Hong Kong’s Penicillin -- #24 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars, if bar rankings are your compass -- has opened in Shanghai. This is not the place for a polite gin and tonic. Drinks skew experimental: fermented rice water, grilled red cabbage soda, rotovap shell vodka, liquids that sound like a food science elective. Menus break down into fermented cocktails (88rmb), mocktails (75rmb), and a 15-drink cocktail list (90rmb), including Shanghai-only pours. Interiors land somewhere between greenhouse and high-design lab: glass tables with succulents, a tree rooted in the entryway, and a bar top that’s either chilled or warm depending on the month. There’s a VIP room with no minimum spend. “Everyone is VIP,” say founders Agung Prabowo and Laura, originally from Indonesia. Sustainability is important to them: there are no coasters, ingredients get reused or repurposed when possible, and they say every drink funds a tree planted in Indonesia.