January Round-Up:
Unlike the rest of the world, we didn’t even pretend to detox this month. Hey, life’s too short not to enjoy, right? So having given ourselves permission not to feel guilty about indulging our passion for cocktails, we made a concession to stay in and mix anything we wanted at home…
Cue much extracting juice of lemons and limes and a steady emptying of bottles. It must be said that rum came up trumps. Daiquiris in particular. That’s not to say that other drinks and spirits didn’t get a look in. Mr G made time for his favourite winter tipple, the Manhattan, while Ms S sought solace at the bottom of a glass filled with the magical ingredients of a White Lady.
We almost made it to the end of the month without going further than The Cocktail Lovers well-stocked bar but we were invited to check out the action at recently launched Circus. The cocktails were pretty good: Dick Bradsell had been installed to train the bar staff, while Henry Besant of The World Wide Cocktail Club had devised the list. Food-wise, it was so-so, not bad but just not good enough to get us back. That said, most of the people who would come here would be doing so for the experience of seeing live acts performing on the central table rather than the prospect of enjoying fine dining.
And as we’d already ventured out once, we decided we may as well continue… Our next stop was a lowkey ‘just because it’s a Saturday afternoon’ cocktail sesh at Eagle Bar Diner, followed by drinks and dinner at East Room. Suddenly everything made much more sense. Roll on February…
Circus, 27-29 Endell Street, WC2H 9BA. T: 020-7420 9300. www.circus-london.co.uk
Eagle Bar Diner, 3-5 Rathbone Place, W1T 1HJ. T: 020-7637 1418. www.eaglebardiner.com
ON OUR RADAR:
MARK’S BAR: Nick Strangeways collaboration with Mark Hix, it’s a match made in taste heaven. Review coming soon… VALENTINE’S DAY: cocktails to make at home and the most romantic bars to drink in. Any ideas? Let us know.
Words to the wise (or just plain curious)
“You can produce something in the same range as the Old-Fashioned with less trouble by knocking out a Manhattan, once one of the great standards, now rarely seen and overdue for a revival. Mix a dash or two of Angostura bitters, 2 or 3 oz of bourbon and an ounce or so of Italian vermouth, the sweet red kind. Add ice cubes and maraschino cherry.”
Kingsley Amis – Everyday Drinking
