Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Drinking all over the world - part one.
Well, I'm back. I think I'm almost over the jetlag too (not helped by attending the Martinborough Booze Festival - the number of youngsters running around with Tui bottles whilst wearing a tasting glass around their necks.. sheesh! And Kate's right - what were all those silly tarts doing wearing heels? They're vineyards for goodness sakes, not some bar down Courtney Place... :-)
Anyways, I'm intending to post about some of the exquisite cocktails I had on my travels. First up - Loungelover.
Loungelover is the 'sister' bar to the Trois Garcons restaurant in East London (Shoreditch), and is really quite fabulous. The picture above doesn't do it justice, and unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos myself while I was there. It's decorated in an incredibly high-camp eclectic style - think chandeliers and stuffed animal heads up high, Louis XIV chairs down low. (Take a look at the Trois Garcons website for a good idea of their style).
The drinks list was impressive, lots of house cocktails arranged into logical groupings. I took a punt on a 'Zatoichi': wasabi, ginger and cucumber shaken with lemon and Polstar cucumber vodka, served straight up in a Martini glass with a slice of cucumber to garnish.
It was great, I'd not considered using wasabi before in a cocktail but all the flavours worked really well together.
I then took the advice of my companion (thanks C. ;-) who suggested one of the house favourites - a sweeter drink (sorry, didn't note the name) that bore more than a tip of the hat to Dick Bradsell's Russian Spring Punch (more on that another time) but with strong hints of vanilla.
This place is well worth a visit - bookings are recommended (when was the last time you booked for a bar!?!) and take plenty of Pounds with you (best not to convert those prices back in Kiwi rubles).
Anyways, I'm intending to post about some of the exquisite cocktails I had on my travels. First up - Loungelover.
Loungelover is the 'sister' bar to the Trois Garcons restaurant in East London (Shoreditch), and is really quite fabulous. The picture above doesn't do it justice, and unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take photos myself while I was there. It's decorated in an incredibly high-camp eclectic style - think chandeliers and stuffed animal heads up high, Louis XIV chairs down low. (Take a look at the Trois Garcons website for a good idea of their style).
The drinks list was impressive, lots of house cocktails arranged into logical groupings. I took a punt on a 'Zatoichi': wasabi, ginger and cucumber shaken with lemon and Polstar cucumber vodka, served straight up in a Martini glass with a slice of cucumber to garnish.
It was great, I'd not considered using wasabi before in a cocktail but all the flavours worked really well together.
I then took the advice of my companion (thanks C. ;-) who suggested one of the house favourites - a sweeter drink (sorry, didn't note the name) that bore more than a tip of the hat to Dick Bradsell's Russian Spring Punch (more on that another time) but with strong hints of vanilla.
This place is well worth a visit - bookings are recommended (when was the last time you booked for a bar!?!) and take plenty of Pounds with you (best not to convert those prices back in Kiwi rubles).
Monday, November 21, 2005
Mystery Bar Number 96
Thursday, November 03, 2005
On Tour...
... Bad News style. Well, not exactly. In fact, nothing at all like Bad News, there's nothing rock'n'roll about my current jaunt to The Old Country.
Just wanted to check in here briefly to say that I won't be posting much while I'm away as I'm avoiding the 'puters (partly choice, partly availability).
A thought to leave you with: I flew to London on an Air NZ flight (cucumber garnish in the Bloody Mary - nice work!) that was also freighting the All Blacks.
Apart from them treating business class & first class like their own private tour bus (read: stripping off out of tour uniforms into comfortable travelling under-garments), I got to thinking:
"they don't let the Royal Family all travel on the same plane..."
Just wanted to check in here briefly to say that I won't be posting much while I'm away as I'm avoiding the 'puters (partly choice, partly availability).
A thought to leave you with: I flew to London on an Air NZ flight (cucumber garnish in the Bloody Mary - nice work!) that was also freighting the All Blacks.
Apart from them treating business class & first class like their own private tour bus (read: stripping off out of tour uniforms into comfortable travelling under-garments), I got to thinking:
"they don't let the Royal Family all travel on the same plane..."
