The ES Bar Of The Year 2002

This review was published in March 2002

The ES Bar Of The Year 2002

The first time I was involved with the Evening Standard Pub and Bar of the Year was back in 1992 when Notting Hill's Beach Blanket Babylon scooped the top prize. A young bartender at that time, Jason Fendick, was churning out some wonderful cocktails - a relatively new concept outside a hotel bar in those days.

It turned the heads of our panel of judges of the day, and marked the beginning of a cocktail revolution in London and the birth of what we now know as style bars.

So perhaps I shouldn't have thought it unusual to come across him again behind the bar of Alphabet, the 1998 winner of this award. Then again in 2001 when he was at Zeta bar, which was shortlisted as a finalist.

It seemed certain another title was beckoning, and Fendick didn't have to wait too much longer to win it for The Rockwell. Fendick pretty much left day-to-day bartending last year to join with style guru Robbie Bargh to form The Gorgeous Group, a full service start-up consultancy for bar proprietors. One of their first major projects was The Rockwell on the ground floor of this 129-roomed luxury Trafalgar hotel, which opened last July. The look, concept and design of the bar are typically Gorgeous - sumptuous surroundings with drop-dead gorgeous looks.

Behind the bar, American whiskey is Fendick's chosen theme, with the emphasis on bourbons. "We have the largest collection of American whiskeys in this country - more than 100," he says.

Non-bourbon fans can find Ketel One vodka and Junipero gin, although beer lovers might need to look elsewhere.

Babs Powell said: "It's so different, I felt as though I was in a place that was marking the beginning of a new generation of drinking destinations."