lattes to a university student. 

Despite her brand’s success, Kuwadekar is careful not to glamorise the life of a young business founder. Photo: Chloe Loung

She’s telling Hong Kong’s culinary stories through an Instagram ‘staging’ series

Mel Ng records video of a Diplomat Burger that she prepped at The Diplomat in Central, Hong Kong. The Diplomat was the 31st stop in Ng’s stagiaire series on Instagram. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Mel Ng holds a whole yellow eel, an ingredient in Ha Ming Kee’s signature fish balls. Photo: Mel Ng

At Duddell’s, a fine-dining Chinese restaurant in Hong Kong, Ng learned the secrets behind their signature puffed spring rolls. Photo: Mel Ng

Ng learns the art of sushi-making at Sushi Fujimoto in Central. Photo: Mel Ng

Ng says her role is constantly changing. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Ng prepares geese for roasting in the space oven at Kamcentre Roast Goose. Photo: Mel Ng

Hidden Japanese omakase, ‘excellent’ Cantonese: a Hong Kong bartender’s restaurant picks

A selection of sashimi at Open Meal, a Japanese omakase restaurant hidden in a Tuen Mun industrial building that Jason Yu goes to when he is in the mood to splurge. Carna by Dario Cecchini’s head bartender also shares where he goes for steak and pasta in a relaxed atmosphere, and authentic Cantonese food. Photo: Instagram/open_meal

Jason Yu is the head bartender of Carna by Dario Cecchini at the Mondrian Hong Kong hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Carna by Dario Cecchini

Yu recommends L’Atlantis restaurant on Golden Beach in Tuen Mun for grilled meats and pastas. Photo: Instagram/kingfoodies

Siu mai dumplings at Chi Shing Restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. Photo: Instagram/hungryfoodiehk

The bar at Carna by Dario Cecchini. Photo: courtesy of Carna by Dario Cecchini

How Hong Kong chef Tiffany Lo picked herself up after closing her beloved French bistro

Tiffany Lo at Bistrot’s Suzette at Cullinan Sky Mall in Hong Kong’s Kai Tak neighbourhood. Photo: Jonathan Wong

The rustic pâté de campagne is one of Lo’s favourite dishes. Photo: Bistrot’s Suzette

The beef Bourguignon at Bistrot’s Suzette is lighter than the typical French version, with minimal use of butter. Photo: Bistrot’s Suzette

Bistrot’s Suzette at Cullinan Sky Mall in Kai Tak. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Bistrot’s Suzette features classic Parisian fare, from steak frites to duck confit. Photo: Bistrot’s Suzette

Oeuf mimosa with smoked salmon at Bistrot’s Suzette. Photo: Bistrot’s Suzette

Lo at Bistrot’s Suzette. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Hong Kong’s Bar Leone says it has no connection with its namesake in Lower Manhattan, which officially opened on September 10


Hong Kong’s Bar Leone says it has no connection with its namesake in Lower Manhattan, which officially opened on September 10.


Hong Kong

Wine and Spirits

Best bars in Hong Kong

Bar Leone

Lorenzo Antinori

Mixologists and sommeliers

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

On the Menu

Is New York’s Bar Leone a copycat of Hong Kong’s ‘World’s Best’ original?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Hong Kong’s Bar Leone says it has no connection with its namesake in Lower Manhattan, which officially opened on September 10

Hong Kong’s Bar Leone says it has no connection with its namesake in Lower Manhattan, which officially opened on September 10