Quinary Hong Kong — Cocktail Bar Central

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Address

56-58 Hollywood Road, Central

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Hours

Mon–Thu 5pm–1am · Fri–Sat 5pm–2am · Sun 3pm–Midnight

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Budget

HKD 120–180 per cocktail

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Reservations

Recommended, walk-ins welcome

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Recognition

Asia's 50 Best Bars — every year since 2012

The Bar

Science in the Glass

Quinary opened in 2012 on Hollywood Road — the artistic, antique-dealer strip that winds through Central — and immediately redefined what a Hong Kong cocktail bar could be. Bartender and founder Antonio Lai brought a scientific rigour to his craft that set Quinary apart from anything that came before it on the island.

The name references the five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and sound. At Quinary, every cocktail is engineered to engage all five simultaneously. The room is hushed and intimate, lit in deep amber and charcoal. You are not here for loud music or sport. You are here for an experience that unfolds like a tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star kitchen.

Antonio's technique draws from molecular gastronomy — the same discipline that transformed fine dining in the 2000s. Spherification, cold smoke infusion, clarification, and fat-washing are applied not as gimmicks but as tools to create flavour profiles that conventional bartending cannot reach. The result is a menu that reads like short fiction and delivers like poetry.

Quinary has featured in every list of Hong Kong's best cocktail bars since its opening. It ranks consistently in Asia's 50 Best Bars and has been a destination for bartenders worldwide who come to study and to be inspired. For a date night in Hong Kong, it remains the gold standard.

About the Founder

Antonio Lai

Antonio trained across Europe and Asia before settling in Hong Kong. His approach fuses classical French technique with Chinese ingredient philosophy — bergamot, lychee, chrysanthemum — to create cocktails that are unmistakably rooted in their city.

Signature Creation

Earl Grey Caviar Martini

HKD 155

The drink that made Quinary famous. A clean gin base is steeped in Earl Grey — bergamot bright, tea precise — then clarified to translucent perfection and served alongside a small quenelle of Earl Grey caviar: tiny spheres that burst with concentrated tea flavour the moment they hit the palate. The combination of cold, silky liquid and warm, bursting spheres engages the sense of texture in a way that reframes what a Martini can do. Order two. Drink slowly. Talk quietly.

Hendrick's Gin Earl Grey Tea Bergamot Dry Vermouth Tea Caviar Sodium Alginate

Menu Highlights

Drinks Worth the Journey

Sakura Negroni

HKD 145

Campari clarified until pink-pure, infused with cherry blossom and balanced with a Japanese whisky that replaces the traditional sweet vermouth. The result is lighter, floral, barely bitter — a Negroni in silhouette only.

Five-Spice Old Fashioned

HKD 140

Bourbon fat-washed with duck confit fat, spiced with star anise, cinnamon, and Sichuan pepper. A cocktail that tastes like a Sunday roast in the best possible way — rich, complex, deeply savoury with a whisper of smoke.

Chrysanthemum Sour

HKD 130

White rum clarified through chrysanthemum tea, bright with yuzu, and finished with a cold-smoked foam that delivers the aroma of incense smoke without a single note of bitterness. Delicate and extraordinary.

Oolong Tom Collins

HKD 128

Gin extended with cold-brew oolong, lightened with fresh lemon, sweetened with honey-osmanthus syrup, and lengthened with soda that has been carbonated tableside. Refreshing and quietly complex.

Lychee Highball

HKD 118

Japanese whisky highball built over a lychee water made by macerating fresh lychee in still water for eighteen hours. Long, cold, slightly tropical, with whisky underneath. The most effortless drink on the menu.

Bartender's Choice

HKD 160

Tell the bartender your spirit preference and two flavour cues. They will build something unrepeatable, specific to the moment, drawing from the full ingredient library. The restaurant equivalent of omakase.

Opening Hours

When to Go

Mon – Thu 17:00 – 01:00

Fri – Sat 17:00 – 02:00

Sunday 15:00 – 00:00

Best Time to Visit

Tuesday or Wednesday at opening — the bar is quietest and Antonio or his senior team are most available to talk you through the menu. Friday and Saturday are fully booked two weeks ahead. Reserve online or via phone.

Getting There

Finding Quinary

56-58 Hollywood Road, Central, Hong Kong

MTR: Central Station (Exit D2) — walk 8 minutes up Pottinger Street. Taxi: tell the driver "Hollywood Road, near Staunton Street." The bar is between Sotheby's and a string of antique galleries. Look for the brushed-metal door with the Quinary insignia.

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