#28 | The Tailor, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Last Visit: November 2023
The first stop on my Amsterdam bar tour in November was one with a great reputation and one of the most famous bars in the country. The Tailor Bar in the Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky, right on the Dam, the central square in the city center.
The venerable establishment is located in historic premises and was founded by a trained tailor. Born in Peine near Hanover, Germany, Wilhelm Krasnapolsky immigrated to Amsterdam after completing his training as a tailor and became a successful businessman there. He subsequently took over a coffee house at its current location in 1866 and developed it first into a restaurant and later into a hotel. The hotel can therefore look back on almost 160 years of history and still bears his name more than 110 years after the founder's death. There is nothing else to say other than "It's nice that something like this still exists".
I have not only included the story because it gives you that warm, traditionalist feeling, but perhaps some of you have already noticed the bold lettered “tailor” from the hotel founder's CV. The Tailor Bar. Tailor. You got it, right? Of course, the bar was named and even designed in his honor. As I found out, all the previous menus were based on the tailor theme: Menus divided by fabric, by garments and categories of clothing pieces, etc. As someone with almost 15 years of experience in the fashion industry and a keen interest in classic men's fashion, I thought it was a real shame not to have seen one of these menu concepts. But not only that, details everywhere in the very large lounge-like room, which is typical of grand hotel bars, can be traced back to the theme. There are men's torsos for the tailor's jackets in corners of the room, framed pictures of tailoring utensils or fabrics on the walls, but my absolute highlight is one of the coolest bar counters I know: the brass-colored edge of the counter is in the style of a tape measure, which looks fantastic (see photos below).
However, my disappointment about the tailor-themed menus no longer being testable quickly faded when I realized that they had chosen a different menu theme instead. Understandably, to break out of the ordinary and let off some creative steam, it was practically made for me as well: mythology & mythical creatures.
More precisely, it is categorized according to the habitats of these creatures, whether the sea, the sky, the forest, or the swamp. The latter stands out a little in the list as a not particularly classic “element”. In that part you find somewhat special drinks that play with contrasts and unusual flavors, such as slightly earthy, but also a little sour and, as you can read below, it is home to my first drink.
Fun fact: Even the drawings in the menu were done by a member of the bar team and not, as is often the case, by an artist friend. As is usually the case in 5-star hotels, the menu, apart from the signature drinks, is also large, the selection of spirits is quite respectable and fantastic food can also be ordered at the bar, see my truffle-parmesan fries above. Of course, a cold glass of water, nuts, and even a plate of Madeleine/small cakes are also included free of charge. The service was extremely friendly and, for a hotel in this category, very pleasantly open, relaxed and sometimes in a joking mood, yet polite and elegant in its execution. Great training has its effect.
Looking at the whole bar concept, especially the menu and the presentation of the drinks, you can tell that they tried to get into the World's 50 last year. This was indeed the case, unfortunately, the attempt came to a bit of a standstill and individual team members left the bar. This is not uncommon, especially in the world of restaurants with such high ambitions for example. The positive thing here is, of course, that you can continue to test this particularly creative menu, created for this goal. I would also trust a hotel and bar with this reputation to take a fresh approach with the current, experienced bar manager Konstantinos Mourloukos and start another attempt.
Erymanthian Boar:
| Woodford Reserve Rye
| Laphroaig 10yo Single Malt
| P.X. Sherry
| Black Sesame Salami
| Hot Pot Cordial
| Peanut Butter
If this drink doesn't at least elicit a certain curiosity when you discover it on the menu, I can't help you and would recommend another website… Certainly not the smartest choice as the first drink of the evening, but I couldn't resist and knowing that I was only going to have 2 drinks anyway, it was due straight away. The Islay whisky is fatwashed with peanut butter, the salami in the rye. I learned that the Hot Pot Cordial also contains Asian fruits. A very special drink that is definitely something for fans of more extreme, sweet and sour Asian dishes. Hearty, with lots of umami, the salami is undoubtedly the most obvious of the special ingredients. The peanut is quite subtle and the cordial leads to a strong back and forth between umami, sweet salami and sour notes. The earthy smoke hasn't even been mentioned yet and a pickled onion as a garnish, which is just as full of flavor … As I said, definitely not your usual first drink and for me also a little unbalanced, but definitely an experience that you can try, and I have no regrets doing just that.
Pegasus:
| La Diablada Pisco
| The Botanist Gin
| Pumpkin
| Rosemary
| Mint
| Anise
A fascinating drink full of herbal ingredients, more precisely, the pisco is macerated with pumpkin seeds, the gin is also macerated with rosemary and then comes the special “Pegasus syrup”, which also contains various herbs and a few spices (including the aforementioned mint and aniseed). So although there is no filler or citrus, just a spirit and sweetener, it's an absolutely silky and dangerously drinkable, ethereal drink. You immediately think you have a kind of homemade and then perfectly diluted Chartreuse in your glass, in the most positive sense. It literally dances around in your mouth. The seeds are slightly woody in what is actually a very grape-heavy Peruvian pisco, everything blends with the various herbal notes to create a work of art that tastes like a unique, new spirit.
An absolutely brilliant idea is that each individual bar guest is actually given their ordered drinks in the form of trading cards as a souvenir (see below), with corresponding “attacks” from the game systems as ingredients. Quite a thing to come up with in the first place and put in the effort to realize it. As we were also told, this naturally creates the desire to test all the drinks and thus get all the cards. In addition, you have a very personal memento tied to the bar and at the same time a rough idea of the drink's structure (“rough” because the exact production instructions for the macerations/washings/etc. are of course not listed in detail). Chapeau!
My visit to The Tailor was a great addition to my bar trip in the Dutch capital. Top food, a very creative menu that is still available at the time of publication (May 2024), as well as absolutely excellent service and friendliness lead me to a clear recommendation for our next trip to the beautiful city. If you don't stop by here, you've definitely missed an important pillar of the city's bar culture. A typical bar tour stop, where I would have liked to try more of the exciting menu if there wasn't so much on the list.
/rds
The gifts and impressions of the menu:
