Botanical Gin Garden at Carom - Azulito - Gelupo

Saturday 25th May - Anyone who read my last post will know that the first half of Saturday was spent with faux-Parisians eating eggs in the sky, drinking cocktails on a barge, and playing Micro Machines in a Sega Megadrive disco bar in King's Cross.  So when I met Team List Leader Natalie in the evening for some unplanned Soho bar hopping adventures, I wasn't feeling very lively.  I soldiered on (life is tough) and we made our way to the new indoor Botanical Gin Garden in Carom at Meza on Wardour Street.

The reception bar area has been transformed into a garden-inspired lounge with a special Gin based cocktail menu on offer.  The most interesting thing on the menu is the DIY Collins which encourages you to go around picking botanicals to give to the barman so that he can concoct something on the spot.  Natalie and I both chickened out of this as we weren't in the mood for stealing botanicals of other peoples tables, and we also wanted something reliable from the menu.  It is a fun idea though.  Our Tanqueray No.10 based cocktails were incredibly refreshing and drinkable, and as a result didn't last very long.

The garden is attached to Carom (restaurant) at Meza (bar) which has also been in my sights since you can play Carrom there (like pool with draughts that I recently got addicted to) whilst you eat/drink.  Downstairs is Floridita - a Latin American restaurant/bar/music venue/club that has some good stuff on.  Go for the weekday 3 course Mojito and music set menu.  They currently have a Rum Shack lounge down there too with many rums and cocktails served in monkey adorned coconuts - looks fun but probably pretty pricey.

Carrom at Carom at Meza

Floridita Rum Shack

We only stayed for one as it had already been an expensive day, so we moved a few doors down the road to have a quick look in Azulito underneath Wahaca - a colourful Mexican tequila bar with free table football (which suddenly makes Café Kick's £1 per game tables seem very expensive).  We went to the bar to get a couple of Negra Modelos (my new favourite beer since the Mexican invasion of London) and returned to find the tables busy.  I asked three Italians if we could play after them.  The rest is history.

Two hours later and Marta, Valentino and Carlo were our new best friends.  Valentino gave out (much needed) foosball tips to Natalie, Carlo took my number in case he wanted violin lessons, whilst Marta added Natalie on Facebook so that we could meet up again for more table football.  Teams were rotated, one game was played without our glasses (aren't we crazy?) and so on.  Marta told us tales of how she used to be rubbish at table football before Carlo made her practice 3 hours a day - it worked.  The atmosphere in Azulito was fantastic and we weren't interrupted by anyone wanting to play all night.  Perhaps the tables are new and haven't been discovered yet, but it was very relaxed for a Friday night.  We didn't even get to the tequila.  More Negra Modelos were consumed by all before we eventually hung up our tiny boots and spilled back out on to Wardour Street.  

After an emotional goodbye to Marta and the boys, Natalie and I decided to get some gelato (continuing the Italian theme) rather than try to top Azulito with another bar.  We went round the corner to join the queue for Gelupo (popular late night gelateria owned by excellent Bocca di Lupo restaurant opposite).  This turned out to be the queue just to get in the door, the ice cream queue went right from the other end of the bar.  One passer by who looked in to see what everyone was queuing for said "Oh, it's just ice cream".  I, still fired up from numerous dramatic games of babyfoot, replied "JUST Ice Cream?  It's only the best ice cream in London".  I have no idea if that is true.  I have never eaten there before.  

There are many quirky flavours alongside some classics - I'm amazed Natalie resisted the Kiwi, Gin and Elderflower option.  My earlier claim may well have been correct - our selections were truly delicious.  I will obviously have to go to every other gelateria before I know for sure, but they are going to have a tough job topping Gelupo, especially considering it is open til 12.30!  I had Salted Caramel & Pecan and Hazelnut, whilst Natalie went Ricotta & Sour Cherry and Bonet (chocolate with coffee, egg yolks, rum, caramel, amaretti biscuits and vanilla).

More cheeeeese, Gromit?

We licked our way back to Piccadilly, spotting Jamie Oliver's new pop up Diner and Dog House en route.  It is apparently open for 3 years so no rush on that one.  Big thanks must go to our new Italian friends, I hope they are reading and we see them again!  Natalie extends her lead to 15 points (Natalie 43, Sam 28, Tim 27) and is looking far too comfortable for my liking.  Who is going to mount a serious challenge in the second half of the year?

Alchemy - Hurricane Room - Holborn Whippet

Monday 15th April - This is a short post but with lots of pictures!  I haven't been using my fancy camera enough so I decided to take it with me to the Alchemy Indian Festival that is running at the Southbank Centre until 21st April.  Sam came out to meet me for lunch outside Royal Festival Hall where a large number of Indian street food stalls were set up. He was running late as his flatmate Henry (of Katzenjammers fame) had forgotten his keys, so I wandered around to take some pictures of the Iconic Rickshaws that have been making their way around the world.

Sam eventually turned up and we had a wander around the food stalls to make some decisions.  We liked the look of Bhangra Burger and Brindian (Indian food served in Yorkshire puddings!), but before we could make it over to them we got distracted by the Carrom boards.  Carrom is an addictive 'strike and pocket' game popular in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and surrounding areas.  There was a very helpful Carrom guru on site who kept coming back to us to clarify rules, explain different versions and laugh at our low ability Carrom playing.  We ended up staying at the market for about 3 and a half hours playing Carrom, getting up only once to get some much needed sustenance.  If you don't catch the festival before the end of the week, you can find Carrom man and his boards on Brick Lane.  I fear I am going to cave in and buy one of his boards before the week is out.

Tim (my Paris contact) came back to take an exam in London this week, and needed some points to keep up with Natalie.  On Monday evening we met for a quick game of pool in The Hurricane Room in Tooting - a pool/snooker bar that is open 24/7.  Apparently the bar shuts at 2am but the staff seem like they could be convinced to extend that.  There is another one in King's Cross.  An all-nighter is called for when Tim returns to London properly in a few months.

Tuesday 16th April - Tim organised a curry the next day to celebrate finishing his exams and to catch up with London friends.  We tried to get in to Radio Rooftop bar beforehand but it was already full by 6pm! We moved up the road to the reliable Guanabara (where you will find the most polite and thorough bouncer in London) for a couple of cheap happy hour drinks before having a tasty curry in Tankari on Drury Lane. Are these places List-worthy?  Well I've mentioned Guanabara before, and the curry was just curry, so no.

Afterwards, however, we squeezed in a quick trip to the Holborn Whippet pub. It's situatated on Sicilian Avenue, a pleasant pedestrianised street near Holborn tube that I have never noticed before.  The pub doesn't look anything special from outside which hopefully keeps some of the Holborn workers in search of a non descript lager at bay.  Inside is a beer lovers paradise similar to the Euston Tap.  There is a small bar with unmarked taps coming out of the brickwork and beer info written in chalk above.   Feeling indecisive, we got the barman to pick 8 half pints for us to take back to our table, which he jumped at the chance to do (reminding me of the ecstatic barman from Beef Club in Paris).  I could easily spend all day in here but luckily it was nearly closing time so my wallet escaped this time around.  Below are our attempts to conceal the frowned-upon half pint size with some 'clever' perspective shots.

Pint?

Quarter pint?

Shot?

Thanks to Sam (Alchemy), Tim, Mark, Plotters (Hurricane Room), Will, Rosie, James and Matt (Holborn Whippet) for exploring London with me.  Tim's two points are not enough for him to sneak ahead of Natalie, but he has an outing in King's Cross up his sleeve - swings and roundabouts!

I really do recommend heading to Alchemy, even if you aren't interested in playing Carrom! The food that we eventually had from Brindian and Bhangra Burger was excellent, and there is lots more going on inside the Southbank Centre. Most of it ends this Sunday (21st April). Roti Chai have set up a 'Chaat Shack and Chai Bar' in Festival Village underneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall which will be there until 26th April.