Lyaness has built a reputation as one of the world’s most boundary-pushing cocktail bars, known for its creative use of in-house made ingredients (remember the infamous Infinite Banana?) and a dedication to flavour innovation. There’s almost an irony in this award-winning team creating a menu on collaboration, as if they are capable of anything but.  The Lyaness team are the essence of collaboration - working together on each menu for over a year in what we imagine to be the most bizarre and hella fun geeky workshop where discoveries like fields of cows who are played music by Lou Reed are discussed and turned into drinks.  But would we expect anything less from the stellar team led by Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan), the guy who’s been rewriting the cocktail rulebook for over a decade?

 
So, the new collaboration menu. Think of it as a journey through unexpected partnerships and flavour fusions.  Koji and KitKat, Lego and MIT.  You get it - it’s weird and exciting.  They’ve delved into the vision behind why things are made and this drives the narrative of the cocktail, creating a lineup that's as thought-provoking as it is palate-pleasing. Each cocktail tells a story of synergy; Ryan explains it as a concept of 1 + 1 equals 3 where by exploring the relationship between two things creates a whole new avenue for exploration.

New serves include the Moo Reed, which was born from 'the cows who listen to Lou Reed' madness and honours the unexpected harmonies found in nature.  It infuses Teeling Single Malt whiskey with smoked camel milk (yes camel milk, you can get it in Asda apparently), hummingbird nectar, grass and lemon.  It’s creamy, it’s earthy, it’s wholy unexpected.

 
The Atsushi Sour jazzes up the classic White Lady (which as classics go can be a bit… meh) combining Hendrick's Gin, moscato and sudachi citrus with 'brainless melon curaçao'—a mixture of milk, melons and penicillium candidum, the fungus responsible for the creamy texture of brie and camembert.  Messing about with live fungus isn’t for the faint-hearted but this funkiness gives the drink a totally different depth of flavour, nothing meh about it. 

Love a highball? Digital Fruit is for you, featuring Johnnie Walker Black with sour raspberry, paperback kombucha and leather soda.  It’s a slightly smokey yet refreshing highball that packs a punch.  We reckon one of the heroes is the Vantapink Gimlet, a neon pink concoction of The Botanist gin, spite cordial, fermented nettles and rhubarb- which is "not available to Anish Kapoor," referencing the art world feud over exclusive colour rights. Out of our art world knowledge depth? Absolutely. But this is what the team do so well - weave in these narratives and rock up to your table to explain it all to you, it has you thinking you're a little bit smarter with every cocktail. 

Off the hard stuff?  Non-alcoholic options are taken seriously here. The fact that the drinks are led by concept and explorative flavours first, with the spirit complimenting this, creates room for brilliant alcohol-free versions. Sans booze they've swapped in something that still gives you the flavour and experience of the concept behind the drink.

So, if you're ready to go deep on a weird and wonderful flavour journey whilst sitting pretty on those blue velvet banquettes and peeping out at St Paul’s, make your way to Lyaness. It’s bucket list stuff.