Flask

· Through a sandwich shop Flask is the speakeasy hidden at the back of a working sandwich shop on the western edge of the French Concession, and the gag — order a sandwich, walk through a refrigerator door, find a serious cocktail bar — has worn well because the room behind it does not coast on the entrance. The bar is small, dim, and built around a classics-led list with a small stable of house signatures and a perfectly executed Manhattan that is reason enough to keep returning.

The team's training pedigree is solid, the ice work is exact, and the back-bar's whisky depth — both Scotch and Japanese — is meaningfully better than the price tier suggests. Flask ranks fifth because it does what a good speakeasy is supposed to do: protect a slower, more careful drinking experience from the noise of the street outside.

For the full ranking, see our editorial round-up of the 10 best cocktail bars in Shanghai, the broader Shanghai cocktail bars guide, and our category index of cocktail bars worldwide.