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Connaught Bar

London

Connaught Bar is not a venue, it’s an icon of the bar industry. When it opened in 2008, it was the game-changer that cast away the classic trope that five-star hotel bars were stuffy museums to drinking’s past, and ushered in a new way of thinking – a bridge between classicism and modernism.

Two figures came to define the bar: David Collins, who designed the gleaming, Art Deco-style interior, and Ago Perrone, who became the face of hotel mixology. The Connaught Martini, served from a trolley, is a ritualistic, personal experience. First you choose your gin and one of five homemade essences, which are stirred down with ice then strained from a great height, kissing expressed lemon oil as it descends into the glass. For drink two, head to the latest Connaught menu, Tempo, which is themed around our perception of time. Allegro (gin, silver tequila, marjoram cordial, Clab chilli distillate, coriander seeds bitter, lime), as the name suggests, is a bright and brisk sipper. Whatever you choose, you’ll be given a card with the recipe and, if you want to delve further into the Connaught Bar magic, the book that launched this year tells the whole story.

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