Daddy Cool - the World's Hottest Night Spots by Devanshi Mody
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Forget New York. The world has moved on. And the world’s hippest and most happening clubs, bars and lounges have moved east. Mumbai and Dubai are the party places. Paris and London have their own charms, whilst St Tropez and Monte Carlo are for the dedicated party animal.
Exotique
Mumbai’s Shiro, meaning 'Asian castle of sensuous indulgence', is sheer mind-blowing exotica. Arguably the world’s best looking bar-restaurant; this place integrates a lofty bamboo-thatched roof with low seating, eclectic lamps and mellow lighting.
Process through a towering antique metal door flanked by flaming torches and you’re confronted by three imposing 16ft high female figures, dropping water into a large moat with lotus flowers. These figures guard a VIP room perched 10ft from the floor, overlooking a zen spa-like enclave, where rustic tranquillity fuses with a criminally crimson exuberance of sumptuous silk, chenille and velvet.
Intimate niches, each offering a unique experience of contemporised oriental mystique, are adorned with oriental statues, busts, heads and antiques as in a private castle. Serene and sensuous, at midnight the restaurant-bar turns not into a pumpkin but into Mumbai’s most wanted nightclub. This is the Castle of Cool.
Shiro and such like, of course, are inspired by their Paris prototype, the famed Buddha Bar, which is now re-incarnated in a slicker, sexier avatar in Dubai with swanky floor-to-ceiling windows and a terrace offering superb views of the Marina.
Enter the dragon, as a magnificent dragon mosaic at the private entrance to the dramatic staircase leads you into an arena with vaulted ceilings, themed dining areas, bars and a sunken private lounge over which a four-metre Oriental statue presides. Designer drinks with fresh flavours and fruit with infused spirits – such as rose petal – are what designer daddies come here for.
Terrace Top for Top of the Pops
For more than one kind of high, head to the world’s top terrace top bars.
You’d think this is Monte Carlo - but forget Monte Carlo, Mumbai is the place to be these days. From the swanky white Dome Bar, awarded “Mumbai’s Most Romantic Venue”, you see – instead of luxury liners - the most spectacular sunsets on the Arabian Sea.
Beautiful people and businessmen convene daily for the glamorous ritual: 'catching the sunset over cocktails'. As the horizon changes in hues, the immaculate white bar changes in ambiance, metamorphosing into a romantic retreat.
With swooning palms below you, starry skies above, the serenade of gently lapping waves and a breathtaking view of Marine Drive with the famed Queen’s Necklace, enjoy the view and romance awhile before the hip crowd invades. Then it’s party time by the poolside.
Dubai is the city of soaring high rises. But if you want Dubai at your feet, head to The Roof Top. Lantern-lit and dreamlike, enter the enchanted world of Arabian Nights at this Middle Eastern open-air bar with exquisite décor.
The city’s trendiest - and tourists galore - come here for cool cocktails, heady views of Dubai and also for another sort of high - hookahs. Get yourself some exotic flavoured hookah to go with the equally exotic sofas and chill.
Specialist Bars
The landmark Lanesborough’s Library Bar is among London’s most exclusive venues. Crowned "Best Classic Bar" at the prestigious Class Bar Awards, the classy mahogany panelled bar with elaborate Regency-style furnishing and a timeless club-like ambiance becomes cool when Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Beyonce and Shakira come in - not for shaken or stirred but for the Library Bar’s ‘Liquid History’ collection.
This collection compiles the world’s oldest and rarest exclusive vintage Grande Champagne Cognacs, whiskies and Armagnacs, including a bottle of 1777 Cognac, which sells for £3000 a shot - which only regulars like Roman Abramovich can afford regularly.
But the delightful bar manager who traced the bottle, only 1 of 3 in the world, reveals that it’s getting drained rapidly. Money down the drain? Not for the connoisseur. The collection of rare, aged cigars includes those made in Cuba before Castro came to power. The highlight though is the Diplomatic Trinidad, priced at £500 each. These cigars were exclusively made for Castro and his boys.
For English with a twist, head to Paris’s prestigious Bar Anglais at the ultra exclusive Le Raphael, arguably Paris’s best kept secret. In an intimate enclave amidst warm woodwork and velvet upholstered armchairs, which create a decidedly English gentleman’s club ambiance, Barman Bertrand Merlette mixes white run and mint like in Havana. But at Le Raphael, distinguished guests drink their mojitos with English composure. So much for a ramba.
Le Raphael is for the discreet. If you want to see and be seen, go to Le George V’s Le Bar with its sumptuous mahogany and cognac coloured wood, chandeliers, and large windows overlooking Avenue George V, one of Paris’s most glamorous addresses. This is the place for the rarest vintage champagnes that you sip amidst the most rarefied society. You havn’t lived until you’ve had their Crystal Rosé.
The sky high Bar 44 is an unrivalled observation deck over Dubai and offers an unrivalled champagne collection: pick from 44 different champagnes, as you levitate on the 44th floor. The contemporary bar is cosmopolitan – in all senses of the word – with quirky leather and pony skin furniture, and something of an exclusive men’s club feeling. With jazzy music, alligator chairs and animal prints, you’re in for a wild one here.
Opium Den in Mumbai is the only bar in the world offering a comprehensive and extraordinary infused vodka tasting menu. Mr Peri, the man behind the inspired infusions, learnt to make his favourite cool cucumber infused vodka when just a schoolboy trying to escape the Delhi heat.
Now, he titillates the connoisseur’s palate, in a sumptuously chic den, with vodkas infused with star anise, chilli, Schezuan pepper, exotic spices, fruits and flowers.
Budapest is buzzing these days and the city’s trendiest bar is ironically in the historic Páva Udvar (Peacock Passage), at the magnificent Four Seasons Gresham Palace’s The Bar. Beneath a stunning glass cupola, savour a sophisticated selection of martinis.
Moods
Sydney’s slick and chic Water Bar is the best place to drown your sorrows if you’re suffering from moody blues. After a few cool cocktails, you’ll end the evening in high spirits. And if you need to pass out, the banquettes and vast ottomans are conveniently located.
But for sheer chic and elegant cocktails, head to the White Bar, where Paris’s beautiful people come to see and be seen. Try the extraordinary signature cocktail White, a concoction of aloe vera juice, vodka, Cointreau and cherries.
Disco Daddy
Jimmyz is Monte Carlo’s notorious nightclub. During Grand Prix weekend, you’d be lucky to get a finger in as the place throbs with glam young things and some not-so-young creatures preying on the young things.
But there is no place on earth that rocks like at Les Caves du Roy. This sensational night club, with its lit pillars that resemble flaming palms and Pharaoh-like sculpted figures, is what lures the raging crowds to St Tropez annually.
This is the club where David and Victoria Beckham spent 20,000 euros on the world’s most expensive champagne - a limited edition Dom Perignon vintage. Stars, the jet set, aristocrats, party animals and naughty daddies party here night after night after night.