Luxury has a new name. Luxury is a hotel, The Mandrake Hotel to be exact. Located in the heart of London’s West End in a converted RIBA award-winning building, this new hotel is unlike any other. It is a luxurious boutique establishment with more than a touch of the surreal to its design, stimulating soundscapes, and myriad of amenities offered. One of the (many) main attractions happens to be the Waeska Bar. The Bar, which features rare botanical-based cocktails, shares the hotel’s ambiance and is likewise decorated with magnificent objets d’art curated by the hotel’s owner, Rami Fustok.
From mostly small batch distillers across the globe, drinks are served from a talented, practiced team of mixologists, including Walter Pintus, the bar manager, who is both an undisputed master of mixology on the London bar scene and an award-winning bartender. Each cocktail delivers the Mandrake’s inimitable aesthetic—decadent, daring, and refined. Syrups, infusions, garnishes, and bitters are all crafted on site. Even the ice is specially sculpted. Even the cocktail names are matched to the hotel’s hedonistic theme. Every detail is accounted for. One of the drinks highlighted on the menu is the White Witch: a mix of truffle-washed vodka, white bitters, vermouth, and wattleseed tincture. Another such one is the Satyr, made with: Portobello gin, saffron syrup, citrus, dry sherry, and absinthe. Luxury is not only a hotel now, it is a bar: London’s new watering hole, the Waeska Bar.
