Sober

concept rooms · Asia 50 Sober Company, also from the Shingo Gokan stable, is the Xintiandi room that won World's Best Bar in 2018 and has since matured into a more interesting place than that headline suggests. The building holds three concept floors — a daytime cafe-bar at ground level, a polished cocktail room in the middle, and the standout Sober Society speakeasy above — each running its own menu and team while sharing a back-of-house spirit programme.

The Society floor in particular leans heavily into Chinese herbal infusions and seasonal Shanghai produce; the middle bar runs classics-led with sharper modernist edges. Service across the building is among the most polished in the city, and the back-bar's reserve work — vintage Italian amari, a deep Japanese-whisky shelf, increasingly serious baijiu — quietly outpaces most standalone Shanghai rooms.

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.