http://www.phillymag.com/foobooz/2015/03/08/mystery-le-hop-sing-laundromat/
This profile of American speakeasy phenomenon Hop Sing Laundromat alights on what seems to be they key ingredient for a great cocktail bar, the quest for perfection:
After one night of pouring drinks down the necks of the press, Lê closed Hop Sing. He wouldn’t open it again for three months.
“Wanted to fine-tune,” he says to me. To tinker and learn from the experience of his first night in order to make the next one better.
The bartenders we recently visited in Tokyo exhibit the same quality. But where Hop Sing’s quirky rules and general mystery by now seem to be there in service to publicity, those Japanese bartenders generally appear to be only motivated by the desire to make a better drink and a better experience. Some even go as far as moving to a smaller place when they feel they can’t keep up the level of service they want to deliver. Interesting contrast.