Destinations

ARGO bar cocktail menu launch: At Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong, curiosity is poured by the glass. The new ‘Argo Exploration’ cocktail programme reads like a love letter to the city, its makers, moods, and moments. Under the direction of Beverage Manager Jonathan Gabbay, Argo, ranked #11 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025, looks past passing trends and turns inward, toward collaboration, seasonality, and the team that has shaped the bar since day one. Twelve cocktails, two directions, one city, and a journey through taste and craftsmanship.

Local encounters: rooted in Hong Kong, shaped by collaboration

Exploration builds on what this discerning bar has always stood for: asking questions, taking risks, and grounding creativity in a sense of place. But this time, the lens narrows. Instead of scanning the globe for inspiration, the Argo team looks closer to home, to Hong Kong’s artisans, farmers, artists, and neighbourhood institutions. The menu feels reflective and personal.

Gabbay, relatively new to the city yet deeply respectful of its pace and personality, describes the menu as a return to the human element. “This menu is a reflection of the encounters, passions, and shared experiences we’ve lived as a team, told through meaningful collaborations and the incredible products and craftsmanship Hong Kong has to offer,” shares Gabbay.

Nearly five years since Argo first opened its doors, Exploration doubles as a quiet celebration of the people behind the bar. Many of the team members have been here since day one. This menu honours that continuity. It protects the bar’s DNA – curiosity, creativity, and a sense of place.

Chapter One is where collaboration takes centre stage. Six cocktails, each shaped alongside Hong Kong craftsmen from vastly different corners of the city, come together as a portrait of Hong Kong at work. Argo’s bartenders step beyond the bar to co-create with:

• Dr. James Ting, Chinese Medicine Practitioner at Magnolia Lab
• Central’s cult-favourite Big JJ Seafood Hotpot
• Tai On Coffee & Tea, the modern cha chaan teng in Yau Ma Tei
• Agro-food brand LoCoFARMS
• Rising artist Tam Mei Yi Amy
• Marcus Yuen, tattoo artist from 59 Tattoo studio

Each encounter leaves a fingerprint on the glass, a genuine exchange of craft and perspective. The drinks travel from savoury to nostalgic, from quietly playful to visually expressive, paying tribute to the institutions and individuals that give the city its pulse.

Take Hong Kong Punch, a thoughtful tribute to the city’s coffee and tea culture, created in collaboration with Tai On Coffee & Tea. At first glance, it looks like a breakfast for champions. The drink blends Rémy Martin V.S.O.P, Iichiko Shochu, and Magnolia Lab Magnolia Botanical Liqueur, topped with black tea and egg tart foam. It’s served with a butter tartlet for scooping the foam, just like an egg tart. Sweet yet punchy, it delivers gentle warmth with a lingering Cognac finish—deceptively spirit-forward.

Morning Bite puts a local spin on the Breakfast Martini. Made with No. 3 London Dry Gin, Chardonnay, and Strega herbal liqueur, it features banana jam crafted in collaboration with LoCoFARMS. Easy to start with, it leans bright and gently sour, with botanical notes, rounded out by the soft sweetness of the jam.

Then there’s Dreamscape, a collaboration with rising Hong Kong artist Tam Mei Yi Amy. The fat-washed coconut tequila cocktail layers hazelnut, coconut, tonka bean, and chestnut into a silky, transparent pour that plays with texture and restraint. Its visual identity is part of the experience: Amy’s artistic style translates her soft palette of lush greens, blush pinks, and clean whites into a custom-painted coaster that mirrors the drink’s mood, while a small post lamp casts a soft glow over the glass, inviting guests to pause before the first sip.

For those with a penchant for spirit-forward classics, Classic X Classic makes a strong impression. Born from a collaboration with Marcus Yuen of Wan Chai’s 59 Tattoo, the drink carries his Old School American and traditional Hong Kong tattoo influences into the glass with a custom garnish illustrated exclusively for ARGO. The Macallan 12 forms the backbone, with amaro, Ginseng Sheung Jin, and jasmine bitters. Nutty, earthy, and lingering, it unfolds slowly, familiar in structure, yet distinct in character.

Argo bar cocktail menu’s seasonal journeys

If Chapter One tells Hong Kong’s story through people, Chapter Two turns to the land. Seasonality and terroir shape the next six cocktails, each built around what the city and its surroundings offer naturally throughout the year. The tone shifts subtly. The drinks are cleaner, more direct, and aligned with the current appetite for simplicity, but never simplistic.

The drinks follow the structure of modern classics, each anchored by a seasonal ingredient: roots, herbs, florals, nuts, and pickled notes. It’s a menu that shifts with the calendar, giving guests something new to discover with every return.

Rooty Slushy is an instant conversation starter. Rum-based and unapologetically playful, it blends velvety sweet potato with amaro, truffle honey, raspberry sorbet, and root water, finished with a touch of balsamic for lift. Sour, nutty, and gently savoury, it’s far from the usual slushy, layered, and unexpected.

The Pickled G&T leans savoury from the start, spotlighting pickled kale in its first iteration. Gin is blended with shochu and Riesling, and served alongside crisp kale chips, it reframes the classic highball with a briny edge. Bright and bracing, the acidity cuts cleanly through the structure, keeping it tight and balanced.

Herbal Boulevardier is built for the long haul. Michter’s Bourbon meets Fernet Hunter and Mancino Bianco Ambrato, anchored by a Campari herbal ice sphere infused with roselle. It opens sweet and bitter, then deepens as the ice melts. Like any good love story, it starts with tension. A little spark, a little edge. Give it time, and it settles into balance, the bitterness rounding out and the sweetness finding its place. Sit with it long enough, and the drink evolves in the glass, complex, and worth the conversation.

Argo Exploration is not about showing off technique, though there’s plenty of it. It’s about storytelling through flavour. Each cocktail carries a thread, a person, a place, a season, that the team can share tableside. The intention is for the menu to speak to everyone: aficionados chasing bold flavours, classic loyalists seeking precision, and curious newcomers open to discovery.

“It’s designed to spark conversation, giving the team the chance to share stories behind each cocktail and what they’ve experienced together along the way,” shares Gabbay.

Argo bar cocktail menu: timeless passages

But not everything needs reinvention. The final section of the menu features Timeless Passages, with ten of Argo’s most loved classics, the drinks that regulars return for, the ones that have anchored the bar since opening.

At the centre is ARGO Martini. Built on the bar’s own gin, created with Australia’s award-winning The Never Never Distilling Co., it’s paired with seasonal hydrosols that shift subtly through the year. Together, these ten drinks act as a bridge, linking where ARGO began to where it’s headed next.

Since a good night out rarely ends at the glass, the new menu arrives alongside a refreshed selection of bar bites. Expect Crispy Softshell Crab Open Maki (HKD 200), and Iceberg Lettuce Roll with Drunken Chicken (HKD 180), all built for sharing.

The Argo Exploration menu is now pouring at Argo, located within the Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong. Cocktails are priced from HKD 180. All prices are subject to a 10 percent service charge.