One Aldwych is an independent, luxury hotel in the heart of London’s Covent Garden. It’s home to a 400-strong private collection of contemporary art and sculptures, which directly inspires the Gallery Menu served in the hotel’s Lobby Bar. It’s here where you may find a Horseradish Martini influenced by André Wallace’s bronze “The Boatman” or a Blueberry Enzoni that takes its cues from Philip Diggle’s abstract paintings, which he created on stage to the live sounds of his brother’s legendary punk band, The Buzzcocks.
To see how art and booze collide, we spoke with Lobby Bar manager Salvatore Maggio about the creative process and a few of his favorite artfully crafted cocktails. “The menu is a series of drinks that respond to the collection in a considered way,” he says. “It’s less a literal interpretation and more a translation of mood and character into something to be experienced.”
InsideHook: Is the art curated first, and then the drinks follow?
Salvatore Maggio: The collection has been evolving since the hotel opened in 1998, with several pieces part of the story from the very beginning. This collection quietly informs the drinks list. Once a selection of artwork is chosen, the bar team spends time with each piece, looking at color and texture and the feeling it evokes. From there, cocktails take shape. A hue might find its way into an ingredient, a sense of balance might be expressed through acidity or sweetness, or a narrative might be suggested through the choice of glassware or garnish.
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The Gallery Menu was introduced as part of One Aldwych’s 25th anniversary back in 2023. The idea was simple: to bring the bar closer to the hotel’s artistic identity in a way that felt natural rather than imposed. By pairing selected artworks with bespoke cocktails, the menu invites a quieter kind of interaction where guests can experience both in tandem. Since then, it’s become a defining part of the Lobby Bar, reflecting a way of thinking that places creativity and culture at the center of the experience.
Can you give me a specific example from one of the pieces and the paired drink?
A good example is Greensleeves (Botivo Bitter Non-Alcoholic Aperitif, elderflower liqueur, cucumber, mint, lemon) paired with “Dots on Green” by Adrian Pritchard. The painting’s layered green tones and patterning informed the direction of the cocktail, guiding both its palette and its structure. The result is something fresh and quietly expressive, with a sense of depth that echoes the artwork — not as a direct replica, but as a reflection of its character.
Have you ever been stumped by a piece of artwork on how to represent it with a drink or had one that took a long time to figure out?
There are moments when a piece resists an easy translation! Richard Bartle’s “Beach Scene,” the inspiration behind our Gooseberry Margarita, was one of them. His work is built on repetition and fine, intricate patterning, which doesn’t naturally lend itself to flavor.
Rather than trying to mirror those details, we stepped back and looked at the overall feeling of the piece, including its color, tone and the sense of place it evokes. From there, the drink took shape. It draws on those softer cues to capture something of the artwork’s atmosphere, staying true to the spirit of the Gallery Menu without forcing a literal interpretation.
Has there been a favorite drink, based on patron feedback?
We do tend to see a few clear favorites emerge through guest feedback and what people come back to order. A handful of cocktails have quietly become staples: the Raspberry Enzoni, the Morello Cherry Mai Tai and the Quince Earl Grey Martini, among them.
The Raspberry Enzoni is my favorite story from the menu. Can you expand on the origin of the art and the drink behind it?
The Raspberry Enzoni is paired with “Michel Foucault” by Philip Diggle, a piece that sits somewhere between contemporary art and punk expression. Diggle’s work carries a sense of immediacy, shaped in part by his time painting live on stage alongside his brother, Steve Diggle of Buzzcocks. There’s an energy to it — instinctive, a little unruly — that informed how we approached the drink.
The connection is most clearly felt through color. The painting’s vivid reds, blues and greens with flashes of yellow guided the ingredients and their balance. Raspberry brings depth and richness, while a note of citrus lifts the finish. It’s not a literal translation but a way of echoing the artwork’s brightness and sense of movement in the glass.
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