The former beverage director at New York’s prestigious Eleven Madison Park, Pietro Collina, has joined Viajante87 in Notting Hill to launch a new cocktail concept, which will launch on September 5.
Collina, who also led the bar teams at the NoMad London, and the now closed Davies & Brook at Claridge’s, has joined Viajante87 founder Markus Thesleff to conceive a drinks list inspired by Latin America.
Also joining the group is brand manager Veronica Di Pietrantonio, who managed Mr. Lyan’s Dandelyan and Lyaness, and together the trio will “take guests on a journey,” using seasonal ingredients in drinks inspired by Argentina to Peru, Brazil to Mexico.
The new cocktail list will be divided into five sections, starting with “travel” before moving to “curiosity” and beyond. Ingredients used will include Brazilian seeds, Peruvian purple corn, and spirits from across the continent.
Among the highlights will likely be the glacier martini, inspired by the fjords in Patagonia, which calls for grapes and plums grown in the area, gin, and a “touch of glycerine to drop the temperature to below -20C”. The bar say it may be the coldest martini in London.
Another will be the ya está, a riff on the Last Word which combines tequila and Mexican sotol — a spirit derived from a local shrub — instead of the usual gin, lime, maraschino, and chartreuse.
Thesleff Group founder Markus Thesleff also boasts one of Europe’s largest private collections of agave spirits, and will make all of them available as part of the bar’s new menu.
Drinks will start at £15 and a snacks list will feature guacamole with teriyaki rice and a “fusion” that combines tacos and maki rolls.
