Floripa - Dutch Gin House - Nola Bar

Wednesday 5th July - One week before this outing, I was having a moan about how Brixton manages to have style and quality for half the price of a night out in Soho and Shoreditch, but here I am back in Old Street again (and Soho two days later).  It was pretty inevitable wasn't it?  Let's see how it compared.

The sun was out so I decided to meet List Leader Natalie, 4th placed Lauren and 7th placed Cath at Brazilian bar Floripa as they have a fair amount of outside space on the corners of Great Eastern, Rivington and Old Street.  A generous happy hour is in place every weekday from 5-7 with £2.50 bottles of Sol, £5 Caipirinhas and Mojitos, and a £6 flaming Fogo de Floripa - keeping pace with Brixton so far.  The interior is tropically decked out with a stage for live music.  I'm pretty keen to return for their Sunday Jazz Meat Roast which sounds excellent.

We moved back outside to take advantage of their free babyfoot table - it's hard to beat £2.50 beers and free table football outdoors in the sun for after work drinks.  Natalie didn't manage to build on her last table football session with Marta and the boys in Azulito as Lauren and I remained undefeated throughout happy hour.  I will need to return for the whole Comer, Beber, Dancar experience - music listings look good and I am tempted by their Beijos (a shot of Cachaca with a pepper rim and a strawberry on the side).  For sharing cocktail lovers, there is a £36 Bloc Party Punch for 5 served in an antique suitcase.

With happy hour finished, we wandered down Rivington Street to the Jubjub Bar in Callooh Callay to try out their latest pop-up theme, the Dutch Gin House.  Last month the bar was in brightly coloured Cantina de Cuervo mode with Chilli Tequila Slushies and Lucha Libre wrestling on TV in the corner.  They have done wonders to make it look completely different this time around with cosy candlelit tables and tiny clogs all over the place.  

Tiny clogs on the ceiling!

The drinks are still being served up by Clo who was up there for Cantina de Cuervo.  Eggs "over easy", Freshly Squeezed, Mumbo Jumbo, Melba Tulip and Red Light District all impressed.  Well done to Cath for ordering Crunch Corner - Genever with peach, mango and yoghurt liqueurs garnished with a sprinkling of muesli.  Thanks to Clo for a free taster of the Bols Natural Yoghurt liqueur which reminded me of Amarula - strange stuff.  I went for a Kopstootje (translates to little headbutt!) which is essentially a beer and a shot of Genever - you must take a hands free sip of the Genever first followed by a swig of beer before you can drink the rest of it.  There was only Amstel on the beer side - some more interesting Dutch choices would have been appreciated though that is a small complaint.  We made our way through their bar snacks menu as well - Chips, Dutch Potato Croquettes, Gouda Cheese Fritters and Pork Bitterballlen all served with tasty homemade tomato dip and spicy mustard mayo.

Kopstootje - Little Headbutt

There a few events going on there including a Bols Brainiest quiz tonight (11th June) and celebrations on World Gin Day (Saturday 15th June if you haven't managed to get tickets to Ginstock).  I tried to get Clo to reveal the next Jubjub bar theme (launching July 4th) but she was having none of it - judging by the last two it will be worth a visit.  Our final stop was just over the road at Nola Bar above Bedroom Bar - apparently several groups have been taking in these two neighbouring places in the same evening.  Clo told us to order a round of Ramos Gin Fizz (which is supposed to be shaken vigorously for 12 minutes) to wind them up.  Luke joined us as we were leaving (squeezing in a speedy cocktail at Jubjub) and the 5 of us walked over to Nola.

Dutch Gin House - finishes June 29th

Nola Bar is a New Orleans inspired bar with everything you would expect - Creole cuisine, Hurricanes, Sazeracs and live music.  Unless you knew where you were going, your only chance of finding it would be hearing the music out of the windows above Bedroom Bar.  It makes a pleasant change to have a bar tucked away upstairs rather than in a basement!  Bedroom Bar was totally deserted but Nola was buzzing.  It's worth booking ahead if you want to guarantee yourself a table.  Their chef sadly left them in the first week so they are generously dishing out free delicious taster portions of Jambalaya to plug the gap until they are satisfied with a new authentic Creole cuisine trained cook in the house.  Natalie did go for a Ramos Gin Fizz in the end, whilst others had various Hurricanes and Dixieland beers.  The brave can order a Doctor John twist on a Cosmo for 6 served in an absinthe rinsed glass skull.  One pound of every drink goes to relief efforts in New Orleans which makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside (or maybe that's just the booze?).

Hurricanes

The main reason to come is to let the whole experience (especially the music) transport you to the French Quarter.  I wasn't initially blown away with covers of Amy Winehouse etc not quite hitting the New Orleans mark for me, but a larger band started up as we were leaving who seemed to be on the right track.  I would love to see Snarky Puppy or the cast of Treme squeezing in here! They did have Dan Ackroyd down in their first week which I sadly missed. Fridays and Saturdays are supposedly wonderful with the bar open til 3am.  Their is a members only policy after midnight to keep the rabble out - fill out one of their hilarious annotated forms mocking Shoreditch House membership to gain access.  This could well be the nest new place to end your night in Shoreditch - head down there soon to find out.

So it was inevitably more expensive than Brixton, but this time I'm not complaining.  There's so much variety that I just can't stay away!  I'm a sucker for a theme and being able to enjoy Brazil, Holland and New Orleans is why I love London this year.  Stay tuned for the next post in a couple of days on a night out in Soho with 5 new List-worthy places! Thanks to Team List - Leader Natalie edges closer to the big 50 points marker, will anyone ever catch her?

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?

Kitchen Party Popup - Fourth Wall - Extreme Garnishing - Café Kick

Friday 17th May - Another night in Farringdon and Clerkenwell started out with a return trip to Lazybones with my sister Jo, her fiancée Ant and Team List regular Harriet.  I couldn't resist the slow-cooked pulled pork again, it is really something special.  Anyway, you can read more about Lazybones here.  We quickly moved off to find Kitchen Party Popup in Clerkenwell - a mix of popup dining experiences tied together by the central Fourth Wall bar, all curated by Bourne and Hollingsworth.  They have brought over the same "Grandma's living room" wallpaper from their Goodge Street bar and a few of the cocktails.  The Lychee Martini and Chimps Tea (in a teacup) were the most enjoyable of the ones we tried.

At 7.30 we were called in for Extreme Garnishing workshop (which we booked in advance - £15 each) by our hosts for the evening, Brandy & Robin (of The Robin Collective - Bompas and Parr proteges who put on bizarre food and drink events).  We weren't quite sure what to expect from the description on the website, and when we entered the room we found our places laid with syringes, knives and a mysterious looking pill.  Thankfully, Brandy and Robin were an amusing double act who quickly took away the fear with the use of a silly flip chart, although they also warned us about the finale which involved Class 3 explosives.

We started off slow, making a dinner jacket out of a napkin (Jo's collar was singled out!) and a rose out of a tomato before blindly swallowing our mysterious pill.  This turned out to be a pill for turning off your sour receptors, which we proved by eating some slices of lemon and drinking vinegar.  Then we did some creative melon carving before using our syringes to make some cocktail caviar - all clever stuff, send The Robin Collective a message if you want any of it explained.  I won't go into too much detail or you won't need to go yourselves!

One they made earlier plus some "human grade" (dead) maggots

One of my favourite parts was the use of party poppers.  We took out the coloured paper filling, leaving just the explosive, and filled it back up again with parsley before firing them at mashed potato!  No doubt you could use various other fillings for some easy to replicate Extreme Garnishing.  The two big final events were carried out by Brandy and Robin without our help - probably wise.  First up, they adapted icing sugar to make it extremely flammable and put some in the top of the pineapple - see the video below.  They have previously covered a wheel of cheese in it at a wedding for a groom who hated wedding cake, allowing him to initially conceal the fact that it wasn't a real cake, before dramatically burning away the icing to reveal the cheese.  Finally, they attempted to stuff a chicken by firing a rocket with a stuffing-laden spade attached into its rear. This involved setting up a string track for the rocket aimed at the chicken's bum, and lighting a highly explosive substance (all available from Amazon!) in the bottle. It sadly just missed, but it was great, shambolic entertainment!

Just as we were leaving, they also gave us a taste of one of their Historical Bitters.  They extract the essence from walls of famous buildings and add it to various spices to make a bottle of alcoholic bitters.  We tried a bit of Arthur Conan Doyle, who apparently tastes of cloves. Robin has made a bottle from the burial chamber of the elephant man.  Brandy has Winston Churchill in her freezer.  Keep an eye out for other new events from The Robin Collective - past events show that they an inventive and ambitious team.

Kitchen Party Popup has three other events at the moment worth checking out - 1. Rack and Ruin (£25 a head) - hearty 3 course mediaeval banquet served straight from the fire to your plates. 2. Russian Revels (£45 a head) - a theatrical dining experience with a 1920s Secret Soviet Dinner. 3. Blanch and Shock (£35 a head) - experimental food designers serving up a four course tasting menu.  The current installations will be there for four to six weeks, when they will introduce some new experiences.  Catch them before they disappear!

We ended our night with drinks in Exmouth Market.  I must confess it was my first visit to this buzzing pedestrianised street, but it certainly won't be my last.  It felt like a summer night in a European city with people spilling out onto the streets, even though it really wasn't that warm.  Moro and Morito, which I have heard good things about, were both packed.  We also passed by the Exmouth Arms who have 5cc Cocktail Club hidden away somewhere (Team List have already been to the Shoreditch one so we didn't go in).

We instead set our sights on Café Kick, a classic Continental bar/café specialising in table football that opened all the way back in 1997.  They also own Bar Kick in Shoreditch - read London Foodie's review full of excellent photos here.  The walls are covered in flags and football memorabilia and the bar shelves are packed with all kinds of bottles.  The atmosphere inside is fantastic - I could happily spend a whole day here drinking Duvel, playing cards, watching football, playing babyfoot and munching my way through their yummy bar food.  Jo ordered us some fishcakes and merguez sausages with various homemade sauces which were both delicious.  The chef popped out to pick up the plates and was delighted to chat about his food - he varies the side sauces depending on his mood!

There was a good crowd in to watch Athletico beat Real for the first time in 14 years which added to the fun.  We eventually dragged ourselves away from food and a cosy table to get involved with some table football.  It's very affordable (compared to hiring a table tennis table at Bounce for example!) at £1 a game - just put your money down and wait for your turn.  Don't be afraid of locals hogging tables, they are very friendly!  Jo turned out to be a terrifying striker, which caught Harriet and I by surprise in the first game.  Once we realised that she was just wildly swinging at everything, the tables turned and we won a hard fought victory the second time around.  I did however lose to the Duvel hangover which gets me every time - damn that tasty 9% beer.

Athletico finally beating Real after 14 years

Sister Jo makes up some List points ground on Sister Em, and fiancée Ant starts to catch up with boyfriend Al, although a Hoxton/Haggerston trip with Em and Al looks likely this Friday.  Harriet picks up a few more valuable points as she tries to set a hard score to beat before moving to Vienna.