The Dutch capital may have gained a global reputation as a relaxed hedonist Mecca, but it’s one that’s far removed from reality, if you know what we mean. Luckily, the city has seen a flurry of happening hospitality openings that signal a new lifestyle mindset, putting it more on a par again with the buzzing urban scenes in London, Paris and Berlin. Today’s official opening of cocktail bar extraordinaire Super Lyan is very much indicative of this trend. Cocktail bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana, who goes by the name Mr Lyan, opened his first watering hole in London six years ago, using no perishables, no fruit and even no ice, and as such, quite an innovation at the time. Fast forward to 2019, and Chetiyawardana runs two hugely successful bars in London, and boldly relocated Super Lyan to Amsterdam, and thus becoming its first outpost abroad. It has found refuge on the premises of the design-led Kimpton De Witt hotel in the historic heart of the city, occupying three connected spaces on the ground floor. For Super Lyan, Chetiyawardana has teamed up with British interior designer Jacu Strauss, creating a fitting home for a new generation of sophisticated hedonists.
The bar has settled in a 17th-century building that forms an integral part of the hotel, and comes with a covered courtyard. The design codes loosely take cues from the 1950s, and sees an infusion of colour captured by cozy seating areas, and last but not least, a circular bar with matching neon light that beckons from afar. Super Lyan is an all-day bar, hosting both early risers and night crawlers with matching drinks and a range of surprising versions of well-known dishes where different cuisines and cooking styles are casually mixed. As for the drinks, Super Lyan pulls out all the stops with unique cocktails on tap or just an carefully curated wine and beer list. The drinks menu mirrors the bar’s approach to exciting versions of the familiar. For example, the Mr Lyan twist on an Old Fashioned – with beeswax and a flamed orange zest – and the Bay Cosmo – a version of the classic Cosmopolitan with bay leaf. Alongside the forward thinking boozy drinks there is a range of sophisticated non-alcoholic cocktails available with or without bespoke alcoholic spikes. While the bar is part of the Kimpton De Witt hotel, it’s run as an independent venue. During the day you enter Super Lyan through the main entrance of the hotel, but in the evening you can access its own bar entrance.
Super Lyan
Kimpton De Witt, Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal 3 (Centrum)
1012RC Amsterdam
Telephone: +31 20 5211757
Mon-Thu 12-1
Fri-Sat 12-2
Sun 12-1
Publishers Note
Just to be clear – superfuture® is a design blog and not a political commentator. No surprise there. The scope of our content has always been global and borderless, however that can often mean covering projects in countries where we will not agree with the politics or actions of those countries. In a world that’s as screwed up as ever right now, the focus of our support is to those designers, architects and other creatives who aim to make the world a more liveable one – as opposed to people that try their hardest to destroy it. So if a project hits our desk and we like it based on its design credentials, we may choose to publish regardless of its location or creators nationality. superfuture® has always been inclusive and hopes for all current wars, aggression, violence, hate and extremism to end.
