Tonteria - Barts - Goat

Friday 3rd May - Friday started with an innocent walk down King's Road in the sun with my friend Mary.  The plan was to do some window shopping and maybe buy a jacket but Mary's bus took forever, most jackets cost £200 and the shops started to close so it quickly turned in to another List evening instead.  A quick check of my map told me that Tonteria and Barts were nearby, and so at about 7pm we wandered over to Tonteria in Sloane Square.

Tonteria is an underground Mexican bar/nightclub depending on what time you go, with better than average bar food available too (doesn't everywhere serve Squid Ceviche?).  It's another Guy Pelly club (Mahiki, Whisky Mist) which isn't normally my idea of a good night out, but when Tonteria is in laid-back bar mode, it's a great little place.  Look up to see the Tonteria Express which chugs around serving tequila to VIPs - a seriously moustachioed barman gave it a lap for us.  You can order a sharing cocktail that comes in one of the train carriages though it is apparently broken at the moment.

There are numerous silly sharing cocktails from Lucha Libre masks to Mayan pyramids, but there are more sensible Margaritas and Mexican beers (Negra Modelo always goes down well) if you want to leave with some money to spare.  If you have £5,000 you can buy yourself their most expensive bottle of Reserva del Alma tequila.  On the menu it says that there only two bottles, but when we asked our barman he explained that there was now only one left because one of his colleagues unforunately smashed the other!  The Sloanes started to arrive as we were finishing our drink so we decided to move on.  Arrive early for a fun, atmospheric drink and stay later if you can bear the clientele!

Our next stop was Barts near South Kensington - The "Worst Kept Secret" bar hidden somewhere on Sloane Avenue.  I will not reveal the exact location as finding it is half the fun!  Mary and I both had different Google Maps results for the location so we snooped around the street for a bit, trying to decide which unmarked door might lead us to the bar.  After watching a shifty looking lady leave from a blue door which seemed to match Mary's location for the bar, we decided to buzz.  We were instantly let in which led us to believe we were in the right place.  Seconds later, however, we discovered that we had just been let in the chefs' back entrance for a Japanese restaurant.  One kind chef pointed us in the right direction and we were more successful on our second attempt.

We hadn't booked so we weren't sure whether there would be space, and some reports online suggest that you might have difficulty getting in unless you are in a girl heavy group, but we were welcomed and given a table to sit for as long as we could hold on to it. It's a lively little bar with a fun dressing up box and all sorts covering every inch of the walls.  Barts is part of the same group as Bunga Bunga (Berlusconi karaoke pizzeria) and Maggies (Thatcher themed club where they play her speeches in the toilets) so the ridiculous sharing cocktails served in giant teapots are no surprise.  What is a surprise though is that they serve Samuel Adaams beer by the Stein!  I'm sold.  Where most bars of this ilk would serve up some average bottled beer for £4.50, Barts give you a 1 litre Stein of premium beer for under £9!  Natalie joined us as we messed around with various Cinco de Mayo themed items from the dressing-up box.  See the rather special Tequila bottle outfit below.  It wasn't a crazy night as two of us were working early the next day, but it was a very successful unplanned jaunt around South Ken and Sloane Square.  Now I know where Barts is (and that they have a solid beer option), I will return confidently with more friends!  Watch out for two new bars from the same team that are opening soon.  Mr. Foggs is a Phileas Fogg themed Mayfair bar opening on May 22nd, and Disco will apparently be 70s Manhattan, reborn in Soho.

Sunday 5th May - Just a quick mention for the new Goat restaurant that has opened in the old Goat in Boots site on Fulham Road.  It's apparently a "New York & Italian restaurant and cocktail bar" so when I popped in with my friend Harriet on Sunday we had to have a bit of both.  There is a cosy bar upstairs where you can have a pre/post dinner drink - our cocktails were excellent, and the well put together list makes choosing a drink a difficult choice.  My Bresaola based pizza and Harriet's calamari were also delicious.  Why are you talking about a nice restaurant I hear you cry?  Because there is a secret concealed upstairs, of course!  Due to short staffing that night it was sadly shut, but after a quick word with front of house they agreed to show us around anyway.  Hidden away is a tiny bar called the Chelsea Prayer Room complete with unbranded "speakeasy" spirit bottles behind the bar, and menus tucked away in hymn books.  Our host seemed to think we had friends in high places as he showed us a secret exit that leads straight to the street in case any of our friends need to avoid being seen.  We tried to play along and I think just about got away with it.  If anyone knows anyone famous that would like to go to a bar in Chelsea with me, please get in touch.  I will hopefully report back on it soon once I have had actually had a drink there! Head along to the restaurant anyway as the food is fantastic, and see if you can sneak yourself in upstairs.  Thanks to the staff for taking the time to show us around.

I have (for the first time!) scrapped my normal chronological order so that I could mention Goat in the same place as the two other places in Chelsea.  There is still a post to come on a great day out around London Bridge and Rotherhithe on Saturday 4th.  I have also added new links to the right hand side of the blog (though not if you are viewing it on a mobile) so that you can choose old posts that cover particular areas of London - I hope some find this useful!

Crown and Anchor - Gremio de Brixton - Honest Burgers - Seven at Brixton

Wednesday 1st May - I have been waiting for a few weeks to go to some places in Brixton with Luke and Lauren who live nearby, but Luke is busy being flown around the world for work so we caved and went on a friend-date instead.  The sun was out so we found a bench outside the excellent Crown and Anchor pub on Brixton Road.  It is relatively new so and in a slightly odd location so many beer aficianados may not have discovered it yet, but it is well worth a visit.  They have fantastic beers on rotation from Kernel, BrewDog, Dark Star and many more great breweries.  Everything on the daily changing food menu has a suggested beer pairing, including a different recommendation for each type of sausage available in their Sausage and Mash Story - a create your own section with various choices of sausage, mash and gravy. Crown and Anchor is another wonderful pub to add to your list.

We moved off towards Brixton Village to find some food.  If you haven't been to Brixton Village yet then you need to make some time for it as soon as possible.  It's an exciting covered market of restaurants, bars and shops of the highest quality with a buzzing atmosphere that is hard to beat.  We decided to try out the popular Honest Burgers (who have another branch in Soho) and put our names down for a table in 45 mins - with no reservations at most places, expect a wait and grab a drink elsewhere.  There are many good options for drinks around Brixton, notably the Craft Beer Co pub, and we decided to try out the newly opened Gremio de Brixton nearby.

Brixton Village

Gremio de Brixton opened a few weeks ago in the crypt underneath St.Matthew's Church, a site formerly owned by the club Babilou.  It felt a bit wrong walking across a church green and in to a crypt to get a drink but we went for it.  It is a huge space to fill, but once word gets out I shouldn't think that will be a problem.  It's beautifully lit with plenty of cosy tables to choose from.  We just stayed for a quick drink (very affordable glass of Spanish wine and half pint of Mahou lager) but when it is busier we will return for the full Tapas experience.  The food menu is very enticing and reasonably priced for London.  One friendly barmaid came over to chat to us, joking about how busy it was (we were the first in that night), and made us feel very welcome.  They know they are on to a winner.  All there is left to do is spread the word!

Can you see it?

We scampered back to Honest Burgers after getting a call to say our table was ready.  It's a simple menu and you should really go for the Honest Burger if it is your first time there - Ginger Pig dry aged beef with smoked bacon, mature cheddar and more served with delicious rosemary salt chips that Lauren deemed to be the best ever.  Wash it down with wine, homemade lemonade or tasty beers from Redchurch brewery.  It was lovely sitting outside packed in with other hungry punters who we inevitably got chatting to, swapping ideas for other places to go in Brixton.  On one girl's advice, we decided to pop over to the second covered market over the road for a final drink of the evening at Seven at Brixton.

Seven at Brixton (opposite the busy Franco Manca and Wishbone) is a tapas and cocktail bar set over two floors with eye catching design.  The five different rooms are used as an exhibition space for local artists and you get to sit among the art installations whilst you eat your pintxos and sip your Spanish wines/beers.  The books organised by colour on the ground floor bar are particularly striking. The quirky cocktails (listed on an oversized luggage tag) are only £5, all day long - would you see that in a Shoreditch equivalent?  You only have the name to go on for the cocktails with no ingredients listed, but there isn't much risk when they are only a fiver.  We went for a Creme Brulee Martini and a Cinnamon Martini that were both very drinkable.  I would imagine it gets busy at the weekends but you can make reservations before 7.30.  The atmosphere in Brixton Village is only going to get better as summer settles in for good - start working your way through its many wonders as soon as you can!

Thanks to Lauren who I know is keen to pick up many more Brixton points now - she moves in to 4th place ahead of Libby and Shannon with 14 points.  Maybe I should start some kind of loyalty rewards scheme?

Lazy Bones - Old Red Cow - The Longroom Pub - Zetter Townhouse

Tuesday April 30th - My last outing of a very busy April (I count 50 places in total - possibly a bit ridiculous, but I was on holiday for a month) was a fairly quiet night in Farringdon.  I often get to the Barbican for a concert with time to kill so I was keen to investigate the area.  Libby and Cath arrived for the first stop at Lazy Bones - a stylish new bar that serves up slow-cooked meats alongside fun snacks and great drinks in a secluded square near the station.

Libby and I both went for 8 hour-cooked pork shoulder in pale ale, fennel, honey, and smoked paprika with a cabbage, carrot, fennel, beetroot, celeriac, radish and yoghurt slaw.  It sounds a bit over complicated but it was delicious.  The 6-hour cooked Brisket Chilli with homemade guacamole also looks fantastic.  Cath went for two sets of wings - Sweet and Spicy (ginger, honey, coriander, hot sauce and lime) and BBQ (with hickory smoke and chipotle chilli) - both tasty and very messy!  The accompanying cheesy chips could have been more cheesy.  Elsewhere there is a DIY popcorn station where you can add your own toppings, whilst to drink there are bottomless soft drinks and a range of craft beers and cocktails to keep you busy.  The only thing missing is a proper dessert menu.  I'm sure they could come up with some enticing options if they put their mind to it.  As it stands, they just offer a brownie! That is a small complaint however and I highly recommend heading over to Lazy Bones - the main meals are special.

Olly, having just finished work in Moorgate, joined us just as we were leaving.  The next stop was meant to be Bird of Smithfield - a new multi-floor restaurant from Alan Bird with rooftop and cellar bars.  We were hoping to go to the underground Birdcage bar (after they tweeted me to say it was open) but found it surrounded by Polish builders.  It is apparently now opening properly next Wednesday.  Instead we moved down the road to the Old Red Cow - a great little pub with lots of ales and ciders to choose from akin to Euston Tap and Holborn Whippet.  I like that the upstairs room has just as many beers on tap so that you don't have to continually go downstairs as is the case in so many pubs.  We just had one before moving on to another pub round the corner.

The Longroom Pub (next to Burger and Lobster) is another stylish little place (exposed brickwork, hipster lightbulbs - you know the score) with a whole host of beers on tap.  We had just missed a Grain Brewery tasting when we arrived, so I ordered a pint of Grain Bramble beer to make up for it.  The main reason to visit is their house cured salt beef.  I was tempted but still full up from Lazy Bones, though we did try to order the Salt Caramel Tart with Craft Beer Ice Cream' which had sadly run out.  There was a good crowd of people in considering it was a Tuesday night, and I will certainly go back to try some of the food.

Our final stop was Zetter Townhouse Cocktail Lounge - a Tony Corigliano (69 Colebrooke Row) bar with Bruno Loubet food attached to a hotel in a Georgian Townhouse in St. John's Square.  Olly had been earlier that week and needed sleep so headed home, leaving the three of us to push on the discreet front door (you will only see the ZTH marking when you get right up to it).  Inside is a mad living room with bookcases, an open fire and artwork all over the walls.  We waited by a bookshelf to be seated where Libby got attached to some scientific tomes.  Once seated, we went for some house cocktails - Cath's Milk Collins (gin with milk syrup and more) was interesting, and Libby's Flintlock (with gunpowder tea tincture pyrotechnics) was complexed and strong!  I went for The Richmond, a drinkable Manhattan with an apple honey twist.  It's a cosy, well-lit bar that would be perfect for a date, though they do slightly try to spoil the atmosphere with a bizarre club-beat infused swing soundtrack that doesn't quite fit.  

I have made some inroads in to the many places to go in Farringdon, but I will still need to return to Bird of Smithfield plus a whole host of places in Clerkenwell / Exmouth Market.  There is another 5cc Cocktail Club underneath the Exmouth Arms (read my take on the Shoreditch one here) plus the excellent Craft Beer Co pub and table-football bar, Café Kick, not too far away.  I have been busy this week with trips to places in Brixton, South Kensington and Rotherhithe still to report on.  Libby moved in to 5th place on Team List after Farringdon but might not stay there long!  Natalie and Sam continue to add points later in the week to consolidate the top two spots.  Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Fox Craft Beer House - Street Feast London - Gin Store

Friday 26th April - I love the Overground line.  How else would I reach The Wapping Project, Midnight Apothecary in Rotherhithe, events at Tobacco Dock in Shadwell, Frank's Cafe in Peckham etc?  Last Friday, it took me all the way to Haggerston so that I could try out Street Feast London with some friends.  

We decided to gather in the Fox Craft Beer House first - an excellent pub for beer with a rooftop terrace.  Lauren and Natalie are both Overground line fans too, whereas Olly walked to the pub having moved in near Broadway Market recently.  I also work with two people who live on Kingsland Road who couldn't quite believe that I was trekking up to their neck of the woods to have a burger or two.  One of them even popped in to the pub to check that I was really there.  The staff were really friendly and we could happily have spent the whole evening chatting away here.  I must confess that I was so comfortable that I accidentally drank a beer on the bar that I thought was mine.  When it tasted different, I had the one next to it instead which seemed like the right one.  Unfortunately, neither drink was mine as it was still on the table when I returned from the bar.

After a couple of (our own) drinks we walked back down the road, past the long line of people at Tesco's waiting to use the only cashpoint in East London, and joined the fast moving Street Feast London queue.  It is free to get in, which explains why it was pretty overcrowded!  Unlike at Feast and Real Street Food festival, we couldn't speed our way around trying out different things as the queues for each stall were far too long.  After grabbing a drink from their bar (tasty bottled beers from BrewDog, Camden and Beavertown, plus giant cocktails from Rotary that I tried a few weeks ago with my sister), we decided to get stuck in to the queue for Yum Jungle.  It was incredibly slow moving (especially with some nasty queue jumper girls trying to get involved), but worth the wait.  I had a Thai-spiced chicken burger filled with crunchy Asian slaw, with delicious chips and some fancy mayo that I have forgotten the name of - it was all pretty special.

A special mention has to be given to the ridiculous men's open air urinals which are oddly placed next to where the women are queuing for their toilets.  They are also all facing one another so that you can either have an awkward time avoiding eye contact, or have a quick bit of pee banter.  After that interesting experience, Natalie and I had some enjoyable Sticky Toffee Pudding and Carrot Cake from Sweet Tooth Factory whilst everyone else was going for savoury food.  We were also joined by Haggerston local, James.  If you are thinking of going, I highly recommend getting there as close to 5pm as you can if you want to try several things, or hold off until a bit later.  There are so many great food traders to try that it's a shame to only fit in a couple!

After dessert, Natalie went home to sleep, which was a mistake because she missed out on The Gin Store!  In one corner of the market, there is a bouncer guarding a staircase which leads up to my new favourite bar.  It is one of the most beautiful spaces I have been to since starting The List.  It's like a cosy barn that has been filled with old furniture.  It has beams supporting a low sloping roof, and wonderful low ambient lighting.  I didn't manage to take any photos of the main room so you are just going to have to believe me.  It was buzzing inside and for some reason reminded me of those amazing bars that you stumble across in Budapest.  When James asked if there was a minimum spend on card, the barman replied 'Don't be a dick about it' - not quite sure what that meant, but it was delivered as a joke.  We managed to find some sofas and settled in for the rest of the evening.  There are the same beers from downstairs on offer, plus some special gin cocktails.  I haven't been back to that many places as I have so much left to try, but I might need to book out a whole Friday night to take some people here.  

Another string to Street Feast's bow is 'Ben Spalding Stripped Back' - a 50 minute high-quality, high-speed dining experience with drinks for £27.50 in a covered dining area.  In that time you get through four 'surprise' courses conceived by Ben Spalding that compliment the street food vibe going on downstairs.  Have a look at the website for more info and to book tickets.  

Street Feast is only open on Fridays, though this weekend they are holding special 1st birthday celebrations with extra stuff happening on Sunday and Monday too.  Get on that Overground line to Haggerston - you won't regret it!  For more food fun this weekend, head to Southbank for Real Food Festival and Streets of Spain all weekend.  I am also excited by the new events at Skyroom near London Bridge run by Platterform - especially The Good Egg Hangover Club, Cock'n'Doodle and The Gin Shed.  So much to do, so little money...  Thanks for reading!