Rockwell at The Trafalgar

Friday night I went to sample the calorie counted cocktails at the newly refurbished Rockwell at The Trafalgar in light of its 10th birthday. I'd heard about the hotel before, mainly due to its revered rooftop terrace, but have never actually visited. Describing itself as a chic boutique hotel, the decor in the bar seemed accomodating for various differing numbers - bigger parties - leavings dos, birthdays, groups of friends and couples enjoying a romantic drink. It's definitely smart and elegant - somewhere conducive to whiling away your time sipping liquid creations.



The staff were as you would wish, perfectly pleasant, hospitable and personable without being overbearing. The bar manager Antonio took the time to describe why he came up with the concept of calorie controlled drinks - so apt in a cosmopolitan city where everyone seems increasingly concerned with what they put in their bodies. And as he maintains - it's surprising that nowhere seems to have done this already, when you can go buy food and drink in a shop with the nutritional information on the packaging. But the menu goes one step further and details the benefits of each drink based upon the ingredients.



The drinks were divided up into three different categories - The Saintly, The Sinful and The Wickedly Good. The first being delicious, predominantly juice based mocktails with minimal calories whilst the second group are alcoholic with fewer calories than the latter. First up I tried the detoxifying champagne cocktail Lemon Camellia - a lemongrass infused green tea champagne which was perfectly balanced indeed and at only 95 calories! More saintly than sinful I felt! Meanwhile my friend enjoyed a fruity gin number - the Botanical Hedgerow made from Hendricks, eldeflower, raspberry and apple juce. An easy drinking cocktail at just 129 calories.



Next up we tried the Rose Gin Blush a refreshing drink with a hint of bitterness made from Edgerton rose gin, pomegranate juice, blackberry syrup and slimline. Said to be full of antioxidants and vitamin C, this really was a winner on all accounts, even if it was a few calories more than my first drink. The other was another pomegranate combo that was smooth with a kick, based on Absolut and also mixed with Cointreau and Pimms. It also boasted antioxidants and vitamin C as well as vitamin B.



The great thing about the cocktails for purists is that all bases - purees and juices - are fresh. Nothing comes from concentrate and thus the sugar levels in the drinks are minimal, hence the lower calories content which doesn't take away from the taste. So Antonio's two and half months research for these beverages was most definitely worth the time and effort. No doubt models and skinnies will flock here to sample his delights. Especially with a fantastic DJ (who also plays at Bungalow 8) setting the mood for the evening and no doubt inducing more cocktail drinking! Absolutely without a doubt one to remember and a bar that goes in the memory bank of recommendations to pass on to friends for where to have that post work drink.

http://www.thetrafalgar.com

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Hip Astor

Last week I went to the launch of the new Astor Hip Flask cocktail at The Waldorf Hilton along Aldwych. Not a hotel I’ve actually been to before, but being right in the heart of theatre-land it’s a good one to know about. Following in the trend of all the five star hotels, it has not too long ago been beautifully re-done - well as far as I saw anyway. (Definitely worth another visit to take it all in).


So the new Astor Hip Flask cocktail is available in the Good Godfrey’s bar which is named after Howard Godfrey - the band leader of the hotel band – the ‘Waldorfians’ back in the ‘20s. Designed particularly to appeal to the male species, it’s a bourbon based drink which harks back to the prohibition period, being served from a hip flask. It joins the female focused cocktail – the Refined Madame which is a lighter Tanqueray 10 based drink - a more sophisticated version of the Madame Ginevra and comes served with an atomiser.



The award-winning mixologist, Nelson Bernardes won’t divulge the exact recipe but we are told that the blend is aged in 5l oak barrel for the minimum of a month, to add spicy, nutty notes. To achieve the perfect flavour batches of aged blends are mixed together. To serve, extra bourbon is added and it is poured over ice, you then serve yourself out of the hip flask into a mini shot glass with a bourbon infused cherry.



An Astor Hip Flask costs £15 and for an additional £35 you can take away the hip flask as a souvenir.
Good Godfrey's Bar and Lounge is open:
• Monday to Saturday 8am to 2am
• Sunday 9am to 12 midnight
http://www.waldorfhilton.co.uk/dining-bars/good-godfreys.html
020 7836 2400

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Bassoon Bar But With a Piano

Founded by the Pisani family of Malta, it follows that the Corinthia hotel has a general air of sumptuousness. Despite the fact that the board is comprised of Libyan Government and the Libyan Arab Foreign Investment Company (Lafico) is a major investor in the hotel, we are apparently told, the day-to-day operations of the hotel are not affected and it seems not either.

The bar itself, designed by David Collins, is made up of a 7 metre grand piano which can actually be played (we declined the offer) although it was somewhat disappointing that there wasn’t a designated person tapping away on the keys as there often are in these places. Perhaps we came at the wrong time for this. Not sure I personally went for the art hung on the walls, but the overall effect worked well together.

The cocktail menu is quite vast, offering a range of ‘classic and bespoke’ cocktails. All these come with a small tower of snacks – chilli rice crackers, mixed salted nuts and olives although on the back of the menu was an intriguing chocolate menu, explaining that as the cocoa was mixed with water, it was really light. Something to be tried another time!

There are definitely a few interesting observations about the place. When I enquired about the Kings Speech cocktail being in relation to the film, I was told that the cocktail was indeed named after what was served at the premiere after party. The actual bar is a sweet shop for cocktail aficionados, crammed with a multitude of different bottles to mix each drink to perfection (worth the wait) – with a couple of barrels of the house vermouth perched atop which we were offered a taste of - out of the most exquisite mini silver tumblers may I add. Perhaps Vermouth will become one of the next trends to be revived?

http://www.corinthia.com/en/London/restaurants-and-bars/bars/Bassoon/
Opening Hours
Sunday – Thursday 16.00 – midnight
Friday & Saturday 16.00 – 01.00

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Great Scott!

This weekend I was lucky enough to be invited by one of my friends to the newly opened Marcus Wareing Gilbert Scott restaurant housed in the recently restored St Pancras Renaissance hotel. A good excuse to have a snoop around the hotel also!


En route to the restaurant through the hotel, one very much gets the sense of being in a 'Gothic Revival' building with dark corridors on coloured tiled floors and wallpapered walls. It looks lavish but true to the style of that period. The restaurant was historically the coffee room in the old days of the Victorian hotel and thus named after the famed architect, Gibert Scott who won the competition set by Midland Railway for his design for an 150 room hotel to go alongside St Pancras station back in 1865.


Described on the website as having a "sense of grandeur in a relaxed and informal brasserie-like setting" is rather apt as the high ceilings and elaborate frieze are somewhat juxtaposed against the simpler furniture reminiscent of the old fashioned carriages. But this classicism together with the charm of the waiters & waitresses is endearing and their efficiency faultless - I loved that the waiter spotted the chorizo that had flown of my fork onto the floor and swifty swept it up in his hands.


The menu is pure heaven, a delight for culinary bold & daring (me) with a plethora of enticingly interesting options - razorclams, licolnshire haslet, different salad combinations yet mixed in with a few old favourites - brown & forrest salmon and london pride battered cod with chips. It details dishes as being inspired by old english cuisine and names renowned old cooks such as Isabelle Beeton and John Nott whose spatchcock inspired chicken was divine with an unctious lemon and herb gremolata. I couldn't really fault the food at all apart from personal preference (I like my chicken skin uber crispy!) Even the accompaniments were varied and inspired. Juicily griddles courgette chunks and pease puding for the nostalgic.


I would most defintely return in a flash at the merest suggestion of visiting the place - also to the pub on the other side with picnic benches outside. I have already sold the restaurant to my brother to take his wife or our parents maybe partly though as he knows that they serve Mrs Beeton's Snow Eggs!

http://www.thegilbertscott.co.uk/


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A Not So Continental Spa

The spa at the Intercontinental has a chic urban boudoir feel - or so they claim. As soon as you walk in, you're transported to another place entirely with the staff all trying their best to make and keep you as relaxed as possible. The mood is a little sombre as it's rather dark yet their motto is to let you recharge, detox or relax as you feel necessary.


We had booked a steam temple package so when we arrived we were presented with fruit juices and a fruit platter - which makes you feel like you are starting to detox instantly. In the 'steam temple' itself you have everything you could need to get prepared, take off your make-up, put away your things and prep yourself. The spa therapists ensure that there is candlelight to help you unwind whilst the twinkling starlights set into the domed roof also have a calming effect. Although I'm not so sure that it's really a continental spa but from more further afield!


Working on every therapeutic level, so they say, you apply mineral-rich mud all over the body and special mask for the face, whilst the aromatic steam infuses the temple and grows hotter. Apparently the treatment is ideal to prime the mind, skin and body prior to receiving other therapies. All the while in the temple, there is either birdsong or music, adding to the atmosphere and bringing one back to nature. Once you've sat back in the reclining chairs for a good 40 minutes, a shower of water cascades down to rinse of all the mud before you fully shower and clean yourself up.

Then after all the hard work detoxing your skin, the deal we had booked included a refreshing glass of champagne to help keep those toxin levels up! My kind of spa!

http://www.intercontinental.com/intercontinental/en/gb/spa/london-parklane 020 7318 8691

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