In praise of ... Martinis

I have a fondness for Martini cocktails.  I love the beautiful elegance of the glass cone of the glasses, the retro pleasure of the olive or twist of lemon sitting in the dangerously strong clear liquid.  If you want to known how to make them, one of the best books is apparently "A Fine Art of Mixing Drinks" by David A Embury from 1958 - the decade of cocktails if ever there was one.

However, it is a simple drink and it must be done well or not at all.  We've had delicious blackberry martinis with lavender at 1 Aldwych, strong clear ones with olives at the Mandarin Oriental.  However, the very best to date has to be at Dukes Bar.

On Saturday evening, after a supper of salad and Le Rustique with rye bread and slightly burnt red peppers, O and I walked down to St James to the tiny Bar in Dukes, where we had the most beautiful Martinis, with twists of fresh Italian lemon, filling the gin with the scent of lemon oil.  They are made up in front of you by the white jacketted barman, on a wooden cocktail trolley dating from 1910.  Apparently they won't serve three for the risk of sending inebriated patrons into the street.  But there was to be no three-martini lunch for me - one was quite enough.

However, the very best of all apparently, will have to wait until October.  On New Year's Even last year, when the snow had still enwrapped London, O, T and H had gone down to the bar to see in the New Year.  It was the season of Alba Madonna (white truffles), and they had been Martinis infused with fresh white truffle.  How amazing is that?  But the season only starts in October, so we shall return then.

Temporarily lost in the Evil Empire 

supermarket on the way to 1 Aldwych ...

And at the end of the rainbow ... 

a Lavender and Blackberry Martini