Hotel Missoni arrived in Edinburgh in 2009 in a blaze of publicity, self-conscious chic and fairy dust, although the branding only lasted around five years before the premises were transformed into G&V Royal Mile Hotel. Irrespective of the name above the door, the cocktail bar remains an all out aesthetic assault thanks to Italian fashion house sensibilities, clean whites, bold colours, and attention-grabbing fixtures and fittings.
Handily sited on the corner of the Royal Mile and George IV Bridge, this is about as central as the Old Town gets, with major attractions like Edinburgh Castle or the National Museum of Scotland just a few minutes’ walk away. Whether you’re a hotel guest, a local or an itinerant tourist, staff here are faultlessly friendly, experienced and easily capable of venturing away from the seasonal cocktail menu to left-field requests and lesser known classics. Their Bellini, as you’d expect, is very good indeed.
They’re a hard-working bunch at Bar G&V with their seasonally changing cocktail menu, cocktail master classes and a highly civilised aperitivo trolley appearing early in the week (Mon-Wed, 6-8pm). But it’s the sheer inventiveness of the drinks that ices the cake: the Sixteen for example involving port-blush single malt Scotch, heather honey, nettle vermouth and bitters. And there are some clever non-alcoholic cocktails, too.