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Wednesday, June 29, 2011
O2 LUX PULSE | LONDON > Lobster + Steak £25 at Floridita
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
O2 LUX PULSE | > The Experimental Cocktail Club - London
by Dr. Damigo; PhD
The Experimental Cocktail Club, a speakeasy-style bar owned by the same trio of Frenchmen behind ECC's Parisian sister, is the kind of place you whisper to friends about.
The three-floored old Georgian townhouse is set behind a small rusty door in Chinatown - just the place to hide a covert cocktail haunt. Inside, we stumble past a workman to climb a dimly lit stairwell, guided by a sultry French waitress.
Once in, it's all exposed brickwork, low lighting, a heavy hum of late-night chatter and the chink of crystal glasses. Nina Simone's Sinner Man plays gently in the background.
First up, though some time after we order, an Opium Express and a Negroni de Provence arrive.
The former, like a more daring Cosmopolitan made with purple shiso-infused vodka, goji liqueur, goji syrup, lemon and dragon fruit, slips down easily and has a refreshing, bittersweet aftertaste, the poppy seeds adding a delicate crunch. Sadly the Negroni, though embellished with pretty swirls of orange and lemon rind, tastes like soap: the blend of lavender-infused gin and herbes de Provence-infused Lillet Blanc and Suze is overpowering and over-herbed.
Next up: the Renaissance, a nuanced, faintly fizzy mixture of Aperol, Hendrick's gin, home-made rhubarb syrup and champagne. But it is the Havana that really stirs us. A super-smooth blend of Cuban cigar-infused bourbon, bitters and whisky, it tastes like a cigar but has a long-lasting caramel and then whisky flavour that lingers for minutes.
Upstairs is less classy, more cool. A couple get intimate in one corner while gaggles of girls sit about gossiping. The loos are adorned with flamingo wallpaper, and illuminated by lights inside teapots on strings.
It is worth peeking through the small door to the kitchen to see rows of gin bottles and stacks of goji syrup containers lining the shelves. This is a place for serious mixology - there is no flare bartending here. The cocktails are made by French baristas who you can watch at work in overhead mirrors. It is a kind of hush-hush hideaway you might take someone on a second date.
At 11pm, the well-heeled crowd make way for a younger pack in short skirts and stilettos looking for somewhere to continue the party. So at half past midnight we share a Madras Flip - a well-balanced, creamy mix of cognac, five-year-old rum, cream, chai syrup, egg and a light sprinkling of nutmeg - and pad down the stairwell into an almost luminous Chinatown.
Rating: 4 out of 5Victoria Stewart's rating
13A Gerrard Street, W1
Phone: 020 7434 3559
Opening hours: Open 6pm-3am, closed Sunday
Nearest tube: Leicester Square Transport for London
Cuisine: Other
Average price: About £10 per cocktail
A cosmopolitan mix to savour
The Experimental Cocktail Club
Taste the atmosphere — and some intriguing drinks — at a new Soho speakeasy
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