NY bartender wins top title in World’s 50 Best Bars

GN Chan, co-founder of Double Chicken Please in New York, has been named the winner of Altos Bartenders’ Bartender Award 2023. 

This award is voted for by the bartenders on this year’s list of The World’s 50 Best Bars, who nominate one of their peers who pushes the limits of what it means to be a great bartender.

The award goes to a personality who made a significant impact in the global bar sector over the voting period and recognises their commitment to the international community in that time.

An industrial designer by training and a former street magician, GN Chan embarked on his bartending journey by complete accident with no prior experience or knowledge. Soon after falling in love with mixology, he left his native Taiwan for New York on a mission to master his craft, honing his skills and winning numerous accolades.

GN Chan of Double Chicken Please

GN and his business partner Faye Chen established Double Chicken Please on New York’s Lower East Side in 2020.

The dual-concepts bar consists of the ‘Front Room’, a no-reservations space that is casual and fast-paced, offering enticing Taiwanese-influenced fried chicken sandwiches and a list of seasonal creative ‘Taptails’, while ‘The Coop’ is a wood-panelled and moody space with a lively, complex menu that playfully reimagines cocktails and dishes.

In just a few short years, Double Chicken Please has achieved international acclaim thanks to Chan, Chen and the team’s achievements. In 2022, it stormed into the list of The World’s 50 Best Bars at No.6, winning the Disaronno Highest New Entry Award, before being named The Best Bar in North America at this year’s edition of North America’s 50 Best Bars.

The list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023 will be announced 17 October in Singapore.