Silver Lyan
Cocktail bar · Downtown ·
Bank vault cocktail bar with exotic concoctions & lavish martini service
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/66273891/Silver_Service_Martini.0.jpg "Silver Lyan by Rey Lopez/Eater D.C.")
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19704611/untitled_5046.jpg "Silver Lyan by Rey Lopez/Eater D.C.")
Bank vault cocktail bar with exotic concoctions & lavish martini service
"Mr. Lyan debuted stateside in early 2020 with the opening of Silver Lyan in the depths of D.C.’s Riggs hotel. The newly crowned World’s 50 Best bar focuses on storytelling through daring drink menus conceived with a laboratory-like lens. Silver Lyan’s location in an 1800s-era bank vault space surrounded in glass-enclosed silver trophies, along with a speakeasy curiously tucked inside a gym, is part of how Chetiyawardana’s bars often reflect their architecture and settings with an added touch of whimsy." - Melissa McCart
"Inside the depths of the Riggs hotel, this essential Penn Quarter cocktail bar from London-based master mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana unveils the two-week-old Butterfly Effect menu, its most elaborate refresh yet and the fifth major iteration since its 2020 debut, arriving soon after being named No. 48 on North America’s 50 Best Bars for 2025. The 12-cocktail collection riffs on happenstance and coincidence through a writer’s-room process that leads to flavor mapping, finalized copy, and then months of recipe development, marking style, texture, and flavor of each story detail. Highlights include the spritzy Chilean-kiwi Pikachu Pop; Operation Mind Fuck, built around smoked carrot vermouth and spring pea cordial and tailored to either end of a long day; the It’s Alive! 75, powered by a “reanimated berry madeira” created by electrocuting berry-infused dry madeira to promote oxidation; the Dynamite Old Fashioned; and the Hokusai Snap, which evolved from a shelved blue-cheese-adjacent experiment into a milk punch–style Curaçao topped with a berry garnish. To execute the menu, the team fabricated 30–40 new components—including an acorn tincture—and consulted with Mr. Lyan’s veteran crews at Super Lyan in Amsterdam and Lyaness in London; it’s the same boundary-pushing spirit that, in 2023, yielded ingredients like distilled emu neck and smoked bee larvae. For guests who prefer simpler pleasures, a steady Classics section remains, plus a playful Jack and Coke Service that riffs on the bar’s famed martini service—underscoring that for all the conceptual storytelling, the drinks still have to be downright delicious." - Brian Oh
"Their version begins with a base of Roku gin that “brings soft notes of Sakura blossom,” says Sam Nellis, senior bartender. “We then support that with a little elderflower liqueur and Aperol to offer depth and character without betraying the spirit of a traditional lychee martini, while a touch of shochu adds a bright minerality,” he adds." - Lulu Chang
"This posh hotel brasserie is located in a grandiose historic bank building in Penn Quarter. This is a good place to take vegetarians, because there are always a few options, but people with traditional tastes will find whole roasted chickens, steak frites, and duck confit. The bar has an all-day cafe menu with a cardamom bun that’s worth a visit on its own. Speakeasy Silver Lyan downstairs is a stellar destination for cocktails." - Tierney Plumb
"Tucked inside a historic bank building, Penn Quarter’s opulent, all-day hotel brasserie is a fancy pre-game pick for oysters, Champagne, salads, and more. Head to the depths of the bank for martini service at Silver Lyan, the cocktail lair from acclaimed bartender Ryan Chetiyawardana." - Missy Frederick