THEGAYUK

Tag: Bar Review

The latest Bar Review from THEGAYUK.

  • BAR REVIEW | The Lost Alhambra, London

    BAR REVIEW | The Lost Alhambra, London

    ★★★★ | The Lost Alhambra, London

    Step into place – a place worlds away but right in the heart of very very busy Leicester Square. Step right into The Lost Alhambra.

    The Lost Alhambra is a basement cocktail bar right between a pub (The Moon Under Water) and TGIFridays. Once you go downstairs it’s like another world – a space very unique, dark, and a but forbidden. Beautiful yet futuristic interior, succulent lighting to set the mood, and a cocktail menu that will knock your socks off.

    Open for only one month, The Lost Alhambra is setting new heights in the cocktail world. Part of the Adventure Group (which also owns themed bars The Escapologist and Blame Gloria, among others), this venue was literally lost, when known as The Alhambra Theatre, and 100 years since it closed its doors, the space has been revived into one of the most progressive bars in London. And the cocktails – all very different and unique on their own merit.

    A multi-page cocktail menu will make it very hard to make a decision. But try the Razzle Dazzle. It’s literally sparkling (thanks to the glitter) and is very sweet thanks to the ingredients of passion fruit liqueur, peach schnapps, triple sec, and also includes lemon juice, vodka, and fresh egg white. And it’s a beautiful looking drink. Another sweet one is the Pisco Inferno. Made with pisco, passion fruit, peach liqueur, vanilla, ginger ale, the catch here is that it’s served in a disco ball – Disco Inferno time! The blend is delicious (though I wish the disco ball would’ve been bigger!).

    If you want something fiery – go for the Flaming Zombie – because it literally arrives to your table on fire! With two types of Bacardi Rum, with triple sec, mango, fresh lemon juice, and pineapple juice, it’s got quite a kick to it – and while it’s a strong drink, the pineapple soothes the flavour.

    How can you miss with the Porn Star Martini? It’s everything you always wanted in a drink – and The Lost Alhambra knows how to make it! The apple juice and passion fruit blended with the vodka makes it a passionate and tasty drink – and there’s the requisite shot of Prosecco to go with it – your choice to mix it in or drink separate – my companion preferred it separate – but it’s up to you!

    Also up to you is whether to have a non-alcoholic choice – and The Lost Alhambra has many choices. The aforementioned The Matinee Porn Star has all the same flavours as the one above but without the Prosecco and vodka; while the Matinee Espresso Martini also has no vodka (it’s got a nice foam top to make it go down easy), while the Matinee Bellini strawberry and rhubarb with non-alcoholic Prosecco was yummy!

    When you go to The Lost Alhambra (and trust me you’ll definitely want to go) – seek out Zsofia the Assistant Manager. She knows all the drinks very very well and if you can’t make a decision she’ll guide you! Or if not her than any other member of the international staff.

    I definitely can see this place become the new go-to cocktail bar in the west end. And while the drinks are at West End prices (£10 to £11.50 for the alcohol drinks while £6 each for the non-alcoholic drinks and beer and cider), the venue is great (there’s even a lighted ceiling), and more importantly the drinks are superb. Go on….get lost in The Lost Alhambra.

    http://www.thelostalhambra.co.uk

  • BAR REVIEW | Myki Sand Bar Sails into Soho

    ★★ | Myki Sand Bar

    Archer Street Bar Soho, oddly enough on Archer Street, when mentioned might send an immediate dentist-implement-touching-nerve to your heart. This used to be the bricks and mortar that housed a guaranteed-tug-in-the-toilets bar and felt like throwing-shapes-on-three-week-old-pina-colada dance floor, once known as Barcode Soho. The good old days: still missed by many, we are sure.

    What London needed, and of course what this great country needed, was another heterosexual establishment. Archer Street Bar draws a clientele that travels to Ascot by coach, buys their fascinators from Debenhams and still thinks holidaying in Ibiza is cool.

    Myki Sand Bar is located on the lower ground floor where the sticky dance floor once resided, and is billed as ‘London’s first beach club bar’ – a pop-up until late 2016. White and blue sails hang from the ceiling, white painted wooden boards, blue cushions, sandbox seating areas and some scattered beach balls – an impersonation of Neptune’s from ITV’s Benidorm.

    It would have been quicker to fly to Mykonos and sample an authentic Greek cocktail – the beach boys behind the bar were as quick as a deflating lilo.

    Parched, but eager to sample, we started with a Myki’s signature cocktail, Heatwave: Ciroc vodka, peach liqueur, chilli bitters and orgeat served martini-style at £12.50. Peachy with a sand-in-ya-eye chilli twist – worth its weight in budgie-smugglers.

    Corporate functions and those who think they are worthy of a ‘VIP booth’ (Myki’s has a few) will like the setup.

    Our next tipple, Boys of the Summer: Ciroc pineapple, blood peach puree, lime juice, vanilla topped with Billecart Salmon champagne. It was like drinking breakfast juice – maybe they thought one cocktail was enough for us gays and didn’t add the alcohol. At £14.50 a pop we could have better spent on two bottles of Factor 15 Piz Buin – what a waste.

    If you want sand this summer head to Kent’s Botany Bay or hop on a plane.  If you want over-priced but decent cocktails, head to Ham Yard Hotel or The Blind Pig at The Social Eating House – both in Soho. And if you want to wear a Hawaiian shirt – best not to leave the house.

    Myki Sand Bar Opening Hours: Thurs–Sat: 4pm–1am

    Private Hire: Monday – Saturday

    Capacity: 220

    Archer Street |3-4 Archer Street Soho London W1D 7AP T – 020 7734 3342 www.archerstreet.co.uk
    bookings@archerstreet.co.uk

  • BAR REVIEW | Storeys, West London Rooftop Pop-up

    This weekend’s weather is looking a smidge Indian-summeresque.

    What better way to appreciate the year’s last warm rays than to hang out on top of an old BBC carpark’s roof, consuming coconut mojitos, devouring beautifully tender and crisp calamari while taking in West London’s fabulous high-rise and urban views, all to Louis Vuitton man-bag swinging funky beats? ★★★★★

    STOREYS White City London is a innovative pivot created out of old packing crates, recycled wooden planks, discarded beer barrels with art installations made from abandoned TVs and dated speakers. Splendidly alluring – it needs to be seen. Street art you’ll drop your work worries for cakes the walls, amalgamated with the street food and a clientele from an assortment of the Old Smoke’s streets, giving the rooftop experience a Peckham/Hackney undertone but with West-End implications.
    The eco lavs won’t be to everyone’s taste, but what they don’t have in plumbing they make up for with a bewitching reclaimed-material chemistry.
    The pop-up’s season is coming to an end this weekend – the menu for Thursday 8th October can expect an evening of dance performances and music as new app Happy Track celebrates their launch party. Storeys’ upcoming event programme will also feature rooftop yoga sessions with Serene Social every Saturday from 9am-10am for a fresh and healthy start to the weekend.
    STOREYS closes its doors for the summer on Sunday 11th October with a spectacular closing weekend party, featuring a line-up of Storeys’ favourite DJs, games and drink specials.
    You can now purchase advance Q jump tickets online -http://www.storeys.london – which include an arrival cocktail.
    STOREYS is located on top of the old BBC building’s carpark in White City. Doors open 5pm Friday, and 11am at the weekend, with daytime game areas and DJs playing into the evening.

  • BAR REVIEW: The Icebar London, Rocks

    There’s only one drinking hole in the Old Smoke where your extremities will last 40mins, you have to dress like a Snow Queen, and you imbibe out of crystal-clear glasses made from Northern Sweden’s Torne River water. ★★★★

    (more…)

  • BAR REVIEW | W Hotel Bar Leicester Square Review

    ★★ | W Hotel Bar Leicester Square Review

    Waspish Welcome, What’s Wong With W?

    Before jumping Prada antiqued-calf-leather laced-derby shoes first into your eatery of choice on a Saturday night, it’s best to lift spirits with a couple of pre-supper sharpeners. Central London is chokka with slinky cocktail bars, trendy boozers and popular pop-ups. THEGAYUK’s finely-tuned ear caught wind of the W Hotel Lounge Leicester Square donkey’s ago. It was time to see what all the flap was about.

    We arrived at the entrance 8.25pm Saturday 16th May and were acknowledged by two towering, dapper burly bouncers. One-half of the brothers-grim asked if we were staying at the hotel, or there for drinks, without so much as a glimpse at his gnashers. We informed moody-chops we were planning to have a drink. We were then ordered to stand behind a roped-off area and queue. We were the only people there.

    Eventually, a guy that had to be RuPaul’s not-so-friendly brother minced towards us. His foul mood could only be explained by the fact that his dry cleaner must have shrunk the jacket he was squeezed into.

    The hotel’s door staff have mastered the art of not revealing their ivories. They’re wasted working in a hotel – they should step in where Keith Harris left off, god rest his soul.

    He scanned us with his mince-pies as if we were tinned pilchards at a Waitrose checkout, then directed us to the lifts. Entering the W hotel was about as pleasurable as spending an afternoon in Clacton.

    The lounge’s décor looks like it’s been pulled from the 70s but with a modern edge. A porn-star, low-black-leather-style sofa in a horseshoe shape swamps the main section of the room. Two large glass pillars with dancing flames, and a Tron-style, yellow-lit sunken ceiling gives the feel you’re in a Bond villain’s den.

    Hurrah, not all the employees were fit for stuffing their hand up a puppet’s arse. Our waiter beamed at us from ear to ear before taking our order.

    W’s cocktail menu has its own take on some classics, and a few signatures.

    We started with a Secret Garden and a Godfather / W Twist.

    The Secret Garden: Tanqueray, Crème de Fraise & honey syrup, fresh strawberries, lemon juice and cucumber topped with champagne. Reminiscent of a not so heavy, more sophisticated strawberry daiquiri. Pleasant.

    The Godfather / W Twist: Johnnie Walker Black Label stirred with Amaretto and Creme de Cerise, finished with fresh cherry, sprayed with Laphroaig. Over complicated. It was as though the bartender had exhaled his cigar into the glass while enthusiastically pouring in the Creme de Cerise.

    W’s website is welcoming, unlike the door staff, and encourages you to join their glamorous crowd for divine -people-watching in their lounge.

    The other punters clearly flew in from Marbella that morning or had travelled on a South West train. Manmade fibres and Burton whistle-and-flutes were much in evidence.

    Ru and another member of staff, sporting a cowboy hat and denim jacket, paraded around the lounge looking as busy as Matt Lucas’s hairdresser.

    Our second round: a Cool Britannia and W’s take on an Old Fashioned: W Fashioned.

    The Britannia: Tanqueray, cucumber, lemongrass and grapes, Pomme Vert apple liqueur, topped up with Viognier. Packing an intense apple punch to the nose and tastebuds with a cheeky zesty tickle from the lemongrass, with lush aromatic notes produced from the Viognier. Winner.

    W Fashioned: Zacapa 23yr Antica Formula infused with pomegranate, cherry sugar and a slash of chocolate bitters. This is a prime example of: if it’s not broken… It was like sucking on a boiled-cherry sweet soaked in whisky.

    The bill came to £57.60 including service charge.

    Our visit was much like Taylor Swift’s performance at this year Brits. But at least we’ve found a new home for Orville.

    REVIEWED BY: Thabian Sutherland
    ADDRESS: W London Leicester Square, 10 Wardour Street, London W1D 6QF
    WEBSITE: http://www.wlondon.co.uk
    Phone: 020 7758 1000
    STAR RATING: ★★ (explained)
    PRICE: ££££ (explained)
    TIPPING POLICY: Service charge