The Garden Room at The Lanesborough hotel, Knightsbridge

The Garden Room at the Lanesborough hotel is one of the world’s most glamorous cocktail destinations. Darius Sanai celebrates the end of London’s lockdown with a glass of fine wine and a cocktail

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to be on the other side of the luxury hospitality industry? We love the service at the world’s great hotels and restaurants, from Lombok to London. But to be in the hospitality industry, to be serving demanding, wealthy, privileged, and often entitled customers literally 24/7?

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There are LUX readers who will know the answer, perhaps because they own a hotel or group of restaurants, or trained in the industry before becoming senior executives. From my own conversations (and my limited experience of working in the industry at a very low pay grade when I was younger) there is one thing that unites any institution with great service, and that is the love of providing great service. All those stories about staff going home and cursing and sticking pins in dolls of their customers? Not really, not in the greatest hotels and restaurants. You have to love what you do, however exhausting.

And that’s what I realised I had missed when walking through the doors of the Lanesborough in London last week, my first entry into a luxury hotel since last year, unprecedented in my current life. If you are fortunate enough to be able to stay and visit such establishments – not confined to marble and gold taps luxury, but anywhere at the peak of the hospitality industry – you will have missed being with people who genuinely love and get a thrill out of looking after their guests. This goes as much for the old couple who welcome you in to sit on a table (that’s right) in the mountains of northern Iran and treat you with a banquet of tea, local fruits and Petit Beurre biscuits as it does for a luxury hotel.

But if you are visiting a luxury hotel, there are very few that will give you better service than one of the Oetker Collection, comprising among others the Eden Roc, the Bristol in Paris, and the Lanesborough in London.

Read more: Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel on the emotional power of scent

Stepping into the doors of the Lanesborough, being ushered at a distance down the up-lit marble hallway to the grand stairs leading down towards the Garden Room – the outdoor space that they are now permitted to open – was, after London’s lockdown, a luxury experience in itself.

Even if you wouldn’t dream of smoking a cigar, you would be tempted by the cigar wall on your right downstairs and the subsequent cigar library – with delicious looking cigars dating back for decades – on your left as you enter the Garden Room.

It’s a kind of combination of a bar and a terrace. A short selection of excellent wines served in cut crystal glasses, heavy enough to make a thud when you put them down on your table. (Note to the sommelier: while each of the wines is superb in its own right, you have three Sauvignon Blancs as the first three wines on your list.) A Chablis Lechets Bernard Defaix was an excellent match to our dinner of crispy squid, very nutty homemade hummus, garden salads, and a sea bass with olive and tomato (and truffle fries) that flung us, metaphorically, to the Cote d’Azur in June.

This is a cocktail bar above all else, and a virgin mojito (always a hard drink to make brilliantly, without the balance of the Havana Club) was sweet-sour mint perfection.

And the service: it felt like the staff had been waiting for months of gruelling lockdown just to get back to work – which may or may not be true, but they made us feel it was true, which is the suspension of belief of every luxury experience.

The Garden Room may not be for the stogiephobic – although semi-outside, it has the waft of well-aged Havanas in its DNA – but aside from that it is a London destination, now reopened, with glamour. That’s what we have been missing, and as glamour is almost by definition provided by other people, it’s impossible to recreate at home in a lockdown. The Garden Room has it by the magnum.

Find out more: oetkercollection.com/hotels/the-lanesborough/

There’s a whole lot more to Bali than makeshift beach bars and hippy zone-outs. Make like a dude with ANDREA SEIFERT’s guide to the island’s spectacular cocktail hotspots

1. KAKILIMA BY THE SEA, CANGGU

This charming, family-friendly seaside spot in Canggu sits on an expansive grassy lawn that gently slopes down to meet the sparkling water. Fast becoming known as the hotspot for sundowners, the postcard-perfect sunsets have to be seen to be believed and are best enjoyed with a pitcher of Kakilima’s signature sangria. The extensive menu of Mediterranean-inspired fare offers beautifully presented tapas, fresh seafood, an excellent mahi-mahi burger and the best pork ribs in town. On weekends, you’ll find acoustic live music and a crackling bonfire to add to the atmosphere.

2. TOWNHOUSE, SEMINYAK

Renowned New York nightlife impresario Mark Baker has brought a hip, new multi-concept five-story space that is drawing Bali’s in crowd day and night. Raw food enthusiasts and art lovers can peruse the ground floor photo gallery and organic juice bar and then slip up to the roof garden terrace to take in the 360 degree panoramic views. Dinner is served at Bistro, a welcome precursor to bespoke cocktails and dancing in the sleek, opulent third and fourth floor lounge. thetownhousebali.com

3. OLD MAN’S, CANGGU

Old Man’s is a barefoot beach bar with a view of one of the busiest surf breaks in Bali, which just happens to be called Old Man’s. Bamboo, surfboards, Lucas Grogan murals, dogs and kids make this quite the interesting scene. Pop in any time for an easy menu of staples for the beach – baby coconut juices with bircher muesli in the morning, and a mixture of Balinese and Western favourites to fill you up once out of the surf. Live music, sunset DJs and a relaxed vibe will have you dancing here for hours. facebook.com/oldmansbali

4. MOTEL MEXICOLA, SEMINYAK

Head south of the border to a quirky, rainbow-hued riot of Latin tunes and tasty tacos. Every night at Motel Mexicola is a fiesta in the retro tropical surrounds, filled with candle shrines, floral table clothes, bright artworks, rosaries, knickknacks, and twinkly lanterns. Food is as flavourful as the decor, and it doesn’t get any more authentic than the pork rib, a special recipe handed down to Chef Silverio by his Mexican granny. This is a place for merriment and margaritas. motelmexicolabali.com

5. BARBACOA, SEMINYAK

Hungry carnivores come to South American fusion bar/restaurant Barbacoa to feast on whole lamb and suckling pig, slow-roasted for eight hours over an open fire. The menu also features lighter options like Peruvian snapper ceviche and grilled octopus, which can be washed down with a cold bottle of white from their wine cellar. The grand, airy fit-out marries urban exposed brick with colourful floor tiling, and the mezzanine level is home to a tequila bar with low Chesterfields overlooking the serenity of a rice paddy field, a rare sight in urbanised Seminyak. barbacoabali.com