Tales Spirited Awards 2026: Best International Bar Teams in Middle East & Africa

Ranked #40 on the World's 50 Best Bars list in both 2023 and 2024 and #64 on Top 500 Bars in 2025, Mimi Kakushi operates inside the Four Seasons Resort Jumeirah as one of Dubai's most credentialed Japanese-inspired bar concepts. Its "orient nouvelle" framework draws on 1920s Osaka cultural history, delivering cocktails of genuine conceptual depth alongside award-winning food in a setting that rewards repeat visits.

Ranked #387 in the 2025 Top 500 Bars list, Front/Back is Accra's most internationally recognised cocktail bar and one of a small number of African venues to appear on that circuit. Located on First Osu Lane in the city's most active hospitality strip, it signals a broader shift in Ghana's bar culture toward technique-led programming and sustained global attention.

Birch Restaurant sits within The Ritz-Carlton's Limestone House in DIFC, operating at the intersection of a serious wine programme and considered food pairing. A 2026 Star Wine List award signals where the kitchen's priorities lie: the glass and the plate are treated as equal partners. For Dubai's wine-forward dining segment, it occupies a specific and relatively uncrowded position.

Sin + Tax has appeared on the World's 50 Best Bars list in both 2023 and 2024, and ranks #195 on the Top 500 Bars global index for 2025, placing it firmly among Johannesburg's most recognised drinking destinations. Located at the corner of Bolton and Jan Smuts Avenue, the bar draws a crowd that takes its drinks seriously without taking itself too seriously. The food programme runs alongside the cocktail list with enough intention to make the pairing worth your attention.

On the eleventh floor of DIFC's Innovation One tower, Sexy Fish brings the London original's formula of Japanese-inspired food and drink, Damien Hirst artworks, and Murano glass installations to Dubai's financial district. It operates at the intersection of serious cocktail programming and occasion dining, drawing a crowd that expects spectacle and consistency in equal measure. DIFC's density of high-end venues makes this a natural anchor for a longer evening in the district.

LPM Dubai occupies a prominent position inside DIFC's Gate Village, ranking #60 on the World's 50 Best Bars list for 2025 and holding consecutive Star Wine List recognition. The room draws a crowd that comes as much for the wine program and service coordination as for the food, placing it among the most closely watched dining-bar addresses in the Gulf.

Ranked #353 in the Top 500 Bars for 2025, Fable operates from the corner of Bree and Wale Streets in Cape Town's City Centre, where the neighbourhood's bar scene has matured into one of South Africa's most closely watched. The ranking places it in a specific tier of the global cocktail conversation, signalling a program serious enough to attract international attention without the volume of a destination venue.

Ranked #199 in the Top 500 Bars (2025), Salmon Guru Dubai occupies a surrealist corner of Business Bay's Opus building, where technical cocktail craft meets theatrical design. The Madrid original built a reputation on precise, playful drinking formats, and the Dubai outpost operates in that same register. Reservations are advisable for weekend visits to this architecturally dramatic bar.