Join the party: Eight of the best places to get a drink in New York

With the Knicks breaking records in the NBA Finals and the FIFA World Cup in town, New York is once again in the world’s spotlight. Another thing that deserves a trophy? Its outstanding bars.

What makes a classic New York cocktail bar? In many ways, it’s as easy as securing a great space, hiring talented staff with big personalities who know how to mix their drinks, and ensuring there’s a grand piano to hand. Then comes the hard part – that almost impossible to define X factor, and decades of history, preferably involving plenty of celebrities.

Here are eight of New York’s best – starting with four of the city’s best-known classic heritage cocktail bars found at the major heritage brass plate hotels, and ending on four newer contemporary cocktail bars – most of them opened in the 21st century.

When it comes to any popular venue in New York, always check the website for reservations, any minimum spend required, table cover charges, and the live entertainment schedule.

Murals, martinis and live jazz at Bemelmans

So small, so cosy is Bemelmans, you feel like a fly on the wall to every conversation – as if you stumbled into the best local party, quite possibly choreographed by Woody Allen. Rub shoulders with young Wall Street financiers on the rise and cougars on the prowl in backless, draped jersey dresses with Madonna-like physiques and the plastic surgery to match. Just don’t forget to look up at the gold-leaf ceilings and at the murals painted by Ludwig Bemelmans, author and illustrator of the classic book, Madeline. There are only around 25 tables inside, so that loving feeling is guaranteed.

In short, if you do only one classic New York cocktail bar, do Bemelmans in the Upper East. The bar opened in The Carlyle Hotel in the 1940s. When I hear a woman order “a dirty, dirty martini – really dirty – with vodka not gin, and with three blue cheese olives” I call the waiter over to say: “I’ll have what she’s having, plus the mac ‘n’ cheese and truffle fries.” Book a table, bring your A-game and preferably a mink coat. The Steinway piano gets going most nights from 5pm.

The Carlyle, 35 E 76th Street, Manhattan. Phone: +1 212-744-1600. Martinis from $US31 ($45); a “Bobby’s Manhattan” is $US34. See rosewoodhotels.com

Relive the gilded age at the Palm Court

Gen Xers who cut their teeth on Sex and the City will recall Carrie Bradshaw arriving way too late to Mr Big and Natasha’s engagement party at The Plaza. So, what else to order on arriving at the hotel’s spectacular Palm Court, beneath a Tiffany leaded glass-domed ceiling, but a White Cosmopolitan. (Sticking with box sets of the 1990s, Monica and Chandler also toasted their engagement at The Plaza in Season 7 of Friends).

This crowd has a more touristy “out of town” feel, but there are plenty of diehard New Yorkers here too – including the chatty couple next to me, who’ve brought along their cavoodle service dog Gus for a canine’s ultimate night out. Gus looks chuffed, and extremely hopeful that someone will order the steak tartare.

The Palm Court debuted when The Plaza opened in 1907 and it’s as “old-money New York” as it gets – from the magnificent emerald green seats to the potted palms, chandeliers and the constant popping of expensive champagne corks. If you want to pop an important question, Chanel, Bergdorf Goodman and Tiffany’s are just outside. No wonder Palm Court is an age-old favourite of the silver spoon set, including creatives like F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. If you have to ask whether a personal caviar service is available, you don’t belong here.

The Plaza, 768 Fifth Avenue, Midtown Manhattan. The signature White Cosmopolitan is $US30 ($43). Phone: +1 212-546-5300. See theplazany.com

Marilyn Monroe and Salvador Dali couldn’t be wrong

When Kate, a 20-something young professional from Brooklyn explains she loves it when her mum is in New York because she spoils her with a drink at the St Regis hotel’s King Cole Bar, you know said bar has hit the sweet spot of catering to all generations. “I wouldn’t go on my own – it’s too expensive, and the crowd is older, but I love it when mum takes me for a special treat,” Kate says, adding “it’s rumoured male escorts frequent the bar for all the divorced women. But that’s probably true of many New York bars!”

Like so many of the heritage bars in the big hotels, you could write a PhD on the celebrities that have sipped, nibbled and generally lived it up in here over the decades – including Marilyn Monroe, Salvador Dali and John Lennon. But its most famous claim is as the birthplace of the Bloody Mary (originally the “Red Snapper”) in 1934.

This small, characterful bar on the ground floor of the St Regis hotel, has just undergone a refresh. The historic 30-foot-wide 1906 Maxfield Parrish Old King Cole mural is still here, and the bar remains an intimate space. The carpet is now a darker blue, and the seats are purple velvet. For drinks, make it a Red Snapper for old time’s sake – or an Old King Cole, featuring Tanqueray gin, Martini Rosso vermouth, and amaro, topped with burnt orange peel.

The St Regis New York, 2 East 55th Street (between 5th and Madison avenues). Phone: +1 212-753-4500. Cocktails start from $US25 ($36). See marriott.com

Strut your stuff at Peacock Alley

Picture a hostess in a shimmering gold-sequinned floor length dress with a large cocktail menu leading you past the mahogany Steinway grand piano Cole Porter once played – to a mustard-yellow tufted armchair near an elegant bar surrounded by large strutting white peacocks (on the wallpaper).

Since 1931, the Waldorf Astoria’s Peacock Alley has been the place to see and be seen. Strutting is strongly encouraged. Prime prancing occurs from 5.30pm when the lights go down and the pianist fires up Porter’s old Steinway, sending sultry jazz tunes ringing out across this huge space, punctuated by soaring black marble columns.

It’s hard to go past the Waldorf Cocktail – rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, a dash of absinthe with Angostura Bitters. The impressive cocktail menu is by Jeff Bell, the mixologist behind cultish speakeasy Please Don’t Tell (PDT) in East Village.

Select anything from the “seasonal bites” bar menu and rest assured it will be fresh. Even the yellow squash soup tastes elevated in these surrounds. Or opt for the New Waldorf salad, with a side of Baeri caviar (market price) and a $US260 ($370) bottle of Krug Grand Cuvee (NV). Still fresh out of its $US2 billion total refurbishment, the fabled Waldorf Astoria is ready for another century or two. Think Mad Men in 2026: Peacock Alley is the kind of place Betty and Don Draper would have come to try and repair their marriage. As one New York design magazine quipped: “[the former hotel owners] Mr and Mrs Astor would have been pleased as punch.”

For another oh-so-famous experience, head to nearby Hotel Chelsea’s The Lobby Bar. It’s a favourite of Australian travel entrepreneur and resident New Yorker David Prior of Prior World, who applauds the hotel’s 2022 refresh, saying: “It’s interesting because the hotel’s actual lobby is very discreet – like any New York co-op building, but the bar (at the back) has plenty of spirit. There’s a truly fun energy that’s neither too staid, nor too sophisticated. Think refined, not raucous.”

Waldorf Astoria, 301 Park Avenue, Midtown Manhattan. Phone: +1 212-355-3000. Cocktails from $US28-35. See waldorfastorianewyork.com

Get subterranean in Midtown Manhattan

Blow your NYC trip out of the social media park by posting pictures of a boozy Long Island Iced in stunning Madame George – one of New York’s most polished, picture-perfect bars. The large space (almost 409 square metres for 140 guests) opened in 2022, and the cocktail menu celebrates New York landmarks and history, with plenty of spin on classic New York drinks like the Manhattan.

Beverages are designed by Marshall Minaya, known for his work at the gin palace Valerie (above Madame George), and also nearby Mexican-themed Lolita.

If being underground gets too claustrophobic, head for the nearby Rockefeller Center – take the express lift up 67 stories to The Weather Room at the Top of the Rock, where you can sip on a rum old fashioned with all of New York fanned out below.

45 W 45th Street (between 5th and 6th avenues), near Bryant Park and Rockefeller Center. Bronx Martini is $US20 ($28). See madamegeorgenyc.com

It’s always party time on the Lower East

Since it opened in 2007, America’s first-ever Death & Co cocktail bar (433 East 6th Street) has been considered among the best places to go in East Village. Having said that, let’s talk about Attaboy, which has mixed things up since it opened in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 2012 in the space once occupied by the legendary speakeasy, Milk & Honey. Today, it has a pared-back, industrial chic design.

Don’t be put off by the lack of information on the website, nor the fact there’s no drinks menu. The Attaboy experience is based on interaction: you need to discuss your taste preferences (and possibly your mood) with the bartenders – then let them get busy shaking and stirring.

Look for a metal door with the sign that reads “Please wait to be greeted” and “AB” placed where a peephole would be. Find the buzzer and a staff member will let you in, as long as you have a reservation.

134 Eldridge St, New York. Average cocktail price $US18-20. See attaboy.us/visit-us

Toast Tribeca’s young American ’90s ghosts

Put the addictive 1990s soundtrack to American Love Story – the now streaming miniseries about JFK Junior and Carolyn Bessette – on repeat loop and head for once truly gritty Tribeca, to one of the couple’s favourite haunts. Grab a table at The Odeon known for its art deco, brasserie-style bar that was a celebrity magnet in the era pre-mobile phones. Opened in 1980 by Lynn Wagenknecht, her then husband Keith McNally and his brother Brian McNally, The Odeon has been solely owned by Wagenknecht since 1992. By way of background, British-born Keith McNally also created brasseries like Balthazar, Pastis, and Minetta Tavern; and has been described as “the restaurateur who invented downtown”.

Legend has it (or rather the gossip magazines say) that the pair often shared a bowl of fries. Kennedy Junior usually ordered a margarita, and it was a dirty martini for Bessette. Or have a cosmopolitan – said to have been invented at The Odeon in the late 1980s. Stay for dinner and order the steak frites with New York strip beef. If bar hopping in Tribeca, also put Titsou Bar inside Hotel Barriere Fouquet’s at 456 Greenwich St on your list.

145 West Broadway. Cocktails start from $US21 ($30), including for The Odeon Cosmopolitan. See theodeonrestaurant.com

Where to drown any Brooklyn blues

Could Brooklyn be any cooler? When it comes to cocktail bars, visitors are spoiled for choice – from Sunken Harbor Club to Barely Disfigured, Brooklyn Social and Frog. But let’s go with Maison Premiere in Williamsburg, founded by Joshua Boissy and Krystof Zizka in 2011 (they are also the co-founders and owners of Premier Enterprises, a hospitality and design firm in New York and London).

Maison Premiere was born of the desire to recreate the “sense of occasion” often found at old-style oyster bars and absinthe cafes. The venue unashamedly desires late-night drinkers, revellers and diners keen to discuss bivalves – and the best possible crisp, acidic cocktails to complement their briny, creamy oysters without overpowering them. The bar offers over 30 oyster varieties, sourced ethically via direct relationships with the farmers of the sea. Go for the “Chef’s Selection” of 12 oysters from $US46 ($65).

298 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn. Phone: +1 347-889-5710. The Maison Absinthe Colada is $US21 ($30). See maisonpremiere.com