There may be more famous hotel bars in the capital, but Williams Bar and Bistro is a polished, luxurious bar that could show many of its flashier peers a thing or two.

The Venue
Tucked away down a cul-de-sac in Mayfair, the St James's Hotel is a luxury boutique hotel with a stylish bar, the Williams Bar and Bistro, and a Michelin-starred chef William Drabble creating food in its adjacent restaurant, Seven Park Place.

Quite a compact space, the bar area is most remarkable for its mini-art-gallery, a wall that encompasses a whole range of portraits and scenes, providing anyone with a love of art with plenty in the way of eye candy. The rest of the room is stylishly accomplished: plush velvet armchairs and tan leather banquettes provide comfortable seating, while back-lit premium spirits glisten behind the bar and a lattice-like pattern is embossed on front of the bar before snaking its way up the back wall, too.

The Atmosphere
As this is a luxury boutique hotel, there’s an intriguing range of international characters in situ: a middle-aged mother treating her teenage daughter to a £14 prawn cocktail; a fashionable couple teetering on high stools at the bar; a South African couple ordering off the restaurant menu at a table at the front of the bar; and staff, again international in origin, who keep things ticking over with due care and attention.

The Food
The main foodie action may go on in the adjoining restaurant but the bar offers some very respectable dishes of its own. Alongside quirkier dishes like the lemongrass and ginger-infused linguini, there are plenty of hotel bar favourites like the steak and fries and the William Bar burger. The burger is a thick patty, one that’s cooked to individual preference and uses top quality beef, and it is ensconced within a premium-quality bun with a golden brown hue. The crispy, salty fries it is served with are textbook, too. The sirloin steak is less successful, primarily because an order of medium-rare comes out rare and there’s not much in the way of charred flavours leaving the meat a bit flaccid. A short list of desserts includes one particular highlight – an almond tart.

The Drink
Cocktails are created with precision at the bar and a summer list entitled Cooler Shaker includes the Josephine, a heady, powerful yet well-balanced mix of Mandarine Napoleon liqueur, Armagnac Single de Salmens 8, Cherry Heering liqueur and lemon juice, served in a chilled martini glass. Alternatively, the Corsican Sunset - Mandarine Napoleon liqueur, mango juice, pomegranate juice and Cherry Heering liqueur – resembles more of a refreshing punch as it’s served in a vast cognac glass over lots of crushed ice. Cocktails cost £13.50 each – a price that’s to be expected in this sort of hotel bar.

Also of note is the wine list: an impressive tome that journeys across new and old world in search of fine wines. Ordering by the glass restricts your choice considerably but the Bodegas Luzon Altos De Luzon from Spain (£12.80 per glass) is an intoxicating blend of earthy, oaky flavours and sweet, rich dark fruit.

The Last Word
Stylish, elegant and all the better for being discreetly positioned down a Mayfair cul-de-sac, Williams Bar and Bistro may not be the best-known luxury hotel bar in town, but that’s part of its unquestionable attraction.

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