Fired up after winning the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu Award 2024, world-renowned bar magnate Ryan ‘Mr Lyan’ Chetiyawardana discusses unusual ingredients, the power of personal stories and how the team created the 3.0 Cookbook
A biologist and artist, globe-trotting explorer and consummate collector of both people and stories, Ryan ‘Mr Lyan’ Chetiyawardana is a man of many talents and many tales. He’s also the creator of cocktail bars such as Dandelyan (The World’s Best Bar 2018) and its more recent reincarnation, Lyaness – the London drinking den deemed to have the best cocktail menu in the world.
In conversation at the bar’s Sea Containers location, it became clear that there’s always a lot on Chetiyawardana’s mind. As he retells his most treasured tales from the 3.0 Cookbook menu and extols the virtues of his multi-disciplined team, he bounces between the topics of unusual ingredients, the state of the bar industry and his favourite drink to make someone (a martini, in case you were wondering).
Lyaness is located inside the Sea Containers Hotel in London's South Bank
Chetiyawardana’s passion is obvious and evidently infectious, as his team – most of whom have been part of the Lyaness tribe for many years – attests. “I don’t want to blow smoke up Ryan’s arse, but he’s just so good. I’ve never experienced anywhere that allows you so wholly to express yourself and where you are encouraged to be consistently creative, not just for the brand but also for yourself,” says Lyaness floor manager Lucy Thomas.
Start with a healthy pinch of curiosity
The Lyaness menu spins a good yarn, with an array of not-quite-classics that transform familiar and nostalgic ingredients into inventive, thought-provoking drinks. In short, it piques guests’ curiosity, which is exactly what the team intended.
The 3.0 Cookbook twists the classics, such as the Doc Americano made with carrot vermouth
“We always start with the overarching concept rather than specific drinks,” Chetiyawardana explains. “When we first did the British Cookbook [the first in the menu series released in 2022], it was a response to people’s fear of difference. We wanted to comment that there’s more that unites us than divides us.”
This sense of commonality and collectiveness guided the creation of the 3.0 Cookbook, which explores how flavour unifies us. The stories are designed to resonate on a human level, inviting guests to connect with the narratives behind the flavours.
Add a cup of co-collaborators
This commitment to collaboration is evident in how the team approaches menu development. “It’s a big team at Lyaness,” he notes. “Everybody puts their perspectives and backgrounds into it. That diversity of thought is key.”
The team’s method is structured yet fluid, designed to embrace a range of viewpoints. “To be creative, you need a structure around it. We get the team involved to focus their interests and think laterally about the topic,” he explains. With a background in biology, Chetiyawardana acknowledges his own biases in research. “I know I’ll look at things from a certain perspective. But other team members with completely different backgrounds will bring their lenses, and that’s what we want to embrace.”
Chetiyawardana collected the bar's trophy on stage in Madrid
This collaborative ethos means that every cocktail is a shared triumph. “It’s never my drink or someone else’s drink. That’s the magic of our industry: the diversity of it and the way we learn from each other,” he adds.
“I think that this style of menu, and researching through stories to then make these tangible ingredients, allows us to be our most creative,” says Thomas. “In the beginning, you can’t even fathom how this story or nugget of pop culture will become a drink. Being able to taste a story is, ultimately, pretty incredible.”
Throw in a sprinkle of human experience
The 3.0 Cookbook is, arguably, as much an anthology of human experience told through flavour as it is a drinks list. Each sip is a story, rooted in themes of resilience, discovery and joy.
Take the Faux Fruit Sour, which is based on an anecdote from World War II where, during a craze for bananas and the scarcity brought on by the trade disruptions that war brings, British parents stewed down parsnips to mimic banana puree for their children. The resultant cocktail is a fluffy sour that’s rich and creamy with peated parsnip amazake, pineapple and sloes.
The Vampire Fizz acts as a delicious interpretation of Euro-Meso-American history
Or take the origin story of the Vampire Fizz (tequila, enriched – the clue is in the word enriched here – chicha, persimmon, plum, lemon, soda), which serves as a cautionary tale on the dangers of Western hubris. Essentially, Meso-American colonists ignored the sage indigenous knowledge offered on how to process native corn effectively for nutrients and, as a result, developed pellagra. The disease caused pale skin, demented demeanour and an aversion to sunlight – hence the vampire connection.
“Facts aren’t sexy,” Chetiyawardana admits. “They’re not something you engage with emotionally. But if you have something as exciting as a story, there’s a point to follow, and you get that little moment of discovery for yourself. That’s what feels incredible.”
Finish with an unusual ingredient of choice
Chetiyawardana’s relentless curiosity has led Lyaness to experiment with ingredients that challenge conventional boundaries, ranging from ambergris (the waxy, flammable substance found in the intestines of sperm whales) to mushrooms zapped with car batteries and hyraceum (fossilised rodent excrement).
“I remember my business partner Alex [Lawrence Milia] saying: ‘You want to put what in a drink?!’ when I first gave him hyraceum,” he recalls. However, whacky as these flavours may be, Chetiyawardana ensures they stay on the right side of sense and are never used to the detriment of genuine drinking enjoyment.
The Lyaness team isn't afraid to get weird with its flavour combinations
“I think people’s boundaries of things is such an interesting space. Often what we're repulsed by is way more interesting than what we're excited by. It’s fashion too, it changes and your boundaries shift.” he muses. “We’ve been fortunate that people follow the journey and believe in us. They know we won’t use anything for a gimmick.”
This trust allows Lyaness to introduce guests to the unfamiliar with confidence and care. “We’re educators as much as we are spaces to bring joy, so we can put something unusual in the drink and the guests will go: ‘Cool. What is it? Tell me the story.’”
Serve with an eye on the future
For Chetiyawardana, winning the Siete Misterios Best Cocktail Menu feels like an emotional punctuation mark on a collective journey. “So much had gone into this menu and it really felt like we’d created something special,” he adds.
As he reflects on the latest edition, he reveals it may be the final chapter in the Cookbook series. “We’ve started on the next menu. It’s no longer part of the Cookbook series, though. It’s something different. We want to find more ways to connect some of those stories and bring more people into our industry.”
So not quite the end of the story yet – the cocktail world will have to wait for the sequel to the Lyaness Cookbook era.
Now watch the video:
The list of The World’s 50 Best Bars 2024, sponsored by Perrier, was revealed at a live awards ceremony in Madrid on 22 October
