Creative drinks at Bar Antoine, Four Seasons Hotel

WHILE Londoners feel the pinch, these are fun times for the wealthy visitor – with the opening of several ultra-luxe hotels.

We may never spend a night at The Peninsula London, where rooms start at over £1,000 and soar far higher for fancier suites. Nor Raffles London at the OWO, the Old War Office in Whitehall, where prices are equally punchy.

But it’s fun to have a snoop around these luxurious establishments and perhaps sneak a drink at the bar.

The Brooklands Bar is on the top floor of The Peninsula, right above Wellington Arch and Hyde Park, with glorious views across London. The hotel interiors are modelled on the golden ages of British aviation and motorsport. (Brooklands was a famous British racetrack and aerodrome).

We gawped at an immaculately restored 1960 Austin taxi from the owner’s collection, which was parked outside.

A friendly page in a white cap gave us a tour of the lobby, before we whisked to the eighth floor in a lift resembling the interior of a hot-air balloon – complete with sound effects of the gas burner.

I sipped on a Damask, a pretty pink twist on the Negroni made with a gin infused with pink peppercorns and rose petals. This cost £20 but was served with free helpings of olives and almonds.

Make sure you visit the state-of-the-art Japanese toilets, which have warm seats and all manner of fancy jets and gizmos.

There is a restaurant on this floor, too, run by a chef called Claude Bosi. We didn’t dare try it but the team scooped two Michelin stars within six months of opening.

Next stop is Bar Antoine, a new opening in the Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane. This is a launch by a superstar chef called Yannick Alléno, who has 17 restaurants around the world.

The bar is adjacent to the open-plan restaurant Pavyllon, where diners are treated to what is described as culinary theatre and modern French dining.

We tried a few bar snacks – or what the menu describes as “Small Creative Bites”. The shrimp fritters (£15) were fantastic: deep-fried then decorated with the petals of marigolds and chive flowers and droplets of coloured gels made from, I think, black garlic, ponzu and lemon.

There was a Man’ouche flatbread (£20), too, elevated to the next level with curry spices, pistachio pesto and a mixture of winter salad leaves.

The drinks list is creative and experimental: they infuse their own tonics, sous vide ingredients to distil their essential flavours and present each drink with an artful flourish. Mine had one huge, embossed ice cube, a whole shiso leaf and the glass was dipped in a dust made from black lemons from Oman.

Our night out was a rare glimpse of luxe London – fascinating every once in a while.

Brooklands Bar
The Peninsula, 1 Grosvenor Place, SW1X
020 8138 6888
@brooklands.london
www.peninsula.com

Bar Antoine
Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane
Hamilton Place, Park Lane, W1J
020 7319 5200
@BarAntoineLondon
www.pavyllonlondon.com/bar-antoine