The bar fancifully garnishes this drink with aspidistra leaf and rose petals, but it’s also lovely in its unadorned state.
Past the Ludwig Fontana-designed neoclassical façade of Belmond Grand Hotel Europe, the barrage of marble and gilt carries one back to tsarist 1875, when the property opened as Grand Hotel d’Europe. Dostoevsky came around often, Tchaikovsky honeymooned here, and the enigmatic monk Rasputin, from behind drawn curtains, dined with politicians and paramours alike in an upstairs alcove at L’Europe, the restaurant that when it opened in 1905 was lit by never-before-seen-in-St-Petersburg electric bulbs.
By turns a post-Soviet Revolution orphanage and a hospital for the Leningrad front during the early-1940s siege, the hotel is once again a shimmering Art Nouveau palace, complete with a vodka sommelier and caviar brunches befitting of the antique-laden suites such as the winter garden-accentuated ‘Lidval’ and the jewel-toned ‘Fabergé’. In the Lobby Bar, restored stucco and tiled mantelpieces contrast with the bar crafted from smooth, icy alabaster marble and black granite. Spring for the ‘Anna Akhmatova’ (gin, elderflower liqueur, Lillet Blanc, dry vermouth), named for the great 20th-century Russian poet, and taste the good imperial life.
For a drier, less tart version of the Million Red Roses, then reduce the measurements to 50 ml (1¾ fl oz) of grapefruit juice and 30 ml (1 oz) of honey syrup.
SPOTLIGHT:
THE REVOLUTIONARY
the man shaking things up in London and beyond
MR LYAN!
Ryan Chetiyawardana, better known as Mr Lyan in cocktail circles, has been breaking the rules since 2013, when he opened White Lyan in London’s Hoxton neighbourhood. A daring experiment in sustainability, the bar served pre-made libations devoid of fruit and ice. A year later, he unveiled Dandelyan in the Tom Dixon-designed Mondrian London hotel – now Sea Containers London – overlooking the Thames, and the accolades quickly poured in for its ‘Modern Botany’ menus. The green marble bar is the same and boozy afternoon tea is still on offer, but Dandelyan is no more. Instead there is Lyaness, a new Mr Lyan concept, joining his London restaurant Cub and all-day bar Super Lyan inside the Kimpton De Witt Amsterdam hotel, that dissects just seven ingredients, including vegan honey and a signature tea blend. His latest venture is Silver Lyan, which is inside yet another hotel, Riggs Washington DC. Here, Mr Lyan weighs in.
On the Endurance of Hotel Bars
‘I think the best hotel bars have integrated themselves into their setting, and into the community. There is a balance that can come from these bigger projects that means they can imbed themselves into the scene in a much more open way, and that allows for the longevity.’
On Dandeylan’s Triumphs
‘We always said we wanted to challenge the model of a hotel bar. We wanted to integrate into the building, but not conform to the hotel bar model. There were lots of iconic hotel bars, particularly in London, but we wanted something to complement that, and something that felt honest to us. We took a lot of the small bar sensibilities and tried to find a way to marry them with the glamorous setting of Sea Containers hotel. We took the fact that the hotel wanted to be democratic and welcoming to all – a value mirrored in what we do – and we created something that played to this, but from the point of view of innovation and being a destination. Like with Hoxton, Southbank was a destination, and lacking many great food and drink options at the time, so we created something that felt really welcoming, but was unique to act as a draw. We described it as a “neighbourhood bar in a five-star setting”.’
On Forging a New Identity
‘It was about playing to honesty and borrowing from our background and history. White Lyan set the tone for what we have wanted to do as a business – find new, welcoming and exciting ways to help people gather – and everything has stemmed back to this. Lyaness is very much born of the things we love, and the things we want to change in the landscape of food.’
On the Difference Between Hotel Bars and Other Kinds
‘Hotel bars are much more open. They cater to every crowd and every eventuality. Independent bars can, of course, take these ideals on, but they also have the difference in being able to be more specific, niche and nuanced, so a hotel bar has a brilliant grounding in something familiar. The best will try to evolve this definition though.’
Soho House, the petite empire of hotels and private members’ clubs formed by Nick Jones in 1995, unveiled its Istanbul digs in 2015. The city’s arts-and-media types came running to this former palazzo in Beyoğlu, holing up at the Club to drink in a dramatic room covered in marble, rosewood and original frescoes. For a region where alcohol is largely verboten, Middle Eastern hotel bars do a fine job of transporting their guests, even if it’s through an inspired mocktail that doesn’t require booze to hold interest. Further east, India has rapidly contemporised, and its bars have not been left behind. Waterlogged Maldives and Mauritius, increasingly visited for their sunny seclusion and outdoor antics, also don’t skimp on their hotel bars – as if they could be anything less than radiant when facing the Indian Ocean. Decades ago, this region was cloaked in mystery and hailed as ‘exotic’; sit in a hotel’s citrus-scented garden and you might just feel the same.
No. 29
Gilded Sultan’s Elixir Riff
LE FUMOIR AT THE ÇIRAĞAN PALACE KEMPINSKI, ISTANBUL, TURKEY
Created by Franky Marshall
INGREDIENTS
45 ml (1½ fl oz) Date-Infused VS Cognac*
15 ml (½ fl oz) Pineapple Coconut Simple Syrup**
15 ml (½ fl oz) unsweetened coconut milk
15 ml (½ fl oz) cold-brew espresso-blend coffee (Marshall uses Trader Joe’s Cold-Brew
