All Mixed Up: Lorenzo Coppola, Aqua Restaurant Group Bars Creative Director

With Italian Week Hong Kong 2023 upon, we want to highlight the city's top Italian F&B talent in our All Mixed Up series.

Celebrating Italy’s great drinking and food culture, we're excited to sit down and chat with Lorenzo Coppola, Bars Creative Director for Aqua Restaurant Group in Hong Kong and Asia. Lorenzo is passionate about creating experiences in Aqua’s conceptual bars, delivering flavours sought out in the city.

Join Lorenzo in his interview to explore his journey with the restaurant group and why he embraces Italian drinking culture in his work to create spectacular cocktails.

What attracted you to join the industry to create great cocktails?

It’s a wonderful industry because you get to be creative, you get to meet all kinds of people from different backgrounds, and you get to entertain and delight them.

Creating great cocktails is incredibly satisfying but it’s really more of a means to end, which is to help people feel special and have a good time.

How do you bring your Italian ancestry and charm to Aqua Restaurant Group delivering fine service and quality in drinks?

Where I come from in Livorno, in the centre of Italy, we are all so passionate about food and drink and we naturally bring that passion and desire when we share what we do. I think service comes naturally for us as Italians because we are used to serving our family members and entertaining them as we would with any restaurant and bar guest.

Drinks wise, my motto is ‘less is more,’ because much like with Italian dishes, the focus is on quality of the ingredients and letting the natural flavours shine through. I have put my heart and soul into our new Vista drink menu.

I challenged myself to make a drink like 0 Watermelon Martini, which sustainably uses every single part of the fruit. There is also WTF – a tasty and fun frappe crafted with wild turkey bourbon, citrus, spiced pineapple and popcorn cream that will blow your mind.

With the opening of Vista Bar in Tsim Sha Tsui, what can guests expect from their experience?

Vista Bar is an exciting collaboration with Campari – the first of its kind ever in Hong Kong. As you might expect, the colour red is prominent, in the design and with our Italian-inspired cocktails where we’ve developed an Eight Shades of Red menu.

Like the venue, our cocktails are elegant, sexy and fun. You can also expect red hot DJ nights, [where you can go] to dance the night away in style with the stunning harbour view as the ultimate backdrop.

What is next for Aqua Restaurant Group in 2023 in the drinks space in Hong Kong and Asia?

Vista Bar is just the start. We’re working on a great new cocktail menu for The Dispensary in Tai Kwun. We have The Ritual at aqua which just keeps getting bigger and better after-brunch every Saturday with drinks, and DJ’s on aqua’s stunning outdoor terrace.

We have some great international guests shifts lined up at Hutong on the Moon Terrace. It’s going to be an amazing year.

What is your advice for Italians looking to come to Hong Kong to enter the industry?

If anyone is looking for a new adventure, I would advise for them not to think too much and just jump. Hong Kong is an amazing city with infinite opportunities.

The drinks industry is huge and is constantly evolving. The standards are also high which allows you to really push and challenge yourself every day.