While I’m not a big drinker, I love a cocktail experience. There’s nothing more exciting than visiting a pretty, often intimately-lit, bar and trying concoctions made with the energy of a mad scientist and the hospitality of my boyfriend keeping me hydrated. Which was why, on a balmy Friday evening, I was eager to visit Lyaness, the 3 Pin-awarded bar located within Sea Containers, a hotel designed to nod to a 1920s transatlantic cruise liner.
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of its founder, Ryan Chetiyawardana AKA Mr Lyan - I’ve been to Seed Library, his subterranean, vinyl-led bar at One Hundred Shoreditch, four times and counting in the past year, and each time has presented with a mind-blowing flavour combination. Last month saw me drinking baked beans and loving it. However, Lyaness has long been on my hit list, piquing my curiosity due to the contrast between the former and the fact that it’s won so many awards.
A striking, marbled bar at the heart of the elegantly designed Lyaness (pictured).
DesignMyNight’s Review Of Lyaness On South Bank
Inside, the walls were an angelic shade of blue, offering a tranquil setting to relax and people watch through its floor-to-ceiling windows, which is exactly what my boyfriend and I did as the sun gleamed and kissed speckled marble tables and bounced off golden bannisters.
At our time of visit, the bar had recently done a three-part cookbook series and sought to continue playing on the theme that was at the heart of Lyan's bars: collaboration. Therefore, the drinks list was centred around pushing the idea of what a cocktail could be when ingredients cooperate, taking into account histories, geographies and demographics.
Fascinated and nervous, I placed my palate (and pending Saturday morning) in the hands of the bar and ordered a Cosmo Salad (£18), which featured Belvedere, pink sherry, bitterless aperitif, orange-sec and lemon. Admittedly, I didn’t start off crazy in the grand scheme of the menu, but I could taste the salad element to my drink, which was crazy. It had the familiarity of a cosmopolitan, but the fruitiness and freshness of a summer dish.
The Hitchhiker's Negroni and Cosmo Salad (pictured left) and a selection of bar bites to share.
My boyfriend sipped on a Hitchhiker's Negroni (£19), which was one of the smoothest, delicate negronis I’ve ever had. I famously live in fear of negronis nowadays after having a bad experience once, but I was pleased to find a lot of joy in this Patron Silver-based drink made up of ‘reverse time-travel flower vermouth’ and Campari. Was I travelling back in time myself and righting my negroni wrongs? I must’ve been, as I went on to order one for myself, where I discovered that the time travel element came from the team handrolling daisies to allow controlled oxidation and fermentation to take place.
To line our stomachs while we explored such a diverse selection of drinks, we chomped on blistered peppers (£9) in a welcoming tangy paprika marinade, gorgeous, zesty seabass ceviche tacos (£12) which were mouthfuls of flavour, and popcorn Buffalo chicken (£14) which came with some pickled celery. I regretted having dinner beforehand; otherwise, I would've inhaled the entire plate of those crispy, tangy nuggets. The food overall was better than I'd been expecting, especially when bar food can be limited to overly salty nuts and olives most of the time.
My next drink was the Diplomatico Planas rum-based Baloo-Za (£18), which took inspiration from tiki and included bear beer ‘paw paw’ (mango and banana fused together to create a tropical IPA), lion's mane, bearberry and sour pineapple. This was a tropical flavour bomb, and tasted just like a grown-up Solero; it was the type of drink I could imagine drinking six of, poolside, at a luxury resort.
Addictive and refreshing, as soon as the straw was pursed between my lips, it was gone in five minutes, the amount of time it took my partner to drink half of his Pitstop Fix (£18), featuring Port Charlotte 10 whisky, KitKat-so, tropical chilli, linden honey and lemon. The sourness was said to channel how ‘taking a break’ can lead to key discoveries, and how adjacent fields work well together. As my partner chomped on his dark chocolate garnish, he left me to embody the spirit of his drink’s ethos: resting while I discovered, thanks to my outstanding Baloo-Za, that I liked tiki flavours.
Enjoying the view before sipping on an Atsushi Sour (pictured right).
His No Spoon Old Fashioned (£19) was a much more sophisticated drink in terms of clarity and alcohol profile, as the Del Maguey mezcal, walnut honey, and purple bitters combined left an awakening and pleasant burn at the back of his throat.
I ventured in the other direction, delighting in the brilliantly fluffy Atsushi Sour (£17), which was made up of two different types of melon and had a cloudy head that took up the majority of the glass, made from milk protein. Usually, and especially in the beer department, a large head is a bad thing, but here, the happy accident during creation made the entire drink outstanding. It was how I’d imagine a chunk of cloud on a sunny day to taste.
Throughout our evening at Lyaness, the service and hospitality was immaculate - our waters were topped up consistently and waiters spoke to us with such earnest, knowledgeable smiles I couldn’t help but feel as though we were making friends, when I knew the only time we’d chat again would be within the confines of the bar, while I was drinking a cocktail made from eels or something.
Before we left, they implored us to drink a short version of their Moo Reed (£19), which was undeniably a dessert disguised as a drink. Sweet and slightly sickly, yet not in a sugar injection into your eyeballs way, it was deliciously caramely and malty. I couldn’t taste the Treeling Single malt, and thought the smoked camel milk was genius. I can’t say I’ve had hummingbird nectar in a drink before either. I can’t say I’ve had anything I had at Lyaness before, and that’s most certainly a brilliant thing.
Overall: Lyaness
Lyaness is a mighty force of a cocktail bar and one that wholly deserves its credentials from The Pinnacle Guide, World’s 50 Best Bars and more, and the price of the drinks reflects this too. My advice when approaching the drinks list would be to be open-minded, no matter how completely nuts the ingredients are, as you never know, you might find your new favourite cocktail. I can’t wait to return, if only for some more bear beer.
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💰 Price: £144 for two, excluding service charge and our complimentary shots. 📍 Address: Sea Containers, 20 Upper Ground, SE1 9PD. 👌 Perfect for: a date - there were so many couples there when we visited. ⭐ Need to know: the menu rotates frequently. If you find a favourite? Head back quickly. |
For more, check out our guide to
the best bars on South Bank.
