Indonesia’s cocktail revolution takes us from grand hotel bars and basement haunts to speakeasies and jazz rooms.
Touring Jakarta’s best bars is quite the eclectic experience. Champagne opened with a saber, brunch under brick arches, free instant noodles at closing time – there’s a lot going on here.
South Jakarta alone has enough for a wild night out, although the hotels and office towers of the business district also have plenty to offer.
Whatever kind of evening you’re after, here’s where to drink in the capital.
Carrots Bar
The mission statement is in the name here. As the team puts it, “Like a carrot, we are growing resiliently underground. Plus, we’re good for you!” And this little bar keeps rising, moving from No.34 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025 to No.21 in 2026, just three years after opening in August 2023. This joint may seem low-key on the surface, but something serious is going on underneath.
Set in the basement of Fairgrounds SCBD and marked only by a subtle carrot logo, the bar has just 14 stools. A long communal table is the centerpiece of the quirkily decorated room, though there’s also space to stand, plus a private room bathed in neon.
The bartenders double as hosts, getting strangers at the table chatting. Alvin Sung Jaya and Monica Jonan are the founders, while Anthony Luis is their creative partner and head bartender, leading a drinks selection drawn from the team’s cultural and personal experiences, and passion for food.
Here, the philosophy is that “the best drink is one that you genuinely enjoy”, so it’s not hard to pick your poison. The menu is titled ‘I Drink, Therefore I Am’, a cute nod to Descartes. Each drink is tagged by its main flavor, style, and secondary note. To keep things straightforward, the list runs from lightest to strongest.
Kretek – named after Indonesia’s clove cigarettes – has remained a favorite since the first menu, a smoky Negroni of cacao-and-clove bourbon, smoked cacao nib vermouth and tobacco bitters. No Big Dill comprises tequila, dill, sweet potato, salted egg, lacto cucumber foam and fino, justifying the savory, fizz and umami tags.
This year, the team took Carrots on the road, with stops at Mami Cocktails in Saigon, M+MS Bar in Seoul and To Infinity & Beyond in Taipei. Guest spots are frequent too, most recently with the Amaro Bar & Twice Shy team making the trip from London to vibe on October 17. Looks like this carrot is only just breaking the surface.
What: Cocktails with a cheat sheet, in a basement built for conversation
Where: Basement Level, Fairgrounds SCBD Lot 14, Jl. Jenderal Sudirman No.14
When: Tue–Thu 6pm–1am, Fri–Sat 6pm–2am
How: Instagram | Facebook | Website
Modernhaus
Indonesia’s best bar two years running feels like a mid-century living room: think a green tiled wall, framed modernist prints, and sofas made for sinking into. The long communal island bar means no barrier between you and whoever’s making your drink, and large windows offer city views.
The name nods to both the design and the art of drinking itself; ‘Haus’ means ‘thirsty’ in Bahasa Indonesia. Mirwansyah ‘Bule’, who also serves as head bartender, founded the bar in partnership with Jakarta’s pioneering Union Group (also behind The Cocktail Club and Cosmo Pony), and it opened in May 2024.
Its debut at Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2025 earned it the Three Cents Best New Opening Award, and by the following year it had added a No.11 ranking and its second straight Best Bar in Indonesia title.
Much of the credit goes to the ‘Cocktail Line Up’, which comprises 12 drinks, each named after a local ingredient. Pohpohan’s minty, citrusy mix of the aromatic herb, champagne lactic, limeade cordial, and juniper mint liqueur has made it a crowd favorite.
A distinctive garnish, the bitter, peppery betel leaf, sits at the center of the Betel cocktail. The bartenders mix betel rum with coconut water, umeshu, and lemon verbena Cocchi Bianco, then finish it with the pickled leaf. And there’s what the bar calls “a bad idea dressed really well”, Cempaka, built on cempaka whiskey (infused with the white champaca flower), blended malt, and hibiscus ginger maple.
House music is your soundtrack here, though on a special night you might get DJ sets or a live jazz ensemble. Happy hour runs 5–8pm, with classics in highball form for IDR 100K each, so why not come early? After all, it’s the perfect place to settle in and feel at home.
What: Cocktails named for local flowers, herbs, and fruit, served sofa-side
Where: Jl. Senopati No.79, Kebayoran Baru
When: Mon–Sat 5pm–1am
How: Instagram | Facebook
Cosmo Pony
The Tequila Cosmo is “the drink that named the bar”, a concoction of Don Julio Blanco, Cointreau, roselle, and lime, finished with a lick of ‘flamed orange paint’. With tequila standing in for vodka, and the locally sourced roselle taking cranberry’s place, this is a very twisted – and silky smooth – take on a Cosmopolitan. The paint is a deliberate homage to the flamed orange peel that cocktail legend Dale DeGroff made his calling card at New York’s Rainbow Room. The team pitches it as “a convivial cocktail bar with a cosmopolitan soul”.
Indra Kantono, co-founder of Singapore’s Jigger & Pony Group, explained the choice of city, observing, “We see a rising city that is becoming more cosmopolitan,” while also noting Jakartans’ passion for socializing. Cosmo Pony is the group’s first overseas bar, opened as a joint venture with Union Group in July 2024.
Union Group runs operations and knows the city. Jigger & Pony handles the drinks. General manager Silvio Daniele was formerly Jigger & Pony’s principal bartender, cutting his teeth in the London scene before moving to Singapore, and was instrumental in establishing his old bar as No.1 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020.
To understand how the skill set meshes with Jakarta’s produce, just listen to Silvio: “the ugly fruit in the street market that turns out to be the most delicious of all.” Ugly Bananas is one of the signatures of this approach, as its whisky is infused with overripe bananas, with roasted peels set into little agar-agar dots.
The most recent menu, ‘Cocktail Power’, is presented as a zine with chapters such as Local Pride and Better Together, the latter made up of collabs with Jakarta businesses. Kweni and Rose is our Local Pride pick, a White Negroni riff built on kweni, a wild relative of the mango, and sealed with a lipstick kiss on the glass. From the collabs, try the Velvet Manhattan, created alongside the Jakarta fashion label 3Mongkis. It’s a bourbon Manhattan, with dry vermouth, vetiver and dragon fruit, topped with piña colada jelly ‘buttons’.
The same thinking carries into the food offerings too. Popular snacks include Duck Rendang Pockets and Beef Tongseng Croquette, and the ‘Indomie’ Goreng is a standout main – top it with grilled wagyu picanha if you’re feeling indulgent.
And the formula works. The bar climbed 23 places in a year to rank No.15 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026, and was also acknowledged at the 2026 Spirited Awards as a Top 10 nominee for Best International Hotel Bar.
You’re also sitting pretty on the 4th floor of the Grand Hyatt, overlooking Bundaran HI, the historic Hotel Indonesia roundabout at the city’s geographic and cultural heart. The space is all brass and marble, sophisticated without feeling too genteel. And it’s perfect for groups, with punch bowls for 15–20 people and decanter cocktails for eight, wheeled to the table on a guéridon.
This may be a hotel bar, but the nights play out like a soirée.
What: Tequila Cosmopolitans and local fruit, overlooking central Jakarta
Where: 4th Floor, Grand Hyatt Jakarta, Jl. M.H. Thamrin Kav. 28–30
When: Sun–Tue 5pm–1am, Wed–Sat 5pm–2am
How: Instagram | Facebook | Website
The Golden Tooth
In 2011, Kenny Soetomo watched the Japanese drama ‘Bartender’ and got hooked on the craft. He worked his way up in the Australian industry, from pouring beers to “shaking over 200 espresso martinis a night.” He won the 2014 Australian National Suntory Cocktail Connoisseur title. Now, he’s head bartender and co-founder of The Golden Tooth.
Kenny opened the bar in March 2023, inspired by ’90s hip hop and a firm belief in the value of ‘Cocktails & Chats.’ Today he runs it alongside co-founders Andra Satar and Tamish Aswani, and together they strive to create “cocktails worth ordering twice.”
The menu is defined by the people who drink here. The latest edition, ‘For the People, By the People Vol. 2: Pixel Perfect,’ launched in September 2026. The title works like a digital image: lots of small pieces make one picture, just as the regulars make up the bar.
The Golden Dozen section draws on 12 muses from the bar’s community. Dill Society, co-founder Tamish’s drink, is a 50/50 Martini with dill, bergamot, and olive brine, while Sunday Brew is another muse’s take on an espresso martini, with Buffalo Trace, banana bread, pecan praline, hot-brewed coffee, and vanilla foam.
From the Team features four bartender-made drinks, while All-Time Favorites goes back to the origins: eight of Kenny’s day-one bestsellers, like the Strawberry Gimlet and Kenny G’s Zombie.
Golden-hour light pours through a grand skylight onto leather stools at a marble bar, in a New York-style loft of bare concrete and open beams, while the records spin.
Over the last year, the team has trained on more than 100 classic cocktails – deep cuts included. Feel free to order them made the traditional way, or just ask for a recommendation.
They went from No.98 on the 2025 extended list to No.40 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026 (up 58 places in a year). It’s not just the regulars paying attention anymore.
What: Cocktails cast from the crowd, with deep-cut classics on request
Where: 3rd Floor, Jl. Adityawarman No.71, Melawai, Kebayoran Baru
When: Tue–Fri and Sun 5pm–12am, Sat 7pm–2am
How: Instagram
Between the Sips
“Cocktails are just our way of bringing people together – to share life, to celebrate.” These are the words of Anand Mulani, and on busy Jalan Suryo, in the thick of the Senopati bar scene, they stand out. Although this spot has been billed as a ‘laboratory of mixology’ since opening in early 2024, the point is conversation, not showing off.
An inverted hexagon bar keeps everyone facing each other, while the back bar, as 50 Best put it, looks more like a display cabinet of precious jewels. Bask in soft lighting while DJ sets keep the energy up without making conversation impossible.
The three-chapter menu is called ‘The Journey of Life’. Behind looks back to the flavors that started it all, Between stays in the moment, and Beyond goes richer and stronger.
On the light end, Behind’s High and Dry mixes fermented guava, arak salak (a Balinese spirit made from snakefruit), wild mint, and zero-waste lemon. Nano-Nano – from the Between chapter – is named after the Indonesian candy known for its chaotic sweet, sour, and salty flavor profile, and is built on a salted kiamboy gin distillate and carbonated fermented mango and pineapple. For something even bolder, go Beyond with Night in Mahameru, inspired by the climb up Java’s Mount Semeru. Peanut butter whisky distillate joins house coffee liqueur, toasted bread cordial, and almond cream for a rich, nutty finish.
The lab side is most evident in the methods, with distillates, ferments, and zero-waste citrus galore. If you’re hesitant about your order, the staff are happy to talk you through the menu and pour some free tasters.
Anand dreamed up the concept and invests in his team: “We even set aside a budget for education and growth.” That budget has a champion in Niko Idham Kholid, whose name is on every drink above: “I want to develop people – not only those who work here, but also within the wider industry.”
The reward? A No.73 debut on the 51–100 list of Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2026. And beneath all the complexity, Anand’s core values shine through – especially when the complimentary Indomie noodles come out late at night.
What: Three-chapter cocktails around a hexagon bar, with free tasters to start
Where: Jl. Suryo No.20, Kebayoran Baru
When: Daily 5pm–1am
How: Instagram
The St. Regis Bar Jakarta
Every bar at this esteemed global hotel chain follows the same New York template: a mural behind the bar and a house Bloody Mary. Jakarta’s version gives both a local twist, honoring the brand’s Manhattan roots while infusing Indonesian artistry and flavors.
Like its sister establishments worldwide, the bar models itself on the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis New York, where the Bloody Mary, first called the Red Snapper, is said to have been introduced to American high society in the 1930s. Here, you’re getting a Batavia Mary – a reference to the Dutch colonial-era name for the city – made with Hendrick’s Flora Adora gin, arak, the house spice mix, tomato, and lime. The mural you might be glancing at while sipping it shows traditional Indonesian puppet theater figures, known as wayang, playing modern instruments.
Paulo Naranjo, who made his name at The Ritz-Carlton hotels in Fukuoka and Singapore, has headed the bar since late 2024, now as Director of Bar and Beverage. Volume 3 of the menu, ‘The Roaring Twenties, Reimagined’, launched early this year and is inspired by 1920s New York. It is split into three parts, and in Paulo’s words, “Each cocktail is rooted in a specific jazz figure, venue, or song from that era.”
Paper Moon, named after the Ella Fitzgerald classic, reimagines a Paper Plane. Aberfeldy 12 and Aperol meet amaro and grapefruit in a bright, refreshing twist. Crime-Tender, a pun on crime and bartender, is an allusion to a teenage Al Capone, specifically his time as a bouncer and bartender at the Harvard Inn, a Coney Island dance hall. It’s Nikka Coffey gin, Aperol, strawberry and sparkling lemon-mint soda, topped with mint foam, and recalls how Prohibition bartenders softened rough gin with lemon and mint.
The decor and music double down on the theme; just take a look up at the trumpet-shaped chandelier by renowned Czech glassmaker Lasvit that hangs over the bar. Live jazz starts at 8pm most nights, courtesy of house group The Rapture Band.
And the St. Regis rituals are honored. ‘The Violet Hour’ means martinis as the light outside fades, and ‘The Art of Sabrage’ refers to the opening of champagne with a saber. Oh, and there’s a cigar list too if that’s your vibe.
In 2025, the bar rose from No.88 to No.22 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars, proving this NY blueprint can hold its own as far afield as Jakarta.
What: Jazz Age cocktails and a Batavia Mary, with a live band most nights
Where: 1st Floor, The St. Regis Jakarta, Rajawali Place, Jl. HR Rasuna Said Kav. B/4, Setiabudi
When: Sun–Thu 5:30pm–1am, Fri–Sat 5:30pm–2am
How: Instagram |Facebook | Website
Pantja
Pantja means five in Sanskrit, and that number runs through everything here. There are five pillars – food, drinks, music, hospitality and design – which co-founder Kabir Suharan calls “working principles that we live by every day”. The drinks were built around punch and its five parts. Even the word ‘punch’ is thought to share a root with the bar’s name.
Classic cocktails define the menu, especially the historical and more obscure ones. Forgotten recipes are Kabir’s specialty. Today, he leads the bar alongside head bartender Fabri Dumellio. Some of their creations include the Curry Leaf Daisy, a spicy riff on the margarita’s forerunner, which blends tequila, curry leaf, chili liqueur, agave, lime, habanero, and togarashi. On the flip side, the Sakura Stone Sour sees gin, sakura vermouth, hojicha, pomelo, lemon, and egg white, finished with a touch of sesame oil.
Co-founder Rapha Menchaca oversees the culinary decisions. The current food menu is split into Farm, Grain, and Fire. Options include Spaghetti Nero with Argentinian prawns and karasumi, Picanha cut from Stone Axe wagyu, and Potato Domino with raclette.
And this is an all-day affair. Drop in anytime after 11am for Japanese donburi and bento at lunch, or save the trip for the weekend to enjoy brunch featuring kaya toast, huevos rancheros, and more.
Day or night, you’ll find tall brick arches, dark timber, touches of gold, and a long main bar.
There’s legacy here, too. Pantja opened in October 2019 and marked its seventh anniversary last month. It was on Asia’s 50 Best Bars in 2023, 2024 and 2025 – No.27 in 2024 was its high point. Seven years on, those five pillars still hold.
What: Classic cocktails and fire-cooked food under brick arches, from lunch till late
Where: Jl. Senopati No.37, Kebayoran Baru
When: Sun–Thu 11am–12am, Fri–Sat 11am–1am
How: Instagram | Facebook | Website
The Cocktail Club
Originally built and run by bartenders from the Union Group, the bar marked its fifth anniversary late last month with the original crew reuniting behind the bar. Founder Kiki Moka now serves as the group’s head mixologist.
‘A Guide to Good Drinking’ was the menu that helped establish the bar, winning the Best Cocktail Menu award at Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2023. Every drink was charted from mild to strong and sweet to bitter, with hand-drawn sketches, and each bartender had a section referencing song lyrics personal to them.
Today’s picks include Papa Truffo, which brings together rum, Laphroaig 10, amaro, Cynar, truffle-washed vermouth, and black truffle. The Surf & Turf Martini combines distillates of beef seasoning and lobster bisque with Cinzano Bianco and a spray of absinthe. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, the classics always remain available on request.
Entry comes via the stairs from Pierre, the French bistro downstairs. Once inside, prepare to soak up the Art Deco style: padded leather armchairs, stained-glass windows, and green billiard-style lamps looming over a curved bar.
A No.12 landing on Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2024 made it Indonesia’s highest-ranked bar that year, and in October, the crew who got it there deservedly toasted five years of success.
What: Bartender-built cocktails in Art Deco surroundings
Where: Jl. Senopati No.39, Kebayoran Baru
When: Mon–Sat 5pm–1am
How: Instagram | Website
Koda
In music, a coda closes a piece, and founder Yutaka Nakashima envisioned Koda as the perfect spot to unwind after a Jakarta workday.
Accordingly, it’s in the business district’s Sudirman 7.8 tower, right where the office crowd clocks off. Yutaka made his name in Singapore, including setting up the bar at KUVO, before moving to Jakarta to helm the Ginza-style D.Classic, then opening Koda in January 2020.
Many places like to lean on the term bespoke. Here, it really hits. Expect five base questions: spirit, taste, flavor, strength, and style. Then let them work their magic.
On the house list, highlights include the Jamu Mule. Vodka is infused with jamu, Indonesia’s traditional herbal tonic, and topped with lime and ginger beer. The Nangka Old Fashioned takes American whiskey, infuses it with jackfruit, and adds apricot liqueur, lemon, and maple.
Everything unfolds in a wood-clad bar defined by red banquettes, leather loveseats, and subtle lighting befitting the concept. Food options include a pizza selection, smoked duck in port wine sauce, and a more conventional charcuterie plate.
As the name suggests, come for your nightcap and enjoy a highly personalized experience.
What: Cocktails built to your taste, behind unmarked doors in the business district
Where: Sudirman 7.8, Jl. Jenderal Sudirman Kav. 7–8
When: Sun–Thu 5pm–12am, Fri–Sat 5pm–2am
How: Instagram
