Martini cocktails, martini bars and martini culture
Am existential question that every barfly should reflect on, especially after a few martinis, is: what are the essential components of a cocktail bar? Going back to the essentials is especially important in the present times of cocktail craze, where bars are often equipped with 15 kinds of glasses, 50 bitters of any taste and …
Bars, as well as life, are all about expectations, and expectations fluctuate. When I was told that the Lolita is one of the best bars in Tbilisi (actually a cocktail town, to my surprise) my expectations were high, but they went down in front of the entrance (with a security guy checking all customers, and …
Musso & Frank is the oldest restaurant in Hollywood and is famous, among other things, for having been the first US restaurant to serve the mighty fettuccine Alfredo (a dish with an Italian name totally absent from Italian cuisine) in 1927. Also, the place is famous for its Martinis: in 2008 GQ magazin elected it as the …
In Brussels, like in any major city, cocktail bars are popping up like mushrooms. Here, some are former beer places that have added the sign "cocktails" on the street, some are poshy and expensive places for eurocrats and business travellers, some are real cocktail spots with a soul. To help you out in your choice, …
"Kissa bars" originated in Japan in the 20s, as places where to go, get a drink and listen to jazz music, at the time when imported jazz records were way to expensive for ordinary people. In a very Japanese fashion, these minimalist bars prioritized the experience of listening to music in intimate and peaceful spaces, …
After a few years visiting bars, I have developed a sort of an instinct: when I enter a bar, especially if I am alone, I can tell whether that will be a memorable evening or not. It has to do with the energy in the place, the "partner in crime" smile of the bartender, the …
If it is true (and I believe it is) that quality of life is mostly about expectations, it must not be easy for a bar such as the Wax On to live up to its short history. Voted 2023 “Best New Bar of the Year” and 2024 “Bar of the Year – Germany” at the …
Let's start from this: the Marlene Bar in Chisnau, apart from being most probably the best place in town for good drinks, is one of the best bars I vistited EVER (and you know I am normally quite difficult to impress...). The place is so pleasant in many ways that, after a few cocktails, it …
Piumazzo is a tiny village between Modena and Bologna: a church, a bunch of houses and fields all around. In such a place one would expect the typical countryside bar, in Italian "il bar di paese", with a few old fellows sipping their Camparis or bianchetto (white wine). On the contrary, in Piumazzo something unusual …
Pharmarium is, according to the Google oracle, one of the best cocktail bars in Stockholm. I tried it, and it is actually very true. Placed in a small square in Gamla Stan (old town) in front of the Nobel Museum, the bar occupies the same building where once stood Stockholm’s first pharmacy, opened in 1575. The …
The Martini Hour 