Any bar named Fitzgerald inextricably links that age old combination – literature and booze. Nick Heys and Guillaume Bénard have converted an old garage into a magnificent room dedicated to (at least one half) of that combination. It’s refined with a touch of speakeasy to it, as the bar is accessed through the restaurant.
Flamingo wallpaper is wonderfully on-trend, adding an exotic Douanier Rousseau vibe. The bar is beautiful and the sofas are just the right side of squishy. The frequently-changing cocktail menu included a superb Smokey Negroni (€13) served chemistry lab-style in a glass carafe filled with smoke: gin, red Doli, and smoked Greek oregano bitters.
For the indecisive, go for the signature cocktail (€13), a gin and tonic revisited with Tanqueray, grapefruit zest and Angostura bitters, or even the Zelda 2.0 (€13) – vodka, basil leaves, Saint-Germain liqueur and lime. There’s also a mocktail, aptly named “Pregnant” (€8) with cucumber slices, raspberry and passion fruit puree, ginger syrup and cranberry juice. This is a welcome addition to an otherwise stuffy, sleepy neighbourhood.
TRANSLATION: MEGAN CARNEGIE