World’s 50 Best Bars 2018: Dandelyan claims top spot, days after announcing closure
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London has soundly thrashed the competition at the tenth annual World’s 50 Best Bars awards – just days after the winning bar announced plans to close.
Ryan Chetiyawardana’s Dandelyan, which sits on the riverside on the ground floor of the Mondrian Hotel, knocked the Savoy’s American Bar into second place as it climbed to the top of the list.
Chetiyawardana celebrated the bar’s fourth birthday on October 1 with an Instagram post announcing he was set to “kill off” the venue, adding: “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”.
The award-winning bartender said he was “totally elated” to win the accolade, telling the Standard: “It’s an overwhelming amount of emotions from something like this, but I’m also really excited for what we are about to do next.
“It’s such a wonderful celebration of all the hard work that has gone into what we’ve done, but I suppose it reinforces everything we believe in. We were excited to make this change. It was the appropriate time.”
He added: “There is amazing diversity here [in London] and it feels only appropriate to evolve what we do to reflect that. We should be really proud of the history and also the creativity that is here in the city.”
The World's 50 Best Bars 2018
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Despite losing famed head bartender Erik Lorincz – since replaced by Maxim Schulte – American bar manager Declan McGurk proved he’s the same steady pair of hands as always, helping London secure a one-two finish.
Singapore's Manhattan bar came in third, while the New York’s NoMad made fourth, pushing the Connaught Bar down one place from last year, to fifth. Still, the Connaught had reason to celebrate as they were awarded the Heering ‘Legend of the List.’
Soho bolthole Bar Termini, famed for its negronis, rose three places from the 2017 list to make sixth place. In total, four London bars made the top ten at the awards, which were sponsored by Perrier.
Still, London did well across the list with a total of 10 bars inside the top 50 – by comparison, New York managed just six.
Oriole in Smithfield market held steady as the world’s 17th best bar, with Bethnal Green’s excellent Coupette right behind it at 18. The rank marked Coupette’s debut on the list, which was also true for Matt Whiley’s Scout (28), Three Sheets (29) and Swift (46), which sits more or less opposite Bar Termini in Soho, making Old Compton Street arguably the greatest street in London to drink on – especially with pub favourite the Coach & Horses just around the corner.
Though the capital had a huge four new entries on the list, all were outdone by Hong Kong’s Old Man, which debuted at number 10, the highest new entry on the list.
Back in London, longstanding member of the top 50 club Happiness Forgets came in at number 35, dropping from 12 last year, but fared better than many of the list’s previous other favourites: Nightjar is no longer on the list while while Old St bar The Gibson, last year number 21 and number 6 in 2016, was nowhere to be seen.
Below are the list's top 10 bars in the world, as well as the additional London entries.
1. Dandelyan – London, UK
2. American Bar – London, UK
3. Manhattan – Singapore
4. The NoMad – New York, USA
5. Connaught Bar – London, UK
6. Bar Termini – London, UK
7. The Clumsies – Athens, Greece
8. Atlas – Singapore
9. Dante – New York, USA
10. The Old Man – Hong Kong, China
...
17. Oriole – London, UK
18. Coupette – London, UK
28. Scout – London, UK
29. Three Sheets – London, UK
35. Happiness Forgets – London, UK
46. Swift – London, UK
For more information, visit worlds50bestbars.com
Flick through our pick of London's best bars below.
The 10 best bars in London
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