Back up on the Roof - The East Room Roof Garden

One of the challenges of writing a blog dedicated to your nightlife is avoiding repetition. Despite the fact that there are thousands of bars, restaurants and pubs in London town it stands to reason that you won't visit them all And of course there are some that become favourites, often merely for the reason that they are close to where you work or live, that you visit time and again. And there are places that you love, and with that busy London work thing going on, these are where you go to for that after work 'breather'. For my good self this includes close to home favourites like the Florence and Prince Regent in Herne Hill, and great funky pubs such as The Golden Heart and Ten Bells in Shoreditch. And sometimes a place is so good that you actually part with hard earned cash and become a lifetime member, and it is the East Rooms, part of Milk and Honey group.
And so with the recent weeks of glorious sunshine the Northerner, Heavy D and I have been making the most of that membership. Assuming that you like roof garden bars - and I have yet to meet anyone that doesn't - there are several things that make the East Room's stand out. It's a working functioning garden - they grow herbs, fruit and the like up there which they serve in the restaurant downstairs. On sunny evenings they crank up the best BBQ I've come across in London town, which given my Antipodean heritage is saying something. It's probably a combination of very good ingredients (burgers, sweet corn, sausages, marinated chicken etc), and a man who actually cooks, rather then burns or heats food, that makes the food so memorable. It also has a 24 hour licence in the weekends which means that it’s full to its brim with party people whom, despite being part of a members club, are surprisingly friendly. But then I guess most people are after record temperature hot days, an Ashes victory and several ice-cold beers.
There’s probably no need for me to say anything else about this place as not only is it so popular that membership is about to be or is already closed, but I also have a small army of ‘friends’ queuing up to join me for drinks there. And trust me; it isn’t because of my conversation. One word of warning – this place is so good that Heavy himself – a man who parts with money as willingly as the All Blacks do a rugby world cup - is thinking of joining. You have been warned.