Lyaness

The first of two of Chetiyawardana’s bars on the list. Those familiar with the history of the site will know it was once the place of the World’s Best Cocktail Bar Dandelyan, but was closed before being regenerated as Lyaness.

The bar’s cocktails are driven by the team’s desire to source and use unusual ingredients, merging the alien and weird into something the delicious.

The layout of the bar is fresh and open, featuring gold, blue and silver fixtures, fittings and soft furnishings.

The cocktail menu is called the Ancestral Cookbook, its clean and simply designed and focuses on 5 core ingredients across 15 cocktails - tree caramel, everything vinegar, death bitters, thunder mushroom and B+B. Not sure what those ingredients are? Not to worry as there is a detailed explanation of each one at the back of the menu.

The website says, ‘Exploring the notion of ancestry and chosen families, utilising our 5 signature ingredients across the menu as the superstar, heavy-lifting magic on top’.

The menu is split into five sections, The first section, Nature vs. Nurture, features drinks such as the Tornado Sazerac with Courvoisier, struck match grenadine, oud wood, The Balvenie and Death Bitters. Section 2, or Circularity, includes drinks like Multi Milk with Maker’s Mark, Black Cow milk vodka, milk wash, Thunder Mushroom, split milk cordial and milk.

The third section, or, Taught History, has drinks like the Elephant Martini with Grey Goose, Hepple Gin, hyraceum and Thunder Mushroom vermouth. Ceremony is the fourth section with drinks like Black Champagne with Porter’s Tropical Old Tom, sarsaparilla, passionfruit, lemon, Death Bitters and bubbles.

Finally you have Extreme Conditions which includes drinks such as Rapoport Cocktail with  Thompson Bros Gin, Tree Caramel, Empirical Plum, a tonne of micro-organisms,nuked vermouth and VORS sherry.