Bars

With Dalston having served as London’s coolest place to live for such a long time, recently overtaken by Peckham, it’s perhaps surprising that such a flagrant tribute to Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory hasn’t seen the light of day – until now. The first East London bar from Tony Conigliaro, often dubbed the ‘Heston Blumenthal of cocktails’, Untitled Bar sits just a stone’s throw from Dalston Junction Overground, on Kingsland Road. Inside, the ground-floor bar is awash with natural light that cascades...

One of London’s oldest and most popular hotels, The Savoy is home to not just one, but two of the World’s best renowned bars. First opened in 1903, The American Bar is bright, opulent and classic, while the windowless downstairs Beaufort Bar has a far more sedate, still luxurious, atmosphere. Quintessentially art-deco, the low-lit space’s bar stands on the hotel’s former cabaret stage as the room’s prime focus, while black walls are punctuated with luxurious gold accents. Of an evening,...

When Rainer Becker opened Roka – a high-end ‘Modern Japanese’ restaurant – in Fitzrovia during 2004, the space soon became renowned for attracting punters that would have made today’s Novikov, Nobu and Sexy Fish crowds seem desirable. On a humid Wednesday some 13 years later, still, I’m sat in the downstairs bar at a table beside an obnoxious, overfed Texan - boasting of how he allegedly knows Prince Charles. Wearing a white body-con Ralph Lauren shirt (possibly from the children’s...

Heavily-themed around the adventures of Phileas J. Fogg - the protagonist of Jules Verne’s ‘Around The World in 80 Days’ - Mr Fogg’s Residence in Mayfair is just one of the Inception Group’s venues based around the character. Mr Fogg’s Tavern near Covent Garden is essentially a pub with a strong focus on British food, while the upstairs gin parlour boasts one of London’s strongest collections of Mother’s Ruin. Mr Fogg’s Residence, on the other hand, is based around Fogg’s...

Following suit with designers such as Burberry, Hackett and watchmakers Larsson & Jennings, Ralph Lauren have opened a new food and drink-based venue within their flagship store on Regent Street. Ralph’s Coffee & Bar joins the likes of The Polo Club in New York, RL Restaurant in Chicago and Ralph’s in Paris, and thus marks the brand’s first space dedicated to food and drink in the UK. The intimate space has table seating enough for 24, plus 12 stools at...

St David’s Day this week and though it may not be showing in the skies above us quite yet, the official start of spring means there’s no better way to toast Wales’ patron saint than with a glass, or a few, of Welsh beer. Traditional breweries abound, of course, but Wales is noisily playing its own part in the craft beer renaissance, staking its claim on the demand for flavour-packed, inventive and exciting brews. Here’s Rob Eveleigh of craft beer bottle...

I am, as my friends will tell you, often with a heavy sigh, and as my Twitter profile attests, a gin enthusiast. I like all sorts of gin, from London dry, to Plymouth, to oude and jonge jenever. My most recent discovery has been a thriving distilling culture in Ireland, both North and South, and their gins will keep me entertained for some time to come. (One distillery is also trying to repopularise poitín, with interesting results. I also like...

I won’t lie TLE writers have spent a LOT of the summer drinking in the Magic Roundabout, literally on right top on Old Street station, the gateway to the East End. Yes that’s the same Old Street station that used to smell of urine, depression and the fact that you knew you would end up walking the wrong way out of one of the numerous exits, no matter how times you have been. Well no more of that now, you...

The first thing about the Rosendale pub, in West Dulwich, is it should have been my local. I, violin out time, tried to buy a flat on the same road, but got outbid. So I joined the ever-increasing ranks of 30-odd-year-old Londoners who failed to become homeowners. Anyway there is more to life than owning stuff, but I do regret not having this pub on my doorstop. Drinking alcohol and eating great cuisine is far more important than bricks and...