Given how much we, or at least I, love martinis - it's a mystery as to how it took so long to get around to trying those at Dukes. Because, if you didn't know it already, the St James hotel has forged quite the reputation as purveyor of the best in town.

What Dukes has going for it, in spades, is history. It used to be the favoured watering hole of the James Bond creator, Ian Fleming. Legend has it that the author came up with Bond's catchphrase 'shaken not

Another new bar is heading for the City as the people behind Darbaar are set to open a new bar called Lotus. This was previously part of the restaurant itself and now it'll have a menu of spice-infused spirits and Indian twists on classics. Chef-patron Abdul Yaseen has also created a fresh menu of Royal-inspired dishes to accompany all the new booze.

Starting with those cocktails, they're

These days you don't need to travel the world to visit the best bars - they're all coming to London. Dead Rabbit is coming to Claridge's and now The Bloomsbury Club Bar (BCB) is bringing in cult Sydney bar The Baxter Inn for a bar residency this month, which kicks off on Wednesday 24th

 In honour of World Cocktail Day, Saturday 13 May, we asked the Hot Dinners Drinks Editor, Louis Fernando, to select a shortlist of five cocktails you should try. Here's what he came up with...

Knockout cocktails, coffee and plentiful Italian cuisine

For London’s top cocktail bars, innovation and experience is often a key differentiating factor. Jason Atherton’s Michelin-starred restaurant and bar, City Social is set to raise this bar once again, announcing the world's first augmented reality cocktail menu.  

Due to launch this June, the cocktail menu, entitled MIRAGE features 12 cocktails which are then enhanced via a

It's not long now until big new Shoreditch hotel, The Curtain opens, bringing with it Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster. And now we've news that the drinks should be just as special, led by Iain Griffiths and Kelsey Ramage.

Most recently in charge of the drinks at wastED this year, with their anti-waste Trash Tiki and both part of the Mr Lyan empire, they'll be in charge of drinks at the main restaurant, the

Ex-Beaufort Bar head bartender heads east

It’s all change at White Lyan. Ryan Chetiyawardana and Iain Griffiths created ripples throughout the bartending community when they first opened White Lyan in 2013, serving a menu of entirely pre-batched cocktails made with no ice or citrus. The groundbreaking Hoxton bar will undergo a two-phase transformation which begins on Friday 14th April with the launch of Super Lyan.

This will see the

If you hadn't already read our headline you'd be forgiven for thinking this rather rustic scene was a trattoria somewhere south of Naples. But, no, it's actually the basement bar of Gordon Ramsay's Union Street Cafe in Southwark.

The place has been completely transformed into an olive grove complete with olive trees and vines and it's the fruit of the trees which is key to the experience. The restaurant has teamed up with Martini to make a special olive oil cocktail menu.

With so much happening in the world of London drinks of late, we’ve rounded up our selection of the best new bars and cocktail menus across the capital.

The very idea of a three martini lunch these days may be very rare indeed - but Hawksmoor are having none of that. Determined to bring back the boozy lunch they're adding three martinis to the lunchtime menu, teaming up with Hepple Gin and Valentine Warner. So if you fancy three stiffeners before lurching back to the office, here's what they're offering:

• Walter Riddell (Hepple Gin, Cocchi Americano, Jurançon &

TT Liquor, a cocktail bar, spirits shop and tasting room on Kingsland Road, Shoreditch is the latest establishment set to join the burgeoning East London bar scene. A veritabletheme park of boozenow open to the