London hotel celebrates the aperitivo

The Ampersand Hotel in London opens a new bar and restaurant this month, Apero, with an emphasis on recreating the Italian aperitivo hour.

Apero at The Ampersand Hotel. Photo credit: Dexter Moren Associates

Set within the Victorian vaulted cellars of the South Kensington hotel, Apero’s cocktail bar will focus on classic Italian brands such as Campari and Martini, as well as small independent distillers. Cocktails include the “Browning’s Rapture”, a mix of Sipsmith gin, Galliano L’Authentico, fino Sherry and celery bitters.

The food offer will be similarly Mediterranean-inspired with head chef Chris Golding, formerly of Nobu Berkeley and The Square, offering a menu of predominantly sharing dishes. Guests can choose from options such as cured mackerel with purple potatoes, fennel, pistachio and candied lemon; crispy tapenade straws or gnocchi with rainbow chard and smoked scamorza.

Explaining the concept, Robbie Bargh, founder and creative director of Gorgeous Group, which collaborated with The Ampersand on developing this new dining space, observed: “We wanted to create a food and drink offering that would engage with the neighbourhood of South Kensington. Apero is more of an intimate ‘local’ restaurant and bar serving great modern Mediterranean dishes and fantastic Aperitivo style drinks.