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.

Bermondsey Beer - Kernel - Partizan - Brew By Numbers - Bar Tozino

N.B. To any new visitors, this post is pretty old, so a lot of the information here isn't correct. There are many more breweries in Bermondsey now than when this was first written, and the Kernel no longer opens on a Saturday for drinking in. Jezza on Beer Guide London tends to keep things fairly up to date, so it's worth checking out his posts - www.londonbeerguide.com/article.php?ID=5

Saturday 20th July - My day started bright and early at the Gilbert Scott for brunch, but I'll talk about that another time because the rest of my day was spent wandering around railway arches in Bermondsey, one of the best areas in London to spend a sunny Saturday.  It also explains why it seems like I was drinking lots of beer and eating nothing - fear not, I stuffed myself at the Gilbert Scott first.

Breweries are popping up all over London at an extremely fast rate, which is a good thing as long as the quality of beer being produced remains as high as it has been so far.  I can't think of a new brewery that I haven't been impressed with so far.  Many of them seem to be in Hackney, but Bermondsey has five of its own in close proximity.  I decided to meet Bermondsey local, Lee, at Kernel Brewery, the most established of the five, and more importantly, the one that opens and shuts the earliest on a Saturday (9am-3/4pm). Sadly the Kernel no longer opens for drinking in on a Saturday.

Kernel constantly change their recipes.  You might drink a Pale Ale that they made using some hops that they found in a corner of the room, and then you'll never see it again.  They are always reliable though, and I favour the slightly stronger IPAs that are on offer.  The brewery opens from 9am-2pm on Saturdays, and has grown massively in popularity since the last time that I went.  That said, there's no need to go early as it doesn't take long to get served.  They offer a couple of keg options as well as bottles and always have a wide range of beers available from Table Beer to Stouts.  Lee tried the new 3.8% London Sour which was... sour.  The beer is bottled "alive" so if you take any home, make sure you drink them fairly quickly to get the most out of it.  Kernel are part of the Spa Terminus collective of food and drink producers, and there are more worth checking out - Monmouth Coffee is made here, Little Bread Pedlar make tasty pastries, and Ice Cream Union also looks great.

Our next stop was Partizan Brewing, which is slightly further East towards South Bermondsey.  They are operating out of a tiny space on Almond Road (which is barely a road), and they are open on Saturdays from 11am-5pm.  You very much feel like you are in the know when you are sitting on a crate outside a railway arch on a deserted road drinking beer with 4 other people in Bermondsey on a Saturday afternoon.   I particularly like the effort that has gone into their drinks list - a ripped piece of cardboard with beers scrawled on or crossed out, balanced on a bottle bin.  They currently only have bottles to sample, but I would expect they will expand to having keg beers available once they have grown in size.  They brew a variety of Saisons, IPAs, Stouts etc and have been very well received so far.  Their label designs (by Alex Doherty) are fantastic - slightly different to Kernel's minimalist style!

Our final brewery stop was Brew by Numbers, back the other way past Kernel near Maltby Street.  These guys have been brewing since the end of 2012, but only opened their brewery doors the weekend before last which Lee discovered by chance from a conversation with the Partizan guys.  Our route wasn't the most economical which was distressing for two mathematicians, but it was in line with which breweries were open the longest, and Brew by Numbers stays open til 5. We were joined by two more mathmos, T Rex and Henry, who often accompany me on jaunts around London Bridge / Bermondsey, plus two more beer fans Kathryn and Danielle who the boys do a pub quiz with.  They had been round the corner at Maltby Street Market, which I still need to properly report on.  We whiled away a couple of hours at Brew by Numbers running through some classic quiz questions such as "Which two star signs other than Pisces are connected to water?", "Which tube stop has no letters in common with the word mackerel?", "Which three tube stops have all 5 vowels?" and "Which tube stop has 6 consonants in a row?" - leave a comment if you know the answers, no Googling now!  

Brew by Numbers (open 10am-5pm) have much more space than Partizan, and look as if they are well funded.  The brewery bar is currently just a fridge, which is filled with whatever they have brewed that week. I got hooked on the delicious Golden Ale while others sampled the Saison, Stout and Porter on offer.  There was also a dubious looking tank of liquid at the bottom of the fridge, which turned out to be home made lemonade - not what we were originally thinking until we discovered there was a toilet at the back.  The numbers refer to style and recipe so 08/01 and 08/02 would be two different recipes for Stout for example.

UPDATE: Two new breweries have recently opened in Bermondsey bringing the total to 5.  Read about my trips to Fourpure and Anspach & Hobday here:

Fourpure

Anspach & Hobday (with Bullfinch Brewery)

It seems silly not to visit them all in the same day when they are so close, and with such amazing food on offer round the corner at Maltby Street Market / Borough Market / Spa Terminus / Bermondsey Street, it is a really easy day out! For more on Saturdays in Bermondsey, click here.

Saturday opening times for the "Bermondsey Beer Mile":

Partizan Brewing Co. - 11am-5pm

Brew by Numbers - 10am-5pm

Fourpure - 11am-5pm

Anspach & Hobday - 11am-6pm

When Brew by Numbers closed for the evening, we made our way to nearby Bar Tozino in Lassco Ropewalk, part of Maltby Street Market, where we joined by Lauren.  Bar Tozino claims to be London's first and only Jamón Bodega (sounds better than Ham Bar doesn't it?).  It is open til 10pm every day except Sunday (shuts at 5pm) and is a great, relaxed place to sit outside with wine / beer eating some jamón. Resident wine expert Henry picked out a very nice red, and Lee and I worked our way through a jarra of Spanish beer, whilst we ate the free olives and some very nice cold meats with bread.  The inside of the bar is also atmospheric, with hams hanging above your head, and meat ready to be sliced in clever contraptions. Top tip - toilets do exist, right down the other end of the street, giving everyone a perfect opportunity to show off their best strut / walk of shame.  T Rex won it with a perfectly executed cartwheel.

We finished off our evening in the Dean Swift, a wonderful pub for food and craft beer, but hard to recommend due to astronomical beer prices.  I paid £6.50 for an English craft ale from the Moor Brewery, which I have had much cheaper elsewhere.  The barman's response was "...but it's so tasty!" - great.  They did however chuck in some free chips after a bit of moaning - that suggests that they almost agree with our complaints so maybe it's not in their hands anyway.  I'd rather they just lowered the prices though.  If money is no object then go for it!

Thanks to Team List for a hard day's work, especially Lee for starting early and making it through the whole day.  I am going away next week, but I will try and write some stuff before I go that I can put up during the week as I am really behind already! Last thing - here is a fun new blog started by my veggie friend who is fed up with only being offered Mushroom Risotto in restaurants.  It is excellently named Rage Against the Mushroom - enjoy!

Ginstock 2013

Friday 14th June - I don't really know where to start with this one, it's all a bit hazy.  Ginstock is an annual event (fingers crossed) that started in 2012, run by the Tweat Up gang who organise fantastic one off foodie / drinkie days out including recently Taco Wars, Craft Beer Battle and Ribstock.  This "summer", Tweat Up  have been making use of Merchant Yard in Haggerston where the wonderful Street Feast is held every Friday.  If you haven't been to Street Feast (read more here) then you only have this Friday and a closing party on Saturday left to experience it (and the awesome Gin Store bar upstairs).  Street Feast is then effectively relocating to Wood Wharf under the name of Truck Stop which starts on the 4th July.

Anyway, I digress.  Ginstock.  I managed by some stroke of luck to win two free (usually £35) tickets through a competition that Barchick were running in association with Boodles Gin.  List Leader Natalie managed to get a few regular tickets before it sold out, but there were others who still needed tickets that I was delighted to be able to bring along.  I was informed that my prize also involved brunch for two with breakfast cocktails at 10.30 on the morning of Ginstock at Marcus Wareing's The Gilbert Scott, plus a taxi ride from there to Haggerston for kickoff at midday.  I sadly couldn't take them up on that as I was ambitiously packing in a concert in the morning before heading over to Kingsland Road, but they told me to chat to the folks from Boodles and Gilbert Scott in the hope of rearranging.  This was probably for the best anyway, as there was absolutely no need to have more cocktails than were already included with the Ginstock ticket!

Milk and Honey, Perkin Reveller and Dishoom have so far evaded The List , and Megaro has just opened

Team List (Natalie, Luke, Libby and Cassie) arrived first and had a good system going by the time I got there, saving seats and sending troops out in to the rain to battle through the crowds.  Everyone was given a voting card which also acted as the stamp card for 10 gin based cocktails from the competing bars. I love an imperfect stamp system as it always leads to a few extra free drinks (remember Malt Jockey?).  I was a couple of drinks behind schedule so had to really knuckle down.  Every bar was vying for our attention with freebies and witty banter.  Perkin Reveller gave out a tin containing all the ingredients of their cocktails so that it could be recreated at home.  Powder Keg gave out a bottled version of their cocktail - "stick your middle finger up at Boris and neck this on the Overground".  Free food and drink vouchers, badges, popcorn, sloe gin marshmallows, stickers, moustaches, bindis - you name it, we were bribed with it.  

My camera was having a temperamental day so most of these photos are from the Perkin Reveller website - see more here.

Teapots and jam from the Perkin Reveller team

The voting cards had plenty of room for leaving comments so that you could make an informed decision 10 (or 15) cocktails later.  The comments naturally became less pretentious and more honest / imcomprehensible as the afternoon wore on.

Midday: 

"Excellent presentation - fresh but a bit too floral"

5pm: 

"Red Bull / Worcestershire Sauce?" 

"Went down easy - that's what she said"

"Deliciousness personified" - what does that mean?

My favourite - "Oh, no :( "

Respect to latecomers Victoria, who arrived at around 3 and powered through them very quickly, and Arwa who finally escaped from work near the 5pm closing deadline which was luckily extended to 6pm.  The queues were a bit crazy towards the end but in general it was just the right amount of busy.  It was great to taste the new Boodles and Opihr gins, and to meet the people behind the new Megaro bar that is opening soon in King's Cross.  There was fantastic food on offer too.  I devoured a "fatty, greasy, piggy wrap" from the wonderful Stripped Back stall run by Ben Spalding, and also later on tucked into some delicious Yum Buns.  There were gin / botanical themed ice creams and lollies available from Sorbitium Ices and The Ice Kitchen but the weather didn't help them out too much.

No idea who this is.

Time to vote!

Eventually we got to the close of play and the votes were counted up.  Our favourites were The Gilbert Scott, Dishoom and Megaro.  The Gilbert Scott "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was a delicious, drinkable CO2 charged concoction which we all finished in seconds.  Dishoom made a wonderful orangey cocktail named after Vasant Dhoble, an Indian police officer who goes around Mumbai hitting people with a hockey stick for breaking alcohol based laws - the idea behind their breakfast cocktail was that it could pass as orange juice, and Dhoble hopefully wouldn't notice.  Megaro were the last bar to be confirmed for Ginstock but did a fantastic job with their Sipsmith twist on a Tom Collins.  The winner of Ginstock 2013 was finally announced and the trophy went to the team of Boodles and The Gilbert Scott.  I managed to catch up briefly with Dav and the team earlier on in the day, and I'm delighted that they won.  I look forward to hearing more about their Ginstock adventure when I collect the second half of my Barchick prize at their establishment.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Our party split in two at this point.  Some that were "ginned out" went to the excellent Fox pub and then on to Vietnamese food and The Book Club. I stayed put with Natalie and Arwa for the Gizzi Erskine after party lock in upstairs in the Gin Store.  It took a while for the bar to warm up but we saved our seats early before everyone else made it upstairs.  I spent the next hour playing poker and roulette in the casino earning tokens for more gin, with Arwa as a wing woman, whilst Natalie had a 7pm nap in the corner.  My secondary aim in the casino was to find a pretty lady called Flora who I had met in passing.  I wasn't very proactive sitting still at a poker table, but Arwa nearly had success by screaming "Does anyone know Flora?" in the queue for the women's toilets outside - there is no happy ending I'm afraid.  I also had a brief conversation with another female gin fan, but that ended when she said "Ergh, Battersea? Why would you live there?" - charming.  By 8pm we were totally shattered but we stuck it out for a couple more hours, surrounded by equally tired people and Gizzi Erskine's slightly terrifying Go Go Dancers who were being followed around by a cameraman.

View of Kingsland Road from the Gin Store

We eventually crawled on to an Overground train to that awful Battersea place, and had a quick spotify sing along before crashing out for most of the journey - the Powder Keg bottled cocktail was left for another day  if you are reading, Boris.  It was a hilarious, epic day filled with lovely people and awesome gin, and Ginstock 2014 has a lot of work to do to top this year.  Huge thanks to Barchick for giving me the tickets, and congratulations to Team List for making it through the day - only counts as 1 point though!  Don't forget to go to the last Street Feast this Friday or their closing party on Saturday,

Gilbert Scott - Black Door Bar - Drink, Shop & Do / Dance - VOC - Burrito Café

Wednesday April 17th - Day 3 of Tim's pursuit of Natalie's Team List points total was spent in King's Cross.  Tim, Cath and I started off at the bar at The Gilbert Scott for some classy cocktails.  We sat up at the counter and met the man behind the menu, Dav, who looked after us incredibly well along with his accomplice, Ama.  Dav gave us some tasters of Caraway liqueur and their homemade caramelised date and star anise syrup to help us decide on our first round.

We started off with the 1873 (charged with CO2), Sticky Toffee Tipple and Trade Winds which were all fantastic.  Dav spotted us eyeing up the bitters bottles and offered us some more tasters.  Next up was some homemade apple syrup, and some very tasty Mozart white chocolate liqueur.   Ama had apparently been working on a new cocktail all day containing Mozart, Frangelico and Apple Syrup amongst other things, which didn't yet have a name (or a garnish!).  We suggested 'Requiem' which they seemed to like - please let me know if anyone spots it on their menu! Cath couldn't resist and requested one in our second round whilst Tim and I had Yupanaqui and Amber Embers respectively.  Tim and I spotted a third barman doing something sneaky with a smoking cauldron at the back and told him to explain himself.  It turned out he was making my drink!  Meanwhile Ama turned up with some silly garnish for Cath that he had 'just thrown together' or in Dav's words 'spent 4 hours making'.

Dav decided at this point to whip out some Smoked Butter and Black Pepper popcorn - doesn't everyone have that lying around?  When we asked him what his strangest ingredient was, he told us to look up.  Above our head was a row of mysterious bottles - every time one of the team goes abroad, they have to bring something weird back to put on the shelf.  Tim clambered up and grabbed a Polish honey liqueur called Pas that Dav hadn't yet tried, which turned out to be pretty excellent.  We tore ourselves away eventually as we had places to be, but The Gilbert Scott was a cut above the rest.  The team behind the bar were incredibly generous and so engaging that we stayed for much longer than we were meant to.  It's perfectly placed for a drink if you are on your way in or out of the nearby stations.  Make an excuse to go their soon!

We didn't have to go far to find Black Door Bar on the first floor of The Fellow pub on York Way.  After having such wonderful cocktails at The Gilbert Scott, we decided to have a cheeky pint, but there are some classic cocktails on offer.  It's a great spot to have a few drinks after work if you are in the area, and is much more pleasant than the busier pub downstairs.  

Black Door Bar above The Fellow

We moved on quickly as we were meeting Emma, Ali and Maggie in Drink, Shop & Do round the corner for an evening of Lego Robots. That's right - LEGO ROBOTS.  Don't worry it wasn't a one off, look at their hilarious listings to find the next date.  Drink, Shop & Do is an arty shop/café/bar that holds fun events in their main room.  For example, 'Lionel Rich-Tea' is an evening of decorating Rich-Tea biscuits to look like Lionel Ritchie's face.  'Lego Robots' meanwhile is a night of competitive lego robot building.  We split into two teams and set to work, whilst munching our way through their enticing range of cakes.  Maggie, Emma and I decided early on to call ours 'Lindsay Legohan' (fresh out of Robo-rehab) having discarded Lego-las and Foghorn Lego-horn.  The other team were joined by Rosie and created a robot that actually launched a projectile AND a separate vehicle!  Despite Lindsay Lego-han's self-lowering middle arm, fully rotating helicopter blades and moveable sidekick, she didn't make it on to the podium, whilst the others grabbed 3rd place.

Lionel Rich-Tea!

It was great fun (and the cocktails are good), though more could have been made of the judging and prize-giving after we had spent 2 hours making them! The events are all free too which is very kind of them.  We will no doubt return soon, possibly for Doodle Club or Patrick Swayze Clay night (modelling clay, Ghost style, in the shape of Patrick Swayze's head).  It's worth going just for their cakes to be honest.  There is also fun stuff up on the walls that you can buy, and there are some amusing cards and gifts in the shop at the front.  

Drink, Shop & Do wall art

Emma, Ali, Rosie and Cath headed home, leaving Tim, Maggie and me to check out Drink, Shop & Dance downstairs.  It's an attractive little bar that specialises in gin, and houses some of the more lively events that require dancing space.  We sat up at the bar with Riccardo who gave us some tips on what to choose.  Riccardo was a riot - he had possibly already had a fair amount of gin himself as it was a quiet night.  We ordered three interesting gins, with a bottle of tonic water and ginger beer to mix and match.  They were all very different and didn't really need mixing - Tim's Hoxton gin almost tasted of Malibu, whilst Maggie's Berkeley Square clearly had basil in.  We also had a free taster of the other barman's favourite bottle which we could only describe as "very gin-ny".  It's a very affordable place for high quality gin (though we avoided the bottle priced at £13 per shot / £376 for the whole thing), and it's probably still unknown to most people in the area.  You don't need to be at an event upstairs to head down there.  Keep your fingers crossed for Riccardo being there.

Despite being in serious need of some savoury food to go with our cakes, we decided to squeeze in a drink at VOC in the secluded Varnisher's Yard.  VOC is a "17th Century-inspired Punch House" that specialises in bottle-matured and barrel-aged drinks.  It was shutting in half an hour, and it was pretty empty but luckily we had the perfect hostess.  We only learnt her name after we had left when Tim was sent back to procure it - "This is going to be weird", he said as he stumbled back in.  She made him outright ask for it just to make it more amusingly awkward. "We forgot to ask your name!" - "Yeah, you did..." - "Um... What's your name?" - "Ana" - you get the idea.  It does also say we were served by Mary on our bill so maybe she was messing with him.

VOC Bottles

We settled at their cosy mezzanine table with a sofa per person and tried to make a quick decision which proved difficult, partly because the drinks are so fascinating, but also because it seemed Luis Suarez had already visited and taken a chunk out of one of the menus.  Ana noticed we were struggling and came up to help, rather than hurry us.  She went through explaining some of the stranger ingredients in detail (hay-infused stout reduction, anyone?), and made us feel extremely welcome for closing time on a Wednesday night!  Along with our drinks, Ana then brought us three tasters (without us asking) from some of her pre-made bottles - Rack Punch, Raspberry Shrub and VOC Spiced Rum were all very impressive, as were the drinks that we settled on.  It's a shame that we turned up so late as this would have been a great place to spend the whole evening.  Keep a look out for VOC updates as they are renovating a large room in the back so that they can start offering substantial food alongside their enticing bar snack menu.  Yet another place that I need to return to!  Also, if you haven't yet discovered Varnisher's Yard in King's Cross, head there a.s.a.p - it's such a peaceful place and it's a stone's throw from King's Cross and St.Pancras.

VOC mezzanine

We finished off our evening with an enormous burrito from Burrito Café over the road that was luckily open until midnight.  The portions are ridiculous - most people would be fine with the (huge) small burrito.  It's a friendly place with ample space for sitting in to eat (recommended to avoid making a fool of yourself trying to consume it on the tube/bus/street).  They also sell good bottled beer (including Sierra Nevada) at very reasonable prices.  I hope they open up a SW London branch soon!

It was a seriously successful evening, especially considering how close together they all were.  With more left to try nearby, and Upper Street not too far away, King's Cross seems like a very clever place to live right now.  There's nothing Tim and I like more than fun bar staff, and Dav, Amma, mystery cauldron man, Riccardo, and Ana/Mary were a dream team that kept us highly entertained all evening.

Tim moves ahead of Team List leader Natalie with a 6 pointer, whilst Maggie finally gets some more points on the board - remember when she was winning?  Emma gets her first and last point before disappearing to Chicago for the foreseeable future.  Hopefully there will be a Chicago List special edition in the future. Ali, Cath and Rosie continue to grind out the points.  Flatmate Maggie now leads flatmate Ali 8-7, though a special mention must go to Ali this week for running the London Marathon in a ridiculous time of 3 hrs 14 mins 42 secs.  Go and sponsor her ongoing 3000 mile challenge through her blog here.