Lyaness — Restaurant in London

A Michelin-Star Experience in Cocktail Form

Visiting London with my dad from NYC, we’re always on the hunt for unique experiences—and Lyaness absolutely delivered. My parents had seen a CBS Morning segment featuring Mr Lyan, and my mom insisted we visit while my dad and I were in town to see the NY Jets in the NFL London game (Let’s just say the cocktails earned a far better review than the Jets’ performance that day).

In the weeks leading up to our trip, my dad could not stop talking about one thing: camel milk as a cocktail ingredient.

The Drinks - We can totally see why this place is considered the Michelin 3-star equivalent of cocktail bars. The drinks were smooth, balanced, and just the right amount of funky. But what truly elevates Lyaness is the experience—from reading through their novel-like menu in the eclectic hotel setting to the exceptional staff service (more on that in a moment).

Multiple lovely staff members took time to answer our questions and explain the flavor profiles of special ingredients. One server, Stevie, introduced herself with a handshake, asked our names, and we shared the story of my parents seeing the CBS segment, how my mom wished she could be here, and my dad’s excitement about the camel milk.

Neither my dad nor I are scotch drinkers, so we were slightly disappointed to discover the camel milk drink (Moo Reed) was scotch-based. After reading the beautifully detailed menu and consulting with the staff, we played it relatively safe with our first round—I chose a gin-based cocktail with herbaceous notes I knew I’d enjoy, and my dad went for an Old Fashioned variation.

After tasting how smooth and complementary all the ingredients and spirit pairings were, I felt emboldened to try a scotch-based cocktail for round two. I had my eye on a different one (not the camel milk), but encouraged my dad to finally order the Moo Reed he’d been talking about for weeks. Shocker: he’s more set in his ways than I am and stuck with another "safe choice".

Am I suddenly a scotch drinker? Because my second drink was even better than the first! Even my dad admitted, “Yeah, I could drink this.”

The Service That Stole the Show - After two rounds, we asked for the bill. When Stevie brought it over, she handed us a copy of the book-like menu (we’d asked earlier about purchasing one for my mom) with a note tucked inside. She also handed us two takeaway coffee cups—and yes, you guessed it they contained the Moo Reed cocktail my dad had been obsessing over but was too skeptical to order.

As we left, the entire bar and waitstaff waved, smiled, and wished us a safe journey home. Needless to say, Stevie and the whole team went above and beyond. And the punchline? My dad ended up loving the Moo Reed most of all.

If you’re looking for an unforgettable cocktail experience in London, Lyaness is absolutely...

The Lyaness is the latest bar from the award-winning Mr Lyan (Ryan Chetiyawardana). Situated on the ground floor of the Sea Containers Hotel we visited to try out their Fancy cocktail afternoon tea.

Lyaness aims to bring a cook’s approach to cocktails and flavour creation and focuses on sustainability and innovation. The menu is based on their search and creation of unusual ingredients for their drinks and paired with food.

The electric blue interior and small intimate tables make a lovely setting for afternoon tea.

Their twist on the classic afternoon tea certainly makes it one of the more unique cocktail afternoon tea in London experiences. Each course has a unique ingredient creation with a paired cocktail (£58pp). If you don’t fancy the paired cocktails you can opt for champagne (£48) or no alcohol (£38).

We started off our Fancy Tea with a Glasshouse Spritz: ultra-raspberry, cherry tomato, bubbles. This was a gorgeous baby pink colour with glitter sparkles on the glass. It was light and refreshing – a perfect way to begin the experience. We were also offered a selection of teas including English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey, and Chamomile Flowers as well as coffee.

The sandwiches and savouries arrived together paired with another cocktail – the Carter Cobbler infinite banana, grey goose, green tea Bianco. The mix was perfect and the flavours subtle.

We loved the selection of sandwiches and savouries which differed from the norm. The roast beef on focaccia, rosemary mayonnaise & rocket was our favourite and the sausage roll were just AMAZING. The devilled eggs were a lovely touch as well. The texture of the Watercress coronation sweet potato & squash, crispy shallots & baby gem on walnut bread was slightly odd but tasty nonetheless.

This was followed by another light cocktail – the Jasmine Gimlet – with purple pineapple, Bombay sapphire, jasmine, citrus Cordia. This was served with pineapple upside down scone, clotted cream and cherry jam.

Although the pineapple upside down scone was great, we do still prefer normal scones as the clotted cream and jam naturally compliments it better. The other sweet treats of sunflower salt tea cake, strawberry & mascarpone Éclair and fruit trifle had intricate detail and were beautifully presented.

The final cocktail was the Cold Brew Palmetto with Havana 3 rum, cold brew tea, peach. This was a lot stronger than the other cocktails but was a good digestif after the meal.

Lyaness offers an amazing cocktail afternoon tea in London and one people will no doubt start raving about. The menu is well thought through and executed and offers a unique twist on the norm. Given cocktails are usually around £13, we also think it is great value! The staff were friendly and enthusiastically told us about each section of the afternoon tea...

This bar is one of my favourite bars in London. Every time I have people over I bring them here for drinks. Every time, I have an amazing time, great service and drinks. This time it was halloween, Tuesday night, I had two of my friends over. We were in fancy dress (being Halloween). We had some reservations for the evening, and our first stop was Lyaness. We travelled all the way from Esher in Surrey. Upon arrival, the receptionist of the hotel and the 2 security guards were very welcoming and polite to us, complimenting our outfits. We entered the bar, the waiter again complimented our outfits. It's also 10pm by the way and there's maybe 3 tables in the venue max. Before we were seated, a very rude, seemed-to-be manager called Antonio, said no fancy dress which was very humiliating. It's halloween, its 10pm, we just wanted to have 1 drink and move on to the next venue. He carried on being rude saying "it's our policy", there wasn't any "no I'm so sorry guys, have one drink"... Instead he said, if I let you in I would have to let everyone in... I was thinking it's 10pm, no one is gonna come in. I practically was begging the guy to let us have 1 drink, its just ridiculous. I get it's company policy, but it's Halloween, make an exception when it's not even busy and I explained that we were there for a drink. Even his colleague was trying to persuade him to let us have 1 drink. Normally I don't write bad reviews, I call up and explain my opinion but this time I was too humiliated. We had reservations afterwards at Artesian cocktail bar which I called up actually and they said "fancy dress is okay, its halloween at the end of the day". I obviously made a mistake not calling you guys before, but I thought if Artesian was okay with it so would everyone else. Unfortunately, I will not be returning because I feel like you could have really made an exception. I'm 38 years old, I don't go out that often so when I do I really plan it and plan a great night, and I wouldn't have paid a taxi all the way there for this. I've attached a picture of my bill at the Artisan. We had an amazing time there, great cocktails, they loved us so much that they gave us a drink and a shot on the house, we tipped everyone and overall it was a great experience and it's a shame that it wasn't the same at...