New York bar “Double Chicken Please” became the 6th best in the world

NEW YORK — French toast, Waldorf salad, biscuit with raisins. This might sound like the beginning of a breakfast menu, but in New York Double chicken pleaseit’s actually a cocktail list.

“In the beginning, we turned food into a drink just because we love to eat,” explains co-founder and general manager Fei Chen with a laugh. Her current favorite is the Cold Pizza, a tequila cocktail infused with burnt toast and cheese, basil cheese, fresh tomato water, a lime wedge and egg white.

Such unexpected drinks became a distinctive feature of the bar, which captured the whole world. Last year it got attention 50 best bars in the worldannual list, which placed Double Chicken Please at number 6, bringing it to the forefront of the international cocktail bar scene.

“I think before we opened this place, we definitely thought about it. Like, okay, someday we want to be in the top 50 in the world, but once we actually got it, it really blew my mind,” Chen says.

When Double Chicken Please opened in 2020, it was a long time coming. Chen and her co-founder, GN Chan, have dreamed of opening their own bar for years, and have already had time to test drive it, driving around the country in a 1977 Volkswagen van converted into a mobile bar.

When they found a permanent location on Allen St. on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the duo set to work creating the perfect chic setting to complement their cocktail menu. They took an unconventional approach, settling on a double concept that divided the bar into two rooms. The front room serves a series of cocktails on tap, dubbed Taptails, while the back room offers a more intimate handcrafted cocktail experience.

The rapid success of Double Chicken Please is due in large part to the talent and dedication of Chen, Chan and the team they have assembled around them. According to Chen, her team is what keeps her motivated every day.

“In the beginning, of course, we were young and we had ambitions. We wanted to achieve something,” Chen explains. “But now, Double Chicken Please is not just me and GN’s dream; this is the dream of our whole team. So I think that’s one of the reasons that keeps me doing what I do every day. It is also part of their dream, part of their future.”