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Zest

Seoul

• The Best Bar in Korea 2026

A masterclass in how to make zero-waste chic

A true celebration of all things local, Zest has become Seoul's prime example of what a truly modern Korean bar looks like. Founded by Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award 2024 winner Dohyung 'Demie' Kim along with fellow Korean bar sector stalwarts, Jisu Park and Noah Kwon, it has been voted The Best Bar in Korea for the fourth consecutive year.

The bar itself is a masterclass in understated elegance – nothing is superfluous here, from the sleek, golden-hued back bar with no bottles on display and no labels in sight to the approach to waste that has been the bar's core since its inception. This no-excess approach extends to the team's sustainability policies too, as minimal waste is the name of the game with each ingredient utilised to the utmost degree. The compact cocktail list features myriad local ingredients: for example, the Jeju Garibaldi includes speciality regional oranges and Gujwa village carrots. The Jeju orange, or hallabong, is the famous fruit of South Korea's Jeju Island and the team upcycles the peels to redistill them into Zest's house gin and turns the pulp into cordial or sauerkraut. Uncommon local spirits take centre stage in drinks like Oh. My. G!bson, where citrus cardamom gin and Italian vermouth meet omegi artisanal sour yakju and seasonal pickles.

Beyond sustainability in the glass, the team also creates its own carbonated drinks, eliminating further plastic and can wastage and guests can observe the process of crafting and creating at the bar's open prep lab. For all these reasons and more the bar won the Ketel One Sustainable Bar Award at The World's 50 Best Bars 2024.

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