Last night I tried out Nightjar bar just round the corner from Old Street Tube Station. The entrance is quite discrete and we walked past twice.
We arrived at the entrance to be greeted by the door person who checked our name off on the list and we were allowed to “step inside” and make our way to the top of the steps but to go no further! We were then told we were allowed to descend the stairs and taken to our table.
The cocktail list, divided into historical eras (pre-Prohibition, post-war and so on), makes for enthralling reading with all its unexpected ingredients, including: smoke, squid ink, burning pine cones and foam. Part of the fun here is watching the way the cocktails are mixed using smoke machines and blow torches. It’s a full table service and the staff know the cocktails inside out so you can get recommendations.
Prices range from around £10-£14 per drink, so pretty much normal cocktail prices, but nothing about these cocktails are normal and they certainly pack a punch! We had to try the one with Squid Ink, the smell wasn’t great but the it was surprisingly delicious and well worth a try!
The only downside – we had a table booked from 6-8pm and at 7.30pm we were told that our time was nearly up and we should consider buying our last drink and we would have to leave, only to be repeated by another waitress shortly after.(However, we did manage to persuade them to give us another table as they’d had a cancellation.)
If you’re in the area it’s well worth a visit, but you must book a table as you won’t get in.
129 City Road
London
EC1V 1JB
Open 6pm-1am Mon-Wed, Sun; 6pm-2am Thur; 6am-3am Fri, Sat