Lyaness

Ryan Chetiyawardana, better known as Mr Lyan, has built a career on rethinking what cocktails can be. Lyaness, his bar at the Sea Containers hotel on the South Bank, is the latest expression of that philosophy, and it's brilliant. The concept revolves around a set of house-made ingredients that form the backbone of every drink on the menu. These aren't simple syrups or infusions, they're complex, technique-driven creations like "green sauce" (a savoury-herbal concentrate) or "infinite banana" (a sustainable approach to banana that uses the entire fruit). Each ingredient appears in multiple cocktails, creating a menu that reads like a flavour exploration. The space itself is stunning. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out over the Thames, and the interior strikes a balance between hotel-bar polish and genuine warmth. The curved bar is the best seat in the house. The cocktails are consistently surprising.

Drinks that sound strange on paper, savoury gimlets, banana-forward rum cocktails, arrive and immediately make sense. The bartenders are passionate about explaining the ingredients and happy to guide you through the menu. Prices are hotel-bar level, but the drinks justify it. The innovation here isn't gimmicky, it's genuinely pushing cocktail culture forward. If you care about where cocktails are going, Lyaness is essential drinking.