Scarfes Bar names new head bartender

Five-star hotel Rosewood London has named Yann Bouvignies as the new head bartender of Scarfes Bar following the departure of Greg Almeida.

Yann Bouvignies has been named head bartender at Scarfes Bar

Bouvignies grew up in the south of France and spent his early days in hospitality working at Hotel Le Kaïla, in Meribel, and La Résidence de la Pinède Hotel, in Saint Tropez.

In 2014, he worked as assistant bar manager at The Savoy Hotel, Meribel, before moving to London the following year to work at cocktail bar Purl.

Bouvignies joined the team at the Coburg Bar at The Connaught Hotel in 2016, before moving to work at Scarfes Bar later that year. He joined Scarfes Bar as a bartender, which he says offered him the perfect balance between a contemporary cocktail bar and a high-end luxury hotel bar.

Over the past two years, Yann has worked closely with predecessor Almeida and bar manager Martin Siska to create two distinct cocktail menus, which gained two consecutive nominations at the Spirited Awards at Tales of the Cocktail.

Under Siska and Almeida’s tutelage, Bouvignies has developed a meticulous attention to detail and creative originality, resulting in innovative cocktails that will be showcased in a new menu to be launched in 2019.

The London bar’s follow up to its Paintings and Potions Volume 1 menu will see Bouvignies work closely with the bar team at Scarfes to produce drinks inspired by the work of caricaturist Gerald Scarfe.

Scarfes Bar is inspired by the atmosphere of a drawing room and features a collection of velvet armchairs and more than 1,000 antique books. Adorning the walls are canvases created by Scarfe, who is most famous for his political cartoons that have featured in newspapers including The Sunday Times and The New Yorker.