House of Peroni - El Nivel

Friday 2nd May - May got off to a great start with a rambling pub-bar-bar-pub route around Holborn and Covent Garden, talking in two old favourites and a couple of new joints.

The evening started with a quick pint in the Holborn Whippet with Max & Felix who mostly watched Team List from afar last year whilst posted in Lithuania & Afghanistan respectively.  I'm still waiting for a guest blog from their travels...

The Holborn Whippet is a cracking pub in the same family as Euston Tap & Pelt Trader, and is nicely tucked away on the often overlooked pedestrianised Sicilian Avenue near Holborn.  Lagunitas IPA, Redwell IPA and Beavertown 8-Ball impressed as usual.

From there, we decided to drop in to The House of Peroni which had conveniently just opened that day round the corner in Lincoln's Inn Fields.  Four floors of an elegant townhouse have been converted into a celebration of Italian style & culture for the month of May, inspired by the spirit of 1963 - a year when Italian style became renowned across the world, and Carlo Peroni created Peroni Nastro Azzurro beer.  The house is free to enter (for ages 18+), Monday to Saturday (and occasional Sundays) until 31st May from 12 noon til late.

Vibrant colours in the entrance

We decided to start at the top, popping our heads in to the temporary home for Bottega Wapping restaurant.  You need to reserve a spot to eat & drink in this incredibly funky dining room.  Bizarrely, Creative Director Lorenzo Di Francesco and Head Chef Daniele Miconi have reimagined traditional Italian cuisine through the music of 1963 Italy! I'm not entirely sure what that means.

Moving down through the house with a pint that didn't compare too well to the Holborn Whippet's finest, we got distracted by several fun & impressive installations.  

The bars are also part of the design party - The Black and White Bar is a striking nod to Franco Grignani's monochrome designs, and The Concrete Bar is set out like a miniature concrete cityscape that illuminates at night.. Drinks are different on every floor, with several cocktails making use of Peroni Nastro Azzurro in some way.  They have also taken this opportunity to launch a new Piccola bottle, their first innovation in bottle design since 1963.

Felix using all of his army training to move some coloured lights around a wall

Max controlling the world.

What would the army think of you, Felix?

The Black and White Bar

Federico Riezzo's Negroni Bottiglia

The new "Piccola" bottle

We eventually made it down to the al fresco Terrace area outside the entrance, where rotating street food traders will serve up quick eats & The Pavilion Bar is handling drinks.  We had a fantastic round of Orecchiette with Spicy N'Duja Sausage and Tenderstem Broccoli from Pasta e Basta.

Alongside the food, drink & art, there are several workshops to get involved with including Become an Italian Barista, The Art of Gelato and Create your own Silk Scarf which all need to be booked in advance.

Whilst the beer itself isn't much of an attraction, the house most certainly is - get down there before the end of May!

House of Peroni

Our next stop was a short walk away in Covent Garden.  Hidden above Maiden Lane mainstay La Perla, you will find their new sister bar dedicated to all things agave called El Nivel.  Antojitos (small plates) lie in wait to soak up all of the tequilas, mezcals, sotols, bacanoras & raicillas on offer.

We were warmly welcomed by Massi & his bar team, who started us off with some superb Tequila Ocho to sip.  Little did we know, Tomas Estes, Creator of Tequila Ocho, International Tequila Ambassador for the National Chamber of the Tequila Industry. Owner of Cafe Pacifico, La Perla and El Nivel (phew), and all round good egg, was across the room.  We were in safe hands.

Moving temporarily away from sipping, we got a round of cocktails in (all £9-13).  I went for a Siesta, a twist on the contemporary classic from PDT, the New York speakeasy that is high on my American summer holiday to-do list.  El Nivel's Siesta is a refreshing blend of AquaRiva premium Reposado, fresh lime and grapefruit juices, almond syrup, Campari & Merlet apricot, churned over crushed ice.

Max, sporting a medal from working at the Lithuanian embassy, couldn't resist getting a Diplomat's Downfall - Tapatio 110, fresh lemon and orange juices, lemon thyme and pineapple syrups, pimento dram, churned over crushed ice with a port float. Delicious.

Best of the bunch though was the Felix's Mezcal Fix featuring QuiQuiRiQui mezcal, roasted pineapple syrup, fresh lime, Cynar and saltwater spray.  I had such cocktail envy that I ordered it for myself later.  QuiQuiRiQui mezcal is owned by Melanie Symonds who you might spot boozing away in Catrina, her Mezcal ambulance, or in the QuiQuiRiQui mezcaleria which is due to reopen permanently underneath Golden Grill kebab shop on Hackney Road after a popular stay there in 2013

Due to the nature of their license, you have to eat something with a knife and fork at some point during your stay at El Nivel, so we ordered some Guacamole & Hummus.  Make that President Carter's Hummus and Guacamole "Yim Fun Ho" (with fresh strawberries, mango, jicama, topped with pomegranate seeds, served on an edible Shiso leaf, accompaned by Chinese pancakes).  If you are feeling fancy, you can go for the Roasted lobster & monkfish tail, served with lobster bisque and sangrita reduction or the Fillet of Beef Barcelona Style with caramelised onions and seared foie gras.

After our first round, Massi brought Tomas Estes over for a chat, which bizarrely led to a comprehensive Vestal Vodka tasting as William Vestal had recently dropped off some of his finest bottles.  Vestal are leading a vodka revolution in the UK (expect more to emerge this year).  Hunt some down - it will really surprise you.

Vestal Vodka

The Tequila Ambassador book by Tomas Estes

Moving back to agave, we sipped on the QuiQuiRiQui Matatlan and San Juan del Rio, even better served neat.  Following Tomas' advice, Max finished with La Poderosa - Vida mezcal, agave nectar, lime juice, cardamom and lavender bitters, topped with sparkling wine.  I wasn't convinced that mezcal and sparkling wine would be a winning combination, but I was very much in the wrong.  What do I know anyway?

QuiQuiRiQui Mezcal

La Poderosa

El Nivel is one of my favourite new finds.  The location is obviously excellent and the hospitality was second to none, but most importantly, the spirits collection is fantastic and the cocktails were consistently impressive.  I'll be back soon.

Completing the pub-bar-bar-pub route, we couldn't walk to Charing Cross without dropping in to The Harp for a couple of beers.  Still one of the best pubs in London despite the new wave of craft beer bars, and a great spot in summer when the doors are opened up.  Read more here.

Thanks to (soon to be) Captain Felix & (kind of) Ambassador Max for keeping me company this time around.

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.