Ryan Chetiyawardana Is Opening Seed Library in New York

Ryan Chetiyawardana, one of the world’s most acclaimed mixologists, also known as Mr. Lyan, is set to open his second U.S. cocktail bar on the ground floor of the Hotel Park Ave this fall.

Seed Library is an offshoot of his London bar by the same name, but it won’t be an exact replica of the Shoreditch location. Instead, Chetiyawardana teamed up with Renwick Hospitality, the group behind other hotel restaurants like Lindens and Foxtail, to create a bar that stays true to his desire to celebrate ingredients and nature while channeling a timeless NYC cocktail bar vibe.

“This has been quite a fun exercise for us because it’s the first time we’ve done something like this,” Chetiyawardana told Food & Wine. “We’re taking the core and what’s at the heart of the brand and applying that through a New York lens. The reason we were confident in doing that was that there is so much within the Seed Library vision that we want to keep exploring.”

A dedication to nature in all forms is the menu’s throughline. The list will feature a mix of original drinks and staple cocktails that have appeared at other Mr. Lyan bars with a New York-inspired spin. 

Chetiyawardana plans to apply his innovative techniques, like his proprietary fermentation method that makes wine-like cocktails, at the new venue. Guests can expect to see a carrot- and honey-infused French 75, as well as versions of popular drinks like the Beeswax Old Fashioned and the Koji Hardshake — a savory whiskey sour with a cult-like following that Chetiyawardana says is ordered at all of his bars, even if it doesn’t appear on the menu.

The pioneering bartender currently runs four other bars around the world, including Silver Lyan in Washington, D.C., Super Lyan in Amsterdam, and two venues in London — but Seed Library will be his first spot in New York City.

“New York has such a history with cocktails,” Chetiyawardana says. “There’s so much. The sophistication and understanding of cocktails in the U.S. is so high. And New York’s really been trailblazing in this space for so long.”

Chetiyawardana says many of the cocktail bars in New York City fall into one of two camps: ritzy, glamorous cocktail bars that stick to the classics with a buttoned-up style of service or modern, more innovative bars that are pushing the limits of what you can expect in your glass. With Seed Library, he hopes to toe the line and land somewhere in the middle.

Chetiyawardana is excited to incorporate local ingredients, like wild honey from the Adirondacks and apples from upstate New York. The stateside bar also gives him an opportunity to play with a wider array of spirits, like more agave-based bottles and American whiskey that you can’t get as easily in the UK.

Designed by Jacu Strauss, creative director of the Lore Group and RD Studio, the space will blend organic textures and natural materials to reflect the bar’s philosophy of embracing nature’s variance. The bar will also highlight music with a selection of vinyl, creating the space’s soundtrack.

“There’s a glamour that can only really exist in New York,” Chetiyawardana says. “There’s this marriage of old-world charm and hyper-fast-moving culture. I think that is such a beautiful thing that is so distinctive. That’s something that we were really thrilled to start to embrace with this and it felt like Seed Library could bridge those quite different worlds.”