Farhad Heydari
Hottest taverns in the coolest hotels
A decade ago, while walking through the lobby of a posh five-star hotel in Hamburg, a jet-setting executive wondered whether or not the lifeless hotel bar was actually closed. The space was filled with threadbare furnishings, frayed oriental rugs and a creepy flickering antediluvian lamp, giving it “the eerie air of a funeral parlor,” he recalls, many years later. “Plus, the bartender looked like a holdover from the Depression Era. It was horrible.”
Hottest taverns in the coolest hotels
A decade ago, while walking through the lobby of a posh five-star hotel in Hamburg, a jet-setting executive wondered whether or not the lifeless hotel bar was actually closed. The space was filled with threadbare furnishings, frayed oriental rugs and a creepy flickering antediluvian lamp, giving it “the eerie air of a funeral parlor,” he recalls, many years later. “Plus, the bartender looked like a holdover from the Depression Era. It was horrible.”
Farhad Heydari Hottest taverns in the coolest hotels A decade ago, while walking through the lobby of a posh five-star hotel in Hamburg, a jet-setting ... more
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1
Le Bar du Plaza Athénée
Paris
Designed by noted stylist Patrick Jouin, the Plaza Athénée's new-look bar juxtaposes the new with the old. It features a dramatic sculpted and sandblasted translucent glass surface, backlit to a cornflower blue and accessorized with a dozen elongated Louis XV-style metal stools with leather seats. Superjacent small Murano glass lights shine a warm glow on 17th-century paintings by artists such as Claude Gelée, which decorate the walls. Libations comes courtesy of Thierry Hernandez, whose signature is actually a blue non-alcoholic cocktail that uses flower extract and comes topped with oxygen-enriched water.
2
The May Fair Bar
London
Popular with hedge-fund custodians who nibble on British tapas-style food and lap up cocktails created by head mixologist Marios Elias, the stylish May Fair bar in the heart of posh London has been a hit since it reopened after a costly renovation in November of 2006. Today, it bustles with an after-work conga line of clued-up patrons who settle into black leather sofas and wile away the hours in the dimly lit space done-up in black marble.
3
La Purificadora Hotel bar
Puebla, Mexico
The latest hotel from Mexico's avant-garde Grupo HABITA is located in a converted water purification plant—hence the name. It features an open lobby that's anchored by angular cobalt sectionals arranged around limestone fireplaces that double as tables where high-heeled locals raise flutes of the bubbly and nibble on finger food. The same bold sectionals woo local stylists to the rooftop lounge, from where they gaze at a glass-enclosed swimming pool where night owls do laps, drink—or both.
4
Rose and Jade Bars, Gramercy Park Hotel
New York
With walls that are adorned with a museum-quality collection that includes works by the likes of Twombly, Warhol, Basquiat, Damien Hirst and Schnabel, the pair of bars bookending the soaring lobby of this willfully chic hotel, by trendsetting hotelier Ian Schrager, are all-the-rage with the city's seriously hip. Reminiscent of an artist's home, New York's beau monde can be found wondering the public spaces, sipping bohemian side car martinis while gazing at the eclectic surroundings (think 10-foot-high limestone fireplaces and imposing hand-blown Venetian glass chandeliers).
5
Bar Nineteen 12 at Beverly Hills Hotel
Beverly Hills
Named for the year this celebrated hotel first opened its doors, this stylish aerie was the brainchild of hotel designer Glenn Texeira, who kitted out the clubby indoor surroundings in dark woods; plush, jewel-toned fabric sofas; sunset-hued high-back leather leisure chairs. There's also a mahogany bar and a secluded garden. Rare spirits and bespoke cocktails are served to LA's newest boldfaced names in custom-designed barware.
6
The Scarlet Hotel bar
Singapore
The brainchild of first-time hotel designer Michael Tan, The Scarlet is a full-on visual assault of Venetian chandeliers, gilded hand-carved mirrors, Victorian-style crystal wall sconces and faux snakeskin in 12 restored Chinatown shophouses dating to 1924. The lobby bar, BOLD, features a daring all-black palette as well as premium wines and champagnes, potent cocktails and exotic canapés, while the aptly named rooftop bar, Breeze, is a cozy Mediterranean-style terrace with views of the Lion City.
7
Mount Nelson's Planet Champagne Bar
Cape Town
Stylishly designed with a checkerboard flooring pattern, whimsical silk-screens and textured seating surfaces in creamy earth tones, Cape Town's foremost champagne bar continues to draw the local who's-who for tipples galore. There's also delicious finger food, including Japanese-style tempura radish with light soy mirin essence; Vietnamese-style rice paper rolls filled with shredded vegetables and ground peanuts; and tuna spring rolls marinated in wasabi, served with shanghai pickled bean sprouts and a sweet soy and toasted sesame dressing.
8
La Grande Dame bar at Liberty Hotel
Boston
Boston's Liberty Hotel was once a jail in the Boston Granite-style; it's now home to a stylish champagne bar—Veuve Clicquot's first foray into branded bars in the U.S. Named for the famous orange-labeled Champagne produced in Reims, the bar is nestled in an elegant alcove inside the first-floor rotunda, the striking silhouette of the La Grande Dame's onyx bottle serves as a décor centerpiece, while the brilliant mandarin yellow counter is flanked on both sides by crystal spires.
9
Yakshi's Bar at East Hotel
Hamburg
Marrying the vaulted weathered brick of the old foundry with newly constructed curvaceous white plaster stanchions, Jordan Mozer's East Hotel lobby features an Asian-inspired fusion restaurant and no fewer than four bars. Each is decorated in soft natural fabrics and supple pebble-grain leather, draped in luminous floor-to-ceiling velvet curtains and littered with bulbous handmade furnishings and filigree wrought iron fixtures. Chilled Bombaytini joins a menu of more than 250 cocktails, spirits, wines and champagnes.
10
Onyx Bar at the Zurich Park Hyatt
Zurich
With backlit yellowish onyx bar surfaces, this lobby-level space has become a de rigueur Zürich staple with buttoned-up private bankers, sedate institutional investors and their tight-lipped, bespoke-attired international clients. The dramatic glass-and-copper mesh walls and 10-foot-high metal musical chime ensure a sense of occasion; the wide selection of rare vodkas and Cuban and Dominican cigars don't hurt either.
[source: https://www.forbestraveler.com/resorts-hotels/best-hotel-bars-story.html ]
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