A new bar swings onto the Prague cocktail scene

Gin lovers in Prague have something to celebrate with the arrival of a stylish new cocktail bar to Opletalova street. The Monkey Bar at Opletalova 21 opened its doors on May 13, World Cocktail Day, and customers have been going bananas for their urbane mix of signature cocktails and exciting food, served in a cool and comfortable bar that’s bursting with chic jungle vibes.

Situated by Wenceslas Square on the corner of Opletalova and Růžová streets, the Monkey Bar is part of the premium Falkensteiner Boutique Hotel Prague. The hotel has just undergone a major renovation, and the management felt it was important that the redesigned hotel would integrate into the city and offer something for locals, rather than risk becoming a disconnected space used only by foreign tourists.

We wanted to create a special experience for locals,” says Claudio Sturm, CEO of the Falkensteiner Hotel Prague, “which is why we have built a unique all-day bar on the ground floor of the hotel, with its own entrance directly from the street.”

The Monkey Bar is open from early morning until late evening, with its culinary offering changing throughout the day – breakfast is served in the morning, followed by lunch on weekdays and an à la carte sharing menu to accompany cocktails in the afternoons.

The sharing menu was created by celebrated head chef Nenad Jovanović and includes dishes that are designed to be eaten without cutlery, such as fried chicken strips with kimchi mayonnaise and unconventional tuna tacos.

The bar has partnered with Monkey 47, a premium gin that hails from the Schwarzwald and lends the bar both its name and a monkey motif that interior designer Aggi Bruch has applied to both the interior and exterior spaces of the bar.

The Monkey Bar has six Monkey 47 gin-based cocktails, which are premixed and bottled to ensure consistency, and are served to guests in glasses that the bartender cools with liquid nitrogen – a spectacular presentation.

The second part of the cocktail menu consists of eight signature cocktails, including exotic fruits such as the graviola or soursop fruit – hailing from Madagascar, the graviola puree is a key ingredient in the Madagascar Mule, which proved to be the bar’s best-selling cocktail on its opening night.

Much of Monkey Bar’s success comes down to Aggi Bruch’s sophisticated design, which sees luxuriant plants add splashes of vibrant green to the subdued tones of the elegant interior, while the spacious courtyard of the hotel has been transformed into a lush garden that is reminiscent of a verdant jungle.

Mostly covered, and offering either heating or shade as required, the impressive exterior area can cater to up to sixty guests.

It becomes especially lively on Friday and Saturday evenings, when it plays host to various DJs, including singer Matěj Ruppert (from the Czech funk and pop group, Monkey Business), who now serves as the bar’s ambassador and will DJ on June 28 from 6 p.m.