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Zest

Seoul

South Korea’s terroir distilled into minimalist, hyper-seasonal cocktails

Pride in provenance is what drives Zest's cocktail programme, leaning on ingredients rooted in Korea's biodiverse landscape. Zest advocates for local producers and community-driven practices, sourcing vegetables and herbs through contract farming, while harvesting 'city honey' from the bar's own beehives in Seoul. These hyper-local elements are skillfully integrated with carefully selected global spirits and liquors from Korean micro-distilleries and craft breweries, forming the backbone of Zest's notable cocktail programme. 

At the heart of this vision is co-founder Dohyung 'Demie' Kim, winner of the Altos Bartenders' Bartender Award 2024, a prestigious peer‑voted honour within Asia's 50 Best Bars community. Kim and his partners lead the bar's ethos of minimal waste and thoughtful precision.

The drinks at Zest are designed to be sustainable, trying as far as possible to utilise the ingredients in their entirety. To honour every part of the Hallabong for example, the team squeezes the fresh juice for the Jeju Garibaldi, repurposes the peels to infuse the house gin, and gives the leftover pulp a new lease of life, either as a cordial or fermented and used in the bar's signature Pulp Sauerkraut.

With no back-bar display and a chic, minimalist aesthetic, Zest embraces the Korean philosophy of 'beauty in emptiness.' When it comes to technique and presentation, the bar takes a disciplined approach. Every drink is built with intention, avoiding all forms of excess including garnish, unless it truly belongs. The focus is on clean flavours, balance, and precise methods that highlight the quality of the ingredients. House-made elements are used with purpose, and the same philosophy guides the service and the space: efficient and restrained. 

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