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Slideshow
Hot new London bar openings: March
Scout
Cocktail wizard Matt Whiley, aka The Talented Mr Fox, is to open a new bar in Shoreditch called Scout serving seasonal cocktails made with British ingredients. Whiley will approach the bar the way a chef does a menu, working with local farmers and only using ingredients that are in season. A revolving list of 10 cocktails will be served at the Great Eastern Street bar alongside beer brewed in house and a small selection of natural wines.
Among the cocktails on Whiley’s debut menu will be hay vermouth with burnt beetroot, horseradish, apple and herb oil; and strawberry wine with gin, lemon balm and whey. On the food front, expect the likes of toasted sourdough with house kohlrabi, sauerkraut and London coppa; fried vegetable skins with house seasoning; and pickled celeriac with truffle. Scout will boast a 10-seat private laboratory that will serve a menu of daily changing drinks including new creations currently in development.
Clarette
Alexandra Petit-Mentzelopoulos, heiress to Bordeaux first growth Château Margaux, opens a wine bar in Marylebone this month. Named Clarette, the bar is an independent project between Petit-Mentzelopoulos and her business partner Natsuko Perromat du Marais. Taking over the Tudor Rose pub on Blandford Street, the “chic, refined and stylish” bar promises wines by the glass and at great prices, starting at £5.
Sharing a street with Xavier Rousset’s Blandford Comptoir, Carousel and Michelin-starred Indian restaurant Trishna, Clarette will focus on French wines but offer a selection of drops from around the world with input from Thibualt Pontallier, son of Margaux’s former managing director Paul Pontallier. The bar boasts an outdoor terrace, private dining room and roaring fires in the winter. Sharing plates have been created to pair with the wines on offer. Alexandra is the youngest daughter of Corinne Mentzelopoulos, the owner of Château Margaux since 1980.
TT Liquor
Shoreditch has (yet another) cool cocktail bar in the form of TT Liquor, a former 19th century police station on Kingland Road. The subterranean drinking den doubles as a specialist drinks shop during the day. The shop stocks over 1,000 fine, rare and quirky spirits that are notoriously tricky to get hold of. Regulars can buy a bottle and keep it in a deposit box to enjoy each time they visit. All of the spirits stocked in the shop are also on pour at the bar, making choosing a cocktail a mammoth task.
Down in the basement, the prison cells have been turned into cosy cocktail alcoves with red leather banquettes. The bar hosts regular masterclasses in the booths shining a light on different spirits. The menu offers a liquid history of key milestones in cocktail culture, from the Belle Epoque and the Roaring Twenties to the modern day. A ‘cocktail journey’ gets you four drinks from different eras paired with small plates designed to complement the flavours in the cocktails.
Coupette
Chris Moore, the former head bartender of Beaufort Bar has launched a new venture on the site of The Albion pub in Bethnal Green. Inspired by the French focus on local ingredients, Coupette will shine a light on lesser-known regional drinks, from Calvados to Normandy cider. Sourcing from both the UK and France, Coupette will serve modern twists on classic French spirits. The menu is designed around the six borders of France, known as the ‘French hexagon’.
Working with its homemade black grape bitters and French Amer crafted by the Bloomsbury Distillery, drinks include Apples, featuring Calvados and carbonated cold-pressed apple juice; and the Truffled White Negroni; and the Champagne Piña Colada (pictured). The bar will also offer a selection of French wines with a focus on natural and organic drops. French fancies include croque monsieurs and madams, charcuterie, terrines, and regional cheeses. Hammering home the French message, staff will wear stripy Breton tops.
The Mule Bar
Salvatore Calabrese has hooked up with his two sons Gerry and Jon on The Mule Bar in Spitalfields beneath The Holy Birds. At the bar Salvatore will be serving no less than 50 different classic cocktails that span his time in the drinks industry. The eye-poppingly bright décor is pure sixties nostalgia with its patterned flooring and wallpaper, and red velvet armchairs.
Keen to try and revive one-loved sips like The Blue Hawaiian, made with rum, Blue Caruçao, coconut cream and pineapple juice, The Mule is unashamedly kitsch. Also on pour will be the Pink Squirrel, which blends almond liqueur, Crème de Cacao, fresh cream and ground cinnamon; and the Horse’s Neck, a zingy marriage of gin, ginger ale and Angostura Bitters. Calabrese senior will also host a series of masterclasses focusing on popular classic cocktails like the Negroni, Manhattan and Martini.
The Napoleon
Perhaps inspired by Wes Anderson’s quirky film The Grand Budapest Hotel, Thomas Aske and Tristan Stephenson, founders of The Worship Street Whistling Shop, are to open “London’s smallest grand hotel” – The Napoleon – on Christopher Street in the City.
The boutique ‘grand’ hotel will boast two bars – Sherry bar Sack and classic cocktail venue The Devil’s Darling. Sack has the bold ambition of turning Londoners into Sherry lovers via an array of cherry picked expressions running the gamut from bone dry to head rush sweet. Inspired by the drinking taverns dotted around southern Spain, the Sherries at the ground floor bar can be paired with a plethora of tapas dishes.
On the first floor of The Napoleon you’ll find the Devil’s Darling, a cosy bar specialising in classic cocktails made with premium spirits. For those keen to carry on the party in their rooms, guests can raid the drinks trolley for bottled cocktails that can be delivered to your door via an in-room elevator.
Comptoir Café & Wine
Restaurateur and master sommelier Xavier Rousset MS is to open a wine café boasting a basement wine shop in Mayfair next month. Comptoir Café & Wine on Weighhouse Street is a sister site of Blandford Comptoir in Marylebone, a 40-cover wine led bistro with an Italian food focus. Comptoir Café will serve seasonal dishes and 30 wines by the glass, including Champagne and sweet wines.
Customers can buy wines from the extensive wine list in the basement cellar shop, which can be drunk in the café for a £10 corkage fee. Rousset’s list stretches to 1,000 bins from around the world, and includes 100 Champagnes classic Burgundies, and quirky varieties from Sicily, Canada and Hungary. Prices run the gamut from £13 to £1,500. Keen to make wine more approachable, Rousset has ensured all of the wines are ready to drink now and offer good value for money.
Rumpus Room
The Rumpus Room at the Mondarian hotel on the Soutbank has opened after a makeover. The 12th floor bar boasting panoramic views of the London skyline has created a new food and cocktail offering to pair with its new look.
Taking inspiration from the 1920s with splashes of hot pink and peacock blue, flashes of foliage aim to create the feeling of summering in the Hamptons. On the food front expect the likes of American, French and British small plates, from pulled pork sliders and buttermilk fried chicken to a truffle-laced croque monsieur.
Libations created by head barman Idris Conti include the R.I.N elixir, made with , Bombay Sapphire gin, celery and absinthe drops, citrus, rice, tea and apple shrub and tonic water; and the Farmer’s Punch, which blends cachça, falernum, Maraschino, citrus and Amero Averna.