Salvatore Calabrese leaves London’s Playboy Club

Famed bartender Salvatore Calabrese has departed London’s Playboy Club and revealed plans to open a new venue in Hong Kong.

Salvatore Calabrese has left London’s Playboy Club after five years

Revealing the news on his website, Calabrese said he has stepped down from the Playboy Club, in London’s Mayfair, where he has headed his namesake Salvatore’s Bar for the last five years.

“You’ll appreciate that after four decades of late nights in London, and after running bars in casinos and fancy hotels I’m ready for something different,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean I’m stopping, oh no. Maybe a smaller, more intimate home for my frighteningly strong Direct Martinis – arguably my legacy to London. Or maybe a home focused on my other love, the Negroni.

“Either way, I feel no less evangelical about my mission to spread the good word of classic cocktails. After having opened bars In Los Angeles and Las Vegas during my time at Playboy, I’m also heading east, with a new bar opening shortly in Hong Kong.”

In 2012, Calabrese created what was at the time the world’s oldest and most expensive cocktail, at £5,500 a glass.

Created at the Playboy Club, it contained 40ml of 1788 Clos de Griffier Vieux Cognac, 20ml of 1770 Kummel Liqueur, 20ml of 1860 Dubb Orange Curacao and two dashes of Angostura Bitters from the 1900s.

Last year, Calabrese mixed what was thought to be the world’s oldest Martini containing gin and bitters from 1900.