Cocktail bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana goes by Mr Lyan, which is arguably easier to say. He opened his first bar, White Lyan, in London in 2013 as the first cocktail bar in the world to use no perishables; no fruit and even no ice. It was an exploration in sustainability, with much lower waste and a use of pre-made cocktails and innovative ingredients. This focus on a ground-breaking approach remains in the evolution of White Lyan in Super Lyan, Dandelyan, Cub, Lyaness, Silver Lyan and Seed Library.
Ryan grew up in a place where food and drink were the heart of the household. Looking to develop this passion, he began his career training as a chef. As a chef he found himself yearning to get out of the kitchen to have a chat as he loved the personal interaction he had with his friends whilst entertaining at home. When doing a BA and MA at Edinburgh University, his time behind the bar became more focussed.
Studying Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins as well as Biology and Philosophy at Edinburgh University, he found that the bar was perfect for creativity, entertaining and conversation. He also developed his acute palate, experimenting with ingredients, and tailoring his drinks to each person he met, what they were like, their mood and their interests.
Awards
Top 100 Modern Britons
British Airways Centenary
2019
40 under 40 Tastemakers
Wine Enthusiast
2020
10 years of outstanding achievement
Imbibe
2020
Person of the Decade
Timeout
2020
World's Most Influential Bar Personality
Bar World 100, Drinks International
2019
Spirits Communicator of the Year
IWSC
2019
World's Best Bar
The World's 50 Best Bars
2018
Sustainable Spirit Award
Tales of the Cocktail
2016
500 Most Influential Britons
500 Most Influential Britons
2017
Personality of the Decade
Imbibe
2017
Member of the Guild of Food Writers, the Gin Guild and a Keeper of the Quaich
2016
International Bartender of the Year
Tales of the Cocktail
2015
Innovator of the Year
Imbibe Awards
2014, 2016
Top 1000 Most Influential Londoners
Evening Standard
2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014
‘Hot Stuff’
Imbibe Awards
2012
2nd, Global Bartender of the Year
Havana Club Grand Prix
2012
UK Bartender of the Year
Havana Club Grand Prix
2012
UK Bartender of the Year
Diageo Reserve World Class
2009
Top 3 Global Bartender of the Year
Diageo reserve World Class
2009
Books
Good Together – Drink & Feast with Mr Lyan and Friends
In a busy world, it’s harder and harder to spend quality time with your favourite people. Calling on his friends from the world’s best restaurants, Ryan and the chefs show how you can create exciting and inventive offerings that work better to get your close ones together.
Covering food and drink that suits occasions when people naturally gather, it brings insights from the world of food & drink to provide plenty of useful and delicious tips + tricks to use at home.
Published by Frances Lincoln available for order now on Amazon.
Cocktails aren’t just for fancy nights out and snobby home mixologists. In Good Things to Drink with Mr Lyan and Friends, Mr Lyan shows you how 60 innovative and exciting cocktails can be part of your everyday life.
Easy to make and beautifully photographed, the cocktails cover every mood and occasion, from sunny day drinks and winter warmers to Friday night cocktails and morning revivers. Mr Lyan perfects classics such as the Old Fashioned and the Manhattan, and experiments with new intriguing combinations and ingredients.
Published by Frances Lincoln available for order now on Amazon.
(English, German, Spanish and Portuguese)
Ryan has been a headline speaker for many food & drink events including Tales of the Cocktail, Gastronomica, Omnivore, Star Chefs and Noma’s MAD Symposium, SxSW, WebSummit, as well as giving talks on modern food practice and innovation in over 20 countries. Having pioneered the role of sustainability and luxury in the food & drink world, he has given several talks on the topic over the last ten years across the globe.
However, Ryan has also talked on the importance of innovation and the creative process for all industries – giving talks to financial institutions, tech agencies and governmental bodies. If you would like to have Ryan or the Mr Lyan Studio team speak at your event, please get in touch with Peter below.
Classic cocktails with a little Mr Lyan magic, removing the faff and hassle of enjoying a world-class cocktail at home.
Best in Show
International Pre-Mixed Cocktail Awards
2015
Nominated for
Best New Product in the World
Tales of the Cocktail
2015
Also available on Ocado and Amazon. Or pick them up alongside Mr Lyan Lager, and non-alcoholic ‘Superfly’ from Selfridges and other lovely retailers.
Mr Lyan Studio
The Creative Agency of The Mr Lyan Family
Mr Lyan Studio is a creative agency and the consultancy arm of the greater Mr Lyan family.
Mr Lyan Studio has grown alongside the greater Lyan family, becoming a creative hub in our original home on Hoxton Street, where brands, industries and our unique thinking meet to create insightful campaigns, products and experiences.
Click through to our website to find out more about us, how we approach projects, see examples of our previous work, and get in touch. You can also host an event, R&D session or photoshoot in our space downstairs as well.
Set within the old club space in the basement of One Hundred Shoreditch on Shoreditch High Street, Seed Library is Mr Lyan's return to East London. Exploring an embrace of natural, organic forms, the bar looks to explore an analogue approach through its stylings, music, backbar and cocktails.
Everything in the bar looks to explore a maker's touch and the beauty of imperfection and nature's variance, and features a big focus on music. Within each of these elements, the bar also looks to stray outside the usual canon of Western examples, exploring new knowledge sets, and sources for everything from low intervention wines, beers and sake, idiosyncratic spirits, to unusual and seldom seen ingredients for cocktails.
Located in the historic Riggs, Washington D.C, Silver Lyan harks both to the history of the building, America and its capital, and is the first US outpost from Mr Lyan.
A subterranean cocktail bar focussed on the cultural exchange within America, and how the capital has acted as an anchor point to the import and export of ideas to and from around the world.
Featuring some playful and theatrical serves, alongside the Lyan approach to the considered use of weird and wonderful ingredients, it's open 5pm til late 7 days a week.
Set within a historic 17th Century Dutch House in picturesque Amsterdam, Super Lyan is the first international venue from Mr Lyan and team.
An all day neighborhood cocktail bar and garden offering kick ass coffee, shakes and bites during the day, then cocktails, beers, wine and bitterballen late into the night.
The playful sibling in the group using all the experience across our history to create expanded versions of familiar serves, alongside some unexpected gems. Open til late – see website for current hours.
Reimagining the space overlooking the Thames in the iconic Sea Containers London by the Dandelyan Team.
Lyaness uses the team’s unique ability to hunt out weird and wonderful flavours and make them interesting by creating a menu designed around ingredients rather than just cocktail types. A cook’s approach to flavour and drinks, the menu changes around these ingredients that we find, create or are a result of experimentation by chefs, collaborators and like-minded people. Open Monday to Wednesday, 4pm til late, then from midday Thursday to Sunday.
Exploring all the things we love, and reinventing the original White Lyan space, Cub embraces food and drink’s ability to bring people together. A cocktail restaurant, Cub explores how sustainability can be luxurious, inventive and comforting.
Open Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings only, the bar collaborates with zero waste pioneer chef Doug McMaster of Silo, flavour wizard Arielle Johnson from MIT and Krug Champagne.
Super is the playful sibling of the Mr Lyan camp, using the Mr Lyan toolbox in a simple and informal setting in East London. The bar features a range of curated spirits, beers, wines and cocktails that change on rotation offering a chance to experience something both familiar and unexpected.
Open late into the night, it provides a soundtrack of rock, disco and hip hop, and is perfect for a drink before or after Cub.
Best Sustainable Bar
Foodism Awards
2018
Dandelyan R.I.P (for now…)
“Ryan Chetiyawardana’s bar “Dandelyan” named the World’s Best Bar”
— Evening Standard
Within the glamorous setting of the Sea Containers hotel, there’s a stunning view of St Paul’s on the South Bank of the Thames and a pioneering yet playful menu based on ‘Modern Botany’.
World's Best Bar
The World's 50 Best Bars
2018
Best bar team
Timeout Bar Awards
2017, 2016
World’s Best Cocktail Menu
Tales of the Cocktail
2018, 2016
Best Menu
Best International Bar Team
Best Bar Class Awards
2017
Best International Hotel Bar
Best International Bar Team
Tales of the Cocktail
2017
World’s Best Bar
Tales of the Cocktail
2017
Best place to drink in Britain
Observer Food Awards
2015
Best New Bar in the World
Tales of the Cocktail
2015
White Lyan R.I.P. (for now…)
“The Most Important Bar to open in the last decade”
— New York Times 2017
White Lyan was the first bar in the world to have no perishables at all; no ice, no citrus or other fresh fruit. There were also no brands in the bar. Instead, every single drink was handcrafted in-house, using only Mr Lyan’s own spirits and tinctures, cordials and distillates.
This means that White Lyan drinks were ones that you could get nowhere else in the world. Meticulous detail also met the fun and creativity of the East End, whilst serving a fine cocktail damn quick.
Sustainable Spirit Award
Tales of the Cocktail
2016
Best Bar in London
Timeout
2015
Most Creative Bar
Timeout Bar Awards
2016
Best New Bar in the World
Tales of the Cocktail
2014
Top 4 Shortlist
Best Bar in the World
Tales of the Cocktail
2015
Time Capsules
Ultra-personalised, handmade creations
Ryan – Mr Lyan – has been marking occasions with handmade bottled cocktails for friends and family since 2006 – reflecting a personality, marking an occasion, or encapsulating time and celebrating what makes wonderful moments so hard to capture. Scouring the globe, forging relationships with the world’s leading craftspeople and sifting through ancient cellars, he’s been able to accrue some of history’s finest and most enviable bottles.