Aki Wang

The Climb

Bartending began at Wonder Bar, where Aki Wang took his first steps behind the counter and built the habits that would shape the rest of his career: timing, consistency, and care under pressure. The shift from coffee bar to cocktail bar established a practical standard for the work, one grounded in service rather than display. Since 2001, Aki has been founder of Indulge Life Hospitality Group, a role that reflects not just scale, but a long-term commitment to building a structure around the bar. That structure took a more public form in 2009, when he became bartender, owner and head bartender of Indulge Experimental Bistro. The venue became the main platform for his work, and the title maps a full range of responsibility: service, ownership, and direction all held in one place. In 2015, Aki also founded International Bartender’s Week Taiwan (BWT), extending that practice into an industry-facing platform.

Today

At Indulge Experimental Bistro in Taipei, the bar is defined by Chinese cocktails, with Wang’s role as owner and head bartender giving the house style a fixed identity. The work here is not about chasing novelty on volume; it is about building drinks and service around a recognizable framework. In that sense, his position is operational as much as creative: the daily job of setting standards, holding line, and making the bar legible to its guests. That same framework carries into BWT, where he has described the core spirit as "Education, Hospitality and Sustainability." The phrase sets out the priorities of the platform plainly, with the emphasis on knowledge, service, and responsibility. It also matches the shape of his career: an early start in support work, the founding of a hospitality group, and the creation of an industry platform built to speak beyond one room.

Signature

Aki's signature dishes include Savor of Wild Forage and Tung Ting. The two names point to a kitchen style that favors restraint, texture, and a clear sense of place, sitting in step with the Chinese cocktail direction at Indulge Experimental Bistro. Taken together, they read as part of the same language: composed, specific, and grounded in character rather than excess.

In Their Words “The core spirit of BWT is about Education, Hospitality and Sustainability.”

Recognition

Aki's honors include Heering Legend of the List (2020) and International Belvedere Cocktail Competition winner (2007). The two awards mark separate points in a career that moved from early necessity into sustained recognition, with the work at the bar carrying through from the first shifts at 16 to the distinctions that followed.