London Cocktail Bar Reviews Continued

Portobello Star

Review

A cocktail ‘tavern’ that serves up well made classic cocktails, with some interesting twists. The menu is beautifully crafted and well thought out. Best to steer clear on market day though – it’s always packed!

Average cocktail price: £7-8

Sitting under a star on Portobello Road in Notting Hill (look for the sign), this bar sits right at the heart of the action on market day. The first time I attempted to go was a weekend, and a market day – so it was absolutely packed! After trying to squeeze past bodies, I soon decided that it was probably best to try back another day during the week so I could get a better feel for the place.

When I returned, it was much quieter – thank goodness! It looked quite different to how I had remembered it after seeing it busy, mainly because I could see the walls! Most importantly, I managed to get to the bar, and locate a cocktail menu within 30 seconds.

The exterior doesn’t suggest cocktail bar, resembling more of an up-market pub. I can see why it’s been described as a cocktail tavern in other reviews, as it still has the inherent character that comes with pubs which is nice. Inside it’s a fairly small corridor type space which can be difficult to get right without it looking like a thoroughfare to the bar, but they do a good job with what they have. The furnishings are quite dark with wooden tables and black leather seats, however the huge orange and white painting on the end wall, and some nice atmospheric lighting makes sure it doesn’t feel gloomy. Towards the back of the bar there is an area perfect for larger groups, and stools at the bar, where you can check out the huge range of spirits on offer.

It’s worth going to the Star just to see their cocktail menus, especially if you’re a cocktail geek like me! They’re based on Jerry Thomas’ Bartenders Guide, one of the first published cocktail books. This means that not only do they look great, but they are very well thought out, with fun but historic descriptions of the drinks. The team have made sure that the menus still serve their function though; by this I mean it’s still relatively easy to open it up and choose a drink quickly should you want to.

I decided on a White Negroni, which was a really interesting twist on the classic – the addition of Salers Gentiane Aperitif gives it a more herbal flavor than the original – really enjoyable. It is typical of the menu, which is generally full of classics and twists on classics – which isn’t surprising when you realise that Jake Burger is the drinks director for the owning company – the Leelex group. Jake is a fan of all classic cocktails, and started his career in my home town of Leeds where the group also own Jake’s and Oportos – reviews to come soon! Through the night we worked our way through the menu trying the La Savilla, Rock the Kasbah, Clover Club, and Earl Grey Mar-tea-ni. All were well made and tasted great, I think the Clover Club may have been one of the best I have had in a long time.

Overall I like the Portobello Star. It’s atmosphere isn’t always great, but I think that’s mostly to do with the quite awkward layout. I’d suggest sitting at the bar and chatting with the highly skilled bartenders if you can (ask them about their antique bitters collection…). The drinks are spot on, and the menu is well thought out. If I’m honest I would like to see a bit more innovation behind the drinks, as I’ve seen some of the cocktails on menus a thousand times before, but that being said I appreciate that Jake is trying to revive the classics, and the drinks were made just how they should be which isn’t always the case elsewhere. If you like well made classics, this is the place for you. If you like more quirky and unusual places I’d say you’re better off heading to Trailer Happiness just down the road.

Purl

Review

A 20s speakeasy in the heart of Marylebone, serving up theatrical and experimental cocktails. Prepare to be amazed, wowed and downright impressed by the team’s mixology efforts, whilst you sit back and relax.

Average cocktail price: £7-9

Purl is the new kid on the block over in Marylbone. Opened in May and run by Tom, Matt, Tristan and Bryan who are experts in their field, they know how to make you some really unique cocktails (or indeed anything else you fancy). It’s back to the 20s with their prohibition style bar, hidden down some stairs…

Located in a basement just around the corner from Marylebone High Street, it’s inconspicuous but fairly easy to find when you know what you’re looking for. As you enter the bar you really do feel like you’ve stepped back in time. A retro type telephone booths greets you, and to the left there is a small bar. It’s all brick and stone, with atmospheric lighting, antique globes, leather chesterfields, wooden panelling, chandeliers and fireplaces.

On his website, one of the founders Tristan describes the concept behind the bar:

“The name Purl comes from a 19th century beverage that was commonly sold on the streets of London. The drink consists of warm ale, gin and spices. It’s in keeping with our theme of late 19th century birth of cocktails along with pre-prohibition cocktail culture and the art deco period… plus Purl is a nice word (it’s also the sound that water makes when it flows over rocks). Contrary to the vintage drinking era that Purl will typify, the cocktail list will be an ever-evolving mixture of hard core classics and forward thinking sensory peculiarities. You’ll have to pop on down to find out more, but we will be incorporating foams, caviar, homemade infusions, home-aged bitters, ice carving and even liquid nitrogen.”

Purl isn’t much of a sit at the bar type place, although there are a couple of stools if you’re so inclined. We were led by a hostess through a dimly lit corridor, emerging into a long room with cut away alcoves suitable for larger groups. The place is much larger than you think when you arrive, and as we walked through to our seats we spotted loads of nooks and crannies full of chatting people. The seating areas are laid out so that you are quite secluded, indeed once you get settled you could be forgiven for thinking that you were the only people there!

The cocktail menus are old copies of Blackwoods Magazine – a British magazine printed between 1817 and 1980. A bookmark marks the two pages of spirits, wines and beers which have been pasted into the book, and the bookmark itself is their cocktail menu.

After spending ages trying to choose what we wanted to try first, we settled on two G&T turbos. A compressed gin and tonic, it consisted of Beefeater gin, shaken with home-made tonic syrup, grapefruit bitters and lime. With a great thick, creamy foam on top it was a really unusual twist on a G&T, however not quite what we were expecting from what was described on the menu…

Next was a Mr Hyde’s Fixer Upper, and a Street Urchin. This was more like it. The Fixer Upper arrived in a wine cooler full of dry ice, smoking away and cooling the drink inside to perfection, and the drink itself was in a wax sealed flask – amazing! From the theatre and the drama of the dry ice, to the ritual of having to unseal the flask and pour the contents over the single piece of ice that had been hand chipped of a huge block at the bar by the bartender – the whole experience was such fun! The wax seal had ensured that the Zacapa rum and coke reduction had been infused with the smoke they had sealed in which gave the drink a lovely smoky after-taste.

The Street Urchin was also unusual, as it was presented in a bottle wrapped in a paper bag, which you could swig the drink from – very prohibition stylee! Consisting of Four Roses bourbon, pear purée, citrus and cardamom bitters, the contents of the ‘paper bag’ were delicious – one of the nicest bourbon cocktails I had had in a while.

Then it was onto the Champagne & Caviar, and the Hemmingway Daiquiri. Both were great, especially the Daiquiri where the rum was really nicely balanced against the grapefruit juice. The cavier in the champagne cocktail was made of mango and pine liqueurs, and whilst being delicious, they were jelly all the way through. This was in contrast to drink cavier I have tried before which has had a wonderful burst in your mouth quality, which would have been much more interesting in this case. In some ways this rings true of the cocktail list as a whole. Whilst there are some stand out drinks, there are many that feel like they need a bit of a tweak. Since they’ve opened they have already changed the menu though, and have added some new drinks. This is often the way with new openings, as they find their feet and decide what works and what doesn’t. It’s an interesting process to watch and I’m sure the problems will resolve themselves with time, and they’ll be left with a whole portfolio of fab drinks to choose from.

Purl also have a good selection of beers and wines, which are all reasonably priced. Apparently they have quite a funky gadget that shoots electronic waves through your Guiness (from the can) that makes it taste like it’s on draught – FUN!

Purl is a truly impressive bar. It’s obvious that there has been a lot of thought put into it, by many experienced professionals and it shows. The atmosphere is laid back and relaxed, with jazz music in the background, and a warren-type network of nooks and crannies to explore. The service was a little stand-offish, and it would have been nice to have been engaged more by the hostess, but she did make sure that we didn’t wait too long in-between drinks.

Purl is one of the most interesting and original bars I’ve visited in a while. It’s just my type of bar, with quality cocktails, dim lighting, great background music which isn’t too loud, and really a relaxed atmosphere – you feel comfortable the moment you step in. It’s a little like a members bar, but without the stuffy pretentiousness of one (and minus the huge membership fees!). The cocktails are great, with a sciency mixology feel which I LOVE. The prices are amazingly reasonable for what you get, which includes a side of theatricality, making a visit more of an experience than anything. The opening hours are from 5pm-late, although I’ve heard mumblings that it often closes quite early at around 11.30, which is a shame as it would make a perfect late night drinking den!

Shochu Lounge

Review

Interesting Shochu cocktails sit alongside classics on the menu. Skilled bartenders serve well made drinks with a touch of theatrics, but the bar is ridiculously dark.

Average cocktail price: £8-10

We visited Shochu as part of a bar crawl down Charlotte Street. Unfortunately all of the bars were really busy as we walked past them, but luckily for us there was plenty of room at Shoshu further down the road. This may have something to do with the fact that yet again, it’s a bar in a basement! The bar sits under the Roka restaurant and acts a holding area for those waiting to eat.

As you walk down the stairs things start to become very dark, and although this accentuates the atmospheric lighting, it also makes it difficult to see, never mind read the menu. There are a number of tables, however we were told that these were reserved for those dining in the bar. We felt this was a little unfair as they’ve got an entire restaurant upstairs for diners, however there was a standing area and a few stools at the bar for us mere drinkers. We therefore initially stood at one side of the bar, and waited until a couple of bar stools became available.

The menu at Shochu is fairly comprehensive with a number of different types of Shochu on offer, along with cocktails based around the spirit. For those who don’t know, Shochu is a distilled spirit native to Japan and is most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potatoes, or rice. It’s similar to vodka, in that it can be mixed with pretty much anything, but is usually weaker at about 25-30% vol (but this very much depends on the type). For the more flush among us, the Shochu Lounge offers large jars of the stuff that you can buy for around £400. Each jar is then labelled with your name and sits on shelves at one end of the bar combining practicality with a bit of a design feature! However not to fear if you’re not looking to sell your Gran to buy a jar, they cater for individual drinkers too!

Apparently Shochu is the holy grail of spirits, as when it’s drunk neat it gives no hangover, however it was the cocktails we were after, so I can’t vouch for whether that’s true! The long list of cocktails based on Shochu means there should be something for everyone, and there’s also a classics section for the less adventurous. My friend was pretty disappointed by the beer selection, which featured the usual asian style suspects which is surprising as they really push the authentic feel of the place in other respects. He therefore decided to join me in sampling some of the Shochu.

Overall the Shochu Lounge manages to be a themed bar without being cheesy, and the place is beautifully designed. I was entertained by the theatrics of the bartenders carving their ice from a huge block in the middle of the bar, however they were pretty slow off the mark at serving us. When our drinks arrived I enjoyed tasting Shochu for the first time, but the cocktails weren’t anything special, and the fact we were quarantined into the drinkers corner doesn’t strike me as the best way to treat your customers when you’re paying £8.50 a pop for a drink.

Trailer Happiness

Review

Very tiki, very kitsch, serving up great cocktails. Busy on a weekend, check beforehand, but good service and a fab atmosphere await you at Trailer Happiness!

Average cocktail price: £6-8

Trailer Happiness is a basement bar in Notting Hill. Located on the corner of Portobello Road and Elgin Crescent it’s a little difficult to find, but it’s down the stairs behind the big glass window you can see from Elgin Crescent. It can get really busy here, especially at a weekend when I’ve been told that entry is pretty much only by guest list, but on a week day it’s fairly quiet.

With a cocktail menu courtesy of Dale DeGroff and the kitsch-iest of kitsch décor, this is one tiki bar that I was excited to visit. After moving further into the bar to get away from the draught from the door (we think the heating was broken), we settled into a corner to have a look at the cocktails on offer. The booth we were sat in was huge and is actually called the den and is available for hire. It’s very much dark wood walls, squishy leather seats, a complete mismatch of furniture and retro paintings all around at Trailer Happiness.

The menu is what you’d expect from a tiki bar, with a whole section dedicated to rum, cachaca and tequila based drinks. They have also included a house favourites and Homages section, which include cocktails based on other spirits. However drinking a Breakfast Martini or Bramble in a tiki bar just doesn’t feel right to me!

Our orders were taken at the table which was nice, especially as we were being a little indecisive – this meant the bartender could lend a hand with what to choose. I may have been onto my fourth cocktail of the night when the Colada Nueva arrived, but I can honestly say that it’s one of the best tiki cocktails I’ve had in a long time. I’m not too much of a fan of its classic brother (or should that be sister) drink the Pina Colada as they can very easily become over sweet and creamy. But I chose the Cola Nueva as it came with the bartenders’ recommendation which I never refuse! Slightly creamy but charged with rum and exotic fruity flavors, it was lovely and just what I want from a tiki drink! If all Pina Coladas were like this I’ve be a happy bunny (or should that be monkey!?).

Our other drinks were great too, although not quite as special as the Colada. I think a little bit of what made the drinks so great in general though was the atmosphere and décor. I’m not sure this would be the same if it was really busy, but as there was plenty of room, and a quiet hum to the place we really enjoyed hanging out here – indeed the only reason we left was because we were getting pretty hungry! As we sat back to enjoy our drinks a couple in the corner ordered a cocktail to share, which arrived in what looked like a volcano or sombrero! The bartender then proceeded to light, and dust the whole thing with spices which was a great piece of theatre – because it was so dark we could see the crackle of the spices as they hit the flames.

The only problem we had was with my male friend who got a bit confused with the toilets, as you have to walk through the ladies to get to the gents around the corner. It’s also not the best of bars to go to when the sun’s out as it’s underground! But other than this, I’ve not got a bad word to say about the place.

All in all Trailer Happiness is great. It’s tiki, it’s kitsch and the cocktails are yummy. At £6-8 the cocktails are fantastic value for money considering their quality. I would give a word of warning if you want to go on a weekend though, when I would definitely recommend ringing in advance to check how busy it is. They also run a rum club which I’ve just joined – I’ll let you all know how it goes!