Cryptic Covent Caper - Vestal Voyages - Simmons Bar

Saturday 25th May - Two months on from my epic weekend trip to visit Tim "French-shaw" Henshaw in Paris, Timotei came back to London with List legend Shannon and List debutante Miranda for another weekend of adventures.  I will split them in to separate posts this time since various people were involved and I wasn't with them for the whole Bank Holiday weekend.  Tim and I had discussions for a few weeks to come up with some ideas but a solid plan only really materialised a couple of days before.  We decided to start by recycling a couple of old favourites - Skyroom and In The Hidden City.

We all met at 11 (with extra Londoners Will, Tom and Cath) for an early morning brunch with The Good Egg at The Hangover Club in Skyroom.  They had all been out until 4am at O'Neils so they did very well to make it that early, and Bloody Marys and Egg Burritos (plus alka seltzers on every table!) were just what everyone needed.  Steak and Eggs has been added to the menu, though I couldn't resist going for the tasty Shakshuka again.  It is open tomorrow from 10-4 - don't miss out! Read more about The Good Egg at Skyroom here.

Next we did a cryptic clue hunt with In the Hidden City (same company as the Easter hunt that I did - read more here) around Southbank and Covent Garden.  This was perfect for tourists (though hard without Londoners or rather Tom, who basically solved it all himself) as it took us to Somerset House, National Portrait Gallery, St.Martin-in-the-Fields Crypt etc.  A new discovery for me was the excellent Stanford Cartographers shop with a giant map of London covering the whole of one floor.  We also spent about 15 minutes trying to count the number of dials at Seven Dials (it's tricky walking round in a circle looking up at the sun with a hangover), eventually solving it by placing someone underneath each dial.  It turns out that there are only six as the pillar was commissioned at an early stage of planning when there were only going to be six roads coming out of the centre.  There are several other interesting trails on their website in different parts of London (and different cities!).  It's only £16 for a team, all run by text messages, and you can start whenever you are ready - highly recommended for some innocent (sober) fun!

"Be the map!"

Six Dials and the sun on a rare outing

Tim regretted being "too tired" to shuffle for Big 2 at the end of our hunt

After speeding through the hunt in record time (88th place is good right?) we hopped on a tube up to King's Cross and made our way to the canal to go on a Vestal Voyage.  I read a couple of weeks ago about this floating pop-up bar from the team behind Vestal Vodka on Twitter and Barchick and instantly started courting Captain James with a flurry of emails so that our group could make it on to his barge, Disco Volante.  They need between 8 and 12 people to make their trips viable - they set sail up to five times on weekends, and twice in the evening on weekdays.  We only had 7 people - so close!  Just after the Captain offered me an incredible open-bar based deal if we paid a bit more, two more people signed up for trip.  We forgave latecomers Louise and Sam though and in retrospect, an open-bar might have been a tad unnecessary.  For £25 each you get two cocktails from your personal barman and a whole barge to yourself (although we did have two of the Captain's friends aboard, who stayed out of our way and bizarrely weren't interested in the drinks!).  If you don't  have enough people for a trip, there is a Doodle Poll buddying up system for small groups - email the Captain for more info.

When we reached the canal, there was no sign of Captain James and his crew.  I gave him a quick call and discovered that they were stuck behind a barge full of drunk girls who were holding up everyone at the lock round the corner.  Thankfully they managed to get past them and were only 10 minutes late.  We were welcomed aboard, given our two drinks token bottles and shown round our barge by Tom the barman as the Captain set sail.  Music was left in our hands (via Bluetooth) which led to a mix of songs about boats (obviously including this) alongside the finer works of Shaggy.  Even without the drinks, it would have been an interesting trip, particularly with the eerie section spent in the 960-yard long Islington Tunnel.

However, what made the trip was our talented barman, Tom (BYOB take note).  Louise (drunk with barge power - later with drink power) instantly put the Captain hat on and rang a bell she found in the corner of the barge to which Tom replied "that must be last orders then".  He started us off with a round of refreshing citrus based vodka cocktails (using Vestal Vodka) before allowing us to come up and ask for anything for our second free drink (all cocktails £5 after or £3 Asahi beers but you'd be a fool to take that option).  Once Tim and I went up for our second drink we didn't see the outside world again as we just got stuck at the bar chatting away, drinking "promotional" free shots (tasty Vestal Amber elderberry flower liqueur, fantastic creamy Podlasie Vodka and direct to mouth Vestal Vodka - all great) and requesting weird drinks.

What could that marmite be for?

He was very competent at making high quality stuff up on the spot including Tim's request for a drink with Port, Tequila and Tabasco in.  He also let us in on a Tabasco secret - on the bottom of the bottle is a number which represents the strength, with 1 being the strongest, although the Tabasco website says the number is in fact connected to the glass mould type.  Anyone know the answer to that one?  There was an interesting concoction with a marmite rim which Sam found to be a bit too sticky.  When Will asked for some kind of Long Island Iced Tea, he poured lots of spirits in with some ginger beer and said "That won't taste anything like a Long Island Iced Tea", clearly understanding that Will was just after as much alcohol as possible - it was named the Long Tunnel Iced Tea instead.  In between drinks, there was plenty of entertaining barman flair with straw catching, ice cube littering out the window and throwing cups into bins (better than it sounds) with Tom clearly enjoying his time in his tiny bar (compete with temporary, fairly unstable crates stuck to the walls holding up his spirits). The time flew by and we were sad to leave him behind as £5 was a bargain for anything he created.  Hats were given back, The Lion King soundtrack was turned off and we stepped back on to dry land and said goodbye to the crew who were about to do it all over again.

I'M ON A BOAT

Tiny beer or giant man?

Most of the group were heading off to a masked ball (snakes, nude waiters, giant jenga and waltzing anyone?) whilst I was going to Soho with Team List Leader Natalie (I'll save Soho times for the next post or else it'll be too long!), but some of us decided to squeeze in one more bar in King's Cross since we were in the neighbourhood.  Simmons Bar is a crazy little place that has a 5 hour happy hour (4-9), affordable sharing cocktails in teapots, a giant skull shaped disco-ball and a downstairs Sega Megadrive room! A SEGA MEGADRIVE ROOM. The decor is bonkers with tonnes of different lamps, a wall of beer cans, school desks and a fireplace adding to its charm.  

The Teapot cocktails (G&Tea, Mar-Tea-Ni etc) went down easily alongside some craft beers.  Obviously, the main attraction is the Megadrive which has all the classic games available to play - Road Rash, Street Fighter etc.  Tim and I got hooked playing Micro Machines on a suitably tiny screen in the odd downstairs disco/games room, making him later and later for his masked ball pre-drinks.  Eventually (after a crushing 10-2 victory for Emilio over Jethro), we made a move via the lovely Burrito Café that we discovered in our last King's Cross adventure (Burrito number 2 for some) and went our separate ways.  Simmons is a great find and somewhere I will definitely be revisiting in the future, especially with Drink, Shop & Do and VOC opposite.

So ends part one of Tim, Shannon and Miranda's weekend trip to London.  Points for new places so far - 2.  We agreed to meet at 14.00 the next day giving us time to recover from our respective nights out.  Stay tuned for the next instalment, plus a separate post on the rest of my evening out in Soho with Natalie.  For more instantaneous/annoying List-themed entertainment, follow me on Twitter:

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Coming up this weekend:

Toast festival in Shoreditch - food, drinks, workshops, talks and more on Saturday and Sunday.

Craft Beer Battle in Haggerston on Saturday - £10 ticket gets you 8 beers to taste and vote on - many more beers also available to drink and the wonderful Gin Store bar open upstairs.

The Good Egg & Hangover Club - Midnight Apothecary - Mayflower

Saturday 4th May - When I attended Feast a couple of months back I wanted to try everything on offer, but due to a rookie cheese overload a few stalls escaped un-Listed.  One that got away was The Good Egg.  When I returned home I discovered that The Good Egg belonged to one of my musical friends, Joel Braham, who I had intitially met on a trip to North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam about 5 years ago and who I normally run in to once a year in the toilets in the Pleasance Dome at the Edinburgh Festival (that sounds worse than it is).  I sadly didn't spot him at Feast, and I have been trying to catch them around London ever since!  Luckily they have now taken up residence on Saturdays from 11-3 in the wonderful Skyroom venue in London Bridge with the Hangover Club

NOTE - SKYROOM IS NO LONGER OPEN - The Good Egg can currently be found at Cortado, and Platterform can be found in London Fields

Despite not being hungover, I made my way over from some extremely early morning violin lessons to meet Sam and Wrighty.  Skyroom is a brilliant location (although it is slightly open to the elements!) and will be one of the places to be this summer.  I had a quick catchup with Eggheadchef Joel before ordering their signature Shakshuka dish - eggs poached in a smokey, spiced tomato sauce served with merguez sausages and sourdough bread to mop it all up.  It is comfort food of the highest quality that I could happily eat over and over again - well worth travelling to London Bridge for.  There are other enticing options too - the burrito seemed to be particularly popular.

The Hangover Club also has a fun selection of Bloody Marys which Sam was in dire need of.  He could have chosen the Bloody Burro (with Chicken Stock Fat-washed Tequila and Chipotle) or the Bloody Bullfighter (Bloodshot vodka muddled with Beef Bouillon) but instead was coaxed by the barman into having a Red Eye (from the film 'Cocktail').  It is a pint of half tomato juice and half lager with a shot of vodka and whole egg.  What Sam didn't realise was that the drink is intended to be downed in one go, with the egg dropped in just before - see the video below.  My favourite moment is when his eyes widen as he sees the egg (his third of the morning) floating towards his mouth.  The barman later returned and said that he didn't think anyone would ever choose it from the menu, and that he had just put it on there for a laugh.  Look out for other great events on at Skyroom such as Gin Shed on Saturdays from 5 and Cock'n'Doodle on Friday evenings.

Sam and I moved on for a cheeky pint in the excellent Dean Swift pub near Tower Bridge - a hidden gem for beer lovers off the main road - before heading to his flat via Maltby Street market to watch a dreadful Spurs Saints game.  After a late Bale winner and a quick bit of retro Sega Megadrive Pete Sampras Tennis (couldn't resist playing as my female namesake, L.Hickman), we made our way to Rotherhithe with his flatmates and neighbours (Henry and T Rex from Katzenjammers plus Rich and EJ) where Team List leader Natalie was already waiting to add to her impressive points total.

Odd little café in Maltby Street Market

Rotherhithe is another stop on my new favourite Overground Line and is the new place to be on Saturdays and Sundays as one of 2012s most successful popup bars, Midnight Apothecary, has just reopened for 2013 on the roof garden of the Brunel Museum. It's a stunning outdoor space within sight of the Thames, with a central bonfire that leads to a sociable, festival atmosphere as night draws in. The brains behind the bar is Lotte Muir ("The Cocktail Gardener") who transformed the neglected garden last year.  The bar was initially just a one-off to promote events at The Brunel Museum but proved to be too popular! Ever the suckers for a deal, we bought 4 cocktail tokens each for £25 - they have to sell the drinks in a roundabout about way to get past various licensing issues.  Make sure you come prepared with fun fake names, as they take your order and call out to you when they are ready.  Most of us realised this too late, but Henry managed to get away with being called Leroy.  The cocktails are inspired by the garden, using such ingredients as silver rosed tea-infused vodka, lavender infused gin and hibiscus syrup.  The Sloe Gin Sour with rhubarb and ginger jam was the best of the bunch.  A more exciting beer option would be wise and we were sad that the advertised Foragers food wasn't there, but those are small complaints.  

T Rex and Leroy

A charming chap came round offering a £5 guided tour of the original Rotherhithe tunnel below the bar which I hope to go on next time.  T Rex gave us a quick summary including tales of a tragic tunnel collapse early on, plus possibly the first ever pop up tunnel-based dining experience held when it was all finished to prove that it was safe after all.  Keep your eyes peeled for various events such as popup Opera being held in the tunnel over summer.

Lotte the Cocktail Gardener came round with marshmallows and some branches which got everyone talking round the fire.  We befriended Rotherhithe local, Yen, and her group of friends whilst some were on the tour.  We eventually dragged ourselves away to get some food in the nearby pub, The Mayflower.  It felt like we were miles from London as we walked down the cobbled village street to get there.

We didn't get off to the best start as we ordered 7 main meals just as the kitchen was closing but they forgave us.  We sat outside in the lovely garden that overlooks the Thames, complete with heaters, blankets and hot water bottles for cold nights.  The Mayflower (est 1621) claims to be the oldest pub in The Thames and it certainly isn't lacking in character.  I would love it to be my local!  The evening ended in an amusing fashion as one of the girls from behind the bar came over with a classic calculator and tried to work out what was going wrong with the bill, and ended up going round and round in circles until she was told to give up by another member of staff.  It was a very enjoyable evening and has opened my eyes to the delights of Rotherhithe Village.  I highly recommend going along to both the bar and the pub in the same evening, just as we did, but save a fiver for the tunnel tour!  Saturdays and Sundays only for Midnight Apothecary.