Monthly Archives: February 2012

Kiera Knightly, Snow White and Getting Lashed

. Drinking . , , , , , , , , ,

A friend was recently elevated to becoming the chief bean counter at a lash factory.  Mindful of everyone’s favourite Michael Fassbender/Keira Knightly fantasy I was looking forward to a discount on a cat o’ nine tails until it was pointed out that the lashes in question were stuck onto the eyelids of ladies from Essex.  Apparently there are ladies in Essex although I have yet to meet one.  Nevertheless, this was an occasion for celebration and multiple drinks.   Like sparrows (one for sorrow, two for joy) a singular drink is a sorrowful thing so I always have mine in multiples of two.  We lined our stomaches with a large repast at the Dean Street Townhouse in Soho – an outpost of the Soho House empire with fine cocktails and a predictable but consistent menu.

For the main event we moved round the corner to Golden Square – one of the oldest squares in London, dating from the 17th century.  City squares first became fashionable in 17th century Paris.  In its day however, Golden Square in Soho was distinctly unfashionable.  Referred to as Lord Craven’s Pest Field it consisted originally of hospices for the poor funded by the said Lord Craven and was also a dumping ground for the dead during the Great Plague.  Later referred to as Geldings Square on account of the stables that dotted the area, its name was changed to Golden Square as aristocrats and Huguenot immigrants moved in.  Mindful that we were treading on ground hallowed by some 4000 souls who once lay buried underfoot, we searched for a drink with some urgency.

Can you resist?

Golden Square is now a trendy advertising and media district.  Absolute Radio, Sony Pictures and Saatchi Advertising are headquartered here.  The local restaurants and bars cater to a clientele who are a cross between Mad Men and angst ridden black turtlenecks.  I ate here recently at Bob Bob Ricard with Snow White.  My friend Snow White is so called because of her fantasy about the seven dwarfs but this is a family blog (I think) so we won’t speculate on the futility of her fantasy given that neither Bashful nor Sleepy are likely to engage. Bob Bob is owned by Russians with some kind of weird fascination with Texan men’s names.  It’s a bizarrely decorated place – “Liberace’s bathroom dropped into a Texas diner,” said one critic.  Its like Marmite, making it into various critics top ten lists and to others worst restaurants list. I like it.  Louche, with attractive waitresses in school girly waitress uniforms it has an outrageous call button for more champagne at every table.  It’s an easy button to push.

On this occasion we went to the Graphic Bar, also on Golden Square, which boasts of almost a hundred gins – the largest collection in the UK.  They have a generous team behind the bar who are more than happy for you to taste a flight before you decide.   The Graphic is not fancy.  It’s a hangout for media types with school house furniture, an all day food menu and wifi.  There’s a DJ stand with a couple of turntables for later.  For some I suspect it’s an alcoholic alternative to Starbucks.  A few sofas are scattered about and there are brightly painted corrugated metal walls to add interest to the decor.  3PM is early to start a gin tasting but Snow White, Long Tall Sally, Mini Me, the Total Flanker and the Lasher were present and thirsty.

We ordered a selection of gins served in classic martini cocktails.  Ferenc, our expert South African waiter made the call on the garnish depending on the gin we were having.  Our favourite was Gin Mare, a newish Mediterranean gin brewed in a small fishing village on the Costa Dorada in Spain with very prominent olive and brine top notes.  Our Gin Mare martinis were served with a few sprigs of rosemary as a garnish which added a heady perfume and brought out the Mediterranean flavours.  After a few of these, Snow White  was waxing lyrical about warm islands, olives, feta cheese, whitewashed walls – and those infernal dwarfs.  Gin Mare has a very unique flavour though, so it may not be to everyone’s liking.  Ask for a taste before you dive in.

The hip interior at the Graphic

Art at the Graphic. Drink and the image gets clearer...

We also tasted Aviation Gin from Portland, Oregon.  Aviation is the result of a unique collaboration between a distiller (House Spirits) and a creative bartender (Ryan Magarian).  It’s a Dutch style gin so its less juniper led than a classic London dry gin.  The leading note here is Coriander in a drink that is soft and citrusy.  Aviation gin is named after the classic early 20th century Aviation cocktail (gin, lime juice, maraschino liqueur and creme de violette for a sky blue colour).  I am sure that Aviation gin tastes good in an Aviation cocktail.  It is soft, light and perfectly drinkable in a dry martini.

Number 3 gin was a revelation.  A classic London Dry Gin made by Berry Brothers and Rudd at No. 3 St James’s Street this gin makes for the perfect classic dry martini.  Berry Brothers has been in the business of pushing spirits since 1698 and has a storied history.  Curiously, it also had some of the most accurate weighing scales in London, used to measure body weight by Lord Byron, William Pitt and the Agha Khan amongst others.

The taste of No. 3 gin leads with juniper, which had an extraordinary clarity of flavour, followed by coriander and cardamon which develop in the mouth as you sip.  There is pepper on the nose and after notes of cardamom linger.  This is possibly the best gin I have tasted in a dry martini.

London is full of history and Golden Square has seen a goodly slice of it.  Apart from its use as a burial site during the plague, it was at the centre of the cholera epidemic in the 18th century and featured in Charles Dicken’s Nicholas Nickleby.  It’s a mass of contradictions, but that is London.  Go to the Graphic Bar if you like Gin.  Go to Bob Bob Ricard for a bonkers champagne celebration.

Further reading

Graphic Bar Reviews
Fluid Style 
Gin Monkey

Bob Bob Ricard Reviews
London Foodie
A girl has to eat

Surf ‘n Turf, Damien Hirst and Winston Churchill’s mother

. Drinking, Eating . , , , , , , ,

Successful artists tend to be those we associate with a unique style or trend. Rich artists are those who distill their style to a few key elements and exploit it ruthlessly.   An ongoing exhibition of Damien Hirst at the Gagosian’s eleven galleries around the world underscores my point.  Entitled “25 Years of Spot Paintings” it celebrates the fact that Hirst has made millions selling paintings of coloured circles on white backgrounds. The emperor’s new clothes came to mind as I wandered through the Gagosian in Mayfair and tried to understand why anyone would spend tens of thousands to buy a painting of a spot.  There are even paintings of half a spot.  To be fair to Hirst he has a second trick.  He is really good at sawing animals in half and dipping them in formaldehyde. I imagine a factory somewhere in Shenzhen full of skilled  8 year olds churning out spot paintings and slicing animals in half…

One spot, two spot, half spot, full spot

Around the corner from the Gagosian in Mayfair is another factory with a couple of smart tricks up its sleeve. The Burger & Lobster restaurant and cocktail bar does what its name implies.  It serves burgers and lobster together with a fine selection of cocktails. There is no printed food menu. For your £20 (US $30) you have a choice of a burger or a lobster (flown in from Nova Scotia). Both dishes come with double cooked french fries and salad.  The food is good, but £20 is a lot for a burger. By comparison Daniel Boulud’s brasserie at the Mandarin Oriental which serves the best burgers in London according to my American friends, charges “only” £13.  Unlike in America however, whole lobster is considered a rare luxury in London and £20 is a fair price for a large crustacean with fries. The punters love the Burger and Lobster; it has been packed since it opened a few months ago.

I lunched there recently with friends including the Springbok Sloane. She belongs to a species who believe that leaving the bubble around Sloane Square is physically dangerous.  They occasionally drive to Mayfair in a Range Rover to eat at the Wolseley.  They are only tempted to leave the bubble by a hot new restaurant or a gallery opening.  The B&L buzz had reached Sloane Square and the Springbok Sloane was bang on trend.

The Burger and Lobster is also on trend with the annoying habit of not taking reservations. I don’t get the point of queuing for your food, but this is England where people like queues.  You must either get there early and shiver in the cold outside or jostle at the bar while covetously eyeing a table of diners lingering over their coffee.

The bar at the Burger and Lobster. The decor is simple but well executed

The atmosphere at the Burger & Lobster is casual and fun.  The decor is straightforward – stripped wood and exposed brick walls, stools and banquettes covered in red leather, the occasional marginally risqué piece of art.  The wait staff is uniformly cheerful.  Giles Looker of the Soul Shakers bar consultancy (Whisky Mist, Trailer Happiness, Virgin Airlines) has devised a cocktail list divided into B cocktails and L cocktails to go with your food.  There is a sensibly priced wine list but why drink grape when you can have cocktails matched to your food? All cocktails are priced at £9 (around US $12).  The B cocktails feature a whisky or bourbon base to go with your beef. The Bull and Bear for example had a base of Woodford Reserve bourbon with blackberries, raspberries and mure (a blackberry liquor) topped with Zinfandel.  The L cocktails are lighter with primarily a gin or vodka base.  I had a B&L gin fizz which on a base of Beefeater gin had Cointreau, lemon, egg cream (for body), rhubarb bitters and soda.  It was the perfect accompaniment to lobster – creamy but not sweet with a nice hint of bitters coming through on the palate. On paper, a lot of modern cocktails appear to have too many fussy ingredients.  Skillfully blended, as they are at the B&L they are light, complex and tasty.  I would have happily stayed to work my way through more of the cocktail list, but the throng at the bar eyeing up your table discourages tarrying.  They turn their tables quickly here.  At heart the Burger & Lobster is a premium fast food restaurant.

In need of a post prandial tipple we turned the corner into the casual elegance and warmth of the Connaught Hotel.  The hotel has two bars. I usually go to the Connaught Bar, covered in a previous blog under the Finest Hotel Bars in London. However it doesn’t open till 4pm, so we went to the Coburg Bar instead.  This is a traditional hotel bar, which stays open all day and serves light meals and drinks. At the Connaught they do this kind of bar with style and elegance.  The cocktail menu at the Coburg Bar has a chronological bent to it with eight pages of drinks ordered by their date of origin.  The list starts with a pre-1800 drink; the sour family of cocktails. You choose a spirit and they’ll add sugar, lemon juice and egg white to make your sour.  Take a look at their bacchonology menu if you have a moment to spare – it’s a fun read!

I learned that the Pimm’s Cup No 1 was the first British Cocktail, invented by James Pimm for his London oyster bar, circa 1840.  Flips, cobblers, fizz’s and daiquiris originated from the 19th century.  Margaritas, martinis, piña coladas and Bloody Mary’s hailed from the 20th century.  I chose a Manhattan figuring the rye whisky and bitters  (with a dash of vermouth) would cut through the richness of my meal.  The Manhattan was invented in the 1870s at the Manhattan Club in New York  for a banquet thrown by Jennie Churchill (mother of Winston).  I enjoyed the history lesson and I enjoyed the Coburg.  It is not a destination bar but is a warm and convivial place to relax with friends. It is not cheap, but having apparently “saved” money eating cheap lobster, we minded less…