SPOTLIGHT:
A CITY COCKTAIL TOUR
ideal London imbibing joints
A BAR CRAWL THROUGH LONDON
London is arguably home to the world’s best hotel bars. Other than the three must-visit establishments at The Connaught, The Savoy and The Stafford London, there are plenty of other remarkable spots throughout the city for a welcome ‘Old Fashioned’ respite, including these:
Artesian at The Langham, London: Directly across from BBC Broadcasting House in Marylebone, The Langham, London opened in 1865. During World War II, the hotel became the stomping ground for American reporters. Named for the 111-metre- (365-feet-) deep well underneath the hotel, which once supplied fresh water for its stylish guests, Artesian’s David Collins’ interior mixes Victorian-era romance with Far-East intrigue. Menu concepts are always in flux, so look out for thematic concoctions such as the ‘minimalist’ hybrids of St-Germain liqueur and carrot or Cognac and green coffee.
The Coral Room at The Bloomsbury Hotel: With all the oomph of a 1920s grand Euro café, The Coral Room, completed by Martin Brudnizki in 2017, is a chic newcomer to the hotel bar scene. Drink a ‘May Day Spritz’ (Monkey 47 gin, Italicus Rosolio di Bergamotto, apricot honey water, Empirical Spirits Fallen Pony and Ridgeview Bloomsbury sparkling wine) against marble, Murano glass and walls painted in the bar’s namesake hue. For the second tipple, head downstairs to The Bloomsbury Club Bar. The Bloomsbury Group surely would have been eager to partake of philosophical discussions in this brooding leather-and-wood room or on the adjoining, twinkling terrace.
DUKES Bar at DUKES LONDON: No one can prove that James Bond scribe Ian Fleming was struck with inspiration for 007’s famous ‘shaken, not stirred’ motto while drinking at DUKES Bar, as some claim, but what is certain is that the Martini acquired a whole new level of cachet at this very bar in the 1980s. That’s when venerated bartender Salvatore Calabrese started working at the hotel dating from 1908 and introduced captivated clientele to his and Gilberto Preti’s ‘direct Martini’, a rendition of the drink that shuns ice for frozen gin. After Calabrese and Preti came Alessandro Palazzi, who – in his suave white jacket – still makes his Martinis from a mobile rosewood trolley in the same fashion. The chilled glass is first rinsed with dry vermouth made in collaboration with local distillery Sacred Spirits, the frozen gin (or vodka) is added and then the cocktail is simply finished with Palazzi’s own twist: an aromatic Amalfi-Coast lemon zest. These Martinis are so potent that only two of them can be served to any one guest.
George’s Bar at St Pancras Renaissance Hotel London: There is no more fashionable send-off to the Paris-bound Eurostar than a cocktail at the moody burgundy-and-brass George’s Bar – designed by David Collins Studio in 2018. Directly inside St Pancras International Station, this haunt adjacent to Marcus Wareing’s Gilbert Scott restaurant is an ode to George Gilbert Scott, the architect who designed this very building as the Midland Grand Hotel, a fancy 19th-century railway bolthole. With all those passengers running to and from trains, George’s is certainly a magnet for people-watching while sipping an ‘Amber Embers’ (Lapsang Souchong tea-infused Scotch, Martini Rosso, apricot, lemon, smoke) underneath the ceiling’s cluster of extraordinary original bells, but it’s hard to take your eyes off the friezes and fringed lamps.
Punch Room at The London EDITION: Although additional Punch Room locations have now sprouted in the Barcelona and Shanghai incarnations of Ian Schrager and Marriott International’s EDITION Hotels, the concept first kicked off in 2013, at the EDITION London in Fitzrovia. The original, with its fumed oak bar and surreptitiously drawn blinds straight out of a 19th-century gentlemen’s club, remains the city’s choice locale for punches that commingle ingredients such as Wild Turkey rye, Martini bitters, Martini Rubino, hibiscus tea and red (bell) pepper syrup, or a comforting cold-weather ‘Grog’ (Plantation OFTD rum, lime juice, grapefruit sherbet, Cornish Manuka tea, nutmeg).
Scarfes Bar at Rosewood London: English cartoonist and illustrator Gerald Scarfe, who created the promo video for Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall (part 2)’, lent his name and his artistic prowess to this bar at the Rosewood London when it opened on High Holborn in 2013. Bearing the signature upbeat-clubby imprint of designer Martin Brudnizki, the magnetic room is graced with Scarfe’s caricatures of well-known Brits such as Mick Jagger and Margaret Thatcher. Look out for changing Scarfe-illustrated menus that may nod to different musical genres such as jazz and classical with the ‘Crescent City Crusta’ (Rémy Martin 1738, pandan, banana vinegar, unripe grape) and ‘Curtain Call’ (Roe & Co Irish whiskey, clarified carob, hazelnut and mint, fortified wine, liquorice), respectively.
London is arguably home to the world’s best hotel bars.
No. 21
St Moritzino
RENAISSANCE BAR AT BADRUTT’S PALACE, ST MORITZ, SWITZERLAND
Created by Mario da Como
INGREDIENTS
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) Russian Standard Original vodka
30 ml (1 fl oz) Cointreau
20 ml (⅔ fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice
10 ml (⅓ fl oz) Orgeat Fabbri or Monin almond syrup
METHOD
Shake all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, then strain into a Martini glass.
Every winter, the Patek-Philippe-donning elite descend upon the Swiss resort town of St Moritz to hit the slopes. They have Johannes Badrutt to thank for this cold-weather ritual, for in the 1860s he made a bet with British guests at his Kulm Hotel that if they didn’t love staying there in the coldest months, too, he would foot the bill of their return visit. By the time Johannes’ son, Caspar, opened the Palace – a hotel of his own – in 1896, St Moritz was a hotbed of bobsleds and toboggans. Still, alpine tourism doesn’t thrive on sports alone. Thrill-seekers also
