London's best cocktail bars: Purl

And so the intrepid blogger continues to booze her way through the Capital! And may have to soon quit her day job to stay home all day sucking on ibuprofen like they're tic tacs while watching reruns of House with a drip feeding diet coke into her coronary artery.



But I digress. Last night I made my way to Marylebone, in the heart of twin-set land, to go check out Purl, another top rated cocktail bar from the list. It's a basement, so right off the bat kudos for cosy (i have to stop saying kudos, btw). This is by far the suavest of the places I've visited, with tables set in individual little coves, though I realize that the ambience that I've been missing in all these visits is really just cigarette smoke. Damned smoking ban. The air is offputtingly transparent, so thankfully the lights are dim enough to create a mood. In fact, the lights are so soft, yellow and beautiful that I may cancel my next micropeel appointment and just hold court here for the remainder of the decade before I hit the knife.



But I digress. The cocktails here are more of a "molecular mixology" kind of affair, with emulsions, caviars and smoke. I had several cocktails, starting with a champagne cocktail (I always ease myself into alcoholic dementia gently, beginning with le bubbly). It's called Champagne and Caviar, and basically consists of a glass of bubbly accompanied by "mango/pine" caviar. Now if you've never had these little caviar-like balls, that are basically starchy/gelatin skins filled with a juicy liquid, you will be most impressed. But to my taste, and this is the thing with these caviars, the shell was a bit too rubbery and thick, and it just did not taste good. So I just downed the bubbly and got on with it, as you do.

I then had a Mr. Hyde's Fixer Upper, which is an interpretation of a rum and coke, consisting of rum, cola reduction and orange bitters, served in a smoke injected, wax-sealed potion bottle. Major visual impact, a stainless steel bucket arrives in a cloud of smoke. Inside lies the bottle, also filled with smoke, and the drink. Now because everything else is reduced, this is basically pure rum. But the smoke makes it taste perfectly smooth, and it goes down a velvety charm. It feels a bit like cognac.



Finally, I tried the Little Moscow, an interpretation of the Moscow Mule. Smirnoff Black, lime bitters and ginger beer. Unlike the last ginger beer drink I had at 69 Colebrooke Row, this tastes beautiful, fresh, balanced, and not at all like washing-up liquid. It also came in a pretty copper tumbler that I kind of wanted to nick.

Overall, I would give this the highest marks so far, though the bar area is very detached from the seating area, and I would enjoy a better view of the show. And the crowd, a bit on the twin-set side, but this is West London. The cocktails here are all fun, and interesting, a very contemporary take on what food/drink should be, a puzzling little journey...


Infos:
Purl
50/54 Blandford Street
Marylebone
reservations (recommended): info@purl-london
Website and all images courtesy of: http://www.purl-london.com/



PS: there is the most goooorgeous little vintage shop, called Catwalk right next door, with some serious Missoni on the window....

PPS: I have bought a nifty little camera and will be uploading proper pictures of things in the future.

London's best cocktail bars: 69 Colebrooke row

And so I tread on, searching for the ultimate cocktail joint in London. Last night I went to 69 Colebrooke Row, in Angel.

Right off the bat, this was very much more my idea of what a cocktail joint should look like. Small, dark, clubby vibe, and the pianist de rigueur, plowing through some lively jazz piece.


The space is quite tiny, black and white checkered flours, a small bar at the end, an old school look, black and red satin uniforms for the ladies. I crawl into a little place in the back, and begin exploring the menu.

Thankfully, this one doesn't read like a an overstuffed address book full of Thai hookers, like Loungelover. Concise and classy is how we like it. There are a total of twelve drinks on the menu, from a classic Dry Martini to a jazzed up Apple Bellini.



Being the dilligent blogger that I have grown to be, I sampled a total of four cocktails. On average, I found them quite nice, not overly sweet or fussy, served in the right glass, and carefully prepared. I particularly liked the Spitfire, cognac, creme de peche, white wine, lemon juice and sugar. Perfectly balanced, not sweet, not too strong, just right. The serafin, a tequila/pear/ginger beer type thing, was a bit on too much on the wrong side of washing-up liquid for my taste, though.


This place gets props for creating an environment where the focus is on the drinks, and where the barman really is the centre of attention. Upon closer inspection, it felt like something was still a bit off, the furnishings a bit cheap, the white tile floor a bit more bodega than speakeasy.But the vibe is laid back, the cocktails overall are good, and the crowd young, rowdy, and unpretentious. Definitely a go.


Info:


69 Colebrooke Row

www.69colebrookerow.com

Tel. 07540528593

No love for Loungelover

So I began my explorative forray into London cocktail joints last night, with a rather disappointing visit to Loungelover. Part of the Les Trois Garcons conglomerate, it shares that little corner with the Boundary, and Shoreditch House.



Now I guess the perfect expression to sum up the place is, as my lovely germanic friend Regina likes to say, "Möchtegern". Wannabe. It's a super hyped, overly decorated ambience, "sleek hostess" and all.

The decoration is a pimped up asian affair, an ecletic extravaganza, which doesn't really survive a closer inspection. Lots of mismatched objects, in bright colours, splattered all over the space, mish mash, haphazard. But all in all, it's a nice enough space. The crowd on tuesday was a bit more burly banker than I would have preferred, but it's very close to the city, and rather inevitable.

The menu here consists of a large selection of cocktails, and a selection of sushi dishes. I diligently tasted three cocktails, and my date had another few, so all in all we sampled about six cocktails.

The Long Island Ice Tea was lovely, on a tall glass, well mixed, not too strong. I started off with a champagne cocktail, the Loungelover, to get the ball rolling, you know. A soft, well-balanced mix of "fig liqueur, sweet vanilla and zesty lemon oil finished with Loungelover Champagne".



I then had two cocktails mixed with egg whites, which sounds perhaps a bit odd, but i love the frothy effect. They do them marvelously at Milk and Honey. First, the Noblesse Oblige, pink grapefruit juice, gin, egg white and lemon. The flavours were lovely, tart, not too acidic. But the frothy delight, nowhere to be found. A waste of a perfectly good egg white. Somewhere, a sad hen sobs the waste of her hopeful albumen. Huh, sorry, poetic license.

I then moved on to a Goose Berry, "Raspberries shaken with Snow Queen vodka, Framboise and orange liqueur with cranberry, egg white and lime juices". Once again, nice flavours, though a bit muddled, bit sweet. But our hen cried another bitter tear, no frothy fanfarre.

We also sampled "a star is born", and an impeccable daiquiri. But all in all, I found the menu a bit convoluted, and the drinks always on the sweet side. Like fancy jello shots.

Maybe my idea of a cocktail bar is outdated, more speakeasy than loungey, but I found the whole experience a bit cheesy and forced.

The quest continues!

Infos

Loungelover
No. 1 Whitby Street
London E1 6JU
www.loungelover.co.uk

London's best cocktail bars

I find myself emboldened by this whole blogging thing to go on a journey that may result in the loss of my cash, my liver, and whatever shred is left of my dignity. I m going to explore the best cocktail joints in London. There’s very many to choose from, The Connaught, The Floridita, Milk and Honey. Time Out has a top fifty. I don t think I can survive trying out 50 cocktail bars. I m likely to get hammered at each one I walk through.

Image courtesy of www.visitbritain.com

After some debate with the experts, I ve narrowed it down to about nine:

Mark’s bar at Hix
The Connaught
Floridita
The Milk and Honey
Lounge Lover
Portobello Star
Purl
69 Colebrook Rowe
Trailer Happiness

I m going to try and make it to two at a time, but I make no guarantees. I m getting my debonair couture on and heading to the Lounge Lover. Please ignore any slurred middle of the night posts.