Cocktails at Bar Boulud at Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

Located at one of the most enviable addresses in Knightsbridge, the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is home to Daniel Boulud’s French Bistro style bar and restaurant, Bar Boulud. He also has venues in New York and Boston.

Now the Mandarin Oriental has some fond memories for me as when Amit and I were in the early stages of our relationship we decided to spend one new year’s eve celebration there and it was a truly luxurious experience! Sadly this was well before I started my blog so I didn’t even think to take room photos at the time. We had such a stunning room and we stayed hydrated with a bottle of chilled champagne and were snug from the freezing temperatures outside. It was truly marvellous.

Knightsbridge, I find, no matter what time of day it is, always seems to be busy with tourists, either keen to shop or window shop at some of the finest stores in the vicinity. Bar Boulud, as we discovered, is an amazing sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the mad rush outside and we felt relaxed the moment we stepped in. We had decided to have drinks there before moving on elsewhere in Knightsbridge for dinner. It is rare we get to spend a weekday evening out together so it was fabulous.

Greeted with welcoming smiles and friendly hosts, we were shown to our table with swift service and given the cocktail and wine menu to peer through. We weren’t pressured for time at all and loved the ambience, as well as the fact that it was so spacious and that I could see the bar and watch the bartenders mixing drinks and theatrically shaking cocktail shakers.

Now the signature cocktail at Bar Boulud is the White Cosmopolitan, which is served with white grape juice in lieu of cranberry juice. It is rather special as it also comes with a flower frozen in a floating ice ball. I didn’t personally order this but had drink envy at a neighbouring table who had ordered it! I had a good reason not to on this occasion because there was also Champagne Mojito on the menu which is what I went for! I will try the White Cosmopolitan when I next visit the bar.

The Champagne Mojito was utterly delicious and I usually prefer my Mojitos classic but the addition of champagne just made it that much more special. It was a lovely drink and I would definitely be back for it! Chairman’s reserve rum was the base rum used for this cocktail alongside the usual mint leaves, lime, soda water and for that extra sparkle, champagne.

Amit had wanted a more manly drink so he chose a Venezuelan Old Fashioned, which was really well mixed and tasted so good! This was a blend of Diplomatico reserve rum, averna chocolate bitters, orange bitters and demerara sugar. We both somehow ended up having rum based cocktails so we are definitely a match made in heaven 😉

The drinks were excellent, as was the service. The restaurant is adjacent to the bar so we could see the various dishes heading towards the eager and excited diners as well as catch their aroma, which made us want to come back on a different day for dinner to try the food as it smelt really good.

Bar Boulud is an ideal place to catch up with friends or work colleagues or to relax after a day of shopping or battling the crowds outside. It is also lovely for a date night as we found. If you happen to be in the area you really have no excuse not to drop in for a tipple.

The venue is gorgeous and the drinks are really good. Both the wine and cocktail menu are extensive and the service is excellent. I had a superb time at Bar Boulud and will definitely be back. Thanks for having us!

For more information on Bar Boulud visit their website here.

 

 

The Blue Bar, The Berkeley Hotel

I love hotel bars, especially classy, alluring, sharp and sexy ones, and the newly refurbished Blue Bar, at the Berkeley, has just become my new favourite in Knightsbridge, an area full of opulence, splendour and amazing hotels, restaurants and shops.

The refurbishment of the Blue Bar was commissioned to Rob Angell, a protege of previous designer, David Collins. I love the luxe upholstery, the red and blue carpets, and the extension on the side, which is perfect for summer. It has maintained its classic look with some very upbeat and contemporary  modifications.

The design is very trendy and luxe without being ostentatious. In fact, it feels so relaxed, has an excellent vibe and ambience and is just gorgeous.

The menu is colour coded, by strength of the cocktail, ranging from green, which are the least alcoholic, yellow to mimic the hues of champagne and thus are celebratory cocktails, red for strong and classics, suited for the more adventurous palettes, and finally blue, the colour of the bar and representing their signature cocktails. What is fantastic is that there is a mocktail choice in each colour category, so if you don’t drink or are having a dry night, you don’t have to miss out on a good looking drink!

The very well stocked bar is illuminated by a light purple shade, and it is just so beautiful elegant and dreamy. I loved watching the bartenders making their drinks.

We settled into luxurious and very comfortable seats and went through the very interesting  and innovative menu to decide what cocktails to have. It was our date night so we were toasting the end of a very busy week and spending some much needed quality time together.

Upon recommendation from the waitress, Amit went for the alluring sound of Smoke and Mirrors (£21.00), which is one of the Signature cocktails.  Described as:

Indulgent with a sensory explosion of bitter, oral and oaky flavours . Michter’s rye barrel strength whiskey, benedictine, toasted cinnamon, sacred rosehip, herbal drops, madeira and sherry blend.

The best part of this cocktail was the theatrical bar tending that led to the final concoction in the very classy, and manly glass, much to Amit’s delight. It was very captivating to watch.

 

It was so much fun to watch it being made, with smoke, the use of interesting equipment and just extremely clever mixology! I was told that in the near future, the exciting production of the cocktails would happen at the table so I can’t wait to return for that!

I chose the Toffee and Bubbles (£21.00), which had sweet velvety tones of caramel and vanilla with toasted spice. It was a blend of Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva salted toffee, hazelnut and Ruinart Blanc de Blancs. The rim had chocolate which was so scrumptious so every sip was decadent. Toffee and bubbles is the perfect indulgent combination.

Just look at those cocktails! Elegant, sexy and utterly delicious.

Obligatory champagne pouring shot!

I also tried the Lady Bird, which was from the green, therefore easy going, low alcohol range, but it was so delicious and easy to drink that I think if I had 3 of these I would be very tipsy happy.

It was a blend of Ketel One vodka, goji Sancerre, bergamot, rhubarb and watermelon soda.

The Blue Bar is fashionable, swanky, uptown and chic and I envisage many more evenings spent here over some seriously good cocktails. I did have a sneak peek at the bar food menu and there was a really good choice available.

The venue is perfect for a date night, catch up with friends pre or post dinner, a business meeting or client entertainment or to celebrate a special occasion.

For more information go to: http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/knightsbridge-bars/blue-bar/