World's 50 Best Bars
Mia Johansson
- Discipline
- World's 50 Best Bars
Portrait of Mia Johansson
i. Biography
Mia Johansson has built her reputation behind the bar on close control of flavour: whisky pushed toward smoke and restraint, a Negroni held in balance, aquavit kept cool and herbal. At Swift in London, where she is now co-owner, that approach reads as drinks that are composed without feeling schematic. Even her answer to the question of what she would drink points to the same working method: specific, practical, and tuned to taste.
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Hospitality work at Al Dente in Oslo, starting in 2008, gave Mia Johansson a first grounding in service: the pace of a room, the repetition of shifts, and the discipline of looking after guests day after day. In 2010, she moved to bar staff at Mark’s Bar at HIX in Soho, London, taking that base into a different city and a different rhythm of work. Those early roles formed a useful foundation — not just for mixing drinks, but for reading atmosphere, timing service, and keeping a room steady.
The move from hospitality worker to bar staff to co-owner maps a career built step by step. At each stage, Mia Johansson added another layer of judgement to what a bar can do, and how it should make people feel.
Where They Are Now
At Swift in London, Mia Johansson works as co-owner, a role that places her at the point where drink list, service, and house identity meet. The venue sits within the city’s drinking conversation, and her contribution is in shaping drinks that carry both polish and a clear point of view.
In Their Words “They were without a doubt the first people to show me what true hospitality was. They taught me about the importance of kindness and good banter.” For a bar trade audience, the value in that line is plain: hospitality is not only the drink or the procedure, but the tone of the room. Kindness and good banter are part of service work, and in Mia Johansson’s telling they sit alongside the technical side of the job rather than below it.
That is a useful distinction, especially in a profession where atmosphere is built one exchange at a time. “I’d go for a Pisco Punch, but made with honeydew melon instead of pineapple, because I’m allergic to pineapple.” The answer keeps the classic reference and then adjusts it with a simple, personal substitution. Honeydew melon in place of pineapple is not a flourish; it is a small, exact change that shows how preference and practicality shape the finished drink. In Mia Johansson’s hands, specificity is part of the point.
FAQ
Asked of Mia
Where did Mia Johansson work before?
Mia Johansson's earlier career included Al Dente and Mark’s Bar at HIX.
What is Mia Johansson known for?
Whisky and Negronis.
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The Sunday email
Get new Made By stories every Sunday.
Every Sunday we send a lead story and up to four more about the chefs, winemakers, sommeliers and hoteliers behind the restaurants, bars, wineries and hotels we cover.
Recent stories
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