Shaken or Stirred? Neither.
Anika first heard of DUKES Bar from an American colleague, apparently they serve the best martinis. When she booked a dinner at Claridges with her friend Frances, she thought it would be wise to pop-into DUKES for a quick aperitif beforehand. The martinis were undeniably good (as were the accompanying snacks), but the unexpected long queue of Americans on the waiting list ahead of them meant they had to gulp their martini down in just a few minutes before dinner; and then found themselves a little more than tipsy before sitting down to a tasting menu with wine flight. This led Anika to have two key questions:
1. Why is this place so popular with Americans?
2. Why did I get so tipsy from one drink?
A bit of research quickly answers the first question. The New York Times rated DUKES Bar’s martinis as, “one of the world’s best.” Sir Ian Fleming was a regular there, and its where he allegedly coined the phrase, “shaken, not stirred.” For any James Bond tourist to London, this is a must-go place.
The answer to the second question came about when Fleurie asked Anika where she wanted to go for a drink on her birthday, and Anika wanted Fleurie to try these legendary martinis. With our quest to find the perfect version of each cocktail, we need to try them at their source, naturally. At over £20 a drink we were expecting we might have to do a bit of digging to find out the secrets to this artform. There is nothing to hide here. Alessandro Palazzi came out with his trolley, showed us exactly what he was doing, swishing around a few drops of vermouth into a martini glass.
Then he got out a super cold bottle of standard Plymouth gin (when we say super cold, it was practically in an ice block when he presented it to us). He then began to free pour the contents of the bottle into the glass, 5 units’ worth – we now had our answer to why this drink gets you drunk so easily. Finally, he garnished with a spritz and peel from an Amalfi lemon. Incredibly good.
We have of course since, especially during lockdown, recreated it ourselves at home. It is good but admittedly Alessandro has a magic touch that we can’t quite recreate. Alessandro has nothing to lose by sharing his legendary recipe because you can’t buy magic at the supermarket.
The bar itself has ambience, and plenty of variations on the classic drink too. So whilst it may seem silly to spend over £20 for someone to pour you one glass of a gin that costs £25 for the whole bottle, it’s worth every penny. Alessandro’s magic is priceless.
Stay salty af,
Anika & Fleurie