New experience: The Pan Asian Collective
Exploring Asian Cocktail Culture – From Tokyo to Shanghai to Delhi
For years, Asian spirits have quietly shaped London’s finest cocktail bars – Japanese whisky in precise highballs, Shanghai gin in elegant serves, Indian-inspired cocktails in intimate late-night spaces.
From Tokyo to Shanghai to Delhi, pan-Asian spirits are one of the most compelling forces in contemporary cocktail culture. London’s bartenders have grown up with these flavours, and the best are now building drinks in ways that celebrate authenticity, craft and real cultural connection.
This summer, we invite you to explore The Pan Asian Collective, a curated drinks experience exclusive to Cocktails in the City.
What Pan-Asian Tastes Like
This is Asian cocktail culture celebrated with rigour and joy. A martini stirred with sake and melon until it’s ice-cold and almost saline. A shochu highball with clementine and sancho cordial. A Chinese twist on the classic Southside with mint and Thai basil syrup. Single blended charcoal and butter-washed Japanese Whisky highballs poured tall over ice.
London’s most interesting bars are coming together for one weekend in July, each bringing their own distinct vision of pan-Asian drinking. Expect refined Japanese culture rarely seen outdoors. Shanghai gin infused with ancient botanicals. Cocktails that celebrate heritage and innovation. Bold, complex, surprising – drinks you won’t taste together anywhere else.
Meet the bars
SHOCHU LOUNGE @ ROKA: Beneath Charlotte Street, Shochu Lounge is ROKA’s low-lit hideaway for ice-cold sake martinis, shochu highballs and Japanese flavours: toasted rice, yuzu, salted plum, umami and citrus. A calm, late-night energy where the lighting does half the talking and the drinks do the rest.
GŎNG BAR: Level 52 of the Shard. Floor-to-ceiling glass, the river below, the city on every side. GŎNG’s drinks programme is built around Asian botanicals: smoke, silk, citrus oil, peppercorn heat. Their polished cocktail programme brings sky-high elegance and technical precision to the collective.
SOMA: Tucked beneath Soho’s streets, SOMA has become one of London’s most celebrated modern cocktail bars. Jewel-toned and low-lit, with jazz folding into hip hop long into the evening, SOMA draws inspiration from the flavours and ingredients of the Indian subcontinent. Expect cocktails featuring salted lime, cardamom, curry leaf, saffron, rose and mango, delivered with the bar’s signature balance of creativity and restraint.
The Spirits Behind the Serves
- PEDDLERS GIN: The world’s first Shanghai gin. Crafted with Buddha’s Hand, Sichuan pepper and botanicals foraged from across China – a distinctive, award-winning spirit for adventurous drinkers.
- JAPANESE SPIRITS COLLECTIVE: A carefully curated lineup – Kay Sake for clean elegance, Fuji Whisky for quiet complexity, Ukiyo Nashi Pear Gin for bright lift, and Kami Shochu for understated character.
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MAYA PISTOLA AGAVEPURA: India’s first 100% agave spirit. Produced from agave grown in the foothills of the Himalayas, Maya Pistola combines traditional agave-making techniques with a uniquely Indian sense of place. Herbaceous, peppery and vibrant, it offers a fascinating new perspective on one of the world’s fastest-growing spirit categories.
At Cocktails in the City this July
LONDON’S BEST BARS · TWO WEEKENDS · ONE GARDEN
July 2-4 and August 6-8
