Bellamy's Bar - review

The buzz: A new bar for uber-posh restaurant Bellamy’s, just off Berkeley Square – said to be the only restaurant the Queen has visited (excluding hotels and clubs) since her coronation.

The deal: The space used to be a car garage but no such racket now disturbs this end of the Bruton Place mews. At one table, an elderly couple exchanged whispers and at the entrance to the restaurant at the back of the bar, owner Gavin Rankin welcomed guests to the night’s 'Some like it Hot' Cabaret. The atmosphere is of a St James’s Club – quiet, familiar. On the stairs down to the loo, a display cabinet advertises premium slippers.

Good for: Glimpsing a by-gone, Wodehousian London of old men with combed-back hair and smoking jackets.

Order: The Dry Martini with gin – it’s a bit sharp, but asking for anything more exotic in this place feels like deviance. Cocktails are £10, and wine starts at £6 for a glass of Bordeaux.

By the way: Rankin was formerly the Managing Director of the Annabel’s Group, but his pedigree for this kind of thing started at age 26, when he became the world’s youngest accredited caviar dealer with the Soviet Union. He Founded Caviar Kaspia on the same site as Bellamy’s in 1987.