There is a maxim in food and drink that the best places to go are those where they know you, but the truth of this depends entirely on who does the recognising — I once walked into pub and the bastard landlord hurdled his bar, then attempted to throttle me for having written that his pub was ugly (it is). Nice to be spotted, but I’d prefer if it didn’t come with a side of GBH.
They know me at the Stafford, getting in contact the first time several years ago after I’d affectionately compared the (then) somewhat-dated room to my late aunt’s sitting room. But instead of vaulting over the cocktail shakers with mean intentions, they promptly closed for a refurb. A beautiful job; it came back refreshed, replenished and restored in the gentlest of ways, a very British revolution for an American bar. And so I went back, and have done ever since, along the way making friends with bar director Benoit Provost — now in his 31st year at the hotel — and director of mixology, Salvatore Megna. Both men, who have seen me at my best but shamefully also at my martini-afflicted worst, are some of the kindest and gentlest sorts working in the industry today. They are also two of its most talented.
