Ralph's Bar

Ralph's Bar could easily have been a brand showroom with drinks attached, and it is not. The room feels like a members' club transplanted from New York: warm timber, leather banquettes, polo references, and a bar team that treats American whiskey as the main event rather than a garnish. Hope & Sesame's hand shows in the structure of the list, organised around Western landscapes with infusions and bitters that land cleanly rather than as novelty. For a city better known for teahouses and hotpot, this is a quietly cosmopolitan corner where you can drink seriously without dressing up for a speakeasy hunt.

The address sits on the third floor of Ralph Lauren House in Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li, reached by a vintage wood-and-metal staircase lined with brand artwork. Inside, dark panelling, brass fixtures, and polo saddles and helmets set a rustic-refined mood that reads American rather than Chengdu local. Counter seats face a deep back bar stacked with bourbon and rye; banquettes and a terrace suit longer rounds. The room runs from lunch through late night, so early visits are quieter and evenings bring Taikoo Li's shopping crowd upstairs for nightcaps. Service is polished hotel-standard, and the team switches easily between English and Mandarin.

The current programme, developed with Hope & Sesame, is organised around American West landscapes. Start with The Canyon, cardamom-infused Michter's bourbon layered with tawny port, Campari, and Mr Black coffee liqueur for a richly bittersweet profile. Frontier Oak takes the same bourbon base earthy with sandalwood, bay leaf, and black walnut. Whispering Pine makes the case for brandy with Torres 10-year, pine, honey, raspberry, and cherry bitters. For rye lovers, Ol' Pal pairs Michter's rye with Suze, Aperol, and dry vermouth brightened by orange and fig. The RL67 and Pomaro round out the originals, and a deep whiskey shelf plus a classics section reward slow exploration.

Ralph's Bar is at Taikooli 2224b 3/F, No. 8 Sha Mao St in Jinjiang District, on the third floor above the Ralph Lauren flagship in Taikoo Li Chengdu. It opens daily from 11:00 to 02:00. Reserve through the Ralph Lauren WeChat mini-program or call +86 28 87397237, especially on weekend evenings when Taikoo Li fills up. Budget about ¥120 per cocktail. Chunxi Road metro station on Lines 2 and 3 connects directly to the mall; follow signs for Taikoo Li from Exit C. Arrive before 21:00 if you want a counter seat without a wait.

When Ralph Lauren opened its first Asia-Pacific bar in June 2022, the drinks programme went to Hope & Sesame, the Guangzhou team that would later top Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2026. The collaboration keeps Ralph Lauren's Americana frame while applying the Hope Group's rigour to infusions, bitters balance, and menu architecture. Cardamom bourbon in The Canyon and sandalwood accents in Frontier Oak show that discipline without importing Guangzhou's Cantonese pantry flavours wholesale. The back bar also carries some of the rarest American bourbon and rye bottles in China, so neat pours and highballs sit alongside the signature list.

Ralph's Bar entered our 2026 Asia ranking as a new entry at No.29, the first bar from Chengdu ever to make the list. The jury cited its clubby sense of place, the Hope & Sesame drinks programme, and a whiskey depth that rewards slow exploration in a city with few internationally recognised cocktail rooms. It opened in June 2022 as the first Ralph's Bar in the Asia-Pacific region, following sibling rooms in New York, Paris, Chicago, and Milan. For mainland China, the 2026 list placed seven bars in the top 50, with Hope & Sesame at No.2 and Ralph's Bar marking Chengdu's arrival on the map.