Bar Américain at Brasserie Zédel

Time Out says

Wed Jul 11 2012

A message to all aspiring publicans considering a leap on to the already overcrowded Prohibition/1930s-themed bar bandwagon: this is how you do it properly. And unless you’re opening in a building whose design was considered to be ‘a trifle dissipated and naughty’ even in 1935, it is always going to be a pale imitator of this spectacular new spot.

Brasserie Zédel is a new venture from the chaps behind the equally grand Wolseley and Delaunay, and is housed in the basement of the former Regent Palace Hotel, built in 1915 as the largest in Europe. Through a combination of restoration and careful modernisation, the brasserie, ‘Crazy Coqs’ cabaret room and this bar have been sensitively renovated to a spectacular series of gilded, panelled and geometrically rendered rooms that remind us how thrillingly energetic art deco can still be.

A short list of mixed drinks (‘classic’ and ‘house’) are faithful to the golden age of cocktails. There’s a martini, a manhattan and a mint julep, as well as a fabulous sazerac; fancier creations include a beautifully balanced Belle Zédel (with vodka, crème de myrtille, rose liqueur and rhubarb bitters among its constituents), or a spiky Spritz Américain, with champagne, grapefruit liqueur and bitters. They all cost £9.75 – even those charged with bubbly – and come with trays of olives and cashews. This, coupled with the close service and the fact you’ll be drinking in one of the most truly opulent bars in London, is excellent value. It doesn’t seem right to drink anything but cocktails in the Bar Américain, save perhaps champagne – and there are six of those by the glass, the priciest of which is Billecart-Salmon ‘Sous Bois’ at a decent £16.75.

It’s worth mentioning that this bar, prior to 1995, operated as Dick’s Bar, part of the Atlantic Bar & Grill. Aficionados of Dick’s will find it hard to tell the difference, it looks so similar to its Oliver Peyton incarnation. But a good look is best not messed with.