Nightlife
Originally published on Tuesday, 20th July 2010
Top Three Bars for … Experimenting
There are certain moments in life when nothing quenches quite like a cold beer. There are those times when it’s a Martini or even a gin and tonic. But then there are those occasions in life when one really ought to live a little; to drink outside the box, as it were. Foams and infusions, essences and caviars, the drinks scene in London is in a very special place right now. Here our top three cocktail bars of the moment getting experimental on our tastebuds.
Lounge Bohemia
www.loungebohemia.com
1E Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3EJ
07720 707 000
Campari candy-floss, alcoholic toothpaste, a Bubble-Bath Martini complete with floating rubber duck and scathing sarcasm… It can only be Lounge Bohemia – where ‘quirky’ doesn’t even come close. Tucked beneath a Shoreditch kebab shop, Paul Tvaroh’s diminutive, reservation-only lounge-bar sports a delightfully easy-going approach to cocktail experimentation. But if you really want to impress (or be impressed), book in advance for the alcoholic ‘full breakfast experience’. Just try not to take offense at his sarcasm. It’s all part of the charm.
69 Colebrooke Row
www.69colebrookerow.com
69 Colebrookw Row, N1 8AA
07540 528 593
The Bar With No Name, 69 Colebrooke Row, Tony’s Bar… call it what you will, with its team of labcoat-clad bartenders this Islington hideaway seamlessly combines old-school charm (‘30s jazz, faultless service, the odd bowtie) with a full lab upstairs. Take the apple garnish that’s magically infused with the scent of hay, the Martini stirred with ‘dry essence’ or the tequila-based Gonzales with ‘honey water tuberose hydrosol’. It might lack some of the more showy molecular bells and whistles, but trust us, there’s some fascinatingly weird science going on behind the scenes…
Purl Bar
www.purl-london.com
50-54 Blandford Street, W1U 7HX
020 7935 0835
Marylebone might not be the most obvious spot for a glass of theatrical bleeding edge, but then that’s part of Purl’s charm. A gorgeous, relaxed interpretation of the New York-style speakeasy with sprawling underground caverns and cosy micro-lounges, menus are delivered inside old paperbacks with cocktail bookmarks offering the likes of a ‘compressed’ gin and tonic, a cassis-tinged espresso martini with ‘affogato foam’, and the alchemical Mr Hyde’s Fixer-Upper in which a theatrical swirl of dry ice reveals a potion bottle filled with a sweetened 23 year old rum.