There are many reasons to visit Hong Kong, and one of the best event of the year is the Hong Kong Wine And Dine Festival, highlighting the best of eats and drinks from restaurants and bars across the city. In conjunction with the Hong Kong Wine And Dine Festival 2021, we speak to Agung Prabowo, owner of world renown Penicillin Bar about winning Most Sustainable Bar at the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2021.
Congratulations on Penicillin Bar winning the Most Sustainable Bar at the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2021. Can you tell us what this means to you?
After pouring our hearts into this project, we are extremely grateful and humbled to receive such a meaningful recognition by our peers,” say co-founders Agung Prabowo and Roman Ghale. “We hope PENICILLIN will inspire more people and businesses to take steps to become more eco-conscious and do more for our future generations to come.
We are constantly striving to innovate the ways in which we can reduce our carbon footprint and reach zero waste in our daily operations. It’s challenging, it takes patience, and it definitely takes a TEAM to do the job! From all of us at Penicillin, we thank 50 Best Bars for recognising our efforts in this.
Can you tell us a bit about Penicillin Bar and its philosophy?
Inspired by the farm-to-table movement taking the culinary world by storm, PENICILLIN is Hong Kong’s first sustainable bar that champions a closed-loop model of production. Named after the breakthrough group of antibiotics that heralded an age of medical revolution, PENICILLIN bar similarly brings a revolutionary take on sustainability in today’s waste-heavy world of cocktail & foods creation. The bar’s prized feature, THE PENICILLIN LAB illustrates the behind-the-scenes processes of discovery and experimentation on its path towards minimal-waste. PENICILLIN bar is founded by bar veterans Agung Prabowo and Roman Ghale (previously The Old Man), Laura Prabowo and Katy Ghale, bringing the first minimal-waste cocktail list to its historic location on Hollywood Road. With a focus on either locally sourced or up-cycled food and drink ingredients, PENICILLIN’s bar menu finds innovation in the true flavours of Hong Kong – while working constantly to minimise waste and carbon footprint.
When people come to Penicillin, we want to give them a message that they can become ambassadors for sustainability, so that they can start it in their daily lives – not just follow a trend.
What does a ‘close-loop’ bar mean?
Closed-loop model of production of bar means creating low-waste cocktails using upcycled, locally sourced ingredients.
Can you tell us a bit about the conservation efforts that the bar has done?
- Potato peels are upcycled into bar snacks.
- Excess pieces of bread and cheese are infused into new spirits.
- Waste alcohol and lemon peels are transformed into soaps and hand sanitizers.
- The bar team makes use of materials such as leftover ingredients to the fermentation process (vegetable herbs, seeds, coffee grounds) for organic wines/fermented.
- Paper packages from suppliers, paper dockets from bar & kitchen and mixed with leftover ingredients from the kitchen & bar to create recycled bottle labels & coasters featuring hand-written descriptions of each cocktail.
- Sourcing wood from the fallen debris of typhoon to make table.
- Featuring Hong Kong’s heritage sustainability: collecting the neon light/neon sign from the local shops that has been closed into our lighting design.
- Collabs & Collecting waste from others bars/coffee shops/restaurants and upcycled them into new products and for our cocktail ingredients. Such as: avocado pits for replacing ice cube; oysters shells to make oyster whisky; discarded coffee grounds and fermenting the for coffee kombucha or coffee wine; discarded bone infused in gin for our martini cocktail (Cradle to Cradle); discarded eggshell into savoury soda water; discarded papaya seeds & strawberry into leather garnish; leftover basmati rice from neighbour Indian Restaurant infused with whisky.
Do you mind sharing a cocktail recipe from Penicillin Bar?
One Penicillin, One Tree (HK$110) features ingredients of white chocolate Mackintosh ecoSpirit whisky, strawberry brine water, coconut kefir, and avocado stone provided from local Spanish eatery, Tanqueria Super Macho.
The special cocktail is served in a clay cup with attention paid to the final detail, including avocado burst spray finishes inside the cup, garnishes of papaya seeds and strawberry leather, and frozen avocado ice cubes.
It is a climate positive cocktail that would make Sir David Attenborough proud. One native tree is planted in the endangered Kalimantan rainforest area in Borneo, Indonesia for each serve.
Can you name us 3 cocktails you would suggest having at your bar?
- This Changes Everything (HK$100): basmati rice cooked whiskies, spent coffee amaro, copper soldered mescal, beet.
- The Upcycled (HK$100): sous-vide corn tequila, mushroom, lacto-peach liqueur, upcycled grapefruit cava.
- We Are the Weather (HK$100): fermented pear kefir rum, resurrected lime, banana-rye & oat aleom black salt.
What advice do you have to the bar industry in this time of difficulty?
Sustainability has become a key driver for profitable growth, with most F&B industry stakeholders aware of the continuing tide change towards sustainable products and practices. However, most remain unaware of the motivations, values and preferences underpinning the trend. We are hoping ingredients with sustainable and ethical supply chains will become more popular as consumers take a greater interest in products’ full life cycles.
Can you tell us a bit about your other project Dead&?
The “180-degree opposite side of Penicillin”, Dead& is a dive bar that focuses on high-volume drinks, cocktails on tap and even canned beers available from a vending machine. However, it is through the collaboration between the two venues that Penicillin is getting closer to closing the production loop and reducing their waste to near-zero.
What roles does the Hong Kong Wine and Dine Festival play for the the drinks industry in Hong Kong?
The Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival has long been the city’s annual gastronomic extravaganza. This year, the festival is riding high on the city’s recovery, with an exciting month-long celebration in November that includes digital events as well as physical itineraries. This festival will serve as a bold reminder for foodies around the world that Hong Kong will continue to be at the top of the list of dining destinations in the post-COVID era.
Penicillin Bar
Amber Lodge, L/G,
23 Hollywood Rd,
Central,
Hong Kong
+852 9880 7995
Opening Hours:
Monday to Fridays, 4.00 pm to 2.00 am
Saturdays, 12.00 pm to 2.00 am
Sundays, 12.00 pm to 12.00 am
| PHOTOGRAPHY: DISCOVER HONG KONG | WEBSITE: PENICILIN BAR |