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London’s Dandelyan bar to close after four years
Dandelyan, Ryan Chetiyawardana’s acclaimed botany-inspired bar housed within the Mondrian Hotel, is closing its doors after four years, during which it was crowned the world’s best cocktail bar.
Announcing the decision to close the bar on Instagram, Chetiyawardana, also known as Mr Lyan, wrote: “It feels fitting on our 4th birthday to kill off our now-eldest venue”.
Since opening in 2014, Dandelyan has picked up a string of accolades including twice winning the world’s best cocktail menu at the Spirited Awards (2018 and 2016). It was named the world’s best cocktail bar last year and is ranked as second best on the World’s 50 Best Bars 2017.
Chetiyawardana continued: “The idea for Dandelyan is way older than 4 – it has its roots in White Lyan and my old biology days. We were so glad it was relevant when it was around.
“It would be a disservice to these amazing people, and to what we have created together to continue when we think the landscape, and the conversation, has shifted. There’s so much I think we can do, and so much we want to challenge, discuss and create in this industry that, like with White Lyan, it makes sense to burn it down, start afresh, and rise again as something brighter, shinier and more fitting of where we’re (all) now at”.
He continued that he didn’t want to be asked what’s next, but added: “Now it’s time to pull out the real weird stuff. Here’s to keeping it weird”.
Chetiyawardana also noted that he would be keeping the space at the hotel.
As alluded to above, this is not the first time that the cocktail maverick has closed one of his bars.
In 2016 Chetiyawardana announced the closure of White Lyan in Hoxton, a bottled, closed-loop cocktail bar which he opened alongside co-owner Ian Griffiths in 2013.
After receiving a makeover, the venue reopened under the name ‘Super Lyan’ in White Lyan’s basement, featuring a list of curated spirits, beers, wine and cocktails on rotation that guide guests according to their taste, palates and even their moods.
Having undergone refurbishment itself, Super Lyan is set to reopen tonight and house a BlackTail NYC pop-up.
In 2017, Chetiyawardana opened a drinks-led restaurant above the Super Lyan bar, called Cub, with chef Doug McMaster zero-waste restaurant Silo based in Brighton and food scientist Arielle Johnson.
The 35-cover venue, which blurs the boundaries of food and drink by approaching them as a united entity, is only open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings.
Read more:
LONDON’S DANDELYAN NAMED WORLD’S BEST COCKTAIL BAR
LONDONERS WANT MORE COCKTAILS, BUT LESS BOOZE, SAY BARTENDERS