The buzz: Can a hotel bar get over being a hotel bar? That’s Glen’s ambition. A different kind of live entertainment, bold décor, serious whisky list, net prices: Glen wants you, the sophisticates, to take over—not just insomniac hotel guests.
The décor: The ceilings are high, dark and held up by stark gray walls slashed with light filtered through blocky openings. Closer to the ground, pure-white landing strip lights fade on and off at the end of steel rods set amid glowing blocks of striped jade-colored glass. Half Gothic palace, half sci-fi bunker, Glen’s Blade Runner-esque grandeur is impossible to resist.
The music: Human jukeboxes will be flown in to sing, to mingle with patrons and elicit requests from them. The promise made is that anything from Sinatra to Madonna will be possible. Beyond that, the idea is to create a real bond between you and the entertainer, so no sending the waitress to deliver your request. Actually, you’re even encouraged to drink on the piano—go screw up that black varnish with your single cask, you won’t get reprimanded. Starts at 8pm, six times a week.
The crowd: Thirty-five up—and the wives are invited, for once.
Price: Some 50 single malt/single cask whiskies, B190-4,400 (B250-5,720 after 9pm), by the glass. Cocktails B250-290 (B300-380 after 9pm). House wine—red, white, or sparkling—B150 (B200 after 9pm).
Why you’ll come back: You’ll probably be buddies with the lady in the satin gown singing by the piano after your third Highland Park 40 Single Cask at her side. If you’re too shy, or don’t like to stand, the décor and connoisseur’s drink list should do the trick.
