Hong Kong’s first ‘sustainable’ bar Penicillin: second-hand furniture, bills by email and leftover cocktail ingredients made into hand sanitiser, from the team behind Asia’s 50 Best Bars award-winner The Old Man
The Old Man’s Agung Prabowo and Roman Ghale are opening 2 new venues in Central: Hollywood Road’s sustainably focused Penicillin and dive bar Dead & – offering a ‘cheapskate hour’ and vending machine canned beers at 7-Eleven prices
When The Old Man opened three years ago, it arrived at the perfect time to crest the second wave of molecular mixology cocktail bars in Hong Kong. The first wave was driven almost single-handedly by Antonio Lai. His early concepts at Quinary, Origin and The Envoy pioneered the trend in this city, and all featured in the inaugural Asia’s 50 Best Bars Awards in 2016. With a focus on innovative recipes and techniques, these venues provided a counterpoint to the more traditional hotel bars that were previously the only game in town for anyone serious about their cocktails.
It was out of the hospitality industry that Agung Prabowo and Roman Ghale, two of the co-founders of The Old Man, emerged. Prabowo, among other accomplishments, had helped make Lobster Bar and Grill, at Island Shangri-La, a destination for its drinks; Ghale had excelled as senior bar and restaurant operations manager at The Upper House.
Just imagine, it’s a Noma, but doing it for drinks instead of food