We seem to be in East London a lot lately. And no bad thing.
In the interests of transparency, we were staggering before we even got to Hawksmoor and we were actually meant to be drinking at the Commercial Tavern across the road (we were too late, blame Secret Cinema), but that is not at all to say we settled for second best. Not by a long chalk. I say this because this review is not going to do the place justice. I didn’t take a photo of the outside (although J got a good one of the drinking for Twitter), we didn’t eat (gutted. They are, by some accounts, the best steaks in London) and I can’t remember anyone’s name. This could all have been achieved before we left but the blame for the fact that it wasn’t I place squarely in their own, cocktail-wizarding hands.
The night had been a blinder already, Secret Cinema put on Bugsy Malone and we’d been transported to a 1930’s speakeasy to be entertained by tap dancers, alto sax and a genuine multiplayer custard pie fight in a fully decked-out art deco theatre somewhere near Limehouse. A taxi took us at pace to The Commercial but it only had an 11 o’clock licence (Sat night, really?), we knew Hawksmoor was just across the road so we wobbled across Commercial Street and took seats at the bar.
Now, if you haven’t ever sat at a cocktail bar and engaged in drinks-related discussion with knowledgeable mixologists (they probably hate that term, I know I would) while sipping perfectly made high-end drinks then you really should, and there are few better places to do it than Hawksmoor. There were two people crafting the drinks this evening and one of them was a girl. There aren’t enough female mixers around, serious ones I mean, and she certainly had the skills (I’m mortified I can’t remember her name, I may not even have asked, but as I said it’s her own fault).
As a rule I don’t usually start out on Old Fashioneds, it’s a guaranteed way of ensuring you spend at least a third of the evening on your arse when you’re not meant to be, but it was already late and I knew I’d get it done properly.
The bourbon range, as with most other things was excellent and after a fairly lengthy discussion on the matter I seem to remember I chose a 20 yr old (I have no idea if that’s actually true but it’s close). Sugar, bitters, ice and bourbon a dash at a time, a hell of a lot of stirring and a twist later I got an excellent drink that needed only minute adjustment for sweetness (good mixers always make it dry, it’s a lot harder to take the sugar out). To say the drinks here are good is a genuine understatement. My fellow Publocator went for a fruity affair, to his eternal frustration he’s not huge on spirits but he’s improving by the bar, and he reported it to be delicious. No mean feat in itself.
The thing about Old Fashioneds is once you have one there’s nowhere else to go really, my mixer suggested a Manhattan but I think cocktails should get bigger as your evening progresses, not smaller. I went for another Old Fashioned.
The male of the pair suggested I have it with Blanton’s this time, his favourite bourbon by all accounts. I thought seeing as though it was his pick, then he should make it and he even let me open the new bottle (a moment captured by our Twitter pic). Another glorious golden success.
Conversation briefly moved to tech, the bar bloke declared he was suffering from a bad case of phone envy after having a quick look at the new HD2 I’ve been getting to grips with and my drink was going down so easily I started to wonder how long it would be before I found myself sitting looking up at something I’d had every intention of being level with.
By the time I’d finished it I had one eye closed and J was mumbling something about Belgians so we decided to make a move.
A worthy detour and a fine addition to our humble (and small, but growing, bear with us) collection of venues. Great people, amazing drinks and apparently they can cook too.
We’ll be back.
This is not the end of the Publocation review of Hawksmoor, we will return shortly to eat (and see what the place actually looks like) and I’ll update this then.
Stay classy, London.
Bobby
UPDATE: Turns out the girl was Missy and the bloke was Pete. Now I know I didn’t ask. Sorry.
Where: Hawksmoor, 157 Commercial Street, London E1 6BJ
When: Sat 28th Nov 2009, 11pm
Unpublicised: Sit at the bar. It doesn’t matter what you order, it will be fantastic.
Closes: Mon-Sat 12pm, closed Sun
Tel: 020 7247 7392
Website: www.thehawksmoor.co.uk
Menus: see website
Interest: Part of the Underdog group, run by a collection of leading industry consultants, as is Green & Red
