It was clear what to order at Dry Martini, which Don Pere Carbonell debuted in Barcelona over 30 years ago, serving nothing but…you guessed it. Now Javier de las Muelas is at the helm, and devoted space in folded menus to Fresh Fruit Martinis and the Mojito, but really, it’s still all about the namesake cocktail.

The space remains old school plush, with wood everywhere, green and red leather lounge chairs, glassed-in shelves of vintage barware, dapper bartenders in powder grey coats, a SPEAKEASY RESTAURANT in back, and blues music on the speakers. The original dry martini recipe, which likely dates to the 1800s, appears on a mirror behind the bar like so:

DRY MARTINI ORIGINAL RECIPE
½ London Dry Gin
½ French Vermouth
1 Dash Orange Bitters
Squeeze lemon rind. Add a green olive.

Despite James Bond’s famous preference for a shaken martini, Javier de las Muelas calls for stirring. Their well gin is Bombay Sapphire, which is one-note, but in the hands of my old school bartender, and combined with other ingredients, I still enjoyed their Dry Martini (10,20€) immensely.