Shake It Up

An innovative mixologist brings his unique sensibility to two London hotel bars

- Nicholas DeRenzo

IMAGINE A LONDON hotel bar and you might picture gleaming martini carts or waistcoated bartenders in a wood-paneled room. But one man is mixing up the formula with a pair of drinking dens that are wholly unique in their approaches. Ryan “Mr. Lyan” Chetiyawardana, a Birmingham-raised son of Sri Lankan immigrants, became an international sensation when his Dandelyan topped the 2018 World’s 50 Best Bars list—before promptly shutting down. Its home on the south bank of the Thames, the Mondrian London, was reborn as the Sea Containers hotel, and he unveiled Lyaness there in 2019. The bar’s latest menu concept, British Cookbook, is centered around five core ingredients, each of which show up in three different cocktails: malt and grass amazake (a Japanese fermented rice drink), oyster-infused honey, green sauce liqueur, fruit furikake (a Japanese condiment, made here with British seaweed) and blood curaçao—which, yes, is made with pig’s blood.