GNH Bar - Grain Store - Megaro Bar - Speck Mobile

Tuesday 21st January - Throughout December, the ever generous Barchick gave away a ludicrous amount of prizes in their daily Advent Calendar competition.  I dutifully entered every single one and was eventually rewarded with a seafood platter for two with champagne at the GNH Bar in the refurbished Great Northern Hotel in King's Cross Station.  

A quick look at the website revealed that the GNH Bar is known for its seafood menu from Michelin starred chef Mark Sergeant (more available at Plum & Spilt Milk upstairs), and the platter came in at a whopping £75.  Thankyou Barchick.  I went along in January with Su-Lin to devour it.

At 6.30pm on a Tuesday, the GNH bar was buzzing with commuters having a drink before catching a connection elsewhere.  Dark curtains and upbeat music made it difficult to tell the time of day, which is what most want from a station bar.  If it doesn't take your fancy, there's always Booking Office Bar in St.Pancras, the surprisingly wonderful Parcel Yard Fullers pub (go upstairs!) in King's Cross, and the superb Gilbert Scott round the corner.

Our impressive seafood platter soon arrived, piled high with lobster, crab, oysters, whelk, prawns and more.  I'm not sure I would splash out the £75 myself, but it was a fantastic spread and a must for seafood lovers.

After a glass of champagne, we ordered a couple of house cocktails from their tempting menu.  My Kumquat Negroni hit the spot, but I might go back for an 1854 (Smoked pineapple syrup with cardamom, Woodford Reserve & Noilly Prat).  Prices range from £8-£12 - go along every Saturday 2-7pm for their Afternoon Jaunt party with 2-for-1 cocktails.

We decided to tick off a couple more places in the rapidly improving King's Cross area, starting with dessert and a drink at Bruno Loubet's Grain Store on Granary Square.  Drinks come from master mixologist Tony Corigliano (69 Colebrooke Row) who has collaborated with Bruno before at Zetter Townhouse.

Granary Square is a London hidden gem with Regent's Canal nearby, dancing fountains, stunning trees and plenty of space for al-fresco dining in Summer.  Grain Store has boxes of blankets at the ready if you want to brave the great outdoors.  

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

A central bar separates diners from drinkers in Grain Store - you get great views over to the busy kitchen and attractive dining room if you grab a seat at the bar on the drinks side.  Perfect for people watching and having the bartender's full attention.

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Photo Credit : Amy Murell

Tony has created a truly original cocktail menu to match the food including a Savoury section (e.g. Green Tomato Margarita, Pumpkin & Maple Syrup Bellini) and "Tony's Greco Roman Wines" which are all smoked or herb infused in some way and stored in funky glass containers on the bar.  Su-Lin was very happy with a glass of Rose Vinus Lupus - dried rose petals, clover honey & verjus stirred down with gewurztraminer.  My subtle but delicious Butter & Hay champagne (with toasted butter & hay liquor) also impressed.  If you just want a beer, get yourself a growler of a Camden Town Brewery beer or a bottle of Laverstock Farm Lager.

We also got ourselves a couple of desserts, resisting the urge to have a second dinner from Grain Store's mouth-watering food menu.  Apple, blackberry & elderberry crumble with fig leaves & olive oil ice cream for me, and goji berries & carrot cake with chamomile ice cream for Su-Lin - both outstanding.  I'll be back for more...

The "Campari Piano" is brought to life at Sunday Brunch

Our last stop was for a nightcap at Megaro Bar, a stunning little hotel bar tucked away beneath Karpo restaurant in King's Cross.  The bar is styled as a photography darkroom, and they rotate installations every few months.  At the moment, photographer Henry Thomas has put his stamp on proceedings. His photo collage in the Picture Room (where noir films are occasionally screened) is particularly striking.

The Picture Room at Megaro Bar

Bar manager Ben Clark and bartender Nico Piazza looked after us well, mixing up two fantastic quirky cocktails - Birch and Bruks (Mackmyra Bruks Whisky, Birch Sap Reduction) and The Lost Steps (Ocho Blanco, Cardamom Sweet Tea, Chartreuse Elixir).  See more of the house cocktail concoctions below.  We loved the presentation of the menu in clunky old photo slides, but they are expensive to replace so may not be around for long!

The house cocktails are presented in a simple but classy way to allow the mixology to take centre stage.  Nico clearly knows what he is doing and I would happily drink my way through the whole menu.  They run a brilliant blog (see here) where they discuss the cocktails in great depth - well worth a read if you want to know where they got the idea for using Birch Syrup from, or what Glory Box is named after.

Chef's plates from upstairs are also available if you need feeding, including Smoked (cods roe, compressed cucumber, fennel salad), Cured (Earl Grey salmon, vanilla, root beer jelly) and Sweet (dark chocolate cremosa, sea salt, chocolate soil).

Cured, Smoked and Sweet - Chef's Plates at Megaro Bar

So there you have it, 3 more top bars tucked away in King's Cross, to add to the likes of Gilbert Scott, VOC and Drink, Shop & Do.  Time to change your mind about the area if you haven't already!

Thursday 6th February - Whilst I'm on a King's Cross spree, I'll just quickly mention that Speck Mobile, the popular Austrian street food boys, are currently cooking up a storm at The Star of Kings pub - they won't be here for that much longer though so head over there sooner rather than later.

I popped in with Caroline, Natalie & Lauren to their opening party for some Schnitzel sliders and Stiegl beers.  They have impressively extended their normal street menu to include dishes such as Potato & Pumpkin Rosti, Goulash Soup, and Grilled Cheese Dumplings, but you really should go for the signature dish - Speck Dumplings and Nuernberger sausages with Sauerkraut.  We've eaten it many times out on the streets, and it didn't disappoint here.  The only thing missing for me is Käsespätzle - I still dream about the Heisser Hobel plate at Street Food Europe last year.  If you have any space left, there is Sachertorte (£3.50) and Apfelstrudel (£3.90) for pudding.  Mahlzeit!

69 Colebrooke Row - Slim Jim's Liquor Store - Smokehouse

Saturday 5th October - After holding off on Islington for the first 6 months, Team List has been all over it recently (read about the last Upper Street crawl here).  69 Colebrooke Row ("The Bar with No Name") was one of the first places to be added to my original list, and I finally made it there with Lauren at the start of October.

Tony Corigliano is the master mixologist behind 69 Colebrooke Row, and he is one of the most respected members of the cocktail world.  He often works closely with chef Bruno Loubet - Zetter Townhouse and Grain Store are their two London collaborations.   Here though, it is all about the drinks and the atmosphere.  Despite what you may have read, it is not hard to find at all, and doesn't look like a run down apartment from the outside!  It is, however, a very small space, so booking ahead is highly recommended.  Despite it only being 6.30, the bar was packed and people seemed to have been there for a while.  We were squeezed in next to the door, which brought a welcome breeze every few minutes.  

The menu is relatively short with 12 house cocktails listed, but I'm sure one of the lab-coated bartenders would be happy to go off piste.  Two drinks that stand out instantly are the Prairie Oyster (see below) and Terroir.  The latter is described as "distilled clay, flint and lichen, served straight from the bottle" - how could I resist?  Our friendly waiter brought over a sample and talked us through the thought process behind it. The word terroir normally relates to wine, specifically the land / soil that the grapes are grown in, which has a big impact on the wine's flavour profile.  Tony has essentially distilled terroir and bottled it, with a little sugar to take the edge off!  It is very drinkable, but actually a little too sweet for me - don't leave without giving it a try though.

The Prairie Oyster is Tony's take on the classic raw egg and tabasco based shot of the same name, which is often used as a hangover cure.  Tony's version replaces the raw egg with a "tomato yolk" and plays up the oyster link with an appropriately shaped dish and an oyster leaf on top.  It ends up as a bizarre, almost edible Bloody Mary which can be yours for £5.50.

Prairie Oyster

We moved on to a Death in Venice (Campari with grapefruit bitters, Prosecco and an orange twist) and an Avignon (Merlet Cognac, Camomile Syrup and Frankincense).  The Avignon was the more interesting of the two, with the frankincense having a real effect - "It smells like Dorset at Christmas", says Lauren.  The drinks are of the highest quality, though I think I need to know a bit more about the art of mixology to really appreciate everything that is going on.  I should probably sign up to one of their masterclasses which happen fairly regularly - check the website for details.

We enjoyed our stay but decided to move away from £9.50 drinks for a bit.  It's an obvious date spot, though I would save it for people that really know their cocktails.  Keep your eyes peeled for Tony's next bar which will apparently be called Air Mail, according to Barchick.

Tony Corigliano

Mary joined us as we moved on to our second stop of the evening, which is probably as far from 69 Colebrooke Row as you can get (in style, not distance).  Slim Jim's Liquor Store is a popular rock and roll dive bar, sandwiched between Upper Street's delightful cafés and restaurants.  You are transported to LA as soon as you step inside.  As one review on the website says, "It smells like grunge sounds!". One of the first things you will notice is the array of bras hanging from the ceiling - anyone that is willing to hand over their bra will receive a drink on the house apparently.  

The bar is incredibly well stocked, and it does apparently work as an off license too, though I'm not sure if this is actually true.  I would have thought that it would be more of a bourbon and beers type bar, but a lot of effort went in to Mary and Lauren's cocktails.  The bottled beers are more interesting than the draught options, and I went for a Sierra Nevada Kellerweis which I haven't seen in London before.

This is the place to rock up to towards the end of the evening, especially from Thursday-Saturday when it stays open til 3am, with no suits / ties / formal wear allowed.  There will either be a DJ playing classic tunes, or a free jukebox for all to enjoy.  We were very taken with Slim Jim's and plan to return en masse soon, after stopping off at Primark first for some bras of course.

After a few drinks, we were in need of food, so we wandered along Upper Street, past the fully booked John Salt, before veering off towards Essex Street to check out Neil Rankin's Islington pub/restaurant, Smokehouse.  Neil Rankin made a name for himself as a BBQ and butchery maestro with stints at Pitt Cue Co and John Salt, so there was a lot of expectation for Smokehouse.  I was too slow off the mark to make it to the soft opening over the summer, and watched on with increasing jealousy as it received rave reviews.  

We were fortunate to get a cosy table in the bar area that looked out into the stunning fairly lit garden - a magical place to drink which needs to extend it's licensing hours once they have made friends with all of their neighbours.  It felt like we had escaped the city, so we settled in for the rest of the evening.

We were looked after by two superb waiters who seemed to be competing to be the most entertaining. I could attempt to recount some of our bizarre conversations but they wouldn't come across as well on here.  We did particularly enjoy the enthusiasm that one of them showed when asked to go through the silly pudding menu which includes Vanilla Vanilla Vanilla, Krun Chee Nut and the mysterious Friday Pie. He convinced us to get the Friday Pie (I won't spoil the surprise, but it is delicious) and then brought an extra giant spoon to the table for himself!

Anyway, back to the meat.  I was torn between the Onglet, the Peppered Ox-Cheek and the Smoked Pork Rib-Eye.  The menu is one of those "I want to eat everything" lists, but we all somehow ended up with the Aberdeen Angus Onglet which comes with Charred Vegetables, Roast Potatoes, and a Smoked Bearnaise sauce, though the sides aren't listed.  It was easily one of the best meals I have eaten this year, and I've scoffed a fair amount in the last few months.

As well as having fantastic smoked meats to shout about, they have over 20 craft beers on tap and many more in the fridge.  I recognised one of the barmen as we had briefly met in the Earl of Essex on my last trip to Islington.  He was very generous with tasters, and passed me samples of Mikeller APA, Rogue Dead Guy Ale and Redhook Longhammer IPA amongst others.  It's not the cheapest way to try craft beer in London, but it is certainly one of the best combined beer and meat hangouts.  Smokehouse should be at the top of your to-do list.

Team List - Maggie turned up right at the end as usual for a sneaky point, whilst Mary gets 2 (bringing her into the Top 10) and Lauren gets 3 (edging towards 50 points).  I think many members of Team List would be suitable candidates for a new venture called Whitenighter. People who are visiting London can book a knowledgeable Whitenighter host who will plan an evening out, avoiding tourist traps and discovering some of London's hidden gems along the way.  They are also currently running a competition for visitors travelling to London, to win places on their London Safari night out - click HERE for more details.  If you are a Londoner who thinks you have what it takes to be a Whitenighter, you can apply on their website.  It's a fantastic idea and will hopefully give tourists a better experience of London's food and drink scene.