Decency and Decadence

Award-winning bartenders Leo Robitschek and Liana Oster discuss transplanting their innovative beverage philosophies from New York to London via NoMad’s newest watering hole.

Words: Heleri Rande • Photography: © Cristian Barnett

Hailing from opposite sides of the world, Leo Robitschek, Vice President of F&B at Sydell Group, and Liana Oster, Head of Bars at NoMad London, have met in the middle in central London.

The duo, who come from the US and Australia respectively, are responsible for conjuring up the beverage programme at NoMad’s flagship in the city’s Covent Garden neighbourhood – most recently at the property’s new bar. Common

Decency, in the softly-lit basement of what used to be Bow Street Magistrates’ Court, has a sense of decadence and nostalgia that is very much in keeping with NoMad’s ethos of bespoke hospitality coupled with sensuous design and – above all – fun. Its entry exudes grandeur, something that hotel bars used to be known for, making the venue a much-appreciated addition to the ever-evolving London bar scene.

Robitschek grew up in Miami, in a family that embraced hospitality and culinary curiosity from an early age. “I always loved family dinners; my parents made us gather around the dinner table every evening,” he says. “We would also go out but not to your typical kid-friendly places, more so to grown-up restaurants. We were allowed to order whatever we wanted as long as we finished the meal. So, I picked the most obscure things.” As a child, the future grand master of cocktails dreamed of living in New York; moving to the city offered him a blank canvas on which to paint an illustrious career in the drinking and dining sector.

As the lives of bartenders tend to go, Robitschek’s path featured many twists and turns – including studying for a postbaccalaureate pre-med programme – but eventually led him to the eminent Eleven Madison Park, which at the time was under the direction of restaurateur Danny Meyer. “He was the opposite of what many other places were doing at the time in New York; he treated his people with kindness and what he calls enlightened hospitality,” explains Robitschek. “However, there was no cocktail programme

in place; there was a cocktail menu by necessity from 1998, but this was 2005. So, I started playing around, doing tastings. Everything I did was trial and error.” His creativity was rewarded when Daniel Humm and Will Guidara took the reins of the venue, with an ambition to make Eleven Madison Park the best restaurant in the world. The duo wanted Robitschek on the ride with them. “I had a chef and a general manager who cared about cocktails,” he recalls. “This was revolutionary, as the chefs in other places did not appreciate that at all. I had a mentor in the kitchen world and access to an incredible pantry. Back then it was very different to the classic form of bartending.” Fast forward to 2019, and Andrew Zobler of the heavy-hitting Sydell Group had recruited Robitschek to work on the opening of NoMad New York, a hotel where food and drink co-existed seamlessly. There, his work had an immediate and influential impact, with the venue and its team winning numerous industry awards, including Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards and the James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program, in addition to placing fourth on the World’s 50 Best Bars, and being named Best Bar in North America twice – all between the years of 2013 to 2020. In 2021, the NoMad concept made its way across the Atlantic to the UK, with Robitschek very much at the helm of its F&B offering.

As fate would have it, Oster’s journey also took her to NoMad New York, during her very first month in the city following a move from Australia. But having learnt her craft at Bar Americano in Melbourne, the hostess trial she was offered at the hotel wasn’t exactly what she had in mind, so instead she answered a call for bartenders at the renowned watering hole Dante. “I came to New York wanting to be a bartender, so I took the opportunity at Dante which was fantastic,” she says. “I grew a lot personally and professionally in that role.” Under her leadership as Head Bartender, Dante was named World’s Best Bar by both Tales of the Cocktail’s Spirited Awards and the World’s 50 Best Bars list in the same year (2014).

But new horizons beckoned. “I always wanted to live in London, and hearing about the NoMad opening there, I spoke with Leo and his other team members and well, the rest is history,” she recalls. Though the pandemic threw the group multiple curveballs, eventually the doors opened, and just like that, a slice of New York was transported to the British capital. “It was really important that we morphed the NoMad feel into its new surroundings; we are all about juxtapositions, be it lighting, music or the way we treat ingredients,” explains Oster.

The treating of ingredients is the lynchpin of the philosophy at Common Decency, which launched in September. Seasonality is practically a given these days in London’s gastronomic scene, but Robitschek

LEO ROBITSCHEK

LIANA OSTER

and Oster have taken it a step further here. “On the menu there are eight ingredients that represent the time and the season,” explains Robitschek. “We make each in two different ways – one more classic but done in the NoMad way, and the other is juxtaposed with a more conceptual idea. All the work is done behind the scenes using kitchen-centric techniques. That is why the flavour is not what you think it will be.” For example, the cocktails Green Muse and Cool as a Cuke both centre around the humble cucumber, but while the first includes Pernod Absinthe, lime, Lillet Blanc, pickled cucumber, dill and club soda, the second iteration features Olmeca Altos Blanco, Mexican Sour by Two Tribes, coconut and lacto-fermented cucumber: a delightful dichotomy.

What was the reasoning behind their unconventional approach? “After the pandemic we want to drink differently; we want to drink well but we also want to have fun,” elaborates Robitschek. “In many places in West London you need to be on your best behaviour; in the East you need to be casual, oftentimes standing. At Common Decency you can do both, depending on your mood.”

The creativity of the concept is matched by Common Decency’s culinary team: Executive Chef Ashley Abodeely, who oversees the kitchen at NoMad London, works closely with Robitschek and Oster to complement – but not lead – the bar experience. On the snacks menu are hot dogs with celery and black truffles, and bite-sized potato rosti topped with crème fraiche and caviar.

At hotel bars globally, a signature sense of grandeur has been given a modern makeover, with venues increasingly feeling less pretentious and more welcoming and inclusive. Common Decency goes above and beyond in that sense, artfully fusing the sophistication of West London and the playful ease of East London in the middle of the bustle of Covent Garden. Liberal, unorthodox and wholly international, it marks the ideal spot for this cosmopolitan meeting of creative minds.

Le photographe du dimanche – Pierre-Louis Viel & Valery Drouet

First fish to obtain the prestigious Label Rouge quality mark Farmed in the clear waters of the magical Scottish Highlands and Islands Guaranteed Quality and Origin Full traceability from egg to plate