40/30 Bar, 30 St Marys Axe

How do people manage to keep abreast of the number of private members clubs in London? And by 'members clubs', I’m not talking about your gentlemen-only, port-quaffing, cigar-puffing gigs that attract the same sort of people that enjoy fox hunting.

What we actually have are a whole host of venues aimed squarely at the readership of this site. Well, at least the ones who aren’t quite ready for pipes and slippers.

In the City alone, we host the trend-defining Shoreditch House, the edgier Milk and Honey group, and the more urbane Number 8 clubs. Yet there are plenty more on the horizon with the soon-to-be launched Gresham Street, and the recent discovery (for me, anyway) that is the 40/30 Bar in The Gherkin.

While I’ve always known there was a venue atop of this landmark building, I didn’t realise it was part of a private members club. Technically it’s known as Searcys Club, The Gherkin (Searcys actually being an upmarket catering company), and it pitches itself as the City’s most exclusive private members club, restaurant and Champagne Bar. But don’t they all.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t take much to imagine that if anything, 40/30 will have a good view. Well, for once I am going to agree with the PRs behind this place when they say that the views from the glass dome are simply breathtaking. If anything, that does it a slight disservice. The space on top of the Norman Foster-designed Gherkin that houses the bar is an architectural wet dream. The striking contrasts of the sky and London’s cityscape are framed by the iron girders that Foster’s engineers have forged into the dome. On a clear day you can see the best views I’ve ever seen across the city, taking in all four corners of London. The view is so impactful that it is very hard to resist spending your first 20 minutes madly snapping ‘look at me’ pix on your phone before uploading them to Facebook. But maybe that was just me.

However, you don’t go to a private members club just for the view. The bar staff are incredibly charming and very efficient. Given that it seats around 200 people and the night the Northerner and I visited it was at capacity, the team coped admirably with an excitable and thirsty crowd. We attacked the cocktail menu, and started with a couple of the Champagne variety – Gherkin Fizz with Amaretto, Blue Curacao and lemon juice; Apple Vice with Grand Marnier and apple. They were crisp and refreshing.

We then sampled two Martini cocktails – Aromatic Elixir with Tanqueray, Amaretto, LBV Port, lemon juice and strawberry puree; and the La Boheme, with Ketel One vodka, elderflower, Chambord and cranberry juice. They were both superb concoctions and we had to show considerable constraint not to have a repeat round.

Fortunately we tried two more from the long drink range, the Elderflower Collins with Hendricks gin, elderflower, lemon juice, sugar and soda, and the Mai Tai with Pamero Especial rum, Orange Curacao, orange juice, lime juice and sugar. Now, the only other time we had tried Mai Tais was in Hong Kong for the Northerner, and the legendarily-bad Covent Garden cocktail bar that was Long Island Ice Tea for me. I think it's fair to say that neither of our experiences were good. Well 40/30 overturned years of accumulated prejudice by producing a Mai Tai that was stunning. I don’t often recommend trying a particular drink, but I will in this case.

To make sure we didn’t make complete spectacles of ourselves we did sample some of the bar snacks, of which the grissini and dips (mayonnaise and green pesto) were particularly moreish.

40/30 isn’t cheap but it's not wallet busting, either. Cocktails hover around the £13 mark, which might sound steep, but for the quality and that view is money well spent.

The punters are very City – lawyers, insurance brokers, and of course, bankers. You won’t find any fashionable young things here. While the ambience, no doubt triggered by the views, is laid-back cocktail lounge. This is striking contrast to the nearby pubs and bars, which have a more frenzied atmosphere.

Searcy’s also has a club lounge on the 38th floor, a restaurant and private dining rooms for punters or execs looking to entertain in style. So far so perfect, but there is one thing that is a little odd.

To get into 40/30, you have to go via the main reception to the Gherkin. The entrance necessitates that you have a full security clearance, which actually means going through metal detectors and bag x-ray machines. You half-expect the security guards to ask you to remove your shoes. And while this is fine early on, if you were coming from another bar or restaurant later in the evening and feeling a bit ‘fresh’, negotiating the entry might prove a little bit tricky. Because after all isn’t one of the main joys of being in a private members club being the ability to drop in any time you like? There’s a lot be said for an old fashion door person to greet you. Perhaps the traditional members clubs haven’t got it all wrong.

Skylounge and Lobby, Mint Tower of London Hotel

I do not know many people who like estate agents. In most people’s estimation, they sit alongside tabloid journalists, parking attendants, and nightclub bouncers in the low-life pecking order. They’re still a shade above investment bankers, of course.

However, there is a reason that they are held in such low regard (estate agents, not bankers). Who else promises you an exclusive viewing of a property...with another couple? In what other industry can someone try to sell you something in excess of quarter of a million pounds, but only let you see it twice - for 15 minutes each time? In the dark. And where else do you meet people who have reinvented the English language as part of their business. OK, I admit, the last could apply to bankers, too.

But estate agents do have their purposes, most obviously around the brokering of properties. And they operate around certain dictums that are hard to argue with. The first is that location is everything. The second is that you can’t put a price on a view, a rule that SkyLounge, the rooftop bar in the Mint hotel, follows to the limit. Any place that takes in Tower Bridge, the Gherkin and the not-quite-finished Shard in one panoramic sweep has a head start on the competition. Factor in the Thames (admittedly at a tight angle), Canary Wharf, and the skyscraper in Elephant and Castle that nobody seems to know the name of, and SkyLounge is out-in-front, heading into the back strait.

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However, if bars were only about views, then we would all be drinking on the top of mountains. Situated on the 12th floor of the Mint in Tower Hill, you need to factor in the hotel impact when rating this bar. And although the Mint Hotel is several steps above a Holiday Inn or Ramada, it is not a Four Seasons. The main hotel reception aspires to Philippe Starck-like glamour, but actually comes across as...bare. After taking the lift up to the bar, you are reminded that the clue to this place is in its name: Skylounge and Lobby. To make sure that every viewing spot possible is taken advantage of, they have installed seating along the glass-windowed corridor to the bar. Which is all very well and good, except it feels like you are drinking in the hotel lobby rather than a bar.

Things improve when you arrive in the actual cocktail bar. The staff are attentive and very efficient, and they offer a good range of rather expensively-priced drinks. Two cocktails – the Sky at Night (blackberries and kiwi shaken with Bombay Sapphire gin, and Haymans Sloeberry liqueur served tall with elderflower cordial and pomegranate juice) and the Thames Timeout (fresh raspberries and basil leaves muddled through Zubrowka Bison Grass vodka, Passoa liqueur and raspberry berry puree topped up with rosé Champagne and served in a chilled martini glass) stood out as personal picks, although you won’t get much change from a twenty for them. We settled for the house Champagne, which was fairly priced and appropriately dry. The bar is enhanced by the two outside decked areas that give you the opportunity to take in those fabulous views al fresco. Perfect for a summer evening.

The punters were your mix of City drinkers muddled in with hotel guests. This is not a fashionable set, but there was plenty of that cheeky chap charm about the place to compensate for those in search of pretensions.

The trick to any good hotel bar (an oxymoron in my book, but I’ll continue) is to make you feel that you are in a funky independent cocktail club rather than an appendage to a skyscraper. Skylounge doesn’t quite pull that off just yet. However, for killer views and a pre- or post-dinner drink, you could do much worse than this place. And at least it hasn’t been taken over by estate agents.

Aurora Restaurant, Soho

When does a place officially become a favourite? The restaurant you always fall back on when you’re in the area or are making a recommendation. The pub where the bar staff recognise your face. The nightclub where the bouncers greet you with a nod and a smile.

We all have them. Some of them come about because they are so good we can't resist returning. Others are because they are convenient. Aurora Restaurant in Soho belongs to the former camp. It’s a restaurant that the Northerner and I have been to many times over the years, and never once has it let us down. We have followed on that by recommending it on to friends. A big deal, in the Northerner’s world, who similarly have been impressed enough to recommend it to their friends.

Aurora is tucked away in one of the more fashionable corners of Soho that is Lexington Street, and its customers reflect the location. Media, advertising and fashion types flock to this place and give Aurora an energy that is uplifting but unpretentious.

The restaurant is located in a cute Victorian cottage set over two levels. At street level, there is seating for around 20 diners in a space that some might call intimate, but others might describe as crowded. It's easy to feel like you’re part of the adjoining dinner. (Which is fine so long as neither you nor they are on a date.) To the rear is a stunning courtyard garden which is perfect for a long summer evening. There is a downstairs (read: basement) area that can be booked for private functions, and is used as an extra dining room in winter. I actually quite like it. With its eclectic design, it feels like you are in someone’s house rather than a restaurant. The Northerner is not quite so enamoured and prefers street-level dining - a point she has made on more then one occasion.

The menu is changed monthly, but can be best described as that catch-all basket which is Modern European. On our most recent visit, we started with salads of feta marinated in mint and red chilli on cannellini bean salad with cucumber, red onion and sultanas with salsa verde, and pan-fried black pudding with wilted spinach, red onion and dried cranberries on grilled aubergine and Puy lentils with red wine Balsamic reduction. Which were delightful.

For mains, I opted for a pork chop, spinach and mash which was much more appetising then this sorry excuse for a reviewer has described. The dish was perfectly seasoned and succulent. The Northerner went for the pan-fried sea bass which was melt-in-your-mouth perfect (her words).

There is a comprehensive, but not overwhelming, wine list that never fails to disappoint. Prices are fair, with most of the wines falling into the £15 - £30 camp. New worlds are mixed in with European stalwarts, with a white French Burgunday (2004) and Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Domaine du Grand Veneur from the same year available for punters who want to spend over £50. We settled on a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Frentano – Abruzzo, Italy (2009/10) that came in and £18.50 and went down a treat. So much so that once the bottle was finished we ordered another couple of glasses - just to be sure of course.

The owners and staff are charming, relaxed and welcoming. They are occasionally too relaxed for our UK sensibilities and can be a bit casual. Also, while the food is very good, it is not by any means innovative. You won’t get any surprises at Aurora.

However these are minor criticisms in what is a consistently good dining experience. That Aurora has been with us and flourished since 1995 is testimony to its quality, versatility and price sensitivity in what have been interesting times. Nearly 10 years ago, the Observer’s restaurant reviewer Jay Rayner declared Aurora ‘the perfect antithesis of a Conran enterprise’. I’m not sure if by that he meant it officially became a favourite place of his, but that, along with all of the aforementioned factors, certainly works for me.

The Laughing Gravy, Southwark

The Laughing Gravy, 154 Blackfriars Road, Southwark

Its funny where this job takes you to. When you first set out to be a bar reviewer you envisage that your evenings will be spent at the West End’s finest establishments quaffing champagne with celebrities whom you regale with Oscar Wilde like witticisms and anecdotes. Your celebrity grows and you become a brand in your own right, off to live the life of a Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay.
The reality of course is that for every high profile event, bar and club you visit there you are asked too there are 10 to 20 places that you review simply because you are there. Some of them are even south of the river.

The Laughing Gravy (isn’t that the most brilliant name) is one such place where I ended up as part of a result of some research into a new business idea. I was accompanied by the Author and her partner the Wine Merchant whose brain I was picking, and as it happens, who supplies the aforementioned restaurant.

The Laughing Gravy occupies the ground floor of an original Foundry building. A cheeky little bar greets you with the 50-seater restaurant to the rear. Wooden tables and chairs, cream coloured walls and skylights instead of a roof, give the place a relaxed ambience.

The head chef Michael Facey has worked alongside the likes of John Torode and Mark Hix and their influence is apparent in the menu. The food on offer is an English take on Mediterranean fare. Our starters included Aubergine Gratin with Montgomery cheddar crust and olive, caper and cherry tomato salsa which the Wine Merchant declared delicious. The Author and I went for the Chicken Liver Pate with farmhouse crostini (lifted by strips of green pesto), red onion dressing and pea shoots. The pate itself was smooth and rich with a hint of a liqueur. Although the waitress said it was alcohol free. So much for my sophisticated palate.

For mains we opted for the Sea Trout special with spinach and fried potatoes which was flavoursome and cooked to perfection. The Author took on the salmon and smoked fishcake – large, meaty and rich – with herb pickled cucumber and a side of chips.

For desserts the Author and the Wine Merchant tried the Rhubarb crumble with pistachio ice cream. Sharp fruitiness offset by a flavoursome yet light ice-cream. I went for the Laughing Gravy chocolate fondant brownie with vanilla ice cream. The crumbly biscuit texture, deep chocolate flavours with a hint of mint was lovely if not a little sweet to my taste.

We washed it down with a beautiful bottle of Grand Caprice from France. Its a favourite of my dining companions and easy to see why. I didn’t think you could have a big but subtle wine, but Caprice proved me wrong.

The service is friendly if not a little uneven. The waitress was lovely but slightly off her game. Perhaps she was new. However Jon the owner who was out front-of-house was charm personified. You could imagine that he has quite a following.

The Laughing Gravy is out of the way, and this is from someone who lives in nearby Brixton. Its apparently equal walking distance from the Young and Old Vic. Equal but far then. This is one place I might never have found on my own, or driven past it if I had. However that would have been my loss. It just goes to show. Every so often it’s good to eat south of the river.

Brawn, Bethnal Green

Brawn, Bethnal Green, 49 Columbia Road, E2 7RG

I live under the illusion (or is it delusion) of being fashionable. I perpetuate this by drinking at the right bars, buying catwalk-influenced clothes and having a partner – the Northerner – who is downright on-trend, stylishly cool. Sadly there are many things about me that give it away. The fact that when I wear those aforementioned clothes I look more M&S then Brick Lane. The music I listen to ranges from middle of the road to naff. And perhaps most shamefully for a reviewer, I never, ever seem to get to a place when it’s at its media-frenzied peak. Fashionably late in other words.

Fortunately along with the Northerner I have a collection of cool friends including the Architect and
Betty Boo who drag me out of my City-based muddle to visit places that are highly desirable. And the other week, after a cheeky bottle of wine at Shoreditch House (see the namedropping I did there) we headed to Brawn - the enfant terrible of Terroirs in Charring Cross.

Brawn is located on the site of an old café which the Northerner thinks used to be a school, on Columbia Road – the weekend home to a flower market and east-London’s cool set. The Northerner is right about most things, and her logic is obvious with the school theme extending to the chairs, tables and windows, albeit with a designer twist and the staff, many of whom seem about GCSE age. But perhaps that shows how old we are getting. However they are charming, fashionable and chatty. Intrusively so opined the Northerner who took umbrage at one particular youngster who seemed to have an opinion on everything of which she was only too happy to share.

The clientele (calling them punters would do them a discredit) are a mix of East London hipsters and well-heeled foodies from across the capital here to check out the Next Big Thing. Some of the older Islington set seemed a little unsure as to what they had signed up for. And I ‘m not sure that the menu made them feel any more comfortable.

Brawn sets out its stall by describing its menu as being ‘cloudy reds, murky whites and loads of pig.’ We were warned by our dining companions that the Tête de Veau, or calf’s head, was exactly what is said on the box. We decided to pass on that little treat. As is the fashion nowadays we ordered separately but shared across the table. Starters included the King Prawns with chilli and Gremolata – fresh, zesty and divine; Shetland Mussels, Leeks & Bacon that were delightful; and Dorset Clams with Lemon & Coriander which were melt-in-your-mouth flavoursome.

Our mains included Choucroute, Montbeliard Sausage & Horseradish; the main component of which is a sausage made of pork (what else) smoked over sawdust. This is a dish that the Northerner said sounded more interesting then it actually was, and the final product was more frankfurter then chorizo. I tried the Boudin Noir (Black Pudding) which was soft in texture and nicely flavoured although it lacked a little bit of bite. A subtle rather then big flavoured dish. The Architect went for the Pigs Trotters which slightly disappointingly were presented terrine style, however according to him was sharply seasoned and crumble like on the tongue. Just how he likes it.

As with its mother restaurant, Brawn specialises in natural or biodynamic wines – they’re unfiltered which according to the chatty waitress enhances the flavour. I had a delightful 2009 Chardonnay, Domaine de l’Ocre Rouge which made me think that she might be onto something. However the bottles of 2009 Ventoux La Gérine, Domaine Ferme St Martin Rhône that we knocked back put pay to that idea. I know that we operate in a greener world and these wines are more environmentally friendly then traditionally produced drops, but I think there’s a reason that they are filtered. The texture rather then the flavour was enhanced. This gave the wine a smoked look, but to my and the Northerners palate, a taste that was well… off.

Brawn is outrageously popular right now and deservedly so as it’s perfectly packaged to meet the needs of London’s fashionable and food set. However sometimes it feels like its trying too hard when it really doesn’t need to. Being fashionable isn’t all its cracked up to be.

Barrio Central , Soho

Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighbourhood. However in the US barrio is more commonly used to refer to lower-class areas with largely Spanish-speaking residents - the Latino equivalent of a "ghetto". Islington, which for those who don’t know it is North London’s answer to Clapham and is anything but a barrio. A once vibrant, multicultural and artistic areas in 80’s / early 90’s London, by the noughties Islington (and Clapham) had descended into MOR, Starbuck loving blandness.
Yet both areas still have sprinklings of bars, cafes and restaurants that speak of a once fashionable past before the bankers and estate agents took control. And one such bar is Barrio North in Islington which proved such a hit with the few locals who weren’t pushing prams or sipping Soy Chai Lattes (young people in other words) that the owners decided to head to the big city lights and open a Soho version - Barrio Central.
Barrio Central sets out to celebrate all things Latino. The venue itself is split over two levels – at street level is a tightly packed café / restaurant serving a mix Latin and Caribbean dishes. Meanwhile at basement level is the bar / club area which is long and narrow, and looks like it has been decorated by someone for a dare. By that I mean there are big lashing of colours and kitsch here, which they pass off as being bright Caribbean hues. And the shocking lime green fake rock wall (yes really), mix and matched brown tiles, white picket fence, carnival lights and Hispanic memorabilia give the place a pop-up feel to it. This is a good thing because Barrio Central is certainly festive.
This spirit flows through to the punters who are your mix of fashionistas, advertising / design / PR agency crews, with your music and film set thrown in for good measure. In other words, Soho’s creative’s who swarm to the Barrio to drink and be merry, and without too much persuasion, break out into dance. And the latter is easily achieved by a thumping and eclectic DJ / soundtrack which includes everything from old school Beach Boys and Chuck Berry, through to 90’s hip-hop via the Wu Tang Clan, and every other pop or dance genre in between.
The drinks menu which is designed as a very cool seven-inch single cover consists of a generous smattering of New World red and white wines (Argentinean, Chilean, American and Spanish) and some interesting lagers amongst the usual suspects – Palma Cristal from Cuba, Quilmes from Argentina, and Alhambra Negra from Spain. There is also a massive selection of cocktails although most punters prefer to stick to the classic mojitos and margaritas. They certainly tickled the Northerner’s fancy on the night we were there.
The staff are laidback and charming in that Soho way, while still managing to be super-efficient. You don’t wait too long for drinks and the team all multi-task and manage their space effortlessly. I know it seems funny to compliment a bar for something which should come as standard, but take it from this barfly – it doesn’t.
Barrio Central is not perfect of course. It can be crowded, seating is at a premium, and it get’s hot. So hot in fact that you imagine that summer would be a challenge. But then again you are unlikely to bump into an estate agent, have to step over a stroller or see anyone sipping a frappuccino. I know where I’d choose to go.

Enoteca da Luca

When I first arrived in the UK from the third world islands of the South Pacific that I call New Zealand, I chanced upon a new and innovative way of eating food. Tapas was a concept unheard of in early nineties Polynesia (which becomes obvious when you see the size of people down there) and as a food style quickly became a favourite of mine. Of course as a fashion, tapas quickly went the same way as those other foodie trends such as Pacific Rim and restaurants that specialised in sausages (I kid you not), but not before a whole swag of cultures including Japanese, Italian and some Middle Eastern countries, had taken their spin on this quintessentially Spanish concept.
Nearly 20 years on and the only non-Iberian restaurants still beating the small plates drum are Italian, and one, Enoteca da Luca in Devonshire Square, is doing it better then most.

Enoteca means wine bar in Italian, and this place offers the blessed grape drink by the truckload. The emphasis is Italian (the Piemonte, Tuscana, and Veneto regions particularly so) with French wines also featuring strongly. However for those who prefer New World, Australia, Argentina, South Africa and New Zealand are also represented across the reds and whites. They offer most wines by the glass, and while none of the offerings are cheap, they are priced to suit all budgets. Well City ones anyway.

The place itself is a set in one of the refurbished warehouse blocks that makes up Devonshire Square. The interiors are straight out of that other nineties concept known as industrial modern. Floor to ceiling windows and office-like glass doors welcome you to a relatively small space with exposed brickwork and a combination of ‘standing’ tables (with high chairs for those who want to sit) and smaller tables for couples. The small bar, which is really a grocery counter, is backed by white tiles, fronted by a fridge complete with cheeses and cured meats, and guarded by a vintage meat slicer. So far so continental.

The piece de resistance is the high ceiling racked up with wine bottles – for drinking rather then display – for which the staff happily deploy and scamper up the ladder as required. This brings me to the service which is incredibly charming and familial - everyone is welcomed as a lost sibling. This is just as well as it can be a tad slow. Table service is always great; however the team are so friendly with many of the locals that the time between ordering and getting your drink can seem an age. This is not the best place to pop in for a swifty. The punters are mostly City, but of the wine bar rather then pub school. Which is just as well as Enoteca is not a place for beer lovers with only bottled Peroni on offer. The food – the aforementioned Italian styled tapas – is delicious if not a little pricey. And funnily enough it is this point which with my critical brethren have picked fault with Enoteca. Which I can see to a point. But despite its failings, Enoteca is a great little bar which if you can step out of your City mindset and relax, you just might enjoy. It may not be at the cusp of fashion. In fact, in many ways it sits comfortably behind it, but for a very good glass or two of wine, where you can get good chat and unwind, Enoteca delivers. Who knows, in ten years, this type of bar might even make it to New Zealand.