Jay Khan, the owner of Coa, which was named Asia’s 50 Best Bar in 2021 and 2022, has just opened The Savory Project. With a goal of preaching the gospel of agave to the public while also doing good, he co-founded Mezcal Mission, which raises money for charity
Jay Khan is the brains behind Coa: the agave-focused bar, which offers tequila and mezcal cocktails, was named top of Asia’s 50 Best Bars in 2021 and 2022—not bad for a bar known for such a niche interest.
“Niche” is a word that Khan says quite a bit when describing his concepts, which now includes The Savory Project, which opened in May and has a menu of cocktails that may be initially confusing. “There’s a drink called Thai Beef Salad—so it sounds like food, but it’s actually a drink.” It consists of ingredients typically found in the dish: peanuts, bird’s eye chili, kaffir lime and coconut. “Imagine you’re in Thailand, actually eating it.”
The Savory Project offers creations that are “the opposite of fruity—something nice and complex”. “But as bartenders, it’s our job to make sure that we know what the guest requires. I think it’s time that there’s a bar that does something different—something that [offers drinks that are] completely savoury.”
Khan, who made his start in hospitality bartending at a karaoke club in Hong Kong in the mid-2000s, bought cocktail books to learn the craft. After spending a year in Melbourne to learn more about mixology in 2009, he moved back to Hong Kong just in time to work his way up through the city’s nascent cocktail bar scene. Finding an affinity with agave spirits, he took trips to Mexico to drink in the knowledge—literally and figuratively. In 2017, he opened Coa, which has seen a meteoric rise: it debuted on Asia’s 50 Best Bars as the list’s highest new entry in 2019 (at number 12), and was its highest climber the following year, when it took the number three spot. And then, of course, there are the back-to-back wins in 2021 and 2022.
He has also decided to use his bar’s growing lustre to do some good. In 2020, with fellow mezcal enthusiast Andrew Davis, he established Mezcal Mission, a non-profit that runs workshops designed to educate the public on tequila and mezcal. Over 40 workshops have been held to date, and profits go to their two local charity partners: Impact Hong Kong and Feeding Hong Kong.
The importance of preparation and timing has been at the forefront for Khan, who opened a second location for Coa in Shanghai in 2022 before launching The Savory Project this year. “We don't want to do things just for the sake of doing it or because there's hype for it,” he says. “We want to make sure everything is perfect before we show it to our guests.”