Hop Sing Laundromat

Fifteen years in, Hop Sing Laundromat remains the bar against which every Philadelphia speakeasy is measured — and most fall short. The steel door at 1029 Race Street has no signage, no website, and a door policy that has generated more stories than most bars' entire cocktail lists. Inside, proprietor Lê operates a cash-only room where the rules are absolute, the cocktails are impeccable, and the atmosphere is unlike anything else in the city. The programme draws on classical technique with Southeast Asian inflections, and the drink-making is executed with a level of theatre that few bars attempt and even fewer achieve. Reservations are handled via Instagram DM, which is about as much of a concession to modernity as Hop Sing is likely to make. A Philadelphia institution that changed the city's cocktail culture and refuses to stop being relevant.