The Creative New Cocktail Menu With A Hidden Message

Fitz's Bar's latest drinks list has a few artistic secrets up its sleeve

Wanna feel cultured? You could try walking round a museum, pausing at each painting and whispering “Hmmm, interesting” under your breath. Or you could head to Fitz’s Bar to sample its art-inspired cocktail menu. We know which one we’d choose - and it involves plenty of tequila.

Fitz’s Bar, set in the Kimpton Fitzroy hotel in Bloomsbury, is a glitzy, eclectic drinking den complete with a massive disco ball and artwork by Italian muralist 2501. The bar’s general manager Scott Gavin has a thing for colour psychology, so he designed a menu to explore the concept. 

The Theory of Colour drinks list is both flashy and thoughtful - much like the space itself. It comes in the form of a sturdy book featuring 14 versions of a 17th-century floral still-life painting by Flemish artist Nicolaes van Verendael. You flip through the different treatments, which include from a Mondrian-inspired take with primary colours and another modelled after a Rothko painting, and choose the one that matches your vibe. Each version is paired with a cocktail, so your artwork of choice can also be your drink order (the ingredients are listed next to the painting, so you know what you’re getting).

Here’s where the magic happens: you take the UV light pen that comes with the menu and shine it on each page, revealing a hidden message that describes what your painting and drink of choice say about you. Part art appreciation, part Cosmo personality quiz, totally fun. 

We also dig the flavour spectrum on each page of the menu, which places each cocktail in one of three categories to give ya a better idea of its profile: “pure”, or long, light Highball-style drinks; “harmonious”, shorter yet easy-drinking serves, often served on the rocks; and “intense”, rich, powerful, boozy bangers. Knowledge is power, people.

And the cocktails themselves? Yeah, they’re pretty great. Take a peek at some of our faves…

Monk By The Sea

Ingredients: Casa Noble Blanco Tequila, toasted rice, sugar snap spirit, Green Chartreuse, clarified lime

The perfect way to kick off your evening - light, bright, fresh and vegetal. A green beauty.

Order if: you always eat your veggies but ya go wild for a Marg.

Riley’s Eye

Ingredients: Bruichladdich Classic Laddie Malt Whisky, apricot and pistachio brandy, orange bitters, lemon and egg white

This Whisky Sour riff is sophisticated and fruity, with a texture like silk sheets. We love the pistachio garnish too.

Order if: you like your thread counts high and your protein in cocktail form.

52

Ingredients: melon, spearmint, Yellow Chartreuse, lemon and Telmont Réserve Brut NV Champagne

A classy Champagne Cocktail with a fun, fruity, herbal twist - plus, it smells good enough to bottle as a perfume.

Order if: you've ever added songs by Mariah Carey and Frank Sinatra to the same playlist (guilty as charged...).

All photos credited to Lateef Okunnu for Fitz's Bar