Czech your drinking - The Luxe, Spitalfields Market

There are big nights and then there are ridiculously big nights. On what was my second visit in as many weeks to The Luxe in Spitalfields we'd gathered together a crew of occasional and frequent imbibers to celebrate all things Friday.

John Torode's - as in Smiths of Smithfields and occasionally MasterChef - latest bar has copped more then its fair share of criticism much of which is hard to understand. For a start its a very beautiful venue with a birdcage type exterior enhanced by high windows and funky, modern furniture. The Luxe's design is very much in keeping with the original Spitalfield's market albeit successfully updated for the noughties.

Second the service, whether at your table or the bar is slick and charming - there's not too much waiting around at this place. And finally it has a buzz reminiscent of when Smiths of Smithfield's first opened. It's not by any means hip, but it successfully strikes the balance for those city workers and wannabe hipsters for whom the other pubs in Commercial Street and Brick Lane are a little too grubby.

The first time I visited the Luxe was on a Monday night on which it had enough of a crowd and ambiance to justify drinking on the earliest school night. By the second visit we were at full-on Friday mode, with birthday parties, party girls and boys, and us - the occasionally motley drinking crew that included such luminaries as the Northerner, Lady Devon, Young Elvis, the Engineer, the Caister Boy, Betty Boo and the Architect and the Senorita to name but a few - meant I was never going to get off lightly.

And that turned out to be the case as, instead of stopping at three to four of the 6% Czech beers, Young Elvis and I powered through what must have been a dozen or so, and behaved accordingly. The Northerner wasn't best pleased. After all, she'd only had five caipirinhas.

Finally I called time, probably not a moment to soon, stumbling off into the night, and leaving the pretty young things to have some fun. Nevertheless I do think the Luxe is a very good addition to the Smithfield's portfolio and a welcome alternative to the awful banker bars of Bishopsgate. Not that you want too many more bankers there. Nor, if you take into account how I felt the next day, do you want to overdo the Czech beers. Don't say you haven't been warned.

Sending out an SOS - Smiths of Smithfields

Over the last week or so that I've been writing this little blog I've received more criticisms then I thought I had readers - which is five. In no particular order they have complained that - you're not writing as yourself, what's a pretty young thing? , your Bloody Mary recipe choice is wrong, you're not drinking Bloody Marys, and why do you continue to include your photo.
So given my extensive academic and professional background in working with customer feedback I've decided to ignore all of them. I will instead write up my latest night out at Smiths of Smithfields, home of great steak and the legendary SOS lager.
The Musician was over from the US for a week of fun and frolics, which served as the excuse to call together one of my motley crews of bankers, PR's and consultants for a night of catching up and drinks. Well catching up, in the sense that we all pretend to listen to each other while thinking about our next self-agrandising anecdote.
Nevertheless The Musician is one of the nicest men in the world, so we all momentarily put aside our pretences and enjoyed catching up whilst enjoying the considerable ambience of the bar. Champagne was knocked back with the recklessness of people who are pretending that there is no such thing as a credit crunch. DB and me then moved on to sampling a few of the SOS lagers which were grand, although why he insists on topping them up with lemonade (sobering, apparently) is anyone's guess. The crowd at SOS is certainly not cool - you don't find many hipsters or pretty young things here. And given the way that the SOS model has been imitated - poorly might I add - by aspiring young bars all over town, the place can feel a bit....well dated.
However SOS is a grand old institution which does what it always has done very well - great drinks, amazing food, and loads of space for mingling and enjoying yourself. As the ever quotable DB would say. If it aint broke...