Exímia placed 20th and Tan Tan 35th on the list revealed in Milan; Hong Kong's Bar Leone was named the best for the second time
Two São Paulo bars are on the 2026 list of the world's 50 best bars, revealed on Wednesday, October 7, at the Palazzo del Ghiaccio in Milan. Exímia, in Itaim Bibi, placed 20th, and Tan Tan, in Pinheiros, 35th. First place went to Bar Leone, in Hong Kong, which kept the title for the second year in a row, according to The Spirits Business.
The list is organized by The 50 Best and voted on by an academy of more than 800 drinks experts, including bartenders, consultants and journalists, split evenly between men and women. Each voter casts eight votes for bars visited in the previous 18 months, no more than five in their own country.
According to the profile published by the organizers, Exímia moved in 2026 to a smaller address in Itaim Bibi, on the first floor above Locale Caffè, its sister restaurant. The drinks program is led by Márcio Silva and builds on Brazilian ingredients, with an in-house lab that uses the barks of native woods such as amburana and fruit pulps such as cambuci. The kitchen is run by chef Manu Buffara. Drinks mentioned include Eróica, a whisky-based drink with uvaia, mango, chamomile and coconut water, and Minduim, with cachaça aged in freijó wood, rum, sake and house-made peanut butter.
Tan Tan started as a ramen bar by chef Thiago Bañares, who has Chinese and Japanese heritage, and today splits its attention between drinks and food, according to The 50 Best. The bar team is led by Caio Carvalhaes, and this year's menu, called Perspective, combines two or three Brazilian ingredients in each drink. Classics kept on include Hello Suckers, made with tequila and lapsang souchong tea, and Dirty Dance, built on cachaça.
The region had 13 bars in the top 50, according to The Spirits Business. The highest placed were Alquímico, in Cartagena, Colombia, in third, Handshake Speakeasy, in Mexico City, in sixth, Lady Bee, in Lima, in ninth, and Bar Mauro, also in Mexico City, in tenth, which debuted on the list and won the award for highest new entry. Rounding out the top 10 are Moebius Milano, in Milan, in second, Bar Us, in Bangkok, Line, in Athens, Zest, in Seoul, and Connaught Bar, in London.
Sources: The 50 Best (October 7, 2026), The Spirits Business (October 8, 2026).
