Photo: Julian Abrams
A brand new cocktail bar at Pan Pacific London, Silverleaf was launched as a project from Chris Tanner and Martyn “Simo” Simpson of Milroy’s, and former Callooh Callay bar manager Liam Broom.
The bar is situated in the 144-year-old Devonshire House, accessed by a separate entrance to the hotel as one of the first independent cocktail bars to be part of a luxury hotel’s offering. Silverleaf is dedicated to giving guests a full sensory experience, from the décor designed in collaboration with Design Research Studio – the agency at the heart of Tom Dixon – to the drinks menu with cocktails divided by a symbolic language through flavour profiles, represented through geometric colour profiles. On paper the drinks menu sounds mildly pretentious, but it actually works and the drinks are simply exceptional.
Inside, the space is festooned with bespoke lighting, furniture and accessories, with materials selected to mirror the elements’ core natural and tactile qualities, such as blackened hot rolled steel, marble, charred timber, and salt-glazed British bricks. The long bar built from split-rock edge face marble is a particular interior standout, as are the tables carved from solid marble blocks.
At Silverleaf, each drink champions just two or three key ingredients, with progressive processes used to enhance flavour profiles and create in-house ingredients which are clarified and pre-batched.
With all cocktails priced at £15, highlights from the Silverleaf menu include the likes of a peach and toasted cream cocktail comprising of Michter’s bourbon, toasted cream, puffed rice, and lacto peach, or the Heartlead Martini based with Haku vodka, plus dry vermouth, heartleaf, and ‘seaside distillate’ – a homemade, cold-distilled kombu lending a gorgeous clean, savoury note to the drink. Elsewhere, the Strawberry/Lapsang cocktail is particularly well-balanced with the smokiness of lapsang working in harmony with Nikka Days, verjus, and just a whisper of sweet strawberry water. Another must-try.
On the launch of Silverleaf, Chris Tanner says: “When the opportunity arose to open a cocktail bar in partnership with Pan Pacific London, we leapt at the chance, as it has allowed us a new channel for creativity. We’ve taken the elements that we know work – curation, hospitality, and training – and applied them to a diverse cocktail offering, opening up the possibilities of what we’re able to do away from whisky.”
Anne Golden, General Manager at Pan Pacific London added: “Our vision was for a destination bar that would showcase warm hospitality with creativity and would bring something different to this wonderful part of the city, enjoyed by locals and hotel guests alike. When we met Simo and Chris, we knew we’d found the right people with a passion to bring a unique cocktail offering to our already diverse food and beverage portfolio.”
Silverleaf can be found at 80 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7AB.
Related: Bar of the Week: Lyaness
This article was updated on Friday 25th February, 2022.
