If you have a reservation, and can hack it while a miked-up doorman attempts to communicate with preoccupied staff two floors above, you’ll eventually be escorted to Peony – Opium’s new venue-within-a-venue. Traditional pre-Mao decor and a dark-wood bartender’s table with high stools set the scene for recherché east-west quaffs conceived by rising star Rasa Gaidelyte. Sharing punches served in pretty patterned teapots include a hot toddy involving Chivas 12-year-old whisky and green tea – ideal with dim sum, seafood or vegetable platters. Otherwise, signature mixes might range from Mexican in China (Herradura Tequila, Xilli pepper liqueur, maraschino, grapefruit juice and lime) to Golden Sazerac – smoky ginger, lemongrass and aged El Dorado rum creatively presented with goji berries and a gold coin enrobed in an exotic leaf. At £15-20 (service included), prices are – alas – as breathtakingly steep as the stairs up to this late-late den.