The bar at this chic Danny Meyer restaurant in the Flatiron District recently scooped a prestigious gong for the best restaurant bar in the business. It’s certainly a dramatic space; housed in a striking art deco building the room is high-celinged and white-walled, The food in the main dining room is exquisite both in presentation and taste but it’s the cocktail menu we’re most interested in. Divi…

The Brooklyn outpost of Café De La Esquina maintains the same hip-yet-relaxed vibe as the Nolita original. There’s a taqueria garden, a mirrored dining area, the same superb margaritas and some of the best Mexican food in the city. Occupying the distinctive old Relish diner, a design classic from the 1950s, it’s a venue with considerable appeal. There’s a chilled café at the front with a (only sli…

New York has embraced the hidden and illicit. The best new bars to spring up on the scene are clandestine in nature, concealed, hush-hush. Take Bathtub Gin: the bar is disguised as an unassuming coffee shop in Chelsea. It’s only when you step inside and seek out the secret entrance that the true nature of the space is revealed. A gold-plated bathtub dominates a room spotted with fringed lampshades…

The lobby bar and restaurant at the Dream Downtown is a haven for connoisseurs of the steak and cocktail combo. A self-styled ‘steak joint’, these guys know what to do with a slab of cow – the kitchen is helmed by former Lavo NY chef Manuel Treviño and the menu features European and Asian influences as well as classic American flavours - but they also offer salads and raw bar for those with more r…

The luxury boutique Nolitan Hotel is beacon of minimal urban chic. No more is this true than at Ellabess, the stylish downtown bar and restaurant from the crew behind Dell’Anima. It’s perhaps understating things to say the venue has been hotly anticipated – but while it’s taken its time in arriving, the wait has been worth it. The menu, described as New American, is the work of Troy Unruh (try the…

Based in the fashionable Madison Park area, the Hotel Giraffe exudes boutique charm. It’s a stylish, intimate environment, urban and contemporary with a touch of European elegance. The hotel’s Rooftop Garden is a big draw; located up on the 12th floor, it’s the perfect al fresco drinking spot, a calm, chic getaway from the noise and bustle below. As well as an inviting outdoor seating space, there…

With the coming of the sun, New York’s rooftop terraces open up in all their glory. The Gramercy Terrace at the Gramercy Park Hotel is one of the most striking, a stylish, summery space dripping in beautiful foliage and offering dazzling views of the city. Sixteen stories up, with a retractable roof, the terrace has been designed to echo the famous rooftop bars of the early 20th century, to be a “…

Run by sisters Lorraine and Sabina Belkin - hence the name, Duo - this elegant Flatiron bar and restaurant is as chic as it gets in these parts. This is the kind of place where they even lay out little stools for you to rest your handbag on. The bar area is absolutely gorgeous, a gleaming circular central bar surrounded by slender stools – the perfect place to perch with a pre-dinner martini. The…

Taking over the space formerly known as Il Matto, White & Church remains the go-to place for crazy cocktails. Scorpion-topped martinis? They serve them here. Their most popular drink is the Why Not, a mix of tequila, avocado, lime juice and Mexican worm. There’s also a smoked martini, garnished with smoked salmon and a Bloody Mary made with mussels as well as a slightly less daunting collection o…

The Beagle has a Portland pedigree. From the same team behind Clyde Common in that city’s hip ACE Hotel, it’s already gained a reputation as a purveyor of quality cocktails and now it’s wooing the foodie crowd. Their craft cocktails are innovative (the Artist’s Special blends scotch, sherry, lemon juice and red currant syrup while the London Buck is crisp blend of gin, ginger and lime) and they’ve…