The Connaught Bar
The Connaught Bar review: Ago Perrone's martini trolley remains the most perfect cocktail service in London. Dress for it. Book. Order the dry one here.
The Connaught Bar is a room with thirty seats, twenty staff, and one of the most famous cocktail services in the world.
The room
Platinum silver leaf on the walls, deep leather armchairs, a central silver trolley with eight vermouths and a small atomiser.
What to order
The Martini. Specifically: the Vesper-dry one, with Hungarian vermouth, made at the table on the trolley, with a shaved lemon twist. Do not skip the Connaught olives.
The drinks list
Long, Mayfair-priced, perfectly executed.
What you will pay
Two Martinis each, service: around £85 per person.
The verdict
Book ahead, arrive early, order the dry martini. Then order one more.
Nathaniel Ashford
Senior contributing editor
Nathaniel Ashford writes about bars, cocktails, pubs and the London neighbourhoods that hold them together. A former drinks-trade journalist, he now contributes a weekly cocktail column for Vivi and leads the Vivi Neighbourhoods series.
He knows more about vermouth than is strictly respectable. Based in Fitzrovia; generally found two doors down from wherever he is supposed to be.
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