A Personalized Martini, Sir?
Be like Bond. Drink like Bond. This is a Vesper Martini, as made right here at the Ocean Club on Paradise Island, Bahamas (it’s as signature as Raffles’ Singapore Sling, but infinitely more exclusive). Gin and vodka and subtle sweet and floral notes from Lillet Blanc.
Keith, the Ocean Club’s barman, has been on the job since before the turn of the century. It was he who made the cocktail for Daniel Craig, starring here in his first Bond movie, Casino Royale. Judi Dench was M and Eva Green was Vesper Lynd, for whom Ian Fleming invented the concoction, shaken not stirred, in his 1953 novel. The movie was released in November 2006 and it grossed $616 million.
Casino Royale did marvels for Craig and for the Ocean Club, the 105-villa resort here since 1962 on gorgeous ocean-front land. It was built by A&P supermarket heir, Huntington Hartford, whose third wife Diane ran off with Bobby Darin, but that's beside this point. It was later briefly owned by Trump, and then Merv Griffin, who sold it to the great Sol Kerzner in 1994. Cindy Crawford and Randy Gerber were amongst the many celebs who were married here on the Italian-look grassed steps that rise up as a theatrical backcloth. There’s so much space - 15 hectares in all – that blocks of residences are in the works (pop over to Keith for a nightly snifter).
Landscaping here in such a private place is very important, as is design. Adam Tihany did the interiors – exteriors are all-white clapboard, a magical effect combined with green grass for which verdant is an understatement, and the semi-wild undergrowth and sky-high palms can only be described as lush. Jean-George Vongerichten’s DUNE restaurant, half-cantilevered over the pale yellow sand, offers sushi or whatever, say a black plate of local seafood, in a 360-degree panorama of white wood, brown table, and blues of sea and sky.
In Ocean Club’s reception lobby, there is a proliferation of colour from modern pointillism pieces by Jane Waterhous. She does unique images of thousands of little people, all done with a tiny spatula throwing splodges of brightly coloured oils on to a canvas to spell out JOY or LOVE. Perfect for a Four Seasons favourite.
Written by Mary Gostelow
Internationally renowned luxury travel & lifestyle influencer
