Three Times Lucky in Lucerne

01 – Tip-up

Mozern, Mandarin Oriental Palace, Luzern

From the moment we descend to the bar for an aperitif, this Monday evening is off to a very promising start. The bar is part of the MOzern brasserie, which is located on the ground floor of the hotel. We head towards the  bar across the period marble floor with its chessboard pattern – although we pay little heed to the rules of the game – all the while marvelling at the original columns made of coral-coloured stucco marble. The oval bar sits beneath an enormous and entrancing chandelier that looks like the delicate frame of a petticoat. I slowly lower my gaze until I find myself looking into a friendly pair of eyes – which, as it turns out, belong to Chef de Bar Gabriele Cusimano. Straight away, I can tell that this man will be able to make all my cocktail wishes come true – even the  non alcoholic ones.

Of the two signature mocktails, I choose the Tip-Up. It’s a mystery to me how Gabriele manages to get the taste of turmeric and matcha into this drink alongside the citrus notes to create two different coloured layers. Not only is the result visually appealing, its tart fruitiness also packs a punch and the flavour evolves as I change the depth of my straw. The glass is empty sooner than expected, but there’s just enough time to savour a sip of a brand new concoction on the current summer menu: the Lucerne Sunset, based on the triad of Campari, mandarin vodka and Cointreau. It’s hard to say goodbye (to Gabriele as well as to the drink), but a spot at another, even more coveted bar in the house is already waiting for us. We have a reservation at the 14 GaultMillau point-rated Japanese  restaurant Minamo, which is located right next to the brasserie.

A maximum of eight people at a time can gather here for an omakase dinner, where each course is prepared in front of the guests. Now is not the time to reveal all the secrets of the dinner itself. In any case, a description of this unforgettable meal would provide enough material for another article in this magazine. All I will say is this: there was no shortage of sake.

– Haldenstrasse 10, mandarinoriental.com

02 – Negroni

Capitol Bar

Time then for some fresh air and a walk.  We stroll along the shore over the historic Chapel Bridge and around the lake basin, past the railway station and the tracks and aim for Glou Glou. The social media profile of this natural wine bar paints a promising picture. The only thing we forget is that we’re out and about on a Monday evening – and Waldstätterstrasse in Lucerne is not exactly New York’s Broadway. With the bar doors closed, a dearth of alternatives and a steadily growing hankering for a drink, we decide on the nearby Bar Capitol near Bundesplatz, which is located in the premises of the cinema of the same name. It’s a lucky move – as we we’ll soon find out! The screens of the Capitol have seen plenty of action over the cinema’s 90-year history.

But they’re not the only storytellers in the building, as it turns out – much to our delight – the team around head bartender Tim Michel is also extremely adept in the art of weaving a narrative. The menu presents itself as a hybrid of storyboard and cocktail menu. Both visually and in terms of  content, the ambitiously illustrated menu, which changes every six months, is always inspired by a cult blockbuster. At the time of our visit, it was Big Fish by Tim Burton.  The drinks, we are told, are intended to be reminiscent of various key scenes or characters, which are evoked through the ingredients, colours and presentation. I opt for a Werewolf: Neptunia gin from Hendrick’s, blended with blood orange and topped with egg white foam.

My companion orders a Negroni. Although his cocktail is more potent in terms of alcohol percentage, he justifies his choice by saying that it comes with a much lower risk of lycanthropy. Not that I’m concerned. We are both happy with our choice, as we toast, sip, reminisce over our favourite moments from Big Fish and think about what drink we would conjure up for the next Capitol menu, which will be themed on the offbeat comedy Snatch. A Cousin Avi perhaps – a kosher champagne cocktail resounding with the clink of diamonds instead of ice cubes?

– Zentralstrasse 45a, barcapitol.ch 

03 – Single malt whisky

Louis Bar, Art Deco Hotel Montana

The innovative menu and the friendly service almost tempt us to order a second round at the Capitol Bar. However, the choice of music is not really to our taste. We can just about bear Would You (Go to Bed with Me)? by Alcemist and Campbell, but as Shania Twain’s Man! I Feel Like a Woman kicks in, we pay up and say goodbye.  On the walk back to the hotel, we are already wondering what nightcap Gabriele will serve us – when we realise that there is another bar in the city with a legendary atmosphere that can tell us a tale or two. And since it’s only a little more than a stone’s throw away, we head for the Louis Bar in the Art Deco Hotel Montana even though the hour is getting late.

The whisky menu here lists around 130 single malts, and you won’t find a larger rum selection anywhere else in central Switzerland. As far as spirits are concerned, I’m going on
a trip to the Inner Hebrides, more precisely to Islay in the west of Scotland. I can just about resist the First Edition of a Black Bowmore bottled in 1993, which costs 1000 francs for 2 
centilitres. In any case, the jury is out as to whether it could have made me any happier than the peaty, insanely aromatic 25-year-old Bowmore that glows in golden hues in my tasting glass in its place … In 1936, none other than Ernest Hemingway wrote the sentence
‘Meet me at the Hotel Montana’ in his short story The Capital of the World. He would probably have ordered rum here. But if he were visiting Lucerne today, he would certainly have followed us back to Gabriele’s for the kind of deep conversation you only find at the bottom of a glass. However, we don’t want to push our luck, so we slowly but surely make our way back home  down the hill to the Mandarin Oriental Palace where we go past the bar area and head directly to our room. My bed is calling. And who knows what side effects the Werewolf from earlier will have. After all, it’s just before midnight, and is that a full
moon I glimpse hiding behind the grey haze of the night-time clouds …?

– Adligenswilerstrasse 22, hotel-montana.ch