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Slideshow
Hot new London bar openings: June
Social Wine and Tapas
Putting wine in the limelight, this month the unstoppable Jason Atherton opens Social Wine and Tapas off Oxford Street boasting a wine shop and tapas bar on the ground floor and a wine bar and restaurant in the basement.
In charge of the wine offering is Loire-born Laure Patry, who has worked for Atherton for over a decade and is keen to showcase drops from around the world made by small producers. All waiting staff are trained sommeliers, which makes ordering a breeze. Among the British and Spanish-inspired dishes plated up will be suckling pig and roasted pineapple, and cod in an anchovy and caper dressing.
Krug & Chips
Following on from two successful pop-ups involving pancakes and lobsters (sadly not at the same time), this July Champagne house Krug is to launch Krug & Chips, a gourmet fizz and chips bar in Covent Garden in partnership with Michelin-starred chef Tom Sellers of Restaurant Story in London Bridge.
Dishes on offer will include “fish in chips” – a potato ravioli with fish in tartar sauce; monkfish cheek curry with matchstick fries; and lobster claws wrapped in potato spaghetti with tartar sauce. Guests will be offered a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée and a dish from the menu for £35.
The Lucky Pig
Fitzrovia drinking den The Lucky Pig has opened a sister site in leafy Fulham. Named after Italian-American mobster Charles “Lucky” Luciano, the most powerful American Mafia boss of all time who ran the largest bootlegging operation in New York and Philadelphia during Prohibition, and the name given to speakeasies during Prohibition (blind pigs), the bar aims to evoke the hedonism and glamour of New York in the 1920s.
Serving an array of classic cocktails, interiors are all antique mirrors, cut glass decanter lights, black and white marble floors, exposed brick work and pale blue velvet chesterfield sofas, while on the musical menu is live jazz, blues, honky tonk and rag time.
The Trading House
City newbie The Trading House holds a flame up to spice-laced cocktails inspired by the East India Company, which at one point accounted for half the world’s trade of items like cotton, silk, dies, salt, tea and even opium.
While you won’t find the narcotic in any of the cocktails, they do include exotic ingredients like star anise, orange blossom and cinnamon, though the star of the spice show is cardamom, which pops up in a twist on an Old Fashioned, the Pear and Cardamom Crush and the refreshing sounding Cardamom & Pineapple Margarita.
Like Mr. Fogg’s in Mayfair, the décor harks back to the days of 19th century travel, so expect stuffed peacocks, vintage suitcases, emerald light fittings and old globes. The Scotch egg with homemade piccalilli is unmissable.
Roofnic
Pop-up bar Roofnic has sprung to life on top of the Marriot Hotel Park Lane, offering city dwellers the perfect central London picnic spot. Accessed via a discrete back door on Oxford Street, the AstroTurf-lines space has been prettified with pots of herbs, flowers and wooden benches, giving it a rural feel, with a weatherproof marquee when the classic British summer rain makes a cameo.
On pour at the bar are cocktails, juices and craft beers, which can be enjoyed with salad boxes, pulled pork tacos, beef sliders, toasted sarnies and a giant “manwich” filled with pulled pork and cheese. Desserts include peanut butter and jelly cookies, cookie dough cheesecake and the pudding cup rammed with salted caramel, smashed Oreos and chocolate crumble honeycomb.
Kansas Smitty’s
Smoking hot new jazz and Julep bar and Kansas Smitty’s on Broadway Market has a noble aim: to dispel the myth that jazz is pretentious and open this most fluid of music styles up to a wider, younger audience. The small and loud basement bar in East London plays host to the house band, Kansas Smitty’s, who whip the crowd into a fevered frenzy of toe tapping and foot stomping on Wednesday nights.
Bypass the wine and craft beer in favour of one of eight twists on the classic Mint Julep, including the Ous Est Le Menthe, made with Cognac, sherry, tonka bean, cascara, star anise, walnut and nutmeg. Look out for guest performances during the week and impromptu big band and be-bop “jazz raves”.
Dr. Kluger’s Olde Town
The Breakfast Club likes to do things a little differently, housing its secret speakeasy bars behind Smeg Fridges and retro launderettes. It’s fourth clandestine drinking den within its Canary Wharf restaurant is accessed via a doctor’s waiting room. Interiors of Dr Kulger’s Olde Town are decked out to look like an après ski lodge, complete with wood panelling and taxidermy.
Table dancing is actively encouraged. Among the cocktails on pour are the Jolly Good Time, made with Dolin vermouth, Campari, Contreau, Bourbon and tonic, and “Das Klugerbomb”, which blends rum, lime, cherry, Coco Lopez and Prosecco. Too many and you might need to see a real doctor the morning after.
Black Vanilla
Ice cream loving cocktail fans rejoice! Bottled cocktail wizard Pritesh Mody’s World of Zing has hooked up with ice cream parlour Black Vanilla to launch Grown-Ups, a bar pairing cocktails with gelato.
Housed above Black Vanilla in Greenwich, the ice cream bar offers a pairing menu combining cocktails with flavoured “sorbetto”, such as a Barrel Aged Negroni paired with Sicilian lemon sorbetto; and a Steel Aged Manhattan served with black cherry sorbetto. Other pairings include Blackberry & Tamarind Rum Punch served with mango sorbetto; and Persian Lime & Nori Seaweed Margarita paired with kiwi sorbetto.
Ice & Slice
Continuing with the boozy ice cream theme and perfectly timed for the star of summer, new gelateria Ice & Slice by Shot has opened a bar offering Prosecco, Negroni and Aperol Spritz-flavoured ice cream for adults.
The Fulham parlour, which also serves pizza and homemade cakes, is shining a light on Italian aperitivo cocktails in edible form. Gelato is made daily on the premises and comes in a variety of flavours such as salted caramel, violet rose and Corn Flakes. In addition to nibbles, the venue serves Italian wines and Brooklyn beer.
The Trustcott Cellar
Opening this month in Belsize Park is The Truscott Cellar, a wine bar and restaurant from Andrew and Mary Jane Fishwick, the duo behind The Truscott Arms, over in Maida Vale. Set over two floors, the kitchen will be overseen by executive head chef, Aidan McGee of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal fame, who will serve the likes of blackened Lancashire bacon, Wensleydale and truffle oil and creamed haddock and spring onion.
Interiors by Michel Schranz Design focus heavily on wood and marble. Of the 300 bottles of wine on pour, 50 will be available by the glass and via wine flights.