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The Master Mixologist at Maison Assouline's Swans Bar

How mixologist Gabor Onufer turned Assouline’s flagship destination into one of London’s hottest cocktail bars.
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The Swans Bar at Maison Assouline in London.

Gabor Onufer doesn’t have to travel very far to find inspiration. He simply has to peruse any of the 2,000 books that fill the shelves of Swan’s Bar, where Onufer is head bartender, to ignite his senses. “We’re constantly flipping through pages, especially from the Travel Series,” says Onufer. “We’ll often build a whole drink off of a single photograph.” 

When Onufer started working at Assouline’s global flagship, the showroom’s cocktail program was in its infancy, a complement to a library featuring beautiful tomes spanning fashion, travel, and design. In just three years, his creativity has turned the space into a coveted London hangout.

His cocktail program has also captured the vision that Alex Assouline, the publisher’s chief of operations for brand and strategy, originally had for the showroom, named after the book Swans: Legends of the Jet Society, which chronicles the heyday of travel. The space exudes the kind of nostalgic glamor of its source material, one that’s elevated “through drinks that transport you to a different time and place,” says Onufer. 

We sat down with the master barman to hear about his unique methods, why he serves five iterations of the martini, and how he’s able to capture the essence of a destination in a single sip.

Left: Gabor Onufer at the Swans Bar. Right: The Bali Mystique cocktail. Photos by Assouline.

How did you get involved in cocktails?

I started bartending in 2006 while attending university and fell in love with hospitality. When I moved to London from my hometown of Budapest a year later, I was exposed to a fabulous cocktail scene, which was an upgrade from Budapest in those days. My understanding of flavors and quality products widened on a massive scale. I loved the way I could express my creativity through drinks and the social aspects of it.

What is your approach to crafting a drink?

I normally try to visualize the flavors together. It sounds odd but after 20 years of experimenting with thousands of different flavor combinations, you start to “see” them. I also follow simple rules like “if it grows together, it goes together.” It’s likely that if you’re using an ingredient from a particular place and season, they’re going to complement one another. We’re always writing down ideas and creating syrups, cordials, and infusions from special ingredients to have on hand when inspiration hits.

What do you do to get in the headspace for creating a cocktail?

I need to switch off from disruptions. Normally the best ideas come at unusual times, like on the train heading home from work or in bed just before falling asleep.

How does a setting, season, or destination inspire your process?

It helps enormously! Flavors, colors, and smells are like a fuse. I especially enjoy working on the cocktails based on the destinations featured in the titles from our travel series as there is an enormous amount of inspiration coming from the words and pictures. For the drink based on “Marrakech Flair,” one photograph pictured a spice market with rich reds, yellows, and greens. So we thought about creating a light but spicy version of a gimlet with a base of a spice-heavy gin and a cordial from a famous North African green tea mixed with fresh mint, which we made in house.

Which cocktail most reflects the story of Swan’s Bar?

The Burnt Mandarin Negroni. Negronis are one of these classy drinks that I would say every fifth person who walks into the bar orders, so you’re really judged by it. We started with Mandarin Napoléon, a cognac-based liqueur. To elevate that flavor, we flambé mandarin skin, which gives it a nice smokiness, and add a French aperitif alongside the vermouth that adds more fruitiness. It’s become our best selling cocktail.

One of the bar’s signature drinks is the martini—five iterations of it, in fact. What inspired this focus?

Well, London is, I would say, the martini capital. Some people think it’s a boring beverage, with only two ingredients and a heavy focus on the spirit. We are trying to prove them wrong! The team has come up with some very exciting concoctions. My favorite at the moment is the Zagara, the creation of one of our bartenders, Shreyansh. We use a very high-end gin that uses lemon and Zagara flowers, so he rounded out that base with a jasmine liqueur and South Asian floral and citrus notes like Timur berry and Sarsaparilla.

What is your personal favorite on the current menu?

Well, if we are name dropping already I have to mention our bartender Felix and his creation Tokyo Chic, named after the book. I am normally very critical and require a few dozen versions before I say the drink is ready, but this was one of the only cases when I said “wow” after the first try. It’s a special spin on a highball, made with a premium Japanese whiskey, red sake, and a sakura-fused plum wine.

What's the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Coffee, in a pint size mug.

What inspires you outside of the bar?

I love exploring new places. With three kids, I spend less time in bars nowadays but have found a lot of inspiration from restaurants. Whenever I travel, I eat very local and try to implement the flavor combinations of dishes into drinks. 


The World of Cocktails

All Books Swans Bar
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