Five programs, four cities, three continents. Each case below follows the same honest structure — the brief we walked into, what we actually did, and what changed. Every ranking and award is public; look any of them up.
Nicosia, CY · 2014 — 2022 · Head bartender, founding team
Lost & Found Drinkery — the room itself. Photo: via 50 Best Discovery.
From a side-street twenty-seater to #25 in the world.
The brief
A twenty-seat bar tucked off a side street in old Nicosia, opening into a market where cocktail culture meant vodka and Red Bull. No international bar from Cyprus had ever registered on the global stage. The ambition was absurd on paper: build a world-list bar in a city the bar world had never once looked at.
What we did
Built the bar program from zero as head bartender and founding-team member: a tight, technique-led repertoire rather than an encyclopedic list
Developed prep systems that let a tiny room deliver world-class consistency night after night
Trained a team on a simple doctrine — call regulars by name before they reach the stool, and never serve a drink you can’t serve twice
Evolved the menu annually for eight years, keeping a small bar interesting to an international audience that had already seen everything
What changed
First Cypriot bar ever to make the World’s 50 Best Bars list (2015) — then held a place on the lists for nine consecutive years (2015–2023)
Peaked at #25 in the world, 2018
Two Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards Top 10 nominations in the same year — Best International Cocktail Bar and Best International Bar Team (2018), in a cohort with Manhattan Bar Singapore, the Connaught, and the Savoy’s American Bar
Featured in Difford’s Guide, Bargiornale, and Parikiaki
Here Nor There, Austin. Photo: via 50 Best Discovery.
A national name within twelve months.
The brief
Two rooms at one downtown Austin address — Here Nor There, the hidden-entry, reservation-only speakeasy flagship, and In Plain Sight, its aperitivo-style sister bar. Ambitious drinks, real talent, and the classic growth problem: a menu whose prep load and pour costs hadn’t been engineered to match its ambition.
What we did
Audited the running menu across live service — prep efficiency, pour costs, and where the drinks were quietly bleeding margin
Fixed COGS drink by drink: re-costed specs, tightened batching, and rebuilt prep workflows so the ambitious builds could run at Friday volume
Trained the team on the techniques the program demanded, so execution didn’t depend on any one bartender
Helped develop the next menu — technique development, prep workflows, and specs built to survive nightly service
What changed
In Plain Sight named a Spirited Awards 2023 U.S. Regional Top 10 Honoree — Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar — within twelve months
Coverage in The Infatuation, Austin Chronicle, and Eater Austin
The rooms became the place Austin bartenders go on their own nights off — the industry’s honest review
New York, US · 2024 — 2025 · Menu development & team training
Vine Bar, Brooklyn. Photo: vinebk.com.
An ambitious menu that survived a full room.
The brief
A New York bar ready to push past the expected, wanting a list built on new techniques and unexpected flavors — without the usual fate of ambitious menus, which is dying quietly three weeks after launch when the prep collapses under a full room.
What we did
Created the Explorers menu from concept to nightly service — a highly innovative list built around new techniques and unexpected flavor pairings
Wrote complete recipe specs with costings, so every drink had a margin target before it had a garnish
Built the prep workflows that made the innovation servable — batching, clarification, and mise en place scaled to the room
Trained the team on every build and the techniques behind them, then trained them to train the next hire
What changed
The Explorers menu ran as designed — full ambition, nightly service, no quiet simplification after launch
Consistency held after the engagement ended: the specs, costings, and training stayed with the house
The bar’s program moved from “good neighborhood bar” to destination list — drinks people cross the river for
Nicosia, CY · 2020 — 2022 · Bar program & cocktail menu, from concept
Tocayo, Nicosia. Photo: Cesoro Group.
Best New Restaurant, with the bar to match.
The brief
One of Nicosia’s most ambitious restaurant openings — a kitchen running on technique, sourcing, and quiet confidence. The brief: a bar that could keep pace with the food, in a market where restaurant cocktails were an afterthought printed on the back of the wine list.
What we did
Built the beverage program from scratch: twelve drinks, every one defensible against the room
Paired the list to the food, not to trends — with the same seasonal turnover the chef demanded of the kitchen
Engineered service-volume prep from day one: every cocktail prepped, batched where integrity allowed, plated within thirty seconds in service
Trained the opening team and left them the spec book
What changed
Best New Restaurant Cyprus, 2021
Sustained press across Cypriot food and lifestyle media
A bar program that outlived the engagement — the standard the room still serves to
Atmospheric image — venue closed; no official photography available.
A rum program built for volume, in a market that doesn’t default to it.
The brief
An Abu Dhabi venue trading on a deep Caribbean catalog, in a market that doesn’t default to spirit-forward drinking and a climate that punishes delicate builds. Friday nights here mean covers NYC operators don’t typically forecast for.
What we did
Built the full opening program — concept, cocktail and rum menu, supplier setup, team training, and opening-week support
Wrote a list that reads as a single editorial: heavy on long-aged rums, smoked syrups, and tropical acids that survive the temperature differential between bar and table
Designed every build for service volume against an international guest base
Trained for speed under pressure — technique that holds at five hundred covers
What changed
A spirit-forward rum program that worked commercially in a market that wasn’t supposed to want one
Volume-ready builds — the menu’s ambition never throttled the room’s capacity
The full playbook — specs, prep, training — handed to the house team at close
