Mr Lyan aka Ryan Chetiyawardana is London’s leading mixologist.
A scientist with a snappy dress sense and a fresh approach to cocktails, over the years he’s built up bars only to tear them down at their height, like some boozy oligarch. Before Lyaness there was White Lyan, Super Lyan and Dandelyan, the latter of which was declared the ‘World’s Best Bar’ mere months before Chetiyawardana closed it to open Lyaness in the same location.
A Thames-facing spot within design-forward hotel Sea Containers London, the powder-blue room is lush and cosy, with a deep green serpentinite bar and windows looking directly out onto the river.
Expect a blend of ‘fun, clarity and deliciousness’ – their words – from the cocktail list, which features ingredients that run the gamut from intriguing to downright challenging, though always outrageously tasty.
Themed around collaboration in all its various forms, the most recent edition of the yearly-changing drinks menu incorporates such barmy concoctions as a ‘brainless melon curaçao’, made by inoculating cantaloupe and honeydew melons with penicillium, and ‘leather soda’, created by
The bar’s innovative outlook recently earned it the Best Cocktail Menu award from the World’s 50 Best Bars, and last year it was named the first-ever 3 PIN bar, awarded by the Pinnacle Guide – which is kind of like the Michelin Guide for bars.
Drink this
Our favourite drink on the current menu – and, believe us, we pretty much tried them all – is the Moo Reed, a fruity whisky punch made with (among other things) Teeling Single Malt and smoked camel milk that’s been fermented with kefir for a yoghurty, caramel funk.
Nearby
The bar is sandwiched between two great cultural institutions, the Tate Modern and the Southbank Centre, so you’ve got all the theatre, film, music and art you could ever want within stumbling distance.
Time Out tip
As your bartender some questions! Lyaness takes a pretty unconventional approach to menu research, beginning with the story behind each drink rather than the ingredients or processes it incorporates. From Great Ormond Street Hospital’s work with the ‘dynamic efficiency’ experts at Ferrari to a joke Crowdfunder campaign to make a potato salad that snowballed into an entire festival, the latest menu is inspired by some weird and wonderful takes on the concept of collaboration, and part of the experience of ordering a drink here is hearing the story that inspired it. If nothing else, you’ll come away with some pretty cool anecdotes.
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