The best bars in London right now
London has some of the best bars in the world. The capital’s bartenders are increasingly using innovative ingredients, local produce and a sustainable approach when crafting their menus, while the old school hotel haunts are still mixing classics with aplomb. There’s a spate of forward-thinking wine bars showcasing natural wine and craft breweries serving artisan pints. So whether you want a cosy cocktail bar, a progressive wine bar or just an under-the-radar place for a quiet drink, there are plenty of places to raise a glass or two. Here are our favourite bars in London right now, in no particular order.
James McDonald1. Red Room
Behind a velvet curtain in the depths of The Connaught sits Red Room – a wine bar serving up red-themed artworks, an impressive wine list and inventive cocktails.
Red Room is the first bar to open at The Connaught in over 10 years, a move made even more exciting when you consider that the hotel’s main bar has been named the best bar in Europe twice as well as winning the World’s Best Bar 2021.
Bryan O’Sullivan – whose past projects include The Painter’s Room at Claridge’s and The Berkeley Bar – is the man behind the striking interiors. He aimed to create a space that feels like you’re relaxing in the living room of an art collector; with plump sofas, curved walls and a soft colour palette of pastel pinks, creamy neutrals and greens lending the perfect canvas to the pieces on display.
As for the art, you’ll find an all-female lineup – Louise Bourgeois’ ‘I Am Rouge’ sits proudly above the marble fireplace, alongside works from Jenny Holzer, Trina McKillen and young Vietnamese artist Ti-a Thuy Nguyen.
DRINKS
Wine, of course, is the focus here, with glasses of some of the world’s best bottles available to try – made easier thanks to a snazzy Coravin system that preserves bottles for longer to allow servings by the glass.
The team knows a thing or two about the tipples on offer, and are more than happy to help navigate the list. This isn’t a place where a glass is plonked in front of you – rather, glasses are decanted and served from custom made marble trolleys.
Six wine-themed cocktails – designed by Director of Mixology Agostino Perrone – serve as an extension of the red-hued works adorning the walls. ‘White’ – one of Red Room’s signatures – will be a hit with Martini fans, with hints of lemon and a smooth, clean finish. ‘Rose’ is the bar’s take on a Negroni – mellow, berry-infused vodka replaces the gin and a sprig of Amaranthus sitting neatly inside the ice cube adds a fragrant hit while you sip.
FOOD
It’s not about nibbling on salad leaves while you’re sipping on the strong stuff, which makes Red Room’s menu a delight. Comfort food disguised as elegant bar snacks includes Ratte potatoes smothered in a creamy, truffle mayo, salmon sashimi on top of sticky rice, and tangy, slightly spicy Gochujang chicken oysters we’d happily go back for.
VERDICT
You don’t need to be an art or wine buff to appreciate this stylish space. This is a hidden treasure we highly recommend keeping up your sleeve to impress your most discerning pals. Sarah Allard
Address: Red Room at The Connaught, Carlos Place, London W1K 2AL
Website: the-connaught.co.uk
2. La Goccia, Covent Garden
In the heart of Covent Garden, this cosy drinking den is the latest venture from the Boglione family, founders of Petersham Nurseries. Enter through a red velvet curtain for interiors inspired by the horticulture roots of the family. Francesco Boglione’s art collection of contemporary botanical paintings lines the walls, the sleek bar is made up of hundreds of hand-dipped bronze leaves, and there are dried flower displays and foliage on almost every surface. Take a seat on a leopard-print bar stool with gnarled metal legs inspired by tree branches, or in an alcove lined with velvet sofas and distressed leather chairs.
DRINKS
Printed menus hand-tied with string contain carefully crafted cocktails (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) as well as plenty of wines and beer. It's the cocktails that steal the show — ingredients change depending on the season, and the mixologists use lots of fresh spices, fruits and edible flowers. The Apple Star was our favourite: a refreshing, sweet-but-sour short drink containing JJ Whitley Gin, apple cordial, lime and Amaretto. Those with a sweet tooth should order the Dark Chocolate Martini which doubles up as a pudding, a mix of Vestal Vodka, oats, dark chocolate and hazelnut. Or, if you prefer a classic cocktail, chat to the bartender for your favourite tipple.
FOOD
The bar menu is an ode to the adjoining Petersham Nurseries restaurant. There are plenty of Italian small plates using the ingredients sourced from the family farm in East Devon. Make sure to order the coccoli, fluffy balls of dough to dip in taleggio cream or gorgonzola dolce. We also loved La Goccia’s signature fried chicken, served with a dipping pot of creamy lemon sauce.
VERDICT
A great spot to know about in central London where you can slip away from the crowds. Sophie Knight
Address: La Goccia, 1 Floral Street, London WC2E 9FB
Website: lagoccia.co.uk
3. Booking Office 1869, King's Cross
Now here’s one of London’s truly great spaces. Once the – you’ve guessed it – ticket hall for the original St Pancras train station, this was first unveiled as a bar in 2011, part of Harry Handelsman’s hugely ambitious (and very welcome: it might have been demolished) transformation of George Gilbert Scott’s red-brick Victorian masterpiece into the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel. The gothic revival architecture reels and rolls all around, with cathedral-sized windows, corniced ceilings, brick arches and enough oak panelling to supply a decade of BBC period dramas. But once you’d ogled the surroundings, it never really engaged you as a bar – it felt a little transient, as if trying to be all things to all people. So, a decade after the Booking Office’s rebirth, Handelsman invited French-Mexican designer Hugo Toro to redress the interiors as a Victorian-style Winter Garden. The result is incredibly lush, almost an ecosystem of a space, midway between 19th-century London and tropical Havana, with a little contemporary chutzpah. There are giraffe-high palm trees, banquettes covered in a lovely mottled blue-and-crimson material, a new fabric ceiling, clusters of white 3D-printed lamps blooming like snowdrops and two showcase pendant lights each made of 267 brass leaves. It’s more intimate and glowing than before, more romantic – perhaps the perfect spot to rendezvous before eloping to Paris on the Eurostar outside – and has one of the best cocktail lists around.
DRINKS
Cocktails in 2022 are all about the classics – with smart little tweaks, of course, and some theatre. At the Booking Office, which is now one of the best bars in Kings Cross (and there’s stiff competition) that means a pre-mixed House Martini, infused with beeswax and served on ice in its own little pharmacy-like bottle, while Victorian-inspired signature serves include a Victoria Sour (pisco, long pepper spice and plum syrup) and Ol’ Signalman (pecan-infused bourbon, Cocchi Rosa, coconut bitters), the latter finished off tableside by a waiter armed with a little blowtorch. The food has also been wonderfully ramped up, with snacks such as fried chicken served with a yogurt dip, or bresaola and celeriac remoulade or oysters from the raw bar – yes, there’s now a raw bar, what would the Victorians have made of that? – or make an occasion of it and settle down to the slow-roasted lamb shoulder.
VERDICT
At last, the Booking Office bar is a destination in its own right. However long you dawdle, you can sit here knowing there’s nothing quite like this anywhere else.
Address: Booking Office 1869, Euston Road, London NW1 2AR
Website: booking-office.co.uk
ZAC and ZAC4. Le Magritte, The Beaumont, Mayfair
We live in exciting times. And right now, London’s hotel scene is very exciting; in fact, not since the time when the Spice Girls filmed Wannabe at the St Pancras Renaissance have things been this exciting. During and after lockdown, hotels have been dusting off the family heirlooms, playing musical chairs, reshuffling the pack, with Claridge’s digging deep into its basement and opening a new bar; ditto the Connaught. At the Beaumont, famously built in an Art Deco car park and opened in 2014 – though you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s been around since the days when Evelyn Waugh screeched around Mayfair in a Model T Ford – where was once Le Magritte bar is now Gatsby’s Room, where serves are mainly of the infused-leaf variety. So this is a new Magritte, a clubbable, polished nook of a bar with alabaster columns, cherrywood panels and a lovely, leather-edged granite counter, over which bartenders polish glasses and time slows down. Outside is a new terrace overlooking Brown Hart Gardens, while a 1950s painting by the eponymous artist hangs in pride of place – a man in a bowler hat facing backwards with a crescent moon just above him.
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It may be named after the surrealist painter but the mood on the menu is class Twenties cocktails rather than anything avant-garde – no black umbrellas on Pina Coladas here. We suggest you pull up a seat at the bar and order a swift Martinez – made with a vintage-but-new DR Harris pick-me tonic – while you peruse the menu. The menu is by Antonino Lo Iacono, fresh from Mark’s Club, who has plundered the historic cocktail books for serves such as the Bohemian 75, adding absinthe of course, Paper Plane and a Refashioned Old-Fashioned, and adding PX sherry to the usual suspects. Plenty of spirits by the glass, and Guscombe alongside the French sparklers.FOOD
Save some space as you’ll doubtless want to carry on to the newly revamped Colony Grill restaurant a few yards through the lobby, but there are excellent oysters on the half shell, along with kale crisps, French toast and bacon, and corndogs with a dash of stout mustard – just the sort of London-New York we appreciate.VERDICT
Bond seems to have quite enough places in town suitable for a Vesper Martini, but we think he’d appreciate this one too. Rick JordanAddress: Le Magritte at The Beaumont, 8 Balderton Street, Brown Hart Gardens, London W1K 6TF
Website: thebeaumont.com
Justin De Souza5. The Painter's Room, Claridge's, Mayfair
Turn left through the lobby, turn right when you meet the rocking zebra then turn left when you see Kirsten Scott Thomas. The directions will make sense when you visit Claridge’s elegant new drinking den, anyway. It’s an Art Deco lozenge of a space, carved out between the ballroom and the Talking Heads gallery of portraits (hence Kirsten’s appearance) and means you can now bar-hop your way around the Mayfair hotel, from its original drinking hole to the Fumoir and then here. The Painter's is a lovely place to while away an hour or so, the pale pink onyx of the counter as luminous as Venus in her scallop shell, with cornetto wall lights and the metal Paris Metro-like skylight above holding an intricately rolled Deco chandelier. It was was designed by Irish-born Bryan O’Sullivan – a name to watch; other commissions include the Berkeley Bar and The Park Hotel in Kenmare, along with new bedrooms upstairs at this hotel – who referenced archive photos of a Thirties Claridge’s bar of the same name for inspiration. He collaborated with artist Annie Morris, whose stack sculptures can currently be seen at Yorkshire Sculpture Park but here has doodled animals on the white wall in light grey and created a stained-glass window in wrapping-paper-bright colours. There’s something of the Matisse Chapel about this space, but also something a little Accidentally Wes Anderson (although is anything accidental these days?). Easy to imagine Jean Harlow draped in white mink here, blowing smoke rings from a cigarette holder and waiting for her close-up.
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Brought over by bar staff in blue painters’ smocks, while French electro-pop such as Kid Loco spins on the playlist, the menu is divided into four chapters – Light, Interpretations, Complex and Clean. Clean is zero alcohol, which Gen X-ers may want to totally ignore, while others may be intrigued by the May As Well Be a Negroni, which conjures a convincing Campari-style bitterness by mixing Aecorn Bitter, rooibos and balsamic vinegar. There’s a lightness of touch, an absence of showy-offness, throughout the menu, which is devised by Nathan McCarley O’Neil, who arrived here via Dandelyan and New York’s Nomad bar – it’s strewn with herbs, elderflower and chamomile, along with French and Italian vermouths and a Provençal peach liqueur called Rinquinquin, which appears in Homage (on Light), a nicely dry, aperitif-styled drink with Campari, topped with a glug of Billecart-Salmon. Magistretti, from the same page, tastes almost healthy, with tarragon and grapefruit alongside gin and Cocchi. Two real highlights, though, were the twisted Old Fashioned (Interpretations), a gilded variation that draws in brown butter, quince and tonka to a mix of two whiskies, and the fragrant Saint Remy (Complex), a Martini-style serve with quince again, almond blossom and vodka, served with a cherry. Gusborne holds its own amid a French crowd on the sparkling wines list, while cider’s ever-growing sophistication is marked with a hip Derbyshire fermentation from Vicious Circle.
FOODThe short menu of European-inspired bites is devised to match the drinks, from scampi to beetroot tartare. The serrano and cheese croquettes ooze once bitten – best to discreetly wolf them down in one behind a napkin – while the croque monsieur, sprinkled with black truffle, is quite the prettiest croque monsieur we’ve seen, cut in four and resembling a savoury Battenberg Cake. Or retrace your steps and hope for a table at Davies and Brook, Daniel Humm’s humdinger of a Michelin-starred restaurant across the lobby.
VERDICT
Not avant-garde but perfectly impressionist – this is the prettiest ‘secret’ bar in Mayfair, one to set alongside other little London gems such as Bar Termini in Soho and The Connaught’s Champagne Bar. Rick Jordan
Address: Claridge's, Brook Street, London W1K 4HR
Website: claridges.co.uk
6. Cave Cuvee, Bethnal Green
Brodie Meah and Max Venning are rare examples of restaurateurs who really hit their stride during the pandemic. Before 2020, the story of their mini empire was successful, but following a fairly standard path. The two Mancunians opened Top Cuvée, a Finsbury Park wine bar, in 2019. When it was forced to close during lockdown, the boys pivoted and took the business online, launching nationwide delivery of their funky, all-natural wine list under the clever moniker Shop Cuvée. Business boomed, as locked-down would-be boozers tried to recreate the feeling of visiting an east London bar, in their own kitchens. Now, Meah and Venning have opened a Bethnal Green bottle shop - a souped-up offy upstairs selling the brand’s trademark organic drinks, and a tiny, Paris-inspired bar downstairs for sampling wines in-house, with a banging playlist and disco ball.
DRINKS
The team have a rotating selection of bottles open and available to order by the glass - you could scan the QR code to see what’s on the menu when you visit, but we recommend chatting to the staff to get their recommendations, or just placing faith in their exemplary knowledge and letting them bring you a couple of glasses blind. We tried a Pinot Blanc with a hit of green apple and an unusual Pinot Noir from Andreas Bender that was served chilled. Move on to cocktails to round off the evening – the Margarita is glass-clear and silky smooth, while the Old Fashioned is slightly smoky and dangerously drinkable.
FOOD
There’s a short but streamlined menu of snacks - chunks of squidgy bread smothered in salty butter, melty rillettes de canard, green beans braised in rich tomato sauce and sprinkled with feta, and thick coins of saucisson were the standout orders. The Happy Endings ice cream sandwich was our surprise don’t-miss dish of the night - wrapped in colourful paper, it’s a nostalgic sweet treat that shouldn’t go with alcohol, but really does.
VERDICT
A fun spot, where learning about natural wines is a joy, not a chore. Sarah James
Address: Cave Cuvée, 250a Bethnal Green Road, London E2 0AA
Website: shopcuvee.com
Oskar Proctor7. Bar Crispin, Soho
A funky natural-wine bar with a serious snack list in a prime spot in central London
When Dominic Hamdy and Oliver Hiam (also behind Lundenwic on Aldwych) opened Crispin, an all-day eatery serving speciality coffee and pastries from The Dusty Knuckle in the morning and wines and seasonal plates in the evening, it was an instant hit. Then lockdown came, and the team quickly started selling natural wines via the Crispin Wine Club. Now they’ve brought their Spitalfields vibe and knowledge of interesting, fresh and funky bottles from old-world and small indie producers to Kingly Street. Inspired by Eighties Soho, the team collaborated with interior designer Jermaine Gallacher (whose South London studio also encompasses the very hip Lant Street Wine Bar) to shape a distinctly retro space. There's a chunky silver-zinc bar, jewel-toned triangle mirrors and fun zig-zag designs, plus a chilled playlist from DJs Peaches, Eliza Rose and Flo Dill.
DRINKS
Crispin's head sommelier Stefano Cazzato (previously at Hakkasan) and in-house wine expert Alex Price (formerly of Annabel’s and Beaverbrook) have curated a list of 150 vintages. Daily wines by the glass are listed on the blackboard, so take a glance at the range of skin contacts, reds, whites and fizz specials, or speak to Alex and see what she recommends. We suggest kicking off with something bubbly – Tillingham Col’19 from East Sussex or a Pet Nat from Penedès in Spain, both summery and dry – and sample a skin-contact variety, where the grape skin remains in contact with the juice during the maceration period. We liked the Frei Körper Kultur Weiss 2018, which crosses German and Burgundy varieties for a tropical and zesty mix. If you’ve never tried a chilled red, do so here and ask Alex to pick one that pairs well with the small plates (more on that later). This is a place for natural wine, but they also make a mean Negroni and salty Vesper. Note: Alex will host monthly events at Bar Crispin such as natural-wine tastings and wine-and-food pairings downstairs in the private-dining Green Room.
FOOD
Head chef Brendan Lee, who recently returned to London after stints across the pond at Michelin-starred Al’s Place in San Francisco and Emmer & Rye in Austin, leads the kitchen. He has created an innovative seasonal menu that pairs perfectly with the drinks list. Start with sourdough from Hackney’s E5 Bakehouse smothered in brown butter – it makes an epic combo with thin slices of Trealy Farm Charcuterie coppa. Follow up with creamy burrata and crunchy fennel doused in Château La Coste olive oil, anchovy and potato focaccia with a zingy green sauce or fish from The Sea The Sea that comes with brown butter, capers and lemon. Pudding doesn’t seem like an obvious choice, but the black-garlic ice cream with tuile is a surprising hit.
VERDICT
Cool, fresh and a proper place to kick it with some friends over a glass of Pet Nat, delicious snacks and some banging tunes. Katharine Sohn
Address: Bar Crispin, 19 Kingly Street, Carnaby, London W1B 5PY
Website: barcrispin.com
8. Atrium Bar, Nomad London, Covent Garden
A sexy, confident arrival for a show-stopping hit of New York pizzazz
There aren’t that many bars with their own cocktail books. The Savoy has one, of course, written in 1930 and awash with flips and rickeys and slings of all shades; so has the Café Royal, published a few years later and championing novel creations such as the Old Fashioned. But a favourite recent one is The NoMad Cocktail Book, a green-tinged tome written by the hotel group’s bar guru Leo Robitschek. When it opened in 2012, the NoMad New York’s Elephant Bar quickly became one of those era-defining places that everyone wanted to be seen at – had Instagram been the force it is now, the bar’s Dirty Martinis would have gone viral. So there’s been a helluva lot of excitement over the arrival of NoMad London, right opposite the Royal Opera House.
It’s a properly New York-style hotel in the heart of the city, with a sense of theatre, and the bars to match. The pubby, leather-clad Side Hustle has its own street entrance and works as a standalone space for tacos, beers and cocktails that lean heavily into Mexican spirits, just the place for an after-work pick-me-up – or sharing the infamous two-foot-tall punch jars. And drinks are served amid the bookcases of The Library off the lobby. The Atrium bar, though, is tucked away below the spiral staircase, a curvaceous Deco-glam creation with pink tasselled bar stools, which looks out onto the restaurant and its three-storey atrium. Of course, many people will stop by here on their way to their tables, but this is a destination in its own right.
DRINKS
The Atrium’s list has several favourite NoMad cocktails, tried and tested over the years – the Walter Gibson twists the classic with Viognier and pear eau de vie, and pickled vegetables on the side; Hot Lips is a Margarita-style kiss of tequila and mezcal with jalapeño. But there are several classic names here too – that Dirty Martini is a salty kick served from the bottle, with white balsamic and several vermouths in the mix; the Espresso Martini adds whey and aquavit to cold-brew caffeine – and bespoke creations too. We had the tall Dolittle, a fruity summer concoction of vodka and sherry, and the Gentleman’s Exchange, a bold, Manhattan-esque drink with rye, vermouth, Suze and amaro with a Rubik’s Cube-sized hunk of ice, that transported us to Broadway. Look out for the beer cocktails, too, which bar director Pietro Collina – who contributed many recipes to Robitschek’s book – has developed with King’s Cross brewery Two Tribes. The bar works closely with the restaurant over ingredients – partly to avoid food waste, partly for a little synchronicity. Collina says he wants this bar to rock some New York attitude: the sort of place you walk in by yourself, pull up a bar stool and make new friends by the end of the evening.
FOOD
There’s a short bar menu with crispy-skinned fried chicken and pea hummus and flatbreads among other bites, as well as the NoMad hotdog, a wondrous beast in a toasted brioche bun. If you like, you can order anything from the restaurant menu here – diver-scallops bouillabaisse, perhaps, or wild-garlic rigatoni.
VERDICT
When New York NoMad’s bar opened in 2012, London was still playing catch-up with its cocktail scene, but now the two cities are evenly matched. Here’s an evocative snapshot of both worlds. Rick Jordan
Address: Atrium Bar, NoMad London, 28 Bow Street, London WC2E 7AW
Website: thenomadhotel.com
9. Scarfes Bar, Rosewood London, Covent Garden
A smart, seductive and, crucially, cosy draw for the cosmopolitan crowd
Honouring the British political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe, whose designs line the walls and cocktail menu, this central bar is the Rosewood’s bona fide anchor in the city – a reason to visit for those not hunkering down in one of its marble-clad rooms. It's sexy. Moody Victorian parlour meets gentlemen’s club, with a fresh lacquered lick of modern cool. A dim amber glow envelops dark wood, antique hardbacks and deep velvet chairs, as well as the glamorous, animated guests at the bar, Martini glass in one hand, gesticulating with the other to a jazz soundtrack – just like Scarfe’s own caricatures.
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As the meeting point of painting and potions, the cocktail menu riffs on the globally recognised Enneagram personality test, in the form of a moveable board: 18 different drinks have been skilfully created and paired up to match the two poles of each individual’s personality. What may sound complex in fact removes the agony of indecision too often caused by extensive menus. I reluctantly accepted The Individualist character level (self-absorbed, expressive, temperamental – key travel writer credentials), and the Grey Goose with fermented green pepper and hay-vermouth concoction hit the spot, perhaps exposing me further should this taste and character-trait nexus prove legitimate. As with star signs and horoscopes, intrigue always triumphs over suspicion. The reassuring Meditator can look forward to a Copalli rum cocktail with italicus guanabana, matcha and aloe vera, and the workaholic Achiever to Roku with fermented lychee and linden-honey citra hops. Those uneasy with this level of personality scrutiny on a Thursday evening can choose from a compact but comfortingly traditional wine list featuring Burgundys, Malbecs and Riojas, as well as a dizzying array of aperitifs, vodkas, gins and whiskys, all of which flank the glamorously lit bar and confirm Scarfes’ status as a serious drinking hole.
FOOD
Elevated iterations of classic small plates – spicy fried chicken, polenta fritters with caponata topping and avocado and salsa taco bites – position Scarfes as an all-night affair, not simply a pre-dinner warm-up, or a refined ‘one more drink’ spot. Mop up those Enneagram cocktails with rosemary and Parmesan or tomato and cheese flatbreads which fill the drawing room-style space with irresistibly fragrant wafts of the Mediterranean.
VERDICT
Classic, suave and seriously playful, Scarfes Bar has established itself as a London institution for thirsty, polished punters – better still, despite the convincing gents’ club act, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Rosalyn Wikeley
Address: Scarfes Bar, Rosewood London, 252 High Holborn, London WC1V 7EN
Website: scarfesbar.com
10. Spiritland, King's Cross
A super-cool café and bar driving London’s music scene forwards
After years of ambitious regeneration, King’s Cross, and specifically Coal Drops Yard, is London’s buzziest creative hub – work on Google’s HQ is in full swing, and Facebook are said to be eyeing up a nearby plot too. Spiritland captures the zeitgeist perfectly: part of a new breed of ‘listening cafés’ (a concept imported from Japan's jazz kissatens – tea-rooms boasting state-of-the-art audio equipment), it’s raising the bar for London’s most committed music fans. The idea is to put music on a pedestal - to provide a comfortable space for people to listen to top-quality music, without needing to step foot into a sticky-floored super-club. By day, it’s a casual café, workspace and recording studio; by night a bar, restaurant and venue for label launches and DJ residencies. You can even take a piece of Spiritland home - vinyl, headphones and audio equipment lining the back of the bar are all up for sale. Each night, a different DJ takes to the decks of its world-class sound system and towering speakers (the whole set-up clocks in at just under half a million pounds), while guests sink into wonderfully retro green felt chairs to enjoy what the bar's founders describe as a ‘deep listening experience’. And although things do get darker and louder at night, this is categorically not a club: there’s no dancefloor, and thanks to the table service policy, there’s no jostling for space at the bar either.
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Once the daytime flat white and cold-pressed green juice orders subside, a smart after-work clientele sip on creative cocktails like the Red Clay - a long drink of spicy mezcal muddled with cassis, ginger and lime, or the sticky-sweet Man Child made with vodka, Chianti, cherry, vanilla and lemon. There’s a nod to Spiritland’s Japanese heritage with a sizeable sake list, and hipsters are kept happy with craft beers sourced everywhere from Huddersfield to Byron Bay. The wine list is heavily European-focussed, with wines from Slovenia, Hungary and England included – and glasses start at a very affordable £4.50.
FOOD
By day, freelancers and tech bods are fuelled by millennial-friendly avocado and sourdough, freekeh salads and salt beef miso mustard sandwiches. In the evenings, drinkers graze on small plates of creamy burrata with sorrel and truffle honey, anchovies with lemony butter beans and plates of Italian meats and cheeses served with warm flatbread. For pudding, there’s a deliciously dense chocolate brownie or strawberries with a huge dollop of clotted cream and black pepper syrup.
VERDICT
This may be a happy-making place for music lovers, but you don’t have to be a die-hard audiophile to enjoy it. Come for the food, the drink and the incredibly laid-back, unpretentious vibe; but with one of the world’s best sound systems providing the backing track, you may well discover a newfound appreciation for music. Teddy Wolstenholme
Address: Spiritland, 9-10 Stable Street, King’s Cross, London N1C 4AB
Website: spiritland.com
11. Pamela, Dalston
Oyster-shucking beach babe in Dalston
For anyone who's ever dreamed of a bar inspired by Nineties icon Pamela Anderson (we know you're out there), the wait is over. Launched by a gang of six founders whose combined experience covers some of Dalston's most infamous after-dark haunts – Alibi, Birthdays, Rita's – Pamela opened last May and is carving a very specific niche on the upper reaches of Kingsland Road. Yet while the Baywatch star is namechecked on the menu and festooned across the wall, Pamela the bar has its own, easy-going personality thanks to the surf-rock playlists, engaging staff, outdoor seats and recent addition of Decatur's soul-food kitchen.
DRINKS
The characterful menu showcases the team's in-house infusions. Negroni fans should try the Mitch Buchannon (£8.50), a blend of mint-tinged brandy, Campari and citrus, while in-the-know locals demand 'the green one' – aka the vivid Des Barres (£8.50) – made with jalapeno-spiked vodka, kiwi juice and coconut ice cubes. Elsewhere, picklebacks, snakebite-and-blacks and Pammy limoncellos stand out among more standard choices.
FOOD
Recently graduating from pop-up kitchen to permanent residence, Decatur's Louisiana-influenced soul food is a major feather in Pamela's swim cap. The charred okra (£6.50), chicken wings (£7) and hearty, Cajun-spiced crawfish étoufée (£12.50) are worthy reasons to stop by – although its must-try signature is undoubtedly the melt-in-the-mouth chargrilled oysters (six for £12), glistening in garlic butter and fiery Crystal sauce. Ben Olsen
Address: Pamela, 428 Kingsland Road, London E8
Website: pamelabar.com
12. Crossroads, Camden
An innovative, zero-waste drinking den in Camden
As London’s hospitality industry slowed to a stop during lockdown, husband-and-wife team Bart and Monika Miedeksza put their heads together to create something different. Having worked for years at venues such as Dalston’s High Water, Typing Room and Vagabond Wines, the pair wanted to match their experience with a passion for sustainability and community-led initiatives. A few months and a serious refurb project later, the aptly named Crossroads bar opened at the junction under Camden Town bridge.
Out on the pavement, signs (hand-painted by Monika) alert passers-by to £6 Espresso Martinis, directing inquisitive guests down a staircase encased in iron-wrought railings. Inside, former Victorian loos have been transformed into an underground, speakeasy-style bar. Industrial ceilings give way to midnight-blue walls and hand-hewn wooden tables, and light seeps in through the original glass roof. Hoping to bring a renewed sense of community to the neighbourhood, the Crossroads ethos is based on zero-waste: using what is already available, working with local produce and sticking to a closed-loop philosophy.
DRINKS
After struggling to source typical mixology ingredients during the pandemic, the team realised that one thing many bored Londoners had taken to during lockdown was gardening. So they sent out feelers and began sourcing micro herbs, vegetables and other produce from nearby, forming the basis of their weekly changing cocktail list. There are plans to add an indoor garden, with UV lights and an irrigation system adapted from water seeping through cracked Victorian tiles behind the walls, and eventually install solar panels to power the entire bar. From the small but punchy signature drinks list, we tried the Cairo, a refreshing, translucent tipple made with a blend of vodka, cold-brew sencha, melon and soda water, as well as A Tale of Two Cities, a sweeter mix of sherry, vermouth and aloe vera. Classic cocktails are also available on request, or ask the bartender for recommendations based on your taste.
FOOD
The bar has a short menu of snacks and bites. In line with the zero-waste ethos, inspiration for food comes from leftover cocktail ingredients. Traditional options of olives and almonds appear alongside more creative dishes; cucumber is turned into homemade pickles once the skin has been used as a garnish for drinks.
VERDICT
Using lockdown as a springboard for innovation and creativity, Crossroads is a sustainable, community-focused project adding positivity to the Camden scene. Olivia Morelli
Address: Crossroads, junction of Royal College Street and Camden Road, NW1 9NN London
Website: crossroads.bar
Steve Joyce13. Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, Seven Dials
Best for: wine buffs, not bluffs
Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels (or CVS for short) is one of those bars you’ve probably popped into while waiting for a spot at Barbary’s tiny countertop or a 20-inch pizza at Homeslice, but it was unlikely your final destination. It should be. Just like the original Parisian wine bar tucked behind the Marché Saint-Germain in the 6th arrondissement, the Neal’s Yard outpost – which goes by the same outlandish name – acts as a cosy respite from the tourist-filled cobbled streets of Covent Garden. The concept, from the team behind the Experimental Cocktail Club, a speakeasy in Chinatown notorious for its selective bouncer guarding the door, is a more relaxed affair. As long as you like wine, that is. This is not the place to ask for a glass of house red, but you won’t face a man wearing an earpiece like he’s guarding No.10, either. Instead, the charcoal-paletted space is designed for long, grown-up evenings sitting on the plump seats with a bottle of wine. The low-lit room is filled with chatter and candles ambiently flickering from their cut-crystal holders.
DRINKS
Sommelier Roman Jaën or one of his friendly, mostly French staff will greet you with a wine list so heavy it could knock you out, and a board of daily food specials you’d be mad not to try. We visited on a cold, wet, November evening and opted for a night of reds – natural Côtes-du-Rhônes that were smooth and light on the palate with flavours of soft red fruits, and complex blends from Bordeaux. For the more adventurous or wine savvy, there’s a Mystery Wine on the shortlist – guess it correctly and you’ll win a bottle for the table.
FOOD
Come for a snack and we dare you not to stay for dinner. Fluffy potato croquettes with goat’s cheese are crisped up delicately, while a deep-panned pita bread drenched in tahini and wild mushrooms is not for sharing. The Posh Madame served with truffled ham and a quail’s egg will satisfy any wine-induced cravings, while carefully selected French cheese and meat platters are always a safe bet. Sides of white or green asparagus go well with simply cooked sea bass with lemon, or with the grilled lobster.
VERDICT
A centrally located wine bar with finesse and fabulous food, which will make you feel like you never left your living room.
Address: Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, Seven Dials, 8-10 Neal's Yard, London WC2H 9DP
Website: cvssevendials.com
14. Diogenes the Dog, Elephant and Castle
A cavernous wine bar in the last place you’d expect to find one
Diogenes the Dog’s owner Sunny Hodge has recently returned from a road trip through Texas on the back of a Harley-Davidson, visiting vineyards that produce wines which have drawn a comparison to those from Portugal. It’s not the first time he has taken a journey like this to find offbeat winemakers and regions that he can add to his esoteric menu – and it certainly won’t be the last. Hodge opened the wine bar on a quiet street near Elephant and Castle station at the end of 2018. Flooded with light in the day and moodily lit by low-hanging lamps and candles in the evening, the two-storey space (which regularly hosts jazz nights in the basement) has exposed-brick walls neatly stacked with bottles and rustic wooden floors filled with bountiful foliage that gives it a simultaneously snug yet stylish atmosphere. It’s a vibe that is fitting for somewhere named after the Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic, who believed that all the artificial elements of society – money, power, fame and possessions – were incompatible with happiness. It was better instead, he thought, to live simply, in the present moment, and embrace what the natural world has to offer.
DRINKS
For a bar specialising in wines, Diogenes the Dog has an edgy, streamlined menu – only new regions and old winemakers who are experimenting make the cut. On the continuously changing list, there might be an orange from the Czech Republic; a citrusy white from Texas; red from the Shanxi region in northern China; or wine from Champagne that is not, in fact, Champagne. Because the offerings are typically underrepresented in the UK, ordering glasses rather than bottles is highly encouraged and, with most staff being trained sommeliers, guests will be given a full background on each one. While the service is polished, the price point is reasonable – it’s Elephant and Castle not Mayfair, after all – and Hodge really wants to share his unusual findings with the world without putting people off.
FOOD
Don’t come here for your five a day – it’s, quite rightly, all about the cheese. Smoked scamorza from southern Italy is plated up with juicy sundried tomatoes and a drizzle of wild honey, while a seasonal sourdough toastie comes with melted blue cheese and smashed pear. There’s also burrata served two ways: spread on focaccia with red pesto and capers; and on its own with a Genovese pesto.
VERDICT
A destination bar you’ll want to trek to for wines you almost certainly haven’t tried before. Emma Russell
Address: Diogenes the Dog, 96 Rodney Road, London SE17 1BG
Website: diogenesthedog.co.uk
15. Moto, Covent Garden
An ancient tradition is celebrated on Maiden Lane
Two thousand years since sake was first brewed in Japan, the country seems to be falling out of love with its national drink, its breweries closing and sales slipping. But new interest has been piqued in the West, along with all things Japanese from matcha to Marie Kondo-style minimalism, which has resulted in exports of the fermented-rice beverage doubling over the past 10 years. In London, sake has floated onto some of the city’s hottest menus, selected by sommeliers for its umami quality that makes it naturally flavour-enhancing. Instead of the traditional ceramic ochoko, it’s served in wine glasses with fish and chips, cheese and oysters, as well as a range of Japanese dishes. Yet sake remains largely misunderstood by the masses, which Tokyo-born Erika Haigh hopes to change. Her new bar Moto (meaning ‘origin’ in Japanese) is entirely devoted to drinks from Japan, with sake sourced from small producers – some of which have never been exported before – taking centre stage. Well-versed in the language of wine, she has used her training as a sommelier to demystify what she sells, creating beautiful hand-printed cards that include tasting notes, food pairings, flavour intensity and sweetness levels. She ranks each bottle on shelves above the blue-and-white bar, going across from light, fresh and aromatic to rich, earthy and umami, then down from mild to medium and dry – it’s the focal point in a diminutive blonde-wood space that inspires humility.
DRINKS
Sake has an alcohol content that is a little above wine but is brewed like beer, with rice implanted with koji mould, then mixed with water and yeast. It’s a labour-intensive process that can take many years, the rice polished many times over to remove the bran – sometimes removing more than 60 per cent of the rice grain. It’s a complex undertaking, making sake delightfully diverse but also daunting, which is why Moto’s sake flight is the perfect starting point for newbies. Three aromatic sommelier-selected sakes will take you on a journey from sweet and summery flavours to deep and savoury ones. Though if you want to feel like a local ask for a nihonshu rather than sake ( it actually means ‘alcoholic drink’). Check out Moto’s list of vintages and super-premium daiginjo, or try their Japanese gin, whisky or absinthe for good measure.
FOOD
For a bar this tiny, Moto’s ever-changing otsumami, or bar snacks menu, is impressive and balanced to perfection. There’s aubergine simmered until tender with a salty sauce that’s poured over the rice, while crunchy pickled cucumber is light and refreshing. They’ve recreated the popular street-food snack chicken karaage with tempura crumbs and sake, too, but if you’re feeling hungry the grilled miso salmon is rich and decadent.
VERDICT
The perfect classroom set-up for studying sake – the bright lights and lack of music demand that you give the drinks your full attention. Emma Russell
Address: Moto, 7 Maiden Lane, London WC2E 7NA
Website: motoldn.com
Edmund Dabney16. Diddy's, Hackney
A friendly Hackney neighbourhood bar riffing on the classics
‘Where are all the bars named after female owners?’ Diddy Varley, co-founder of her beloved namesake, exclaims as she cheerfully takes our drinks order. Warm, energetic, colourful and cool, she is the personification of Diddy’s. After working for years in TV, she opened her dream place on a neglected stretch of Mare Street with her architect boyfriend Jayden Ali back in 2016. Now she’s neighbours with Mare Street Market, Bright and NT’s bar. The stylish corner spot full of plants, pops of bright colour and food-based artwork has since built up a loyal local following that you’ll immediately want to be part of. An airy relaxed café by day full of freelancers and coffee catch-ups moves easily into a casual drinking spot once night falls. There are only four tables and a bar perch (with a couple of extra tables downstairs), which means that with just a few couples on dates, a cluster of friends and the resident dog napping on the floor, the bar feels lively and inviting.
DRINKS
Although the bar serves a nice selection of biodynamic wines by the bottle (and non-bio by the glass) and a punchy selection of beer and cider, cocktails are the main attraction here. The menu is divided into four classics – Spritz, Negroni, Margarita and Sour – each with a series of options including the original and some mild deviations. There’s nothing too wild, luckily: Negronis go as far as a smoky and sharp Chile Mezcal variety, and there’s a refreshing Diddylicious Spritz with Campari, dry vermouth, lime and sugar syrup that’s worth a go on a warm evening. The classics are all done well and, wonderfully, the priciest cocktail on the menu is £9.
FOOD
Crunchy bites come in the form of salty almonds, peanuts and giant kikos (puffed corn kernels), while a burrata or charcuterie platter of Iberico ham, beef chorizo and serrano will keep hunger at bay. But go straight for one of the toasties: sourdough oozing mature cheddar and mustard, with optional additions of kimchi, red onion, leek, jalapeño, chorizo and ham. We can strongly recommend the kimchi toastie washed down with a mezcal Margarita.
VERDICT
If a toastie and a £6.50 Negroni sounds like the best bar in London, you too could find yourself quickly becoming a Diddy’s regular. Sonya Barber
Address: Diddy’s, 69 Mare Street, London E8 4RG
Website: diddys.co.uk
17. The Berkeley Bar & Terrace, Knightsbridge
A super-slick new hangout turns the hotel-bar compass back to Knightsbridge
When David Collins unveiled his jewel-box Blue Bar at The Berkeley in 2004, it quickly became one of the most stylish bars in London. The local drinking scene has changed a lot since then, preferring subterranean speakeasies and craft-ale pop-ups to stiff-collared hotel haunts. But now The Berkeley is mixing things up again with its newest addition, hidden away at the back of the building with possibly the most secret terrace in Knightsbridge. It is the first London hotel project for young-gun interior architect Bryan O’Sullivan of Bos Studio (in a fitting twist, he trained with Collins). And he has very much put his own stamp on it by designing every aspect of the space, from the half-moon, columned marble bar and chubby pumpkin pouffes to the walnut panels carved out of wood salvaged from a fallen tree on Lincolnshire’s Fulbeck Estate. A combination of the slick restraint of northern Italian design and the eye-for-detail of Deco, this beautiful space already feels like a modern classic, with a clubby atmosphere of popping corks.
DRINKS
Staff in emerald-green velvet jackets pour those just-popped Laurent-Perrier and Gosset rosé Champagnes into chilled flutes. Cocktails go from hard (a punchy Sazerac, with cognac, rye whisky, absinthe and bitters) to refreshingly soft (the non-alcoholic Pink Pearl is a mix of pomelo, grapefruit and lime juices and grapefruit soda). Those in the know hole up in the snug, where New York-based artist TM Davy created an abstract, swirling mural of female faces above the powder-pink banquette (it’s inspired by the women-only nature of the original pub snugs). This is where you want to be; book it out, set up your own playlist on the speakers and close the bespoke wooden doors (you’ll only be disturbed when you press the button for service).
FOOD
Crab and lobster beignets and camembert-chicken tulips are served on a branch-like stand echoing the fallen walnut tree; Iberico ham toast is topped with salsa verde and lots of grated Manchego cheese; the supply of fat green olives and cheesy, crispy crackers is endless.
VERDICT
The bar at The Berkeley is the place to be. Again.
Address: The Berkeley, Wilton Place, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 7RL
Website: the-berkeley.co.uk
18. Coupette, Bethnal Green
The best French-accented bar in the East End has a rosy-cheeked new summer menu
A Calvados bar, you might think, can only be found in a Normandy village, your glass topped by a demure Manon des Sources type while the occasional donkey ambles past sporting a pair of denim-blue culottes. To which, a Gallic shrug of indifference is needed. This bar opened in 2017 on the mean streets of Bethnal Green and is really the only place in London that takes Calvados and cider seriously, along with a line-up of other classic French serves. It's the project of Chris Moore, the dashing former head barman at the Savoy's excellent Beaufort Bar, who fancied a change of scene – a place to slip out of the jacket, put his favourite tracks on. Since opening, it’s carved out a reputation as one of the East End’s most idiosyncratic hangouts, with reliably assured cocktails. On a typical evening at Coupette (the name means 'a cheeky one' in French) you'll find a roll call of young chefs and bar staff from all around town at the counter, which is lined with hundreds of 10-centime coins (gathered together, they may just about buy you a drink at the Beaufort).
DRINKS
The new bar menu is a lovely piece of Forties-style graphic design, created by local sign writer Ged Palmer, whose bold-faced work with the Luminor Sign Co can be seen around town at places such as Breddos Tacos, Loughborough Junction and Pentreath & Hall. Moore’s original menu celebrated all manner of French spirits and eau de vies, plucking out obscure names and building inventive cocktails around them. Perhaps the highlights were the simple Apples, which fizzed up a different Calvados each week – his collection lines the top shelf, the names reading like a Paris Saint-Germain line-up – and the Champagne Piña Colada, made with coconut sorbet and Moët. Don’t worry: both those are still on the menu, but they’re joined by creations such as the Bloody Martini, a greenhouse-fresh savoury hit made with grilled beef tomatoes which are then filtered for several hours, infused with paprika and mixed with vodka (obviously) and fortified vin jaune (less obviously). Then there’s the Strawberries and Cream, a puddingy, not-over-sweet concoction that brings together olive-oil-washed vodka, clarified milk, rose vermouth and strawberry eau de vie. It may look like a mere trifle, but it’s a deeply satisfying, sophisticated drink that knocks the pips off other punches. We’re saving the Watermelon Gimlet and Corn Collins for a follow-up trip.
FOOD
The French theme continues, with croque monsieur and salmon rillettes on the menu. But this is mainly about the cocktails – La Forchetta and the Japanese Canteen are well within striding distance if you need more ballast.
VERDICT
Some of the smartest cocktails in the East End – and the very best address in town to flirt with and develop a real appreciation of Calvados. Rick Jordan
Address: Coupette, 423 Bethnal Green Road, London E2 0AN
Website: coupette.co.uk
19. Lady of the Grapes, Covent Garden
A classic wine bar that wouldn’t be out of place in Montmartre – but isn’t trying too hard
Parisian Carole Bryon opened this dinky pillar-box-red wine bar on one of Covent Garden’s quieter streets in 2018. Growing up in a foodie family, she took a series of sommelier courses in her thirties and soon noticed the gender inequality in the industry, from the prevalence of male winemakers and suppliers to the tendency of customers to gravitate towards male sommeliers rather than women. Opening Lady of the Grapes, she made a commitment to showcasing wines predominantly from women makers, producers and sellers. Inside all is deep wood and exposed brick, candlelit, with floor-to-ceiling shelves stacked full of bottles. Grab a window seat at the narrow bench table – the windows are often thrown open to let in hits of fresh air, and the charming European waiters hop outside to take your order through the window rather than squeezing between the crammed-together tables inside.
DRINKS
Wines are all organic and biodynamic, and the bar supports smaller producers – remember that when it comes to the prices. This isn’t a spot for a cheap red – glasses start at around £8, while bottles go from £26 and increase quickly. The list is carefully curated by Bryon and her team; we tried a classic Provençal rosé which was pale and summery, with notes of orange blossom and peony. Unusual wines sit alongside more traditional options, so there’s orange wine from Slovakia and a Pinot Noir from Oregon in the USA, for example. The long list of reds is perfect for a cosy night hiding away from Covent Garden’s thrum and we recommend the Villa Calcinaia Classico, a Chianti that’s oaky and fruity.
FOOD
What is wine without cheese? Thankfully that’s a question you don’t have to ponder here, as the cheese menu is nearly as varied as the wine list. Order a selection of creamy, firm Comté, soft, truffled Caciotta and Fourme D'ambert blue – a trio of choices comes with a crusty baguette and fruit. If you’re hungry, add some charcuterie to your order – we liked the Italian smoked speck and the Basque chorizo. And while you’re at it, why not go for some plump olives, bread (a basket of sourdough, spelt and walnut served with Normandy salted butter) and meltingly soft anchovies.
VERDICT
You could easily leave this bar without realising you’ve been in a woman-owned and supporting spot – and that’s half of the charm. Go to support a good cause, and stay because it’s cosy, unpretentious and delicious. Sarah James
Address: Lady of the Grapes, 16 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2E 7NJ
Website: ladyofthegrapes.com
Rudi Netto20. Little Bat, Islington
Lewis Carroll-inspired neighbourhood superhero
This bar fluttered by last winter as a pop-up but has now settled at this off-Upper Street address. Cocktail adventurers will no doubt be familiar with its fancy-dress-loving sibling Callooh Callay in Shoreditch, which is accessed through a wardrobe and has Panini-style sticker albums for menus. This also sports a Lewis Carroll-inspired name but is little more reined in - Shrewd Hatter rather than mad, although watch out for the rubber ducks. Set behind a sombre, white-curtained front, it's a long, narrow space with a sweeping, wooden-topped bar, comfy Chesterfields, pineapple lamps, vintage tomes on floating shelves, a line-up of neon-bright Pure Evil artwork and a Photomat booth at the back. Islington already has the endlessly inventive 69 Colebrooke Row, of course, and the Dead Dolls House, but Little Bat is the swing-by, neighbourhood cocktail hangout the area really needed, with most drinks around the £9 mark.
DRINKS
You'll find beetroot, dill and Newcastle Brown Ale among the ingredients, but as head barman Barney Toy says, there's 'nothing too scary' here. He's from Sheffield via Auckland's Gin Room bar and has created a well-balanced mix of new creations and impeccable classics served in anything from Japanese green-tea cups to vintage coupes. The menu's strong on fizzes and sours - they must get through more eggs than Mr Strong - and you can keep Barney happy by ordering his delicious Pan Am (rum, Aperol, lemon juice and egg white), a Bacardi competition finalist. But also try the punchy, top-of-the-bill Steve McQueen (bourbon with cherry liqueur, Martini Rosso and cherry brandy) and the theatrical Smoking Jack, a lovely leaf-peeping concoction with applejack, maple syrup and cognac.
FOOD
Scoop up handfuls of Marmite popcorn, although that won't keep the wolf from the door - the comfort-food menu also includes roast pulled pork, mac'n'cheese pots, home-made sausage rolls and fried chicken. Rick Jordan
Address: 54 Islington Park Road, Islington, London N1
Website: littlebatbar.com
21. Sager + Wilde Paradise Row, Bethnal Green
Punchy cocktails on Bethnal Green's buzzy Paradise Row
Sager-Wilde has become an oenological empire in London's E2 postcode. The original and much-loved Sager + Wilde wine bar on Hackney Road was followed up with California-inspired Mission on Bethnal Green's hippest strip, Paradise Row, in 2014. Now Mission has been transformed and renamed Sager + Wilde Paradise Row. The cavernous railway arch comes complete with exposed brickwork, vintage decor and the rumbling of passing trains, with a summer-friendly terrace out front and a low-lit, conspiratorial cocktail lounge hidden up above the restaurant. Keep it in mind for any upcoming date ideas – we think it's one of the most romantic bars in London.
DRINKS
The emphasis has shifted from Californian wine to cocktails. Bartender Marcis Dzelzainis pairs Waning Moon saké with vodka, caraway liqueur and a caperberry in The Tokyo Bullet, a shimmering take on a martini. A list of milk cocktails, far from channelling The Big Lebowski, use clarified milk to add a subtle, lactic balance to big-hitting flavours while a separate Old-Fashioned menu starring toasted coconut and olive oil is worthy of serious attention.
FOOD
Former Chiltern Firehouse chef Sebastien Myers's eye-catching bar-snack menu includes chicken-liver pate and grape served in pink radicchio, scallop with a punchy XO sauce and brioche and, for those still seeking a rice-wine fix, a delicate saké cream. There's also a full restaurant menu. Ben Olsen
Address: Sager + Wilde, Arch 250, Paradise Row, Bethnal Green, London E2
Website: sagerandwilde.com
22. Behind This Wall, Hackney
Secret spot on Mare Street
This secret little spot at the top of Mare Street is not really behind a wall, but rather down a narrow staircase in a space previously occupied by a Turkish social club. Now the vibe is more hip-meets-zen with minimalist, Japanese-inspired styling in the pale-wood booths, white-tiled counter, black ceiling and vases of eucalyptus sprigs. The team behind this place are known for their vinyl-loving club nights and last summer's residency at the Oval Space arts venue down the road, so the stonking Tannoy Gold sound-system of the late Joy Division producer Martin Hannett is the talking point in this, their first permanent bar, pumping out classic disco and Afro-funk.
DRINKS
Could there be a more perfect cocktail than a mezcal Negroni? Pale and punchy, it's pimped up with a sprig of thyme. Then again, there's also the Ramos Gin Fizz, shaken dry (without ice) for two minutes, then with it for three – Ryan the barman jokes that he's developing Popeye arms – to create a deliciously rich and grapefruity drink that'll make you nostalgic for childhood ice-cream floats.
FOOD
In keeping with this joint's neighbourhood ethos, the plump and briny oysters are from local fishmonger Fin and Flounder and come with Japanese chilli, pickle juice and yuzu pearls. Fat green olives and melting Iberico ham are from the Spanish deli around the corner. Finish it all off with a verdita shooter: mezcal and green juice, so almost good for you – right? Grainne McBride
Address: Behind This Wall, 411 Mare Street, Hackney, London E8
Website: behindthiswall.com
Addie Chinn23. Bar Termini, London
Old Compton Street's coolest cocktail bar
Bar Termini is the brainchild of cocktail king Tony Conigliaro (Untitled, 69 Colebrook Row) and Illy coffee's Marco Arrigo. And so, what they've created is an authentic Italian pit stop, named after Rome's main train station, that draws on-the-go city folk from first thing in the morning to late at night. Grab an espresso and pastry on your way to work, then come back in the evening and pull up a stool at the marble-topped bar and let dapper waiters in white jackets and black ties mix up some of the best cocktails in town.
DRINKS
Conigliario's famous Negronis are pre-made, aged and served (chilled, but without ice) in tiny custom glasses - making it all the easier to get through the extensive list of them. As well as the super-smooth Classico, there's a pink-peppercorn-infused Superiore, a rose-petal Rosato and a caramel-y Robusto. And the bottles, beautifully illustrated by tattoo artist Mo Coppoletta, are available to take home too. Those looking for something a little lighter should try the Spritz Termini, made with rhubarb cordial, gin, Aperol and prosecco, or a delicate and delightful Bellini with peach puree and almond blossom.
FOOD
Gossip with friends while grazing the simple menu: plates of wafer-thin beef carpaccio, coppa and prosciutto crudo; hunks of the finest Parmesan and pecorino, and creamy buffalo mozzarella; burrata served with tomatoes and traditional Sardinian flat bread pane carasau.
VERDICT
The menus are short and straightforward so you can't really go wrong – this is London's perfect aperitivo bar. Tabitha Joyce
Address: Bar Termini, 7 Old Compton Street, London W1D 5JE
Website: bar-termini.com
24. Heads + Tails, West Hampstead
A neat West London neighbourhood cocktail bar that’s worth the journey
Everyone knows, if you want to go to London’s coolest bars you need to head East – to Shoreditch or Dalston, or even concrete monstrosity Old Street. If you can’t face the trek, there are cute bars and kitsch bars and edgy bars in central London, and even a handful in South and North London. But west? West London could be seen as somewhat bereft of bars to hunker down with a drink. And yet, a new crop of places are inching out on the Tube map, opening up a world beyond Mayfair. In Paddington, The Pilgrm hotel’s first-floor lounge offers classic cocktails, and Darcie & May Green serves Prosecco on the roof of a canal boat. Soho House’s White City House, in the old BBC Television Centre, is a Seventies-retro hotspot, and in Queen’s Park, Milk Beach (one of our new favourite brunch spots) entices a local crowd with their organic wine and small plates. And now, on West Hampstead’s West End Lane, Heads + Tails is serving brilliant cocktails in its two-floor bar.
The space is headed up by partners Will Partridge and Chris Dennis (previously at Kilburn Ironworks and Soho spot Disrepute, respectively), with two very distinct bars squeezed into one. On the ground floor, a dreamy colour palette of eggshell blues, rich turquoises and satisfyingly shiny gold make the long room feel light and frothy – this is Heads cocktail bar. Downstairs is Tails, a sophisticated, sultry basement area packed with wooden features and dark colours – a grown-up take on a dive bar.
DRINKS
We recommend you kick off upstairs, where the drinks menu matches the airy surroundings. Cocktails are aperitif-style, with an early-evening fizz: The Pendennis Club (made with gin, apricot liqueur, bitters and fresh lime) strikes a brilliant balance between sweet and sharp, while the West End Spritz is a cool take on a classic Aperol, featuring Suze herbal liqueur, bergamot and mandarin cordial and soda. If you’re taking it easy, a list of low-alcohol cocktails is cool and mature: try a dry vermouth with tonic or their Pink Lemonade: rosé, lemon sherbet and soda. When your palate is cleansed and you feel ready to move on, shuffle downstairs to Tails. Here, the menu flips (‘Like a penny!’ our waiter points out) to reveal a list of short and stirred (aka strong) cocktails: the Raven mixes cognac with green-tea syrup, Chartreuse, fresh lime and soda, while the heady Santa Maria includes Wild Turkey Rye, brandy, sweet vermouth, bitters and Bénédictine.
FOOD
The snack menu is decidedly nibbly but well thought out: order olives or smoked almonds, a cheese board with treats from France and Italy, or a charcuterie board with UK-made salami.
VERDICT
This bar will challenge what you think you know about heading west for a night out: a buzzy, boozy spot that’s open until the early hours, giving you two evenings in one. Sarah James
Address: Heads + Tails, 175 West End Lane, London NW6 2LH
Website: headsandtails.bar
25. Three Sheets, Haggerston
Polished neighbourhood hangout from London’s dynamic next-gen cocktail duo
The Venning Brothers are on a roll right now. Manchester-born Noel and Max, unlike Noel and Liam, get on rather well together. Max spent six years honing his craft at Tony Conigliaro’s genre-busting 69 Colebrooke Row, while Noel had fun juggling frozen Margaritas at Manchester’s good-times Crazy Pedro's. Now they’re making quite a commotion in London, having recently created the menus for Mayfair’s Gridiron restaurant (go for their update of a Harvey Wallbanger) and Crouch End’s Little Mercies bar, and opening their Bar Three joint below Blixen in Spitalfields. Coming soon, the Top Cuvée bistro and bar in Finsbury Park. They’ve even written a book, Batched and Bottled, on the art of muddling drinks ahead so you’re not muddling bottles when your friends arrive. Three Sheets is their London HQ though, their first project together: a minimalist slip of a bar on Kingsland Road with Black Keys, William Onyeabor, LCD Soundsystem and New Order on the playlist, and just 10 cocktails on the menu. ‘We didn’t want a big concept or sitting space only,’ says Max, ‘which many people were doing when we opened in 2016. Just a fun place for good drinks, made quickly.’
DRINKS
With its fat-washed spirits and fermented fruits, the influence of Tony Conigliaro can be felt on the menu, but the drinks are all the brothers’ own – with input from award-winning head bartender Rosey Mitchell. One of the signature concoctions, the Shiso Miso, is a Japanese Old Fashioned made using Nikka whisky and miso, served on the rocks with shiso leaf in a ceramic cup. Max reckons there are far too many gins around so is championing vodka instead – small-batch Victory, in particular, which is made in London using green coffee – in drinks such as the Earth Martini, which with its slice of beetroot is just the sort of drink you can imagine Tess of the d’Urbervilles sipping in a Wessex salon. Cherry+Apple is a recent hit, a Bakewell tart of a drink, mixing amaretto, fermented cherry and apple digestif; Scottish Coffee is another puddingy hygge-making tipple – with bourbon and shortbread cream. And after a sip of the French 75, reimagined with carbonated Moscato and orange flower, you may wish to order a whole bottle.
FOOD
Just simple plates of coppa cold cuts, cheese and bread – if you’re peckish you may have to walk along to Brilliant Corners for its Japanese small plates.
VERDICT
The sort of neighbourhood bar that was impossible to imagine in London five years ago, and a sign of the city’s (and Dalston’s) growing cocktail maturity. Rick Jordan
Address: Three Sheets, 510b Kingsland Road, London E8 4AB
Website: threesheets-bar.com
26. Little Mercies, Crouch End
A stripped-down, ramped-up North London bar worth getting on the bus for
Crouch End, sometimes pronounced in a French accent, is one of those London villages that quite enjoys being apart from the rest of the city with no tube station, thank you very much, and while it was fine for drinking flat whites at one of many, many coffee shops and buying Moomin mugs and Tatty Devine pineapple earrings, followed by a pint at the Queens, it was a place that rarely rang in cocktail hour. But then Bar Esteban opened for excellent tapas and Irvin for Italian plates, and later, cosy little Nickel for well-mixed concoctions – though with Altered Images’s Clare Grogan behind Esteban, and the drummer from Lloyd Cole & The Commotions behind Irvin, there was always the niggling suspicion that you had to be part of an Eighties pop band to make it big here. But Alan Sherwood is far too young for that, and the Little Mercies bar he opened late in 2018 is doing something completely different for the neighbourhood. His track record takes in Scout and Peg + Patriot bars, and the drinks list here has been developed with help from Max and Noel Venning, the sharp-shooting brothers in arms behind Three Sheets. The name, in case you were wondering, comes partly from the song by hip-hop crew Doomtree, which you may hear through the speakers.
DRINKS
A whole lot of up-all-night, whizz-it-round-the-kitchen-in-a-rotovator work has gone into the cocktails here, but you wouldn’t know that from the speed at which glasses line up on the concrete counter. The Pornstar is poured from a bottle, and came from an idea Alan had to make a Pornstar Bellini, before he realised that passionfruit bubbles were best – those familiar with the French 75 at Three Sheets will get the picture, and it’s a fun take on what must be the most popular cocktail in the UK right now. And while you nurse the White Chocolate Old Fashioned, you could consider the 48 hours it took to arrive there, the way the chocolate was caramelised in a water bath for 10 hours, then cooked with Buffalo Trace bourbon and spun and chilled – or you could simply sip it slowly and enjoy those flavours floating around your mouth. The Delicious Sour, meanwhile, is as orchardy as they come, adding cider brandy, sour apple and apple caramel to Victory Vodka for a tarte tatin of a drink.
FOOD
Rather than a salty aside to the cocktails, the plates here work in their own right, and could almost be the main reason you end up here. There are properly chompy croquettes with a jumble of mushrooms, fired by maple sriracha; a crisp enoki tempura; and lardo toast strewn with shavings of pickled walnut. The dish of pork and celeriac is a tender bar of tenderloin with a scrimmage-scrunch of pickled celeriac that you could eat a whole bowl of.
VERDICT
A North London game-changer. Rick Jordan
Address: Little Mercies, 20 Broadway Parade, London N8 9DE
Website: littlemercies.co.uk
27. Hacha, Dalston
A Viva Mexico love song to agave spirits from a spirited East London insider
Anyone who loves cocktails should read Kingsley Amis’s highly entertaining Every Day Drinking, written in the 1960s and 70s; not least for its recipe for a Lucky Jim (12 to 15 parts vodka to one part vermouth and two parts cucumber juice. Don’t forget the cucumber). But Amis does get one thing totally, utterly wrong: he describes mezcal as the nastiest thing he ever drank. Which is nonsense. This is a drink every bit about the terroir as wine and whisky, which can be fruity and floral and soft and elegant, as silkily smoky as ‘The Tracks of My Tears’ rather than as chokingly in-yer-face as a bonfire. Mezcal has been drifting onto some of the best London bar menus over the past few years – some may have fond memories of Quiquirqui, hidden below a kebab joint on the Hackney Road, or are familiar with the ones at El Pastor, Temper and old favourite Café Pacifico. But here’s a new bar entirely devoted to mezcal and tequila, just along from Three Sheets, with 25 bottles numbered and racked up on the shelf by Deano Moncrieffe – a Diegeo brand ambassador who fell in love with the spirit 15 years ago and has been exploring its flavours ever since. Now you can too, in a leafy, bright, café-like space that avoids any skull-bashing Day of the Dead schtick and looks as if it pours nothing stronger than a cactus juice.
DRINKS
Deano has thought long and hard about the menu here, taking a handful of familiar cocktails and reinventing them with tequila and mezcal. Take the creamy Hacha Colada, which uses sultana-infused Anejo with horchata, chargrilled pineapple and a scattering of toasted coconut for an earthier, less-sugary-than-usual take on the Piña C. Or the Mirror Margarita, a brilliant, crystal-clear serve using a sour made from malic-acid rather than citrus and spritzed with Cointreau and grapefruit. But take time to ask Deano for a recommendation for a single serve – he pairs each tequila or mezcal with a flavour enhancer, which could be a square of chocolate, a shot of herby Seedlip or, in the case of one very funky mezcal – which had aromas of braying donkeys and scratching chickens but with thankfully none of the flavour – a few mouthfuls of London IPA. As for the wine list, how many other bars have one that straddles Bethnal Green and Mexico?
FOOD
Plenty of crunch, gloop and spice on the full menu here, from yuca chips and tostadas laden with pork belly and aubergine to sea-bass ceviche on crisp breadfruit tostaditas, and shredded-beef and plantain tacos – hard-shell or soft, all made on the premises.
VERDICT
A place to seriously get to grips with mezcal’s nuances, or just kick back with a plate of tacos and a cocktail. Rick Jordan
Address: Hacha, 378 Kingsland Road, Dalston, London E8 4AA
Website: hachabar.com
Bernard Zeija28. Tayer + Elementary, Old Street
A double-whammy bar near the hip hubbub of Old Street
The London cocktail scene has been all aflutter ahead of this new arrival: the first solo bar project for Czech-born Alex Kratena, who helmed the Artesian bar at the Langham when it was named the World’s Best Bar for four years in a row, and his partner Monica Berg, formerly of Oslo’s next-gen speakeasy Himkok. Out front is Elementary, an industrial space of exposed vents where light tumbles in through floor-to-ceiling windows and the action is centred around a single, long wooden bar. This is also where Alex keenly points out the seasonal wall: hanging wooden cards that show the fruit, herbs and other ingredients that he’s currently using in his cocktails. Behind a concrete wall imprinted with jars and glasses to look like bamboo is more dimly lit and boundary-pushing Tayer (from the Spanish word taller, or workshop). This seems to be Monica’s domain; she coolly mixes drinks behind the sleek, horseshoe wooden counter where bottles are stored in a stainless-steel, hip-level bar station she and Alex designed in line with the minimalist decor. The cleverly textured water glasses seem to be carved out of tree bark, giving a sense of nature although you’re surrounded by concrete and steel.
DRINKS
In Elementary the menu has some familiar numbers, albeit with a twist: Nordic Old Fashioned gets a Scandi twist with aquavit and cedarwood; a Palo Santo Gimlet is made with gin, sherry, Lillet Blanc and a cordial flavoured with the sacred South American wood usually used as incense, which Alex discovered on a trip to the Amazon – the resulting drink is incredibly crisp and clean. Little icons on the menu show you what size glass you can expect your drink to come in: highball, short or medium, with a single giant ice cube in each one. And there’s that all-important seasonal section, heavy on rhubarb at the time of our visit, namely in a Royal with Francinet-Remy Champagne. In Tayer the drinks list is a little trickier to figure out, with bolded-up ingredients being the only hint to the predominant flavour. The idea is to model it on how chefs would present a menu. Wood Sorrel, with gin, vermouth and sherry, is served in the most delicately stemmed Martini glass and tastes smooth with a herbal punch; Blood Orange has the kick of a Negroni from Campari and grappa, while Rhubarb is long and refreshing, with amaro, Apéritif de Normandie and soda.
FOOD
Tata Eatery has been one of the most buzzed about London restaurant pop-ups over the past year or so. And with good reason. Here it sets up a permanent base serving, among other dishes, the brilliant and now-famous sando (note: it often sells out): thick slices of pink Iberian pork with raspberry jam and XO shallot sauce in toasted brioche. There are also equally delicious anchovy soldiers topped with bottarga – a steal of a snack for £5 – and an oozing short-rib quesadilla with mint yogurt and seasonal herbs.
VERDICT
A sleek new start for a super-talented young team – and possibly the tastiest bar food in London. Grainne McBride
Address: Tayer + Elementary, 152 Old Street, London EC1V
Website: tayer-elementary.com
29. Lyaness, South Bank
A new opening replaces London’s best bar
When mixology magnate Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan) announced that Dandelyan bar (one of the best bars in London) would close to make way for a new project, everyone was shocked. How could he possibly improve on a place that topped the The World’s 50 Best Bars list in 2018, alongside a clutch of other accolades which it accumulated during its four short years in operation? ‘The landscape and the conversation has shifted,’ he announced on Instagram. ‘It makes sense to start afresh.’ And so he has, beginning with the interiors: swapping Dandelyan’s jewel tones for a more soothing palette of blue and grey, and using electric-blue velvet banquettes to add a contemporary touch to the room’s Art Deco feel. But most importantly, he’s challenging our approach to drinking – again. At Lyaness, not sticking to the menu is encouraged. Trying something new is practically compulsory.
DRINKS
Expect to be impressed. The ingredients’ playful names and unexpected flavours come hand-in-hand with a very contemporary invite to be as experimental as you want. The menu centres around seven unique ingredients, each with a psychedelic name. Customer favourite, the Infinite Banana cordial, takes the team a full week to cook up. A sip on its own tastes like honey-dipped, perfectly ripe banana, but it’s best served with Bombay Sapphire, Bacardi Cuatro, toasted coconut and lemon, then topped off with a slither of freshly baked banana-bread crisp and a drop of orange butter. This is Lyaness’ dangerously moreish take on the Double Painkiller. Next up, Purple Pineapple, whose floral notes add complexity to the tropical flavour. Try it in a Piña Colada for a refined version of the classic. King Monkey Nut (which tastes exactly like a peanut) is unexpectedly delicious with citrus in the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club cocktail. ONYX is an elegant sake-like liquor with serious umami and a gorgeous pink colouring; Aromatised Milk resonates with the sour taste of keffir (or childhood favourite, Petit Filous); The smoky vanilla-ey Old Fashioned Whisky, developed at a Scottish distillery, adds a silky hint of caramel to a Sazerac. The seventh ingredient, Ultra Raspberry, bursts with tangy flavour. Ask for it in a Dog’s Nose Clover Club. They’ll know what you mean – and you won’t regret it.
FOOD
Bar Bites undersells these small plates, which are more like top notch canapés than they are snacks. The Trio of Tacos (jerk pulled pork, seabass and bream ceviche and goats cheese with honey) is mind-blowingly good. Of course, if you’re drinking whisky, Haggis Croquettes are essential.
VERDICT
Lyaness is doing something entirely new and it’s well worth experiencing. For cocktail-lovers, a visit is a must. Lauren Hepburn
Address: Lyaness, Sea Containers London, 20 Upper Ground, South Bank, London, SE1 9PD
Website: lyaness.com
30. The Fumoir, Claridge's, Mayfair
A London institution serving some of the capital's best cocktails
Someone asked me the other day whether there was anything about Claridge’s that I would change. Nothing sprang to mind. Wanting to be a sport, however, I thought about it for a minute and said I would bring back smoking in The Fumoir. If that proved impossible or, as I suppose must be the case these days, illegal, then I would consider changing its name to The Fauxmoir. Still, the fact that you can no longer fume in the Fumoir is a loss in some ways but a gain in others. It is much easier now to make out the gorgeous little design flourishes, such as the elaborately etched Basil Ionides mirrors, that make The Fumoir one of the prettiest bars in the world as well as one of the best. In any case, successive cocktails – and you would be mad to stop at one – will supply a haze of a different and even more agreeable kind.
DRINKS
I could count on one hand the joints where, when asked what I would like, I would happily say ‘You tell me’ and remain confident that the result would be not merely OK but utterly marvellous. This is one of them. Though the phone-book-like drinks list will have rare-spirit fanatics drooling, to go ahead and order anything unmixed, such as a Karuizawa 1970 at £1,000 a dram (‘Make mine a double!’), would seem something of a shame. If ever there was a time and a place for a cocktail, this would be it. Preferably a classic cocktail. In the interest of science or scholarship – which, I have noticed, often run in parallel with the interest of acquiring a mild alcoholic buzz – you might ask the barkeep to fix you something totally old-school like a Sidecar, only in two versions. First the canonical, by-the-book version and then the as-made-in-The Fumoir saffron version. Both, I promise, will be sublime. A third, however, could well make coherent speech and a dignified exit tricky.
FOOD
‘Snacks’ is not really the word. This is Claridge’s. Anything is possible. Lobster thermidor is possible. Ice cream and petit choux are possible. But if you are happy to keep things simple and your table cutlery-free, I recommend the smoked-salmon Moscovite cornets, with horseradish and caviar.
VERDICT
Hard to find for the first time (diagonally to the right off the lobby), but impossible to forget. Steve King
Address: The Fumoir, Claridge’s, Brook Street, London W1K 4HR
Website: claridges.co.uk
Press31. The Library at The Ned, Bank
A tiny new bar in the City with a Martini twist
The Ned is one of those London hotspots you feel you should know about, even if you’ve never been. It crashed onto the capital’s hotel scene in 2017, and just about everyone who visits agrees that it’s a game-changer, with nine restaurants, more bars than you could hope to visit in a long weekend (16) and 252 bedrooms, all grand in their Edwardian pomp and glamour. Built in the 1920s under the helm of Sir Edwin Lutyens, the hotel lobby (once the banking hall of Midland Bank HQ) is a vast space where waiters twirl and dodge around the chaos to a soundtrack of live jazz. To find the latest addition, The Library Bar, you have to know that it’s there in the first place. Squirrelled away in the right-hand corner of the lobby, this space is pocket-sized and intimate, yet with all the buzz carrying through from next door. Floor-to-ceiling bookcases are packed with old copies of all the classics, towering over plump armchairs and low-slung sofas. We visited on a Tuesday and, thankfully, we had reserved, as our table was the only free spot.
DRINKS
This is a Martini and Champagne bar, so, unsurprisingly, the menu features both heavily. A white-coated waiter will wheel the Martini trolley to your table to mix your drinks in front of you, expertly taking you through the ingredients and process. The Martinis, you are warned, are made differently than elsewhere: an extra 10ml of your chosen spirit (Grey Goose or Star of Bombay) is added, alongside the Library’s own vermouth blend and orange bitters. The result is a drink that hits you on the first sip, yet it’s balanced enough to make even the most inexperienced Martini drinkers happy. Off-menu, the bartenders will mix a version with any spirit you like. Speciality cocktails are a little less jelly-leg-inducing: we enjoyed the Royale Punch (Remy Martin VSOP, peach, earl grey, citrus cordial, anise and Champagne) and the highly recommended Velvet Fizz (Konik’s Tail vodka, coconut, lemongrass, lime, egg white and Champagne). Non-vintage Champagnes are served by the flute, while vintage bottles are served in coupes (this allows the bubbles to develop as the liquid is poured). If you’re feeling especially flush, there are three Martinis on the menu that come in at £100 each, made with vintage vermouth and rare spirits from the 1970s.
FOOD
Many of the bar snacks come from the Ned’s in-house restaurants, which means they are a cut above your standard crisps and sausage rolls. Fast finger food comes in the form of a Scotch quail’s egg with tartare sauce and Manchego and chorizo bon-bons. The pizzetta, with leek, fontina cheese and black truffle, is cooked in Cecconi’s pizza oven. If you’re ordering it, skip the Parmesan and truffle chips (there is such a thing as too much truffle) and opt instead for the courgette batons: lightly fried strips of juicy courgette doused in lemon juice and served piping hot.
VERDICT
In the high-flying context of The Ned, The Library Bar feels as if you’re in on a special secret. Sarah James
Address: The Library Bar at The Ned, 27 Poultry, London EC2R 8AJ
Website: thened.com
Jason Bailey32. Fitz's, Bloomsbury
A ritzy, glitzy hotspot with cocktails to expand your vocabulary and your palate
Hotel bars rarely live up to the hype – or the elevated prices. But the one at the recently rebranded Kimpton Fitzroy London (previously The Principal), on Russell Square is an exception. As soon as you saunter into the grand marble lobby, you know you’re set for a smart night out. The atmospheric main room serves serious Oscar Wilde-at-Soho House vibes, with impressively high ceilings, low lighting, velvet sofas, leather-panelled pillars and a central plume of ostrich feathers underneath a huge disco ball. A small stage to one side hosts occasional jazz and cabaret performers. And there’s a secret second room which feels more like a cosy members’ club, with lots of dark corners to hide away in.
DRINKS
Skip the wine and beer – it’s got them, of course, but they’re not even mentioned on the menu. The cocktails are the only thing to sip in such an opulent setting. But in contrast to the old-school decor, there are no classics here. Nearly all of the 16 playful signature drinks use at least one ingredient you definitely won’t have heard of before. The closest to a classic is the white Vesca Negroni, served with a comically large, pink ice cube which gradually adds a tang of strawberry sweetness as it melts. The Broken Window combines smooth 12-year Scotch with spicy Ancho Reyes, sherry, aniseedy sweet cicely and celery bitters for a crisp, sweet, piquant drink. For something lighter, try the Hive Mind: Sweetdram Escubac (like gin, but juniper-free), tequila and more sherry, mixed with tart white balsamic vinegar, soda and honey-fragrant propolis (the bartenders call it ‘bee spit’). In other cocktails you’ll taste pink- peppercorn tonic, bay-leaf syrup, toasted sesame and pimento bitters. Some intensive flavour research has gone into these drinks, but they are never over-powering. And don’t worry if you are feeling lost: affable, unpretentious and ultra-knowledgeable floral-shirted barmen are on hand to help you navigate the beautifully illustrated menu.
FOOD
The emphasis here is definitely on the drinks, but there are some suitably hearty bites on offer to line your stomach. Despite being billed as One Bite, the fluffy hasselback potatoes, rich bone-marrow croquettes and fresh enoki-mushroom crudités with smoky aubergine and cabbage are all pretty substantial. If you’re still hungry, move on to the Two Bite options: lemon-sole tacos, truffle pizza soufflé, scallops or the juicy house burger – one-fifth brisket, four-fifths chuck roll.
VERDICT
An indulgent Bloomsbury night out with cocktail combos to surprise even jaded barflies. Sonya Barber
Address: Fitz’s, Kimpton Fitzroy London, 8 Russell Square, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 5BE
Website: kimptonfitzroylondon.com
33. The American Bar, Savoy Hotel, Covent Garden
A clever new menu at London's ultimate hotel bar
Somebody once asked Harry Craddock, the genius who presided over the American Bar at the Savoy throughout the 1920s and 30s, what he thought was the best way to drink a cocktail. ‘Quickly,’ said Harry. ‘While it’s laughing at you.’ How dear departed Harry’s shade must have laughed when in late 2017 the American Bar was finally named Best Bar in the World. Not that standards have slipped and it didn’t deserve it. On the contrary. It’s almost certainly deserved it every year since it opened in 1904. The Savoy is a gorgeous bundle of stylistic contradictions – high Victorian, plush Edwardian, flapper-tastic Art Deco and various points in between – that somehow manages to be more than the sum of its delicious parts. At the American Bar, which wouldn’t look out of place either on a Cunard liner or in an episode of The Jetsons, service is lively and liveried, friendly but not fawning, attentive and expert – in short, as polished, pleasing and fit for purpose as the unobtrusively beautiful glassware in which your drinks will shortly arrive.
DRINKS
The menu changes every year. The latest one takes its inspiration from the photographs by Terry O’Neill with which the walls of the bar are decorated. Great idea. Great photos. Marlene. Frank. Mick and Jerry. Paul and Ringo. Judy and Liza. Michael Caine – no, hang on, that’s Peter Sellers. It’s a clever wheeze and it means the new menu is great fun to flip through and look at, even if the connections between pictures and cocktails are, shall we say, subtle. Take the First Impression, with which the menu begins. It’s a ravishing confection of gin, yuzu wine, elderflower liqueur, champagne and – stroke of genius – jasmine oil. A Gimlet with airs and graces. Apparently this First Impression takes its cue from a photograph of a skeletal David Bowie in his mid-70s Station to Station period being held upright by a considerably shorter but evidently better nourished Elizabeth Taylor, to whom he had just been introduced. It’s impossible to say for sure but something about Bowie’s posture and expression makes it look as though he wasn’t in the mood for a cocktail at all – more likely a coke. A lot of coke. It’s quite a tender, moving image. Sniff, sniff. There are 20 drinks on the new menu and it’s probably safe to say not a dud among them, though your correspondent only managed to taste nine of them, and wouldn’t, in all honesty, recommend that you tried to outdo him, or at least not in a single sitting. This stuff isn’t for amateurs. The American Bar has always been a forward-looking place – but it’s impossible not to get squiffy here without casting a fond backwards glance. This is, after all, the birthplace of such deathless classics as the Hanky Panky and the White Lady, and possibly one of the only places left on the face of the earth where, if you’d like to disburden yourself of the £5,000 in spare change that’s weighing down your trouser pockets, you can get a Sazerac made with actual Sazerac.
FOOD
You’re at the Savoy, so a dollop of caviar seems appropriate. No, wait. You’re at the American Bar at the Savoy. So make it a burger and fries. With a dollop of caviar on the side.
VERDICT
Living history. A joy. Steve King
Address: The Savoy, 100 The Strand, London WC2R 0EZ
Website: fairmont.com
34. Smokey Kudu, Peckham
Peckham’s first seriously swanky cocktail bar
When young South African chef Patrick Williams and his partner, Amy Corbin, opened their first restaurant together in 2018, Queen’s Road was still the (relatively) dodgy end of Peckham. Yes, Corbin’s father is the Corbin behind restaurant group Corbin & King (The Wolseley, Soutine), but even so, in less than a year they received indisputable approval from the Michelin panel with a Bib Gourmand confirming the quality of the food, and the affordable prices, too. Just over a year later Giles Coren was finally coaxed south-east and, after only a short grumble, agreed with the rest of us, that Kudu is an ‘example of perfect restaurant making in a nutshell’. Less than two years on and the Kudu Collective is expanding fast. First up is cocktail bar Smokey Kudu. Two minutes’ walk from the original restaurant – under the arches at Queen’s Road Peckham station – the space is small, but cleverly conceived so it doesn’t feel it. There’s a pink marble horseshoe bar backed with vintage mirrors and an enormous original blown-glass chandelier from Venice, which had to be quickly reinforced on opening week to stop it swinging as the trains passed overhead.
DRINKS
Corbin’s plan was to create a cocktail bar that would be at home in Mayfair or Soho – quite the ambition given the rest of Peckham is still drinking craft ale in car parks. But as soon as you walk in, you really could be in one of London’s swankiest hotel bars. The cocktail list is immediately interesting, made up of classics but with a South African twist. A Braai Negroni is made with mezcal, rooibos, sloe, amaro, and thyme; while a Kudu Spritz is a mix of Aperol, South African vermouth, and rooibos topped with fizz. There’s also a short list of African grapes, as well as beer from local Brick Brewery. Sip one Zulu Espresso, finished with Amarula and nutmeg, and you’re likely to want to stay for the rest of the night.
FOOD
So as not to confuse the fact Smokey Kudu is serious about cocktails, you’ll only find olives, a nut mix and biltong on the snacks menu – but they’re all significantly superior to your run-of-the-mill bar snacks. Crucially, there’s always Kudu come suppertime; or sourdough pizzas at Mamma Dough round the corner. Watch the space next door to Kudu where Little Kudu, a tapas-style joint is soon to add yet another option to the Queen’s Road Peckham roster.
VERDICT
This foodie couple know what they’re doing when it comes to restaurants, and, it turns out, bars, too. You’re not in Queen’s Road Peckham any more. Tabitha Joyce
Address: Smokey Kudu, Arch 133 Queen's Road, Peckham, London SE15 2ND
Website: kuducollective.com
Twitter.com/satans_whiskers35. Satan's Whiskers, Bethnal Green
Neighbourhood cocktail bar with an old-school hip-hop soundtrack
Satan's Whiskers is one of those bars that bartenders at the world's top bars speak of. Despite its less-than-lovely location on Cambridge Heath Road, the bar serves some of the best cocktails not just in London, but the world. Marked only by a red neon sign above the door, the bar is stuffed with tongue-in-cheek taxidermy (look out for the smoking monkey and cocktail-shaking raccoon) and vintage spirits posters, and there are little devils cut into the bar top. The cocktail bar's namesake has a gin-and-juice base and the stereo plays banger after banger by Golden Age greats such as Biggie Smalls, Q-Tip and, of course, Snoop - the only complaint is that you can't get up and dance.
DRINKS
The cocktail menu always has a few new surprises but you can count on classics such as the French 75 and Satan's Manhattan (with Knob Creek rye whisky) to be there. You may also have the chance to try the Negroni with prosecco and a Salty Dog with vodka, pink grapefruit and pink salt. Hurricanes are served with blown-inside-out brollies and the East 8 Hold Up (vodka, Aperol, fresh pineapple and lime) is super-summery.
FOOD
There's nothing dainty on the menu: sole goujons, sweet potato fries, whopping burgers and whole baked camembert. Hazel Lubbock
Address: Satan's Whiskers, 343 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, London E2
Website: twitter.com/satans_whiskers
36. Homeboy, Islington
North London whiskey evangelist with the teeniest-tiniest Irish pub in the whole of London
If you’ve ever wondered what Islington’s Upper Street was like 30 years ago, it’s simple: just walk across to Essex Road. It’s one of London’s great under-rated thoroughfares, a mile-long arrow pointing straight to Essex and originally known as Lower Street. Not nearly as smart as Upper, of course – if you were on your uppers, you’d probably be on Lower – but full of characters. Some of whom will be found in Homeboy. It’s an Irish bar, though not in the way you’re probably thinking. This is a little Lower East Side. Bowery-black signage, green leather and two-tone bar; Guinness but no foam shamrocks; arm ink and French bulldogs; Nineties hip-hop instead of fiddles and The Dubliners.
Although there are Dubliners here: Aaron Wall and Ciarán Smith, who run the joint, bringing a deft hand learnt from Callooh Callay in Shoreditch and The Dorchester. The two are keen to share their sense of Irish hospitality – the same urge that made Father Ted’s Mrs Doyle ask ‘Would you like a nice cup of tea? Go on, go on, go on…’ – and which goes back to historic civil laws that insisted on providing for strangers. At the back, through a small door, is the smallest Irish pub in London, opened for the Six Nations championship and decorated with uncovered punk-era posters and Guinness ads, with its own snug – that traditional VIP room of the Irish boozer.
DRINKS
Plenty of Irish whiskeys that can be approached in plenty of ways – or avoided altogether. A Boilermaker pairing such as Jameson Caskmates with a Chieftain IPA, perhaps, rolling the spirit around in your mouth to appreciate its profile – or a Hemingway-style Set Menu of Roe & Co with 1936 lager and a Daiquiri. The team have a playful approach with cocktails, many of which are nods to classic-era serves, but there’s nothing that feels too gimmicky – even the Teaandabiccie, which stirs whiskey with Benedictine, Barry’s Irish Tea, clarified milk and a Hobnob syrup. Go on, go on, go on…
There’s also the summery Emerald Collins, with Slane whiskey instead of gin or vodka, plus Cynar added to the mix, and the fruity-but-not-sweet take on the Manhattan, titled the Wogan (whiskey, apricot brandy, lime and sugar). If you can pronounce it, the Taoiseach is the bar’s lovely version of El Presidente, swapping rum for Redbreast Potstill. ‘We’re the dog snapping at the heels of the Dead Rabbit boys,’ says Smith.
FOOD
The kitchen is currently being upgraded, so the menu’s a little limited right now, but the team will fix you a toastie or Tayto sandwich, made with the famous Irish crisps. Irish stew and soda bread are made to family recipes.
VERDICT
A warmly welcoming, no-bother bar, where Tuesday night may very well feel like a Friday. If you get too pickled, you might be allowed to sit in the window of Get Stuffed, the taxidermist’s opposite. Rick Jordan
Address: Homeboy, 108 Essex Road, London N1 8LX
Website: homeboybar.com
37. The Coral Room, Bloomsbury
A show-stopper where everything is just peachy
Human babies are not, as is commonly supposed, born colour-blind. Science shows that they will spend more time gazing at brightly coloured things than at dull ones. As they get older and learn to speak, they tend to take longer to learn the names of the drearier colours, suggesting they are susceptible to a ‘preferential learning mechanism’ that favours the perkier end of the Pantone chart. Nor is this something we ever grow out of. And maybe it is one of the reasons why people of all ages are so keen on the Coral Room at The Bloomsbury hotel. A year or so ago the Doyle family, proprietors of the Bloomsbury, had the excellent idea of transforming what had for decades been the lobby into a bar. Martin Brudnizki, the designer they employed to make this happen, had one or two excellent ideas of his own, including that of painting the walls, which are enormous, a particularly beguiling, rich, vivid and opulent shade of coral pink. The result is one of the most beautiful bars in London.
DRINKS
This is a terrific, serious bar where you can feel confident ordering anything you fancy, on or off the menu. But something about the space itself is likely to steer your choice towards something fun and summery and light. The Coral Room has from day one been a champion of English sparkling wines, and house concoctions such as the Chiswick Spritz (Sipsmith London Cup, pomegranate, kumquat, raspberry vinegar, ginger syrup, lime juice, sparkling wine) prove that local fizz actually works brilliantly well in such aperitivo-style drinks. The colour of a Chiswick Spritz, incidentally, almost matches that of the walls but not quite. Something must be done.
FOOD
Open from 10 o’clock in the morning till midnight, with separate brunch, lunch and afternoon-tea menus. From five o’clock onwards there are cocktail-appropriate snacks and small plates, many of a distinctly grown-up tone (manchego cheese and truffle honey; Dorset crab on toast). Your reviewer was there at lunchtime and hoovered up an impeccable if not entirely grown-up club sandwich.
VERDICT
The Coral Room has done as much as anywhere else to put the bloom back into Bloomsbury. Steve King
Address: The Coral Room, The Bloomsbury, 16-22 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3NN
Website: thecoralroom.co.uk
38. The Donovan Bar, Mayfair
Swinging Sixties glamour with impeccably tailored drinks from one of the cocktail world’s most dapper figures
Look carefully at the multitude of black-and-white portraits that line the walls here – for the Donovan the bar is named after isn’t Jason, of course, but the late Terence, whose photographs framed the 1960s – and you may spot one of comic genius Tony Hancock. He’s clutching a cup of coffee and wearing a trademark hangdog expression. Grumpiness personified. Were he clutching one of the cocktails here, though, he’d be all smiles; a broad grin would spread across his face. The Brown’s Hotel bar has always been one of the best bars in Mayfair, but has a new gleam in its eye, a certain swagger, since being rebooted in 2018. The room was redeveloped in photographic blacks, greys and whites, with racing green and burnished gold for extra dazzle. It was given its own street entrance, and its rather tight bar counter swivelled around and stretched out, its shimmery swimming-pool-blue glass top reflecting light from the spirit shelves behind, with the stained-glass St George window at one end – part of the building’s original 1885 incarnation. And after a pop-up appearance in 2017, Salvatore Calabrese was enticed over to take charge of the drinks menu here – the Amalfi-born bartender has been jiggling his jigger for four decades, perfecting his Martinis first at Dukes then going on to work at The Lanesborough and Fifty St James’s.
DRINKS
Calabrese made his first Negroni aged just 12, so if you order a Negroni, you can be assured it will be one of the best ones you’ve ever downed – the Gran Torino twists it with Johnnie Walker Gold and ginger foam. And if you’ve never tried his Breakfast Martini before – a drink he regards as one of his own masterpieces, with marmalade and cedar-wood essence in the mix – then do order one as an aperitif. But, since May 2019, a new menu has taken the 1960s as its inspiration, with Our Generation drinks arranged in four themes (‘Portrait’, ‘Fashion’ ‘Music’ and ‘Screen’). A drink named Paint It Black arrives with a brushstroke on its glass, mixing rooibos-infused tequila with a citrussy-fennel soda; Madam Loren rescues the tomato from the Bloody Mary, placing it in a Martini glass with gin and some intense fruit flavours, with a crispy basil leaf floating on top. For something a little more avant-garde, order an Alfie (whisky washed in hazelnut butter, muddled with ale and a briny tincture of seaweed and sage that will put hairs on your chest) and discuss the validity of the male gaze while looking at Donovan’s nudes in the Naughty Corner area of the bar.
FOOD
Well, caviar’s always an option but the crispy beef croquettes are more satisfying, along with a salad-tossed bowl of crispy squid. Best to keep it crispy with cocktails.
VERDICT
A Mayfair original has been artfully revived – and while the drinks aren’t cheap, unlike the Sixties, if you were there you’ll remember them. Rick Jordan
Address: Donovan Bar, Brown’s Hotel, 33 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4BP
Website: roccofortehotels.com
39. Black Rock and Black Rock Tavern, Finsbury
East London bars bringing whisky to a younger, less stuffy crowd
Whisky used to be the golf of the drinks world, with a reputation for stuffiness and peaty snobbery. But it’s changing fast: not just with sales booming, but with cool distilleries in Melbourne, Taiwan and the Cotswolds turning out experimental New World drams for a fresh audience. Black Rock, in the hinterland between the City and Shoreditch, is a temple for this more inclusive, hedonistic brand of whisky quaffing. Previously a dark basement bar built around an almost 200-year-old oak tree holding two troughs of the stuff, it expanded this summer to include the Black Rock Tavern at street level – a neighbourhood bistro that’s more Copenhagen-airy than Ginza-reverential. Owners Tom Aske and Tristan Stephenson, cocktail veterans who launched the lauded Worship Street Whistling Shop in 2011, are also set to open a blending room and a three-room hotel upstairs. As well as running Whisky Me, which delivers pouches of Scotch and rye to subscribers every month, Aske and Stephenson are bringing a Black Rock outpost to Bristol later this year, with plans for another London brach in the works, too. Having previously run whimsical sherry spot Sack Bar in the space that’s now Black Rock Tavern, the pair have officially gone all in on the amber stuff.
DRINKS
Downstairs is darker and more reverential than upstairs with more than 250 lovingly selected bottles in glass cabinets, each one reasonably priced and helpfully marked in sections: Smoke, Fruit, Balance, Fragrance, Spice, Sweet. There are peaty Islay classics and sophisticated Hokkaido standards, of course, but also spicy-sweet Kentucky corn whisky and a single malt from the Stauning Whisky distillery in Denmark’s Jutland, with hints of smoky chocolate, nougat and vanilla. Cocktails and highballs come under the same flavour headings, and of the two blends maturing in the oak trunk, one is a Limousin-aged bourbon that tastes like a minty Old Fashioned. The atmosphere is hardly stuffy downstairs, with chatty service and west coast hip-hop languidly bleeding from speakers, but in the Tavern upstairs it’s more irreverent, with fewer whiskies and more playful cocktails (there are also craft beers on tap). The Guinness Punch with smooth Oban whisky, condensed milk and spices is inspired by the velvety rum version you might drink over Christmas in Jamaica. And the Cardhu whisky with tonic would raise a bushy eyebrow at the country club. But our favourite is the Smokey Cokey highball, with 12-year-old Caol Ila, cherry bitters and Fever-Tree cola somehow blending with a dandyish elegance that 3am Jack and Cokes have never quite mustered. Thom Solberg, the Norwegian bar manager who dreamt up the menu, talks through it all with puppyish enthusiasm. He’s a long way from those dour, tartan-clad retirees who tend to lead Scottish distillery tours.
FOOD
It’s called Scran here, as per the post-Kitchin trend, and is reliably unpretentious: house scratchings and a vegetarian haggis sausage roll with brown sauce upstairs; a pork-and-black-pudding Scotch egg downstairs. Naughty fun, but not really why you’re here.
VERDICT
Easily one of the best bars in London for Whisky. It's Whisky’s answer to the hipster craft-beer joint. Toby Skinner
Address: Black Rock, 9 Christopher Street, London EC2A 2BS
Website: blackrock.bar
40. Hackney Church Co., Hackney
Craft ale with a mission – and a large beer garden – in Hackney’s latest foodie hub
A few years ago, had someone asked for a pint of Wu Gang Chops The Tree, or Fearless Spreadsheet Ninja, one would assume they’d either been a bit too liberal with the magic mushrooms or were quoting an ancient Monty Python sketch. But as anyone who’s recently dawdled at the taprooms of Tottenham’s Beavertown brewery or in switched-on pubs such as The Wigmore will know, craft ale in London is big – foamingly big, with almost every postcode having its own craft brewer, feverishly designing manga-style labels for limited-edition saisons and porters and pale ales. Now there’s a new ale champion, Hackney Church Brew Co. (previously St John at Hackney Brewery, no relation to Fergus Henderson’s joint), which has set up its gleaming fermentation tanks under the railway arches on the aptly named Bohemia Place, Hackney’s latest hot destination (pop-up Night Tales opens full-time nearby in July, with Japanese bites and a mezcal bar). The warehouse-sized space has real character, with smoke-blackened brickwork, steel-framed windows, a lovely lattice of bare timber in the architrave above, and reclaimed church pews along the walls. At the back is a sprawling beer garden with long tables from where you can watch trains spark and rumble on the tracks above the brewery. The pews are a little design pun, as the Rector of nearby St John at Hackney, one of London’s most credible churches – it's hosted gigs by Florence and the Machine and Coldplay – has been a key driving force behind getting the project off the ground.
DRINKS
The team here are passionate about their ale. Founder Luke Scanlon gave free rein to American craft-ale obsessive Ryan Robbins, and the results so far are lovely and very drinkable, though still being tweaked. But current favourites from the ones made on the premises are the citrussy IPA No 2 – the names are refreshingly straightforward, so far – which Ryan describes as having a ‘smooth mouth feel’, and the lager, a crisp, Munich-style creation with an American spin. But aficionados should try a third of a pint of the Imperial stout, fragrant with toasty, chocolatey, coffee flavours. Grab a beer tasting with Ryan when he has the time. The bar will also be showcasing beers from other London and UK breweries – highlights include an incredible blueberry sour from Charlton Brewing Co, and a non-alcoholic pale ale from Infinite Session.
FOOD
The team invited in Emilio Stavrou, who channeled his favourite kebab shop in Nicosia for inspiration, with chicken thigh and pork skewers and pita pockets, but also catering to Hackney’s substantial vegetarian/vegan population with tempeh and charcoal-grilled halloumi-and-pear fillings, smoked aubergine dip and Mediterranean-fresh salads of crunchy cabbage and coriander and smoked chickpeas.
VERDICT
Just the place for long, outdoor summer ale-quaffing. Brewer Ryan reckons that the UK is about 10 years behind the USA when it comes to craft ale, but places like this are closing the gap. Rick Jordan
Address: Hackney Church Brew, 16-17 Bohemia Place, London E8 1DU
Website: hackneychurchbrew.co
41. Dukes Bar, St James's
A cute little bar in a cute little hotel in a cute little side-street in St James’s
When they arrive – on a cute little trolley that’s wheeled right up alongside your table – the cocktails look cute and little too. Don’t be fooled. Proceed with the utmost caution. The first one’s fine, the second one’s even finer, but the third one will knock you into the middle of next week and steal your shoes. The bar is beautiful at any time of the day or night. There’s something about the look and feel of the place – cushy and country-housey, impeccably proper and ever so slightly louche – that’s just right.
DRINKS
Ian Fleming was a regular and came up with James Bond’s famous ‘shaken not stirred’ directive here. Martini freaks worship the current head bartender, Alessandro Palazzi, as a god among men. I know it’s heresy to say so, but I don’t really care for martinis. Never have. Though it’s highly entertaining to watch Alessandro fling vermouth across the room, as he does whenever he makes a martini, I’d much rather ask him to surprise me with something less familiar. At the time of my most recent visit, earlier this week, he’d come up with a new cocktail to mark the hotel’s 110th birthday. The 1908 contains vodka infused with verbena from Alessandro’s garden, a Queen Motherly slosh of Dubonnet, a drop of crème de cacao and a twist of Amalfi lemon. Absolute dynamite. And it’s as much fun listening to Alessandro talk about it as it is to drink. (You might get the conversation started by asking him what he thinks about people who order herbal tea in bars, as the old biddies used to do when he worked at The Ritz in Paris.)
FOOD
Bowls of plump green olives and crunchy bitings are provided, though I’m ashamed to say that, after all these years, I still haven’t got around to tasting them. If you’re hungry, there’s an excellent restaurant downstairs, GBR, which has just reopened after an elegant makeover. It also has its own charming bar, staffed by members of Alessandro’s team, so there’s no need to worry about your hands starting to shake when you reach for your cutlery.
VERDICT
Among the best of the best bars in London, anywhere, ever. Steve King
Address: Dukes Hotel, St James’s Place, London SW1A 1NY
Website: dukeshotel.com
Addie Chinn42. Nine Lives, Bermondsey
Zero-waste cocktails with a killer soundtrack
East London has pioneered the sustainable drinking movement in the city, with bars like Scout and Super Lyan championing local produce, repurposed ingredients and upcycled materials. Now, London Bridge is having a go with the opening of Nine Lives. Here, disused speakers have been repurposed as planting boxes for staff to grow their own ingredients in, and leftover citrus scraps from cocktail-making (not usually suitable for composting) are PH-balanced to help them grow. Aside from mindful mixology, you'll find a fantastic atmosphere, groovy music and the friendliest staff. The sound system is impressive - and perfect on Saturday nights when the bar hosts guest DJs. Note, there are plenty of nooks and corners to chill out in if you're not looking for a party. Plus, there's a shuffleboard in the back which is utterly addictive.
DRINKS
Why has the combination of whisky, coconut and salted caramel been so hard to come by? The Moby Dick, which blends all three is a revelation. Multiple mixologists here have participated in Diageo's World Class cocktail competition, so it's no surprise that the drinks menu is both innovative and appetising. Must-tries include the Kuti Bird, a fruity delight which arrives in a tiki cup, and a floral prosecco-based Alright Blossom. But, really, the whole drinks menu is worth sampling. Once you've made your way through that, wash it down with a shot of the homemade mezcal - the faintest hint of passionfruit makes it almost too easy on the palate.
FOOD
You get more than a snack at Nine Lives, which is a very good thing considering how many drinks we've just suggested you try. Fresh ingredients, rich cheese and fantastic meats are used to make wood-fired pizzas. Try the 'white' (no tomato) salsiccia pizza, which comes with fresh Sicilian sausage and lush friarielli. The Verde Ortolana, topped with roast veg, mushrooms and artichokes is perfect for herbivores and omnivores alike.
VERDICT
This is one of those places where you'll become pals with the staff and never want to leave. Comfy, trendy, fun, relaxed and eco-conscious all at once. Lauren Hepburn
Address: Nine Lives, 8 Holyrood Street, Bermondsey, London SE1 2EL
Website: ninelivesbar.com
43. The Vault, Soho
A clandestine, candle-lit scene beneath the streets of Soho
Everyone knows that you get to Hogwarts via Platform 9 3/4 and Narnia is only accessible by a wardrobe full of fur coats. But back in reality, locals know you get to the one of the best secret bars in London in the capital through a heavy bookcase at number 3, Greek Street. Also known as Milroy’s, the oldest whisky bar in London, number 3 is also home to The Vault, a beloved underground Soho bar with a steep staircase and a neon-lit sign. On entry, after you adjust to the low-lit space and smell of incense, you’re ushered through to a tiny candle-lit table. In the main bar, there’s only space for around 20 people, and it’s no surprise that you can detect date nights on at least half the tables (there’s also another room at the back, which feels like being on the inside of a whisky barrel). The brick walls are decorated with local art by ‘our friend Luke’ and by contemporary urban artist Anna Laurini, whose street art is prolific in London; you might recognise variations of her bold abstracts from around town (a red-lipped lady called 'the face' is her signature). There’s background jazz music but it’s unobtrusive and doesn’t drown out a lively hum of chatter or an easy banter between staff. You leave wanting to be friends with all of them; they’re kind, easygoing and on-the-ball.
DRINKS
Directing the team is head bartender Chris Tanner, previously of Soho linchpins Experimental Cocktail Club and Milk & Honey, as well as Satan’s Whiskies in Bethnal Green. He likes to keep things simple; drinks are unconventional but not overcomplicated, and he uses seasonal ingredients (and his own home-made bitters) where he can. The concise menu offers nine cocktails, and the least pretentious wine list I’ve ever seen – just choose between ‘red’ or ‘white’. Perhaps it’s intentional, to put people off; the cocktails are the real deal here, and it would be foolish to miss out on the foamy, fragrant Pandan Sour made with pisco and peat or a clean, coconut and fig leaf Martini for a nameless glass of wine. The French 94 is a bittersweet Campari cocktail made with pineapple and white vermouth which tastes like the first bite of a blood orange, and the Yuzu Gimlet is a devastatingly elegant, deadly alcoholic drink served with a single ice cube in a beautiful Nick and Nora glass (a delicate 1940s style named after the inebriated fictional characters in Dashiell Hammett’s novel A Thin Man). The Brandy Highball is a crowd-pleaser, but it’s the Kingston Cocktail that is set to be a favourite as the capital gets colder, made with Jamaican rum, allspice and kummel; it’s warming, smooth and comforting, the tropical equivalent of mulled wine in winter.
FOOD
There’s no food at The Vault – if you’re hungry, head down the road to 10 Greek Street or Michelin-starred L’Escargot (read our list of the best restaurants in Soho for more ideas).
VERDICT
Intimate not intimidating, cosy not cramped; The Vault is a warm, welcoming space you’ll want to return to again and again. Anna Prendergast
Address: The Vault (via Milroy’s), 3 Greek St, Soho, London W1D 4NX
Website: thevaultsoho.co.uk
44. Murder Inc, Fitzrovia
A quirky new speakeasy spot from the team behind some of London’s most inventive cocktails
Shoreditch’s The Cocktail Trading Co – which finally landed a permanent Brick Lane home in 2016 after a wildly successful pop-up on Carnaby Street – made its name for its witty, over-the-top creative tipples. Drinks – served in giant seashells, a hot air balloon, or even a Chinese takeaway carton – came with golf balls as ice cubes, a set of dentures as a garnish or a portion of chips as a bizarre topping. Founders Andy Mil, Olly Brading and Elliot Ball quickly racked up a string of awards for their no-limits ingenuity, and now the boys have opened a second venture – a gritty, gangster-themed drinking den in a dark and moody basement on a Fitzrovia backstreet. And although the place takes its cocktails seriously, the earnestness stops there. Donald Trump greets guests at the door (in the form of a life-size, grinning photograph, with ‘Old Douche Lane’ emblazoned across his chest…); inside, walls are lined with tongue-in-cheek, black-and-white photographs of hustlers and bad boys. Some of the decor is downright random (look out for the signed picture of Charlie Sheen in the loos), but the exposed brickwork and red neon lights give the place a sultry New York speakeasy feel. There’s live music some nights of the week too – but it’s a tiny space, so get here early if you want a seat.
DRINKS
There’s less smoke and mirrors here than at Murder Inc’s sister bar in Shoreditch, but that’s not to say drinks aren’t still served with a smack of theatricality. Expect all kinds of curious syrups, sherbets and garnishes (including walnut masala, tarte tatin sherbet and tonka bean egg yolk) – but start with the signature cocktail, Death in the Afternoon. It’s served on tap, a Listerine-blue, souped-up (and infinitely more delicious) version of Hemingway’s original, sweetened with a dash of ginger and agave syrup. Twists on the classics are the main theme – like the Long Irn Iced Tea, a hot mess of a drink topped up with Scotland’s favourite fizz, and the punny Hench 75, made with Plymouth Navy gin, a silky-smooth calvados, bergamot and sparkling wine. If you’ve come straight from supper, the Banana Ramos’s artery-clogging blend of coconut cream, banana milk and Jägermeister makes a perfect pudding – or keep the night going with a jug of frozen margarita. Absinthe makes a lot of appearances too. Best of all, prices are incredibly affordable – most cocktails hover around the £9 mark, and there’s a daily happy hour too.
FOOD
There isn’t any – but Fitzrovia’s a foodie hotspot so there’s no shortage of dining options nearby. Hakkasan is literally next door; there’s Ottolenghi’s vegetable- and fermentation-led Rovi just up the road and around the corner the larger than life, shiny brand new Circolo Popolare.
VERDICT
Unpretentious, affordable and fun without feeling gimmicky – this is the perfect place to go to fill the pre- or post-dinner lag.
Address: Murder Inc, 36 Hanway Street, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1UP
Website: murderinclondon.com
45. The Bar at The Dorchester, Mayfair
An unpretentious hideaway in one of London's most iconic hotels
Some years ago, I became intrigued by a story told by Pliny the Elder concerning a wager Cleopatra made with Mark Antony that she could blow 10-million sesterces on one dinner. Apparently 10-million sesterces is worth about £400,000 in today’s money. She won the bet when she removed one of the pearl earrings she was wearing and dropped it into a goblet of wine (or vinegar). Pearls, in those days, were valued more highly than any other type of jewellery. The pearl dissolved; Cleopatra necked the contents; an astonished Antony conceded defeat.
I wondered whether this sort of stunt was really possible and started doing a bit of research. To cut a long story short: it is. Coleman Douglas Pearls, a specialist jeweller, supplied a pearl which they crushed into powder at my request. Giuliano Morandin, manager of The Bar at The Dorchester, supplied a cocktail into which I stirred the powder.
The result was a waste of a pearl and a Gimlet. But that little experiment provided a powerful reminder not only of the way in which anecdotes like Pliny’s are an essential part of what makes jewels magical, but also of the way in which guys like Giuliano are an essential part of what makes the best cocktail bars magical. The unflappable brio, the inexhaustible curiosity, the willingness to go the extra mile to create a memorable drink.
DRINKS
With its oddly timeless, curvy design – it could have been built yesterday or in 1968 – The Bar at The Dorchester is one of the most welcoming and least pompous of London’s great hotel watering holes. The attitude towards cocktails is much the same. Giuliano is not interested in showing off. He likes to chat and wants you to have a good time. If your idea of having a good time is to rediscover classic cocktails as prepared by a sorcerer, well, so much the better. That can be arranged. Nobody makes a better Martinez – one of the greatest-ever cocktails (Old Tom gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and Boker’s Bitters), long out of fashion and neglected in favour of the Martini and the Manhattan that derived from it – than Giuliano. It is also typical of the sorcerer that he gives so much credit to his apprentices. There is an entire section of the menu dedicated to tipples invented by members of his team. Molto simpatico.
FOOD
You could, if you prefer, view this not as one of the best bars in town that also happens to serve excellent Italian food, but as one of the best Italian restaurants in town that also happens to serve excellent drinks. The frutti di mare in particular is superb: lobster salad with avocado; grilled king prawns with fennel and radicchio salad.
VERDICT
A ray of Mediterranean sunshine on Park Lane, at any time of the day or night. Steve King
Address: The Bar at The Dorchester, 53 Park Lane, London W1K 1QA
Website: dorchestercollection.com
46. Beaufort Bar at The Savoy, Covent Garden
A spectacular showstopping cocktail bar on the Strand
The Savoy's vintage American Bar is the one you draw up a stool at, order a classic Martini and try to out-do the white-jacketed bartender with cocktail anecdotes (he'll win). It's also the one that gets the queues. The Beaufort, tucked away down the stairs and round the corner is more elusive, more rakish and far more tantalising - a gold-and-black Deco salon with a real sense of drama. It's a place for snappy one-liners, lacquered talons and raised, severely pencilled eyebrows. If Gypsy Rose Lee had flounced off the stage of Sondheim's legendary Gypsy at the Savoy Theatre, it's here she would have headed to order a Showgirl cocktail, doubtless followed by the current troupe of Dreamgirls. Unlike the American Bar (born 1904), it opened only in 2010, in the space formerly occupied by a cabaret stage known to George Gershwin and generations of vaudeville hoofers. The tradition endures, with regular performances and monthly burlesque nights.
DRINKS
It's one of the best bars in London so these may take a while to choose. The menu is one of the most beautiful you'll hold in your hands – following on from the previous pop-up list, this is an artful, Art Nouveau-style, Hans Christian Anderson of a tunnel book whose cut-outs stitch together stories and famous guests from the Savoy's long history, from Fred Astaire dancing on the roof and wartime parties to Duran Duran and Bon Jovi. It's a shameless namedropper. Many of the impeccably well-made drinks, all in vintage glasses, loosely reference alumni such as Marlene Dietrich, Amy Johnson and Katharine Hepburn.There's enough experimentation to hold the interest without toppling into novelty – chocolate fragrance, a taste of 'leather', even London 'fog' too; there's a shrub or two, and whey milk, and some drinks are garnished like a flowergirl's bonnet. Order The Old Magic, for its puddingy mix of Grey Goose, Guinness, chocolate, orange and vanilla, topped with Champagne. And the wonderfully savoury Incognito, which matches Patron Anejo tequila with popcorn, Averna, Martini Rubino and walnut. With one or two drinks coming in at £50, it's not a cheap date, but then the Beaufort is not a bar you should flirt with on a nightly basis. It's also the place to cherish a glass of Egly-Ouriet Champagne, at a mere £38.
FOOD
As you're here for a special occasion, you may as well order the foie gras lollipops, if sensitivities allow, or else the beetroot macaroons laced with creamy goat's cheese.
VERDICT
This is a tour-de-force bar that should be on anyone's top 10 list, a place for modern-day Oscar Wildes to sprawl on a chaise longue and spend more of someone else's money than they might actually have intended. Along with the Connaught Bar and the Langham's Artesian, this is one of London's best hotel bars. Rick Jordan
Address: Beaufort Bar, Savoy, 99 Strand, London WC2R 0EU
Website: fairmont.com
47. Silverleaf, Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street isn’t perhaps the obvious location for a ‘sultry, sophisticated drinking spot’. But this is where you’ll find Silverleaf, the Pan Pacific London hotel’s cocktail bar from the team behind Soho stalwart Milroy’s and Shoreditch favourite Callooh Callay. Tucked between towering glass buildings, a whitewashed brick wall with a simple scripted sign sits beside a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it doorway. Inside, a lift whisks you away from the bustle of Bishopsgate to a slick Tom Dixon-designed bar on the top floor of Devonshire House.
The emphasis here is on sensory experiences, which begin with an impressively creative cocktail list. The menu sets out core flavour profiles (each drink has four) that have been translated into symbols which appear throughout to help guide your selection. But if that seems like hard work, each drink has also been reimagined as an abstract illustration, the idea being that you can choose your drink by opting for the image that speaks to you – a method that becomes even more appealing the more drinks you try.
DRINKS
Despite the complexity of the menu, the drinks themselves are modern, minimal and totally fuss-free, with huge ice cube squares acting as an extension of Dixon’s angled, sleek design. The only hint of colour comes from the delicate edible garnishes – even the glasses are barely visible in the dimly-lit surrounds. The Pineapple / Miso and the Toasted Cream / Peach, the bar’s big hitters: the former, a Tiki bar-esque concoction disguised as serious tipple; the latter, a welcome upgrade on an old fashioned – smoky, funky with a lingering tang from the pineapple. The highlight? The Heartleaf / Kombu, an absolute must for dry vodka martini fans that can only be described as a garden in a glass with a clean, earthy, botanical quality.
VERDICT
Open till 2am, this is a stylish spot well worth missing the last train for. Sarah Allard
Address: Pan Pacific London, 80 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7AB
Website: panpacific.com
FELIX SPELLER48. Soma, Soho
Soho has always done speakeasy bars exceptionally well. The winding network of narrow streets seems built for people to dip into basement drinking dens or behind unmarked doors. In the past few years, it’s all but lost its nefarious nature and is now better known for smart restaurants than sex shops and all-nighters. Indian-spiced Soma, from the team behind Kricket, next door, somehow manages to tap into both the area’s seedy past and its smart-as-a-button present. An unmarked, unremarkable door set next to the Soho outpost of Will Bowlby’s British-Indian spot leads down to a narrow, dimly-lit room dominated by a 30-foot steel bar, with sexy alcoves carved into the walls.
DRINKS
A Mumbai-meets-London drinks list using ingredients made in-house includes helpful similarities between the drinks (given one-word names that highlight the predominant tasting notes) and cocktails we all recognise – Oak is compared to a Negroni, but made with cardamom, while the Margarita-like Chaat uses the Indian spice blend Chaat Masala and kumquat as well as more traditional mezcal. Our stand-out was the Almond – compared to a Highball, it uses almond soda and plum umeshu for an autumnal flavour that my plus-one boldly stated was the best cocktail she’d ever had (it was her first drink of the night, so this was in no way an alcohol-fuelled superlative).
FOOD
Bar snacks take a low-waste approach, using leftovers from Kricket to create puffed-rice crackers. If you anticipate being really hungry, we recommend nabbing a table at Kricket first for Keralan fried chicken and goose vindaloo before moving across to Soma. Sarah James
VERDICT
This is a sexy find that feels like an insider’s secret. Sarah James
Address: Soma, 14 Denman Street, London W1D 7HJ
Website: somasoho.com
Caitlin Isola49. Seed Library, One Hundred Shoreditch
In the basement of the city’s most exciting new hotel opening, One Hundred Shoreditch, sits a secret drinking den. Seed Library is the latest venture from cocktail connoisseur Ryan Chetiyawardana (AKA Mr Lyan), marking a return to his East London roots – Hoxton is where he opened his first bar, White Lyan, in 2013. A pioneer in low-waste mixology, Mr Lyan has single-handedly sparked a sustainability revolution in London’s cocktail scene, opening restaurant Cub and then Lyaness (formerly Dandelyan) at the Sea Containers in London, before launching Super Lyan in Amsterdam and Silver Lyan in Washington DC.
Aesthetically, the bar sits somewhere between an underground speakeasy and laidback living room. From the hotel lobby, follow the splodges of orange paint directing you down the staircase to find a seductive, dimly lit space, where chairs and sofas are covered in shades of ruby and wine and the bar has an amber glow. Poured concrete floors are offset by walls covered in tapestries (an easily identified artistic touch from the hotel’s creative director, Jacu Strauss, who placed tapestries in all the rooms and corridors in the upstairs hotel). On Fridays and Saturdays there is a changing roster of local DJs, playing in front of a wall lined with vinyl, and mixologists work away behind a bar of exposed brick and back-lit shelves.
DRINKS
In classic Mr Lyan style, the drinks menu is an inventive selection of heritage ingredients and innovative twists. It rotates regularly but cocktails of note include the Galangal Penicillin – a gingery version of a margarita, it's a punchy blend of Patron, mezcal, tingly galangal honey and lemon – and the Thai basil vodka soda, a sweeter drink with an aniseed and pear taste. The Ballermaker piqued our interest – a bottle of Krug, six lemon drops and tattie smiles – but the eye-watering price (£300) reigned in any lingering curiosity. In true Shoreditch style, there’s a low-intervention wine list and canned beer selection, and a short but sophisticated food menu featuring smoked beef rib croquettes and whipped cod’s roe with fennel seed waffles.
VERDICT
Mr Lyan’s done it again, returning bigger and better than ever. Seed Library is a lo-fi bar with outstanding cocktails, inventive snacks and plenty of personality. Olivia Morelli
Address: Seed Library, One Hundred Shoreditch Hotel, 100 Shoreditch High Street, Shoreditch, London E1 6JQ
Website: onehundredshoreditch.com
Daniel Ogulewicz50. Alma, Soho
Not many people know that the most sought-after myrrh (of gold, frankincense and myrrh fame) comes from Yemen. Or that Ethiopian Korekima spice is similar to cardamom but with a slightly peppery twist. Tony Pescatori – the former manager at Shoreditch speakeasy Nightjar – is setting out to change this at Alma, a new Soho bar where such forgotten flavours and exotic ingredients are centre stage. From the same team behind Argentinian restaurant Sucre, and located just downstairs on Great Marlborough Street, Alma follows a similar worldly flair with a drinks menu that takes you around the world and sharing plates prepared by the open-fire cooking restaurant. The vibe is relaxed by way of seventies cool, with bronze mirrored walls, exposed brick and dim lighting. Settle into a section of the curved tobacco velvet booth and linger till late – evenings begin with a playlist of Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac and end with a live band serenading the Fugees’ ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’.
DRINKS
To get a taste of Tony’s vision, the menu is split into four sections – creation, ancestry, ancient arts and metropolitan. The rest, however, unless you’re an ingredients geek, reads like another language, with berries you’ve never heard of and liqueurs that are hard to pronounce. Such is the adventure though, and the friendly staff are more than willing to sit down and guide you through it. As a nod to upstairs, start with the Fernandito, an Italian amaro and coke that’s an intriguing mix of smoky, coffee and citrus, and beloved in Argentina – go figure. Then it's a choose your own adventure of where you want to go – there’s the Pina Colada style Maori, or the Cosmopolitan style Shibari, with Aronia berry jam (a tart berry often known as chokeberries) and Bachu leaf liqueur (a medicine leaf from South Africa) poured at the table out of a porcelain torso and garnished with an edible flower. Great thought and care has been applied to how the cocktails are served – the bartender explained that our Carioca was served in a glass that the team had custom painted and sealed that day. My favourite was the Mama Quillan, a concoction of mezcal, ancho verde chilli, nixta corn liqueur, singani, and cassava and mango cauim wine. It comes to the table in a copper half-moon and goes down dangerously smooth.
FOOD
The bar menu is an offshoot of Sucre upstairs, so tucking in for supper here is an appealing option. For small plates, they are a decent size, particularly the slice of tortilla de papas, and the zingy-fresh stone bass tostadas, which come plated as four but are so good you’ll want two helpings. For just a nibble, go for the stuffed Gordal olives, served in a pool of aji verde, a zesty green Pervian sauce.
VERDICT
A soon to be Soho favourite, where the menu feels like an adventure, and serious drinks are served in a completely unpretentious space. Lauren Burvill
Address: 47b Great Marlborough Street, W1F 7JP
Website: almabysucre.com