Aura 48-49 St. James's Street, Mayfair , London, SW1A 1JT Tel: 020 7499 6655

A heartbeat away from The Ritz hotel, it's easy to see why Aura attracts an upmarket (and often celebrity) clientele. Resembling a New York lounge the Aura decor includes sofas, tinted mirrors, chandeliers and a projector for black and white movies in the cocktail bar. No bar with this address could be called downmarket, and the street-level rope and bouncer at this basement locale signals its intentions early on. Its part cocktail bar, part club, part restaurant, all three merging into one at some point so you might have someone spinning around with a martini in their hand nearby you as you tuck into your exquisite prawn risotto. Music runs from RnB to ambient and the general feel is one of refined style, however a very small yet intemate venue.