Op-ed: What It Feels Like to Fall Off the World’s 50 Best Bars List
Approx 4 minute read.
It was 2am, and an extremely sweaty night. About ten of us were squeezed around a table at the only Korean BBQ spot we knew would be open at such a ridiculous hour. In the frantic cyclone of K-Pop, mezcal and Bulgogi, we'd managed to procure a chef's stand from the kitchen to hold someone's laptop for the livestream. With no more than 2 minutes to spare (tethered to someone's almost-dead iPhone 11, remember those?), the ceremony started rolling and the stream began. We had no idea what to expect, but all of a sudden crouched around the laptop screen, it started to feel palm-sweatingly real.
When we found out we’d been nominated for the first time in the World's Top 50 Bars 2020, we thought it was insane. Although we’d soon find out we would land there twice more in the coming years, it’s the same madness.
This tiny, 20-person mezcal bar we’d made out of the wood from a single tree in Broken Hill, now lived in a car park garage that stored someone’s Porsche no less than a year ago. And now it's being recognised on the world stage! It’s a 'pinch yourself three, maybe four times, just to make sure the last few worked' kind of moment. We knew Cantina OK! had become something special, and the team’s amazing hospitality resonated with people just as much as it did with us. That has always brought us joy beyond belief.
As the countdown rattled through #50 to #40, not one of us could stomach the food. The nerves were unreal. Like that bare-knuckle grip on the edge of your seat when the pilot decides to treat themself with a little turbulence when they're feeling jazzy. The countdown between #40 to #30 absolutely flew by in total slow motion, we’d started looking at each other in puzzlement - did they forget us?
Hearing Cantina OK! announced next to #28 for the first time was about as pleasant as disbelief could ever be. Imagine being hit with a taser, but the taser is full of dopamine, Korean BBQ and lager. Elation in its purest forms erupted across the grill; tears, joy, hugs, all of the above, you name it. That moment felt like it lasted forever for us.
Not long after that, we were in an Uber convoy direct to Maybe Sammy. The Maybe crew had just landed in at a meteoric #11 on the list and the energy in Sydney that evening was HUGE. We joined them at the bar to celebrate the unbelievable events until daylight began knocking on the front door. It was a night we’ll never forget.
Fast forward 5 years later to last week, where our very own Jordy & Jax were able to attend the World 50 Best Ceremony in Hong Kong for the first time to fly the Cantina OK! flag straight after their guest shift at Bourke’s. The boys got to witness our good mates Caretaker's Cottage take out the #19 spot this year - an incredible achievement for an absolutely wonderful bar. And not to forget Maybe Sammy, continuing their incredible 6 year run, landing in the Top 50 again!
While Cantina OK! sadly didn’t make it on the long list this year, there’s a candid side to the highs and lows rarely ever talked about. In 2021 when Cantina was anointed the #23 spot, we were enchanted by the vision of a future where our ranking continuously grew smaller, and the smiles grew larger.
When 2022 rolled around, we’d all met at the office before the crack of dawn to blast the 50 Best livestream on the big screen together. The familiar nerves, the familiar what-ifs, not a single dry palm in the house. "And at Number 41...Cantina OK!". We all looked at each other, somewhat confused, somewhat unsure of how to react as a group. We’d held our breath for so long that we’d almost convinced ourselves - if we didn’t outrank last year's result, we had somehow ‘lost’.
Swept up in the familiar cyclone at the cutting edge, ‘better, better, better!’ softly blinded us to how incredible the achievement really was. The moment passed, reality returned, and we'd collectively realised ‘holy shit, #41 in the entire world’.
In 2023 we’d dropped out of the Top 100 List. It hurt, we won’t lie. We loved this bar. It was full of amazing people - so why didn’t the world anymore? A dramatic, but manufactured scenario we were each pretending not to pontificate quietly to ourselves. Questions lead to doubt, doubt lead to a search for answers, but the answers have always been there.
Making Sydney and the world a more fun, joyful place has always been why we do this. Bars are for people, and people are the soul of our nightlife. To be recognised by the world for that joy and culture we create is an amazing feeling we’re privileged to share - but to see the joy flowing in and out of each MUCHO venue every night is the real fun of it all.
We're hopeful the familiar nerves will return to count down yet another 50-1 ranking in the near future, but we’re equally stoked to see other great venues receiving the credit they deserve. A huge congratulations again to our friends Caretaker’s Cottage, Maybe Sammy and Byrdi for stamping this year’s list. If you haven’t experienced their hospitality before, you are in for nothing short of a treat!
With Love,
The MUCHO Team
