Lyaness

Ryan Chetiyawardana, universally known as Mr Lyan, has spent two decades quietly redefining what a cocktail bar can be. Lyaness is the current expression of that project. Situated inside the Sea Containers London hotel on the South Bank, it looks over the Thames with an unhurried confidence that suits the vision perfectly.

The menu changes annually and is built around a handful of hero ingredients, each chosen for flavour depth and story. The approach is ingredient-forward rather than spirit-forward: instead of gin or whisky anchoring a drink, you find a specific variety of honey, a fermentation of a local fruit, or a distillation of something most bars have never considered putting in a glass. It is not experimental for its own sake. Every choice leads back to taste.

The bar itself is warm and genuinely welcoming in a way that luxury hotel bars often fail to be. Staff know the menu with genuine depth and can explain the background of any ingredient without making the conversation feel like a lecture. Lyaness is also one of the few high-end London bars where solo drinkers feel completely at ease at the bar. The views of the Thames from the window seats are worth mentioning once, appreciated many times.

This is the bar we take people to when they want to understand the direction the best cocktail programmes in London are moving. Alongside The Connaught Bar, it represents a different but equally serious approach to the craft.