Seeing Double

written by Greg Nasmyth on Tuesday 8th of March 2011
If you just happen to be a premiership footballer who has become disgruntled with their current club’s lack of ambition by failing to expend vast sums of money on new talent, then you may want to consider the latest offering from those lovely people at the May Fair Hotel. Showing no such lack of ambition, London’s foremost fashionable destination has just unveiled its latest weapon against the doom and gloom of the year 2011, the austerity-busting Bar 150.  

While cynics amongst you may say that all the proprietors have done is roped off one end of a bar already the destination of choice for every hedge fund worker in Mayfair, you’d be right. So what’s the difference between one side of the velvet rope to the other? Well, if you haven’t worked it out yet, the bar’s name refers to the liquid volume of a magnum of champagne, which yep, is the bare minimum order. So unless you are willing to splash out the £300 for a magnum of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs or £3000 for a jeroboam of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1999 you may just want to stay the other side of said rope. 

And if you do cross the line, not to worry, there’s a bespoke floor-to-ceiling chilled glass cabinet bestriding the center of the 150’s seating area to remind you exactly what you’re missing. Stacked-up like candy are a selection of some of the great vintages the Champagne region has to offer, including such heavy weights as a 1998 Vintage Rosé Dom Pérignon, a stately Krug Grande Cuvée, and if you fancy something with a bit more bling to impress your entourage and hangers-on, why not the magnum of Moët & Chandon Imperial with personalized Swarovski crystals?  

If you have just clinched the Premiership, however unlikely that is looking down the King’s Road at present, or shorted the national debt of a PIG and fancy celebrating an entire sovereign state’s forthcoming default, why not opt for the Don Pérignon Vintage 2000 Menu. Along with your 12 Magnums, you get to choose from a selection of canapés specially created by Chef Patron of the Quince restaurant May Fair Hotel, Silvena Rowe. Though the half-Bulgarian, half - Turkish Rowe insists she’s not much of a drinker, she has created a mouth-watering assortment of sympathetically-paired eats, includes such taste busters as cumin crusted halibut on avocado humous and lobster tail and tropical salsa with cumin-flavoured crème fraîche, all specially created to compliment the fresh, crystalline and sharp flavours of a vintage without compare.

If champagne is not your cup of tea, then opt for the Belvedere Vodka Infusion Experience. Two magnums of Belvedere Pure with a selection of mixers and, most importantly, a designated personal mixologist to ensure your favourite cocktails are not only plentiful, but perfectly delivered.