Martini Metropolis

Mark Lean goes in search of the perfect super dry London martini – a journey spanning the upscale watering hotels of Chelsea to down-to-earth London Bridge and ends in edgy Soho. In the process, he rediscovers a city on the cusp of yet another one of its transformations.

The only constant is change, so the saying goes. The relevance of this statement doesn't escape me in London's nec plus ultra neighbourhood, Sloane Square. Oriel's, the brassiere with an open-air terrace that once was the spot to people-watch has since closed. A veritable institution and social honeycomb beloved of the area's society butterflies and their banker boyfriends, it was a place where one could get an expertly-made coffee and watch the spectacle that was the off- duty actors masquerading as wait staff.

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