Week twenty

Progressive and innovative food design has been at the forefront of modern trends for quite some time with common words like sous-vide, molecular cooking and Heston who?  However, experimental drinking is a little less familiar.  I'm a big cocktail fan and love seeing weird concoctions on menus, but I often wonder if the mix of ingredients really is complimentary or if their inventors are just out to impress with the novelty.  Mixology is a big business these days and there is fierce competition all over the world to find the best barmen and creators of unique, but delicious cocktails.

Over the last couple of years, there have been some great bar openings in London that are dedicated to gastronomic cocktails, but the one that I had heard the most about was The London Experimental Cocktail Club, the French owners of whom have similar bars in Paris.

Finding the bar is suitably cool since you can't really find it - it has no number , no name and is unexpectedly in the smelly midst of Chinatown.  However, a nonchalant bouncer outside the door kind of gives it away.

Its arranged over 2 floors in a townhouse, but it is very small.  There is enough seating on each floor only for about 25 and everyone else is left to mingle at the bar.  It is, however rather lovely.  If you're lucky enough to be seated it is a really rather intimate and stylish drinking den.  The decor is simple and unpretentious with a mixture of dark woods, exposed brickwork and warm fabrics.  There is just a hint of grandeur with some Oriental wallpaper and a mirrored ceiling.

The cocktail menu is certainly different, if not a little foreign. I didn't know half of the ingredients with things like Linie aquavit, aperol and Batavia Arrack, but then again, I am no alcohol connoisseur.  There definitely comes a lot of effort with each drink's ingredients although I'm not sure that every single one tastes that way.  My friend Cath started with a "Renaissance 2", a tequila based drink mixed with rhubarb syrup, aperol, lemon and salmon champagne.  It looked liked a large glass of tizer with a stick of rhubarb in it and unfortunately, to both of us, it pretty much tasted like alcoholic tizer.......with a stick of rhubarb in it.

I had a rum based drink that came with a mix of spices, tea, lime, coconut and pineapple.  The problem with this one, for me, was that I was expecting it to taste a lot fruitier than it actually did - the alcohol content was quite high and consequently the spices and fruit felt a little muted.  But, then again, I feel like that's just my picky palate.  I think that most people would have thought it to be a very good cocktail.
Nevertheless, the next two that we tried were excellent.  Cath ordered a vodka based drink infused with roibos tea, peach-mint syrup and fresh lemon that was clean but deep with flavours and very pretty.

My choice was the absolute winner by far, a "St Germain des Prés" - Hendricks gin, elderflower cordial, thai chili, egg white and cucumber.  It was completely unexpected - a cool and fresh cucumber taste with a hot and spicy aftertaste.  Just delicious.

Other than the alcoholic orange fizz the drinks went down very well and at £10 are not over the top at all.  I really liked the bar and as its so small the atmosphere does feel very warm and inviting.  Although, be warned the clientele is perhaps a little cliched, with a few too many rich foreigners and PR girls.   Saying that, I would absolutely go back, no hesitation for a cosy night of smart and sexy drinking. Just make sure you book ahead.  Make your reservation here.  

Next week, courtesy of Diesel I'm going to a Camera-less pinhole photography workshop.  Its for my successful living.......