The basement bar – a 1950s smash with actors and artists – is long gone. In its place is ground-level Bar am Steinplatz, where the Art-Deco atmosphere, a melange of marble and leather – black and cream – is reason enough to pull up a stool. At first, gin lovers might be chagrinned to discover not even one bottle of their favourite spirit skulks on the shelves. Then, they peer at the cocktail menu, cleverly illustrated so that each drink’s taste profile is in the limelight, and they realise they are actually quite pleased to try one – all of them clear, all of them served in Nick & Nora glasses, and spun from a brazen mix of ingredients such as pisco, kaffir, blackcurrant and rice.
No. 26
Little Match Girl
NIMB BAR AT NIMB HOTEL, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
Created by António Saldanha de Oliveira
INGREDIENTS
50 ml (1¾ fl oz) Don Julio Añejo Tequila
10 ml (⅓ fl oz) Graham’s ruby port or tawny port
10 ml (⅓ fl oz) Lillet Rouge
10 ml (⅓ fl oz) simple syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water)
2 large pieces of pared grapefruit or orange zest
2 large slices of galangal or root ginger
METHOD
Combine the liquid ingredients in a small saucepan and place over a low heat. Add the grapefruit or orange zests and the galangal or ginger slices to the mixture, then cover with the lid and simmer for 3–5 minutes. Strain into a mug to serve.
Tivoli Gardens, providing merriment to Copenhageners since 1843, is one of the world’s oldest amusement parks, and Nimb Hotel is serendipitously plopped in the centre of this joyful setting. When it first opened in 1909, inside a fantastical Moorish palace, Nimb was a buzzing bazaar restaurant, named for the same hospitable owners who had popularised Denmark’s now-ubiquitous, open-faced rye-bread sandwiches. By 1930, the Danish National Broadcasting Company was recording live from Nimb, making it a bastion of contemporary dance music. Since 2008, Nimb has taken the form of a soothing Nordic-style boutique hotel, with balcony suites, a pool the shade of the fictional Emerald City gracing the rooftop terrace, and multiple restaurants that add another layer to its gastronomic history.
Nimb Bar, in what was the old ballroom, bristles with sophistication – a muted space that allows the birch-wood-burning fireplace, original lost-then-found crystal chandeliers and grand piano to take centre stage. After a day on the Ferris wheel and the animal-bedecked carousel, Nimb Bar’s afternoon tea or blissful cocktails, such as the summery ‘Little Mermaid’ (Absolut Elyx vodka, lychee, lime cordial, spirulina, coconut water and cucumber), confirm that the fairytale need not end here.
Little Match Girl is an elevated hot toddy, which is wonderfully warming on those frosty-day forays through Tivoli Gardens. Ideally it is made with a Viennese coffee maker, but a stovetop coffee pot or a saucepan over a low heat, covered with a lid, will work just as well. This recipe makes one cocktail, but it is best served for groups of two or more; simply multiply the ingredients accordingly.
No. 27
Beautiful, Amore, Gasp
THIEF BAR AT THE THIEF, OSLO, NORWAY
Created by Felice Capasso
INGREDIENTS
30 ml (1 fl oz) Absolut Elyx vodka
15 ml (½ fl oz) Cocchi Americano vermouth
10 ml (⅓ fl oz) white crème de cacao
10 ml (⅓ fl oz) freshly squeezed lemon juice
5 ml (1 teaspoon) Salted Pedro Ximénez Syrup*
1 ice ball, to serve (you can use a silicone mould to make these)
white chocolate shard or disc**, to garnish
* For the Salted Pedro Ximénez Syrup (makes 750 ml/25 fl oz):
750 ml (25 fl oz) Pedro Ximénez Lustau sherry
350 g (12 oz) sugar
25 g (¾ oz) salt
** Former bar manager Capasso used an ornate moulded disc of white chocolate decorated with swirls of coloured chocolate to garnish this cocktail, but you can use any white chocolate of your choice.
METHOD
For the Salted Pedro Ximénez Syrup, combine the sherry and sugar in a saucepan and gently heat for 10–15 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in the salt until fully dissolved. Chill until needed.
To make the cocktail, combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake. Strain into a coupe glass (the bar uses an Elyx copper coupette) filled with an ice ball. Serve garnished with white chocolate.
When discussing Scandinavia’s robust art and design scenes, cities like Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki tend to get the lion’s share of attention. Oslo should also be a part of that conversation. For example, The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, designed by Renzo Piano, is a champion of Norwegian and international contemporary art and is located on Tjuvholmen, a renewed island that once swarmed with bandits and ladies of the night.
Adjacent to the museum is The Thief, a hotel that debuted in 2013 with gold-accented guest rooms that take cues from Riva yachts. Amplified through floor-to-ceiling windows, the views of the canals and the Oslo Fjord are a mighty visual alone, but The Thief bolsters this natural backdrop with its own permanent artwork collection, as well as selections borrowed from its prominent neighbour and collaborator.
Thief Bar, which subtly recalls a gallery with liquor bottles, books and objects all confidently displayed inside warmly illuminated shelves, deepens the strong relationship with the arts through its menu. Cerebral cocktails, in dialogue with such works as Damien Hirst’s God Alone Knows and Beautiful, amore, gasp, eyes going into the top of the head and fluttering painting, are meant to arouse a contemplative state. It comes easily when seated in a velvety chair by the fireplace.
No. 28
Million Red Roses
LOBBY BAR AT BELMOND GRAND HOTEL EUROPE, ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA
INGREDIENTS
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) Russian Standard Platinum vodka
100 ml (3½ fl oz) grapefruit juice
40 ml (1¼ fl oz) honey syrup (1 part honey to 2 parts water)
100 ml (3½ fl oz) sparkling wine
aspidistra leaf and rose petals (optional), to garnish
METHOD
Combine the vodka, grapefruit juice and
