Tel Aviv cocktail bar named best in Mideast and Africa

Tel Aviv’s Imperial Craft cocktail bar was awarded the Best Bar in the Middle East & Africa Award for 2017 by the World’s 50 Best Bars media group during an event in London’s historic Southwark Cathedral on Thursday.

Aside from receiving the award, sponsored by Asahi, Imperial Craft also placed 50th in the group’s list of the world’s top bars. Two years ago, it came in 17th on the list. Imperial Craft previously won the Best Bar in the Middle East & Africa Award in 2014.

Imperial Craft, located within the Imperial Hotel on HaYarkon street, offers Asian colonial-style dishes alongside intriguing and inventive cocktails, such as the Bullet to the Head — “a heady mix of Woodford Reserve and St-Germain, beet and chipotle syrup, lemon and egg white,” according to the World’s 50 Best Bars website. The bar is owned by Bar Shira, Dror Alterovich and Gilad Livnat, who are involved with three other restaurants in the city as well.

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The World’s 50 Best Bars provides an annual ranking of bars as voted for by more than 500 drinks experts from across the globe. according to the group’s website. The list represents the ultimate international guide to the world’s top bars and drinking destinations.

This year’s list was topped by two London-based joints, the American Bar and the Dandelyan, followed by the Nomad, in New York City.