Instagram story viewer> @xavierlandais> Posts

Xavier Landais

@xavierlandais

26.2K

followers

867

following

Bars. Drinks. Fish. Whisky. London.
🇫🇷 🇪🇺 🇬🇧

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Two Pins from @thepinnacleguide. One outstanding bar.

Sexy Fish London has been awarded Two Pins by The Pinnacle Guide, placing our bar among the industry’s outstanding cocktail bars.

Recognised as the cocktail bar industry’s most respected accolade of excellence, this award is assessed by several visits reviewing excellence across drinks, ambience and hospitality through a rigorous and anonymous review process.

Congratulations to the entire Sexy Fish bar team. Another milestone for a dedicated team that continues to make waves in London’s cocktail scene 🐠🍸

And congratulations to all the bars recognised this year - whether earning their first Pin, retaining their place or moving up to two 🥂 taken in Sexy Fish London by @xavierlandais

211

24

a month ago

The Incline Speed Rail...

Designed with speed and accessibility in mind - particularly beneficial for bars with a limited back bar.

Manufactured and designed by Interbar.

#londonbars #londonhospitality #interiordesign #bacchanalialondon #capricerestaurants by @xavierlandais

3

12

2 months ago

“Each project following this one has been better and better...”

Xavier, Director of Beverage at Caprice Restaurants, on why he keeps coming back to Interbar project after project.

#capricerestaurants #bardesign #bacchanalia #londonhospitality #bacchanalialondon by @xavierlandais

248

18

2 months ago

🚨 ** Job Alert** 🚨

A job which comes around every 5 years, at best, and the first time we’ve advertised it.
11 venues, 4 cities, 3 continents, a mix of London staples, high volumes, classics, bev led, food led, dining, drinking, and much more.

Looking forward to interview 360 candidates, with creativity and financial acumen, leadership and opinions, experience and innovation, but mainly, a will to be the best version of yourself.

London based.

Application link in bio or message directly.

#groupbarmanager #barmanager #capricerestaurants #caprice #capriceholdings taken in London by @xavierlandais

662

15

4 months ago

🇺🇸 🇯🇵

We’re excited to announce @sexyfishlondon is a 2026 spirited award Top 10 nominee for World best spirits selection.

This is our 9th nomination, including two top four, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to keep representing Japanese Whisky on the global scene.

Thank you to @tales_of_the_cocktail for the nudge.

#talesofthecocktail #spiriteawards #totc #totc26 taken in Sexy Fish London by @xavierlandais

3

9

5 months ago

WHAT-A-TEAM(s) 🫳🏻 🎤

Getting a Pin from @thepinnacleguide is special, but getting ONE in all FOUR location is just incredible.

📍📍📍📍

Being the only group globally (yet) to get awarded this recognition in all venues is humbling but also feels us with pride.

The consistency across the four cities is strong. A result of the drive, the talent, and above all the fun we sell on a daily basis.

Bravo to @sexyfishlondon @sexyfishmiami @sexyfish_manchester @sexyfishdxb 👏👏

Also a heartfelt thank you to @luxurydrinking @hannahsharmancox @siobhanpayne_ for putting together this much needed recognition system 🙌

Onwards and upwards 🐠

#sexyfish #sexyfishbar #sexyfishlondon #sexyfishmiami #sexyfishmanchester #sexyfishdubai #thepinnacleguide #pins by @xavierlandais

237

31

a year ago

MEGA
Unexpected news, but we’ll gladly take it.
So proud of @sexyfishdxb for getting a Pin from @thepinnacleguide 📍

9 month in only, so getting this recognition just show how the team has pushed, developed, and ultimately found its stride quicker than most, under the watchful eye of @samy_barkeeper.

BRAVO team Dubai 👏👏

Furthermore, with 4 sexy fish (London, Miami, Manchester, Dubai), all proudly displaying a Pin behind their respective bar, we’ve shown consistency on a global scale is not for fast food chains only.
It is possible to showcase quality, volume, service and delivering a similar product in 4 different markets.

Proud of all the Sexy Fish teams, strong work 🙌

#sexyfish #sexyfishdubai #sexyfishlondon #sexyfishmiami #sexyfishmanchester #thepinnacleguide taken in Sexy Fish Dubai by @xavierlandais

70

15

a year ago

72

5

a year ago

**MY TOP 10 HOSPITALITY PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME MOST - 2025 EDITION**
(In no particular order)

No 3
Jimmy Barrat
@jimmybarrat

I first met Jimmy at the global world class final, 2012, in Rio.
I somehow ended up supporting him and Alexi Taoufiq as they were both French and I’m just a sucker when it comes to cheer for my compatriots.
During one of the challenge, I approached him to say a few words, and he just pushed me away, rudely.
Nevermind.
After the award ceremony, where he won a challenge, but not the competition, we ended up in the same bus. I told him ‘congrats regardless’, and didn’t even reply to me.
I was a bit torn between understanding (he didn’t win) and crossing him from the list of people I would ever talk to ever again.

I crossed him off.

Fast forward a few years, and I invited him at Sexy Fish as he was in town. Not sure why. Maybe I don’t hold grudges longer than 5 years.
He came, we had lunch, few whiskies, and had a great time.

Enough to make my top 10?
Not quite.

When I think about #NYC, I think dead Rabbit, Death & Co, Dale deGroff, Julie Reiner, Jim Meehan, Milk & Honey and many more.
When I think #Tokyo, I think Ueno, Yoshida, Star bar, Tender, Hiroyasu etc..
When I think #Italy, I’ve lost count of great bartenders, bars, or cocktails.
When I think about #London, the list is even longer.

When I think #Dubai. I think Jimmy. And Zuma.

And you do too.

Not other bartender globally has owned a city as much. Everyone knows him, he knows everyone.
He built the bar scene, from the ground up.
And even now, when Dubai has more cool bars, restaurants, and 5 star hotels than Australia has kangaroos, it’s still Jimmy.

Every conversation I have with suppliers, he comes up.
Brands? He comes up.
Launch party? His name is the first on the list.

What a vision, having moved to Dubai early on. What a relentless career path, from early Zuma days to today.
What a legacy.

We’ve seen each other a few times, in Dubai mainly, as I think he now enjoys my company, as I do his.
Definitely wasn’t a given, but then we are very similar I think, some might say very French.

#legacy
#dubai
#Vision by @xavierlandais

67

9

a year ago

**MY TOP 10 HOSPITALITY PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME MOST - 2025 EDITION**
(In no particular order)

No 4
Jim Meehan
@mixography

Wherever I go, I always try to check bars that are either historical first, or/and allegedly delivering a quality product.
NOLA? Carrousel. Paris? Harry’s. Tokyo? Tender. London? American bar.
So when I went to NYC in 2007, I had 2 bars top of my list. Passerby and @pdtnyc .

Please don’t tell.

I was intrigued. A speakeasy? No idea what that was. A phone box? A hot dog joint? And..good cocktails?
So I went down those stairs, slightly embarrassed going into that booth.
And then, magic happened.
From the greasy, blue collar feel of that fast food shop, to a 5 stars cocktail bar. The sound of the shakers, a clientele dressed up for the occasion, and bartenders with techniques I could only dream to master one day.

Jim was behind the bar and made me a cocktail only NYC bartenders know how to. 2 spirits, short, strong, balanced.
I was already a bartender, a bar manager in fact. Or so I thought.
The bar was small, perfectly designed.
The menu was simple, perfectly written.
The flow was..flawless.

I didn’t get a chance to talk much with Jim.
I would get that chance 3 years later.
He came to do a training at Annabel’s, with all my teams.
The training was ok, didn’t blow my mind, I had 3 more years in me. But I really wanted to talk, discuss, chat, as that first PDT feeling never left me.

So we chatted for 30mn. I enjoyed it. Humbleness, charisma, opinions.
And all the while, I couldn’t stop staring at his apron.
A thick, brown leather, 2 pockets apron.
I asked him where he got it, and said from an old butcher shop in Boston.
And straight away, gave it to me.

I cherished that apron for years, sometimes wearing it in service, then rolling it back carefully until the next time.

That apron represented more than he knows, it was him passing a little bit of himself to me. A little bit of confidence. It was a past story and a future tale.

I gave that apron to one of my bartenders, in 2021, as runners pass on the baton.
As I understood then, that the apron was not important, it was the feeling.

Thank you Jim by @xavierlandais

64

2

a year ago

**MY TOP 10 HOSPITALITY PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME MOST - 2025 EDITION**
(In no particular order)

No 5
Robert Holland
@robertmholland_

We’re in 2001, @jsheekeyldn, London.
I’ve started my new job as a junior waiter, and I’m absolutely blown away by the military precision of this restaurant. It’s busy, very busy. The clientele is the best any restaurant in the world ever had. The clockwork SOP’s are pure, effortless magic. The whole brigade’s drive and talent can only be matched by 2015 Messi’s Barcelona.
I feel lucky.
But all this is anything but luck.
It’s the GM. Robert.

We’ve all heard some simple truth about service and managements.
‘You’re only as good as your last service’.
‘Consistency is key’.
‘Lead by example’.

But who can look me in the eyes, and tell me they’ve done this, day in, day out, for years.
Robert can.

He was here every lunch service.
At 12pm, doors open, 110 covers are coming, regulars mainly, and he’ll be standing there shaking everybody’s hands, greeting everyone by name.
12.45pm. He’ll go to the food pass, take his clock out of his pocket, dispatching every plate of food, making sure every dish was perfect and sent without delay.
2pm. He’ll go to every table, have a chat with our guests, make them feel special, tour the restaurant, everyone.
3pm. Service has slowed down. He will sit down with members of staff. Debrief on tests, check in. Develop. Mentor. Everyone. Once a month.

And he did this, everyday. For years.
No matter meetings, P&L’s, recruitment or other head office’s asks.
‘Service is service’. Above all else.

I was in awe. Such dedication, such vision to how his restaurant should operate.
A man with a plan and the drive to execute it.

Sounds a bit robotic though.
Yes it does. But Robert never lost touch with his team, and he was an incredible people’s person too. Every time I sat down with him, he made me feel special, and knew how to get the best out of me.
We would all have gone to war for him, and when he left to open The Wolseley, half the team left with him. For him.

I’ve learned so much, and If I am half as inspiring as he was. I won.

Thank you Rob.

#boss
#GM
#service by @xavierlandais

35

2

a year ago

**MY TOP 10 HOSPITALITY PROFESSIONALS WHO HAVE INSPIRED ME MOST - 2025 EDITION**
(In no particular order)

No 6
Remy Savage
@remy_savage_

I first met Remy at Little Red Door, circa 2016. Great bar, great menu, great drinks.
I do appreciate how he and his team took this bar to great heights, by delivering on point service, at speed, and creating so many cool menus, before menus were cool, and having a great cocktail bar in Paris before Paris knew what a cocktail bar was.

I absolutely love what he’s doing as a bar owner. Taking a strong concept, and following through with it.
The art movements are definitely not my thing, and I know as much about art as Roy Keane knows about finesse.
But I appreciate anyone who stick to their guns, and someone who will develop a concept to the maximum of his abilities, and giving time for it to grow.

His drinks are also amongst the best I have ever tried. But that’s a detail. Great drinks are everywhere these days.

It would be easy for Remy to be remembered for what he achieved at Little Red Door, or as a bar owner.
But when I think about Remy, beside the drinks, the opinions, the master plan, the humble charisma, the 6 plates and the 12 red scarves, I think mainly about one thing.
His balls of steel.

Artesian.

When the team who took the artesian to 4 x 50 best ‘World best bar’ title left, I wasn’t the only one who wondered who would take over.
A team did, and forgive me, I cannot remember them.
But then, he did.
Going after Alex, Simone and co? Have you lost your mind? Surely there is easier way to pay your rent?
But he and the new Artesian team put it back on the map. By being different, and by not trying to replicate what had been done before.
Such confidence is really inspiring.
And then, the Artesian was no longer Alex & Simone, if was now Remy & Anna.

What a move.
Balls of steel.

Of course we all knew this wasn’t really Remy, and he moved on, to deliver a project, his project, his way.

Strong.

#artesian
#ballsofsteel
#concept by @xavierlandais

72

6

a year ago