GNH Bar - Grain Store - Megaro Bar - Speck Mobile

Tuesday 21st January - Throughout December, the ever generous Barchick gave away a ludicrous amount of prizes in their daily Advent Calendar competition.  I dutifully entered every single one and was eventually rewarded with a seafood platter for two with champagne at the GNH Bar in the refurbished Great Northern Hotel in King's Cross Station.  

A quick look at the website revealed that the GNH Bar is known for its seafood menu from Michelin starred chef Mark Sergeant (more available at Plum & Spilt Milk upstairs), and the platter came in at a whopping £75.  Thankyou Barchick.  I went along in January with Su-Lin to devour it.

At 6.30pm on a Tuesday, the GNH bar was buzzing with commuters having a drink before catching a connection elsewhere.  Dark curtains and upbeat music made it difficult to tell the time of day, which is what most want from a station bar.  If it doesn't take your fancy, there's always Booking Office Bar in St.Pancras, the surprisingly wonderful Parcel Yard Fullers pub (go upstairs!) in King's Cross, and the superb Gilbert Scott round the corner.

Our impressive seafood platter soon arrived, piled high with lobster, crab, oysters, whelk, prawns and more.  I'm not sure I would splash out the £75 myself, but it was a fantastic spread and a must for seafood lovers.

After a glass of champagne, we ordered a couple of house cocktails from their tempting menu.  My Kumquat Negroni hit the spot, but I might go back for an 1854 (Smoked pineapple syrup with cardamom, Woodford Reserve & Noilly Prat).  Prices range from £8-£12 - go along every Saturday 2-7pm for their Afternoon Jaunt party with 2-for-1 cocktails.

We decided to tick off a couple more places in the rapidly improving King's Cross area, starting with dessert and a drink at Bruno Loubet's Grain Store on Granary Square.  Drinks come from master mixologist Tony Corigliano (69 Colebrooke Row) who has collaborated with Bruno before at Zetter Townhouse.

Granary Square is a London hidden gem with Regent's Canal nearby, dancing fountains, stunning trees and plenty of space for al-fresco dining in Summer.  Grain Store has boxes of blankets at the ready if you want to brave the great outdoors.  

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

A central bar separates diners from drinkers in Grain Store - you get great views over to the busy kitchen and attractive dining room if you grab a seat at the bar on the drinks side.  Perfect for people watching and having the bartender's full attention.

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Tony has created a truly original cocktail menu to match the food including a Savoury section (e.g. Green Tomato Margarita, Pumpkin & Maple Syrup Bellini) and "Tony's Greco Roman Wines" which are all smoked or herb infused in some way and stored in funky glass containers on the bar.  Su-Lin was very happy with a glass of Rose Vinus Lupus - dried rose petals, clover honey & verjus stirred down with gewurztraminer.  My subtle but delicious Butter & Hay champagne (with toasted butter & hay liquor) also impressed.  If you just want a beer, get yourself a growler of a Camden Town Brewery beer or a bottle of Laverstock Farm Lager.

We also got ourselves a couple of desserts, resisting the urge to have a second dinner from Grain Store's mouth-watering food menu.  Apple, blackberry & elderberry crumble with fig leaves & olive oil ice cream for me, and goji berries & carrot cake with chamomile ice cream for Su-Lin - both outstanding.  I'll be back for more...

The "Campari Piano" is brought to life at Sunday Brunch

Our last stop was for a nightcap at Megaro Bar, a stunning little hotel bar tucked away beneath Karpo restaurant in King's Cross.  The bar is styled as a photography darkroom, and they rotate installations every few months.  At the moment, photographer Henry Thomas has put his stamp on proceedings. His photo collage in the Picture Room (where noir films are occasionally screened) is particularly striking.

The Picture Room at Megaro Bar

Bar manager Ben Clark and bartender Nico Piazza looked after us well, mixing up two fantastic quirky cocktails - Birch and Bruks (Mackmyra Bruks Whisky, Birch Sap Reduction) and The Lost Steps (Ocho Blanco, Cardamom Sweet Tea, Chartreuse Elixir).  See more of the house cocktail concoctions below.  We loved the presentation of the menu in clunky old photo slides, but they are expensive to replace so may not be around for long!

The house cocktails are presented in a simple but classy way to allow the mixology to take centre stage.  Nico clearly knows what he is doing and I would happily drink my way through the whole menu.  They run a brilliant blog (see here) where they discuss the cocktails in great depth - well worth a read if you want to know where they got the idea for using Birch Syrup from, or what Glory Box is named after.

Chef's plates from upstairs are also available if you need feeding, including Smoked (cods roe, compressed cucumber, fennel salad), Cured (Earl Grey salmon, vanilla, root beer jelly) and Sweet (dark chocolate cremosa, sea salt, chocolate soil).

Cured, Smoked and Sweet - Chef's Plates at Megaro Bar

So there you have it, 3 more top bars tucked away in King's Cross, to add to the likes of Gilbert Scott, VOC and Drink, Shop & Do.  Time to change your mind about the area if you haven't already!

Thursday 6th February - Whilst I'm on a King's Cross spree, I'll just quickly mention that Speck Mobile, the popular Austrian street food boys, are currently cooking up a storm at The Star of Kings pub - they won't be here for that much longer though so head over there sooner rather than later.

I popped in with Caroline, Natalie & Lauren to their opening party for some Schnitzel sliders and Stiegl beers.  They have impressively extended their normal street menu to include dishes such as Potato & Pumpkin Rosti, Goulash Soup, and Grilled Cheese Dumplings, but you really should go for the signature dish - Speck Dumplings and Nuernberger sausages with Sauerkraut.  We've eaten it many times out on the streets, and it didn't disappoint here.  The only thing missing for me is Käsespätzle - I still dream about the Heisser Hobel plate at Street Food Europe last year.  If you have any space left, there is Sachertorte (£3.50) and Apfelstrudel (£3.90) for pudding.  Mahlzeit!

Barcelona

Guest Post - La Lista - I know, I know, Barcelona isn't technically in London either, but after the success of La Liste in Paris (worth reading first for some continuity), more guest cities had to eventually make an appearance. 

Day 1: Thursday - Very early morning flights meant midday was a much more acceptable hour to start drinking, so after dropping off our stuff at the hotel, we headed straight to Park Güell. Whilst it's not a bar, it's certainly a great place to visit with bottles of cava, €1 beers and a picnic in hand. Make sure to go right to the top of the park for a panoramic view of the city.

Team List (Tim "Soon to Return to London" Henshaw, newcomer and fountain of local knowledge Georgi "McCrafty" McCarthy, and birthday girl Shannanagrams) then headed to La Rambla for a bit of tourist action, only to be distracted by Irish bar Ryan's and their promise of Sangria on tap. Ryan did not disappoint. 

After eating vegetarian tapas for dinner (if you're still hungry you can always order the curry with rice for dessert, like Tim), Georgi's sister Jaime arrived (also new to Team List) along with local boy Marc - an old friend of Georgi's from Barcelona. Keen to be shown around, we were directed to a bar called Tequila Boom Boom with the strongest €3 cocktails ever tasted. The club we ended up in is probably (definitely) not worth mentioning. 

Day 2: Friday - A lazy start to the day was inevitable, but the early afternoon provided an excellent discovery. In the hidden and eerily beautiful Plaça Sant Felip Neri, a subdued spot in a sometimes manic city, the rather upmarket Neri hotel restaurant looks like the only place to grab a beer. But on asking if the tables were reserved for eating, Team List (Tim, Georgi and Jaime) was directed towards a sequestered lift which took us up to a fourth floor rooftop bar. Carlos the waiter provided menus and pointed us in the direction of a delicious bottle of fizz, whilst Antonio and his wife Montserrat (who only spoke into her phone, even when we pulled the camera out) helped us to suss out what the rather kitsch teapots were for (it was unclear, but we settled on lighting).

Next, a visit to the excellent Basque bar Sagardi was on the cards. With huge platters of “pintxos” (tapas on sticks) on the counter, and an honesty-driven "count the cocktail sticks at the end" policy of charging, it would be very easy to keep eating without noticing (until the beer runs out). Definitely worth seeking out.

Our next stop was dinner on-the-go at Wok to Walk. The Subway of the stir-fry world, you choose your base, your bits and bobs and your sauce, and watch the very cheerful (crazy) chefs fry it up in front of you. A "muchas gracias" here, a "muchos de nada" there, and we were on our way.

Next up was the rather intriguing Bosc de Les Fades. Just off La Rambla, it is a café with average croissants, a wax museum, or a bar with indoor trees and more strong cocktails, depending on whose review you read online. We found it to be the third one, and ordered our poisons. The cocktails were pretty standard, but it's the scenery that makes this bar. The trees, the haunted room, and a creepy mirror/window kept us amused until we'd finished our drinks.

Milk Bar was next on the list, and the cocktails were probably the best we had in Barcelona (rivalled by the strawberry daiquiris in Andú bar on Saturday). Milk is a simple bar, doing all the little things right: comfy seats, chic décor, delicious (strong) cocktails, friendly bar staff and angel wings hanging from the ceiling. Yeah, we didn't know we liked that either.

As we left, Georgi spotted a bar just around the corner which was one of her old favourites. With a name reminiscent of our absent friend, Shangó had loud salsa music playing, a mezzanine that was too small to stand up on, and a homage to the Virgin Mary behind the bar. As you do. The mojitos here went down very easily.

Day 3: Saturday - Georgi and Jaime were delighted to find a bar belonging to one of them (which one was never decided), and we saw another with an amusing sign, but being late for lunch as we were, we didn't have time to go in.

The McCarthy sisters

Early evening saw Team List grow as we took on OShan's Eleven, Jess, Josie, Marc (of Day 1 fame), Juan and Sandra, and we finally made it to Andú bar, where English Gary manned a small bar with an out-of-tune piano ("Be my guest, if you can work out which key plays which note," said Gary). The strawberry daiquiris were made with fresh fruit and came in what must have been a pint glass. The blackberry versions were smaller and less tasty for the same price.

We went around the corner as Barchick had pointed us towards the pirate-themed "Hook Bar", but this had been turned into a hemp appreciation club. We were politely asked to find somewhere else. The nearest place was Bar 32, where a List-appropriate dinner was planned.

Bar 32 - thumbs down for drinks

Juan and Marc knew of "the best tapas restaurant in Barcelona", so we sidled over to Bidasoa. Whilst perhaps not the restaurant serving the best tapas, it could well be the best restaurant serving tapas. Owner Raúl stood behind the counter, a mere metre away, as he and his staff prepared the food. For every plate we finished, he would add a new one, whilst shouting incomprehensible words (possibly because I don't speak Spanish) to his team.

The three-day list extravaganza ended, rather symmetrically, in another Ryan's bar, which we were tempted into by a man promising 15 shots of vodka or tequila for €15. Again, Ryan did not disappoint.

Still on the list for next time are:

 - Bar Mut and upstairs little sister Bar Mutis
 - Dry Martini Speakeasy Restaurant, if only for it's name

Team List Points go to Tim (10), Georgi (10), Jaime (9), and Shannon (3) - what was she doing all day on Friday?

Gilbert Scott Brunch - QEH Roof Garden Cafe/Bar - Genesis Cinema - St. George's Wharf

Yet another totally random roundup of things from July, starting with a wonderful complimentary brunch for two at Marcus Wareing's Gilbert Scott in King's Cross that I won in a Barchick competition.  It was the second part of my prize after also being given two free tickets to Ginstock (read more here).  I was originally meant to go for brunch on the morning of Ginstock, and be taken in a taxi to Haggerston, but I had to squeeze in a concert in the morning.  Luckily they allowed me to rearrange, and so I turned up with North Londoner Cassie on Saturday 20th July, over a month after that gin fuelled day.

I was perhaps a tad underdressed in shorts and a t-shirt, but in my defence I did have to also fit in with beer aficionados later on in Bermondsey (read about the rest of my day here).  The staff (and background pianist) didn't seem to mind, and we were informed that we could order as much as we wanted on the house - a very dangerous thing to say.  To be honest, we were quite restrained in the end, only having two breakfast cocktails and a coffee each with our superb brunch.  We possibly should have got some bubbles in there too.  The food was wonderful, as were the drinks (these were not my first Gilbert Scott cocktails) - Breakfast Margarita was the winner for me.  My main issue was how do you leave a restaurant when you don't have to pay?  Luckily they solved that by turning up and giving me yet more free stuff as a parting gift. I had forgotten that the prize also included a bottle of Boodles Gin, so this was a pleasant surprise!  They also chucked in a tiny bottle of Hendricks and a packet of thyme seeds.  Anyway, the brunch is reasonably priced, and I would definitely recommend it to people even if you do have to part with your cash.  The surroundings are lovely, and the quality of service was extremely high.

Rhubarb and Ginger Sour

Bloody Maria

Even toast needs to sleep.

Wednesday 17th July - A few days earlier, Team List decided to bite the bullet and try out Shake Shack and Five Guys (in the same lunchtime), but I'll save that for another time as I want to compare them with some more of the British burger boys in detail.  Anyway, we needed to walk off the calories before having a nap in the sun, so we crossed the river and sought out the Roof Garden Cafe/Bar on top of Queen Elizabeth Hall on Southbank.

It's very peaceful up there, with bees buzzing and the Thames in the background.  We slowly drank our bottles of Curious Brew lager in the sun, surveying the quirky Southbank surroundings.  The garden will be open til the 1st of November, and you can even get involved by going along to "Drop In Gardening" from 11-1 on Tuesdays throughout October.  Make sure you also check out the other nearby popups Propstore, Aperol Spritz bar, and Look Mum No Hands before they disappear.

Rosie had to dash off leaving Taro and I out in the sun.  We had a craving to watch a stupid film (Pacific Rim) so Taro suggested Genesis Cinema in Stepney Green, as it has recently added Studio 5, complete with sofas, footrests and a bar, to its collection of screens.  Other places in London offer the same comforts (Electric Cinema, The Lounge, Everyman) but few are as affordable as Genesis.  It is a short walk from Stepney Green and Whitechapel, and well worth a look.  There is also Bar Paragon upstairs which has beers, cocktails, happy hours, short film nights, quizzes etc.

One last thing to mention - we still have a few days of sun left (fingers crossed) and it doesn't get much better than sitting outside drinking a beer with the Thames and some London skyline in sight.  However, whenever the sun does decide to show its beautiful face, the riverside joints fill up faster than Nicolas Cage's impressive CV, so you have to be a bit crafty and go further afield.  One good option that I was introduced to by Vauxhall local Mary with Cassie (from Gilbert Scott) is the Aqua bar/restaurant at the back of St. George's Wharf near Vauxhall Bridge.  Whilst the food and drink are nothing special, they are reasonably priced considering their location, and the views from Battersea Power Station to Westminster are delightful.  Try it out sometime for a peaceful drink outside on a summery evening.