Maupassant at Bar Boulud, Mandarin Oriental, London

Cocktails at Bar Boulud, Mandarin Oriental, London

ByQin Xie 24/01/2012

If there’s one cocktail to have at Bar Boulud in London’s Mandarin Oriental, it’s a white cosmopolitan. Or two.

That is, after all, the cocktail that it’s reputed for. And if you’ve ever had one, you’d understand why. As well as the balance in flavours, there’s also great attention to detail. Like the petal frozen into the ball of ice.

But there are also plenty of other martini-glass options worth sampling, served with a little extra jug on the side.

The cocktails are serious and full of character but if all that alcohol’s getting to you, there’s always their world class burgers to fall back on.

Here are a selection of photos from the night:

Venezuelan Old Fashioned at Bar Boulud, Mandarin Oriental, London

Strawberry sling at Bar Boulud, Mandarin Oriental, London

Qin Xie

Qin Xie is a London based food, wine and travel journalist and trained chef.

When not infiltrating Michelin restaurants as a kitchen tourist, she writes about food, drink and travel. Her work has appeared on Yahoo, FT, The Times and CNN.

Her first cookbook, co-authored with YS Peng at Hunan Restaurant, is out March 2014.

According to friends, her watch is always set to UTC -- ready for the next big adventure. In reality, she is happiest at the dinner table or by the sea.