The Met Bar’s New Cocktail Menu

In the Nineties, the Met Bar seemed to be the place that celebrities frequented the most often. There would always be someone falling out of the place but its lustre has waned over the past decade. Places like Whisky Mist or Bungalow 8 are where the beautiful people tend to reside. The only real incident of recent note was when one of the Arctic Monkeys was thrown out after being asked to pay £33 for two beers. To be fair, most people would have kicked off when presented with a tab that ludicrous.

The bar is trying to pep up its image with a new cocktail menu. The people behind the new creations claim they are incorporating spirits that might not pop up on many other lists, rather than relying on the all too familiar vodka and gin. Although these are noble sentiments, most credible bartenders or mixologists should be able to produce something that isn’t reliant on these two spirits.

One of these new spirits was found in the first cocktail of the night, One Night in Rio. Given its Brazilian name, it was no surprise to find cachaca in the ingredients. This went together with pear juice and agave syrup. Although it was pleasant enough, it was quite tame overall with not a great deal of vim or excitement to it. A good cocktail should have you gasping on the first sip but this merely elicited a shrug of the shoulders. It was less One Night in Rio and more One Afternoon in Dorset.

Another attempt to have something a bit more unorthodox was the Mayfair Stinger. This had a mixture of amaretto and port. This was a definite improvement as the smoothness of the amaretto and the sharpness of the port made for a decent combination. However, it was no more than decent and was nothing that would have you savouring every drop you could get out of the glass.

It may be that these two examples were but two flawed concoctions. However, the common theme of their lack of dazzle lead me to think that the bar needs to take more risks and be that much more creative with the range of spirits it is using. In the meantime, if you’re in the Mayfair area and looking for something that bit special, might I recommend the Coburg bar in the Connaught Hotel.

The Met Bar
19 Old Park Lane
Mayfair
W1K 1LB