THERE ARE FEW MORE CIVILISED CITIES THAN SEOUL.  A metropolis of just over 10m people, yet it runs like the inside of expensive watch. It’s busy, but orderly; tightly inhabited, but not claustrophobic. 

Technology – particularly communication devices – is everywhere, so it is ironic the city’s only failure is to let the wider world know of its merits. 

The visitor has an easy ride here - and not just on the buses, which have leather reclining seats. The welcome is broad and genuine. Good manners appear to be the national sport. 

The drinking culture doesn’t come in one part, it takes a few forms: the traditional and the imported. Soju is obligatory. Indeed, a meal that is not washed down with a cry of ‘gun bae’ (‘cheers’) and the clink of green bottles – whether the world’s largest brand Jinro or Lotte’s Chum Churum – is a rare thing. 

But when it comes to top bars, soju has a peripheral role. Here we are talking international spirits, mostly scotch. 

South Korea may be 5,000 miles from Scotland, with few apparent links or similarities, but Seoul is one of the easiest places to drink scotch on the planet. 

Not so long ago it might have been bottles of blended whiskies that festooned the walls of the city’s best lounge-style bars, but single malts now provide the decoration.  

If there is a dominant drinking trend right now, it would be single malts. Cocktail culture is not far behind. 

According to Jackey Yoo, World’s 50 Best Bars Academy member, the embracing of single malts has changed the bar dynamic in Seoul. 

Where once blended whisky was bought a bottle at a time and shared among friends, the diversity of single malts – which are often served by the glass – has drawn punters to the bar, which is increasingly where cocktails are made. 

Naturally, scotch cocktails are the favourites and are popular in dozens of bars across the city. If there is a difference of approach here to elsewhere, it is that bartenders do not just use blends and entry-point single malts in their mixes – here there are no qualms about aged scotch in cocktails. 

It’s early days but there are a good number of bars that are making cocktails equal to the venerable single malts that form their base.  

Technique wise, bartenders tend to look east to Japan but, unlike their neighbour country across the sea, there is not a master-apprentice graduation system. Bar managers in Seoul did not have to wait a generation for their chance. 

According to Yoo, a far more valued measure of development here can be seen in the large cocktail competitions, World Class and Pernod Ricard Bartender Championship. Many of the new bar owners have achieved financial backing after winning such competitions.

In a city so big, it’s hard to cover it all, so here are five bars from south of the Han river. A word of warning, some bars have cover charges of $5-$10 – shrug it off as the Korean equivalent of a tip.

Le Chamber, B1 83-4 Cheongdam Dong

Le Chamber is Seoul’s best bar, according to a recent poll, and it’s easy to see why. Behind the stick is Sungmin Park, Korean Diageo World Class winner from 2013 and 2014 and, in support, owners and Seoul bar-world gurus Dohwan Eom and Jaejin Lim. The décor is plush in a moneyed Chesterfields-and-chandeliers sort of way. Step up to the bar which is stocked with great whiskies and waistcoated bartenders who know what to do with them. Or climb to the VIP room that surveys the classical expanse beneath from up high. This is the must-see bar of Seoul.

Mr Saimon Bar, 1st FL 655-7 Sinsa Dong 

For a more dressed down affair, head to Mr Saimon, who should not be confused with Ex-Scottish National Party leader Mr Salmond, though both have something of an obsession with Scotland. Whisky can be found on every wall (and the ceiling) except one, which has been saved for a map of Scotland. Owner Sungjin Ahn is one of Korea’s older guard, having bartended for more than 20 years, but drinks are far from old hat – he knocks up mean cocktails from super-premium soju or of course, his beloved scotch.

Vault +82, B1 95-15 Cheongdam Dong

A welcome drink sets the tone at Vault +82 – here hospitality is as meticulous as the construction of the drinks. If the ship’s captain, Sanghyun Park, is on duty, you’re in for top-notch kneeling attentiveness. The vast plateau of lounge space is very much the Korean style and makes you want to slip on your slippers in readiness for your dram. The drinks are something to behold. Though you might not have seen them make them, they have been created for the eyes as much as the taste buds. They make for beautiful, albeit temporary, art.

Coffee Bar K, 2nd FL 517 Unjuro Yeoksam Dong

Despite the name, Coffee Bar K is a pioneer cocktail bar. It was the first that brought Koreans cocktails with carved ice and the first to pass through the 100 whiskies mark. Opened in 2007, eight years on and there are now more than 400 expressions looking back at customers as they sit by the bar. Beneath the extensive rows of whisky are glasses that sparkle under the light and look as if they’ve been polished ready for your arrival. The style here is Japanese  (even if there is no longer a Japanese bartender working here) so expect immaculate skills and head bartender Sukho Son’s Triangle Shake to be so fast you’ll think he’s motorised.

Bar Lupin, 1st FL 84-18 Cheongdam Dong

According to Yoo, more than half of the top bars in Seoul have been opened since 2010. Lupin, at under two years old, is one of the new breed. Boss of the bar Ssami Choi has a classical approach and heads up a team that presents a Japanese-Korean hybrid style in this marble and leather-clad bar. This ice is perfectly chiselled and the smoked spirits smoked on site.