Sometimes I’m reminded how much of a privilege it is to be the editor of the Londoneer – at the decadent hour of twelve-o-clock yesterday lunchtime I was invited by French aperitif maker Maison Lillet to sample some cocktails and to watch their competition to find the mixologist most capable of creating a variation on the James Bond ‘Vesper’ Martini…
Set in the confines of the Bar Americain within Brasserie Zedel, which occupies the newly refurbished art deco spaces below the site of the old Regent Palace Hotel on Piccadilly Circus, we looked on as several of the best cocktail waiters from London and further afield showed off their skills to the assembled judges – Jake Burger of Portobello Star and Sam Kershaw of the Electric Bar (both Notting Hill) as well as Alex Proudfoot from Raoul’s 1960s themed cocktail bar in Oxford and Nicci Stringfellow of the Opium Cocktail & Dim Sum Bar in Soho.
Winning the competition with his heady Rhuby Summers concoction was Calum Anderson of the Kenilworth Hotel in Warwickshire (seen in the bottom left image). Here’s what went into it – if you’ve got a sufficiently stocked drinks cabinet at home, you might want to try this out for yourself:
Shake 45ml Lillet Rosé, 45ml Chase Rhubarb Vodka and 15ml G. Miclo Raspberry Eau de Vie together with ice and strain into a chilled ‘coupette’ glass, garnishing the drink with a spray of rose & violet hydrosol (flower water)
Both the winner and runner-up are going to whisked off to France to see the Maison Lillet operation and I didn’t miss out either as, in addition to sampling the cocktails, I got a bottle of Lillet Rose to take home!
While I enjoyed the Vesper Martinis from these supremely skilled mixologists, I would have given anything for the warmth of a Whisky Sour yesterday – what’s your favourite cocktail?
Fun Facts:
Up until 2010, the Regent Palace Hotel occupied the space above Brasserie Zedel – built for Lyons & Co in 1912, for many years it was London’s largest hotel, with 1028 bedrooms. Unfortunately the hotel was built with only shared bathroom facilities so despite its opulent art deco public areas it became a less and less desirable destination over the years, ending its life as cheap accommodation that largely catered for coach tour parties.
The upper floors of the building are now occupied by offices and retail (Al Gore’s organisation, which partly funded the refurbishment programme, sits on the top floor) while Brasserie Zedel is located in the below street-level areas that once accommodated the hotel’s grill bar, billiard room and library. Opened by Jeremy King and Chris Corbin last year (the restaurateurs behind The Wolseley and The Delaunay), the Brasserie is a wonder of art deco detailing and very reasonably priced too, while the old billiard room is now the popular Crazy Coqs Cabaret Bar. The library has been given a highly detailed 1920s makeover and is now the Bar Americain, a space that wouldn’t look out of place as the murder scene in an episode of Hercule Poirot! Get on the right side of the waiters and you might even be able to take a peek into the emergency exit corridor, which contains the original wall coverings from the Regent Palace Hotel’s heyday (a detail of which you can see in the photo gallery above).
About Pete Stean
