When the kids go to sleep, or are under a babysitter's watch, there is plenty for grown-ups to do at the Breakers, especially with the opening of the $6 million HMF bar and restaurant.
HMF opened earlier this year and already it's a Palm Beach hot spot.
Positioned to offer a new take on classic Palm Beach cocktail culture, HMF pays homage to the Breakers founder Henry Morrison Flagler, a co-founder of Standard Oil, who opened the property more than a century ago. HMF was designed to be both modern and also invoke nostalgia for the bygone cocktail culture of the early 20th century.
In doing so, HMF has targeted "the young jet set," executives here said. The Breakers' other restaurants draw a clientele that averages in age between 35 and 55, while HMF draws clientele in their 20s and early 30s, both locals and visitors.
Designed by Adam Tihany, of New York's Per Se and London's MO Bar fame, the bar/restaurant was built into the hotel's historical, soaring Florentine Room. On a recent Monday evening, HMF was bustling, with all its tables and bar full before 8 o'clock.
Its creative menu offers cocktails that pay homage to Flagler, such as RailCar #91, named for his private car on his own Florida East Coast Railway, and puts playful twists on classics, like a gin and tonic flavored with rosemary and kirby cucumber.
A menu of craft beers features two local breweries, while the 40-plus-page wine list makes the sommelier very useful. Oenophiles will also marvel at the Tihany-designed Wine Wall, a 3,000-bottle showcase of the Breakers' 28,000-bottle collection.
HMF's food menu is definitely worth sampling, with an extensive menu of tasty share plates featuring local and organic ingredients in creative items like wild boar empanadas; orecchiette with duck sausage and wild mushrooms; and chicken albondigas tacos.
HMF is one of nine Breakers restaurants, both on and off site.
Follow Johanna Jainchill on Twitter @jjainchilltw.