Where to sip on the James Bond Martini
Dukes bar in London is legendary for its Martinis—it is where Ian Fleming would drink. People still come here to be shaken and stirred
A classic cocktail is the stuff of legend. Starting as a simple drink of its time, stories are woven around its origin, adding to its mystery. Finally, it attains cult status—reinvented, recreated but never irrelevant.
This is true of the Martini. My all-time favourite cocktail has been recreated a zillion times, but try as they may, the places that make it right are few. Which is why, on a recent trip to London, a pilgrimage to Dukes was mandatory.
The legendary bar at the Dukes Hotel, situated in a quiet cul-de-sac in the historic heart of London’s St James’ district, is known for its Martinis, including its now-iconic Vesper Martini. Here, it is believed, Ian Fleming would often visit and James Bond’s famous line about his preferred style of Martini (“shaken, not stirred") was conceptualised.
However, one must overcome the first challenge: finding a seat at the cosy bar. Dukes takes no reservations. Every guest must queue in the lobby for a table, no matter what their pedigree. The website suggests a smart casual dress code; leisurewear is actively discouraged. After a patient wait as I am finally ushered in, I find the surroundings understated and simple, much like the drink itself. The walls are sand-coloured, while low lighting and silk curtains underline the bar’s elegance. An old-fashioned mahogany bar dominates a corner; on the walls are photos and memorabilia, including one signed (unintelligibly) by either Fleming or Sean Connery. The three-man bar team is overseen by another legendary figure—head barman Alessandro Palazzi, whose storied career includes stints at The Ritz and George V in Paris and London’s Mandarin Oriental. Palazzi’s international fame (he belongs to UK’s Gin Guild and is Keeper of the Quaich) is well-earned.
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The signature cocktail at Duke’s is the classic gin-based Martini, prepared tableside in a wooden trolley by Dukes’ expert white-coated bartenders, along with the Bond-created Vesper, and several variants. The demand for Dukes’ cocktails is so high that guests have been known to book a room at the hotel in the anticipation it would bump them up the queue. At £26 a drink, the Martinis—the menu features 13 versions with more possible—are far from cheap, but sipping one is an experience that fans have created travel itineraries around. Little wonder that nearly 300 Martinis are consumed daily, despite the two-Martini limit per head.
During a Zoom chat with my spirits teacher Rose Brookman, founder of The Mixing Class, UK’s top WSET spirits course provider, we discuss Martinis. She believes that the sheer simplicity of the cocktail makes it difficult to replicate. “A Martini has two ingredients. It is so simple that it is hard to get ‘right.’ That is a good reason a cocktail endures and becomes a classic." The standard Martini might have started out as seven parts gin to one part vermouth, but it has come a long way since, she adds.
Fleming and friends
There is little doubt that the Ian Fleming connection is a major component of the mystique of Dukes. Fleming, a former intelligence officer turned writer, by all accounts, enjoyed his drinks as much as his fictional spy did.
Bond’s recipe for the original Vesper Martini as mentioned in the 1953 book Casino Royale consists of three measures of ice-cold Gordon’s gin, 1 measure of vodka, 1/2 measure of quinine-based Kina Lillet (the brand no longer exists so is usually replaced by dry vermouth or Lillet Blanc), shaken and served in a goblet with a thin slice of lemon peel. Over time, the original Vesper Martini was replaced in the Bond movies by the secret agent’s new preference, the vodka Martini.
Historically, the Martini has seen many passionate advocates, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ernest Hemingway to Winston Churchill. Did any frequent Dukes? Are there modern-day celebrities who have visited incognito? “We deliberately do not share that as it is the anonymity of not being spoken about that brings people back time and time again," the Dukes’ marketing team informs me. The buzz is that it remains the haunt of fashion and movie superstars and rockstars. Many cocktails boast Fleming-esque names—Le Chiffre, Odd Job, Tiger Tanaka, Goldeneye, Miss Moneypenny.
Dukes’ version of the Vesper, one of its highest-selling drinks, features Potocki vodka (a nod to the Polish female spy Vesper Lynd is allegedly modelled on) combined with the much-awarded London Dry No 3 gin—a gin with a high alcohol content, making the cocktail far more potent—plus a dash of angostura bitters and a spray of amber vermouth from London’s Sacred distillery. It is finished with a sliver of orange rind from Sevilla, shaved off the fruit tableside and swirled into the glass.
Dukes’ signature classic gin Martini, on the other hand, marries Plymouth gin, a spritz of Sacred’s extra dry vermouth from a crystal atomiser, with a twist of organic lemon zest from Italy’s Amalfi coast. For olive lovers, a request to replace the lemon with olives would be entertained.
I am now halfway through my ice-cold classic Martini, expertly prepared tableside by Maurizio, and chatting with the Australian ladies from Perth at the next table. It is their fifth visit to Duke’s—made every annual trip to London. Dukes offers more than Martinis, everything from Champagnes to world whiskies for those seeking variety, but expectedly, Martinis rule.
Brookman adds, “A Martini is the perfect end to a tough day—everyone has one of those. Then, one sip and you feel your shoulders relax. It is like a breath of fresh air." It is for such emergencies that she premixes a batch and stores it in her freezer. I personally prefer the convenience of Berry Bros and Rudd’s pre-mixed Vesper Martini, created by Palazzi. It saves you the trouble of assembling and shaking, while replicating the taste of the Dukes’ cocktail.
But in the end, a Dukes’ customer visits the bar not just for a drink but the overall experience that Brookman calls the theatre of cocktail making: the ambience, combined with the mystique of the Fleming legend, the thrill of an experienced bartender making your very own customised Martini tableside. The first sip can transport you back to the scene in Casino Royale when Vesper Lynd asks Bond if he named the drink after her “because of the bitter aftertaste", 007 replies that he named it for her, “because once you have tasted it, you won’t drink anything else."
That works for me.
Ruma Singh is a Bengaluru-based wine and travel writer.
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