Alcohol review: The King of Soho Copacetic Vodka and Variorum Gin

As I said in a previous blog, I’ve really been leaning into playing host of late, and an integral component of that is ensuring my guests have a drink in their hand at all times. If that drink is made from an exotic spirit, such as those from The King Soho, even better!

I was provided with a full bottle of The King Soho Copacetic Vodka and a sample bottle of The King Soho Variorum Gin

Alcohol review: Kwai Feh Lychee Liqueur

Since moving into my flat in September last year, I’ve been really enjoying hosting friends, and part of my hosting duties include mixing fun cocktails for my guests. I was kindly sent a bottle of the Kwai Feh lychee liqueur to review, and had lots of fun using it to jazz up some well-known drinks recipes. 

I love lychees as a fruit, and this liqueur both had a strong lychee taste and smell. This lychee essence goes with a lot of alcoholic spirits, making it a very versatile ingredient for drinks. In the photo below, I made lychee mojitos:

The ingredients for this drink were: a handful of mint (I have a mint plant which I use for this, very helpful!), 25ml of Kwai Feh, 25ml of rum, 25ml of freshly squeezed lime juice, 15ml of sugar syrup, topped up with lychee juice.

Whilst I enjoy rum cocktails, I don’t actually love the flavour of rum on its own, so it was pleasing to my taste buds that the lychee liqueur overpowered the rum in this drink! The lychee mojito was very fruity and fresh, with the mint leaves and lime really bringing out the tastiness of the lychee in the drink.

The next drink I made was the pink señorita cocktail, partially inspired by the pink aesthetic of the Barbie film!

The ingredients here were: 25ml Kwai Feh, 25ml tequila, 25ml Cointreau, 10ml lemon juice, topped up with pink lemonade.

Restaurant review: SANTO REMEDIO (London Bridge)

After Chelsea beat Manchester City to become Champions of Europe for the second time, it was only natural that I was in a celebratory mood. As this win coincided with the restrictions being lifted in the UK, I decided to combine celebrating my club's win, with making the most of the momentary freedom we were being granted.

I did not choose well. This was some of the food below:

OOTD: When hope was high and life worth living

My attire from a visit to one of my favourite Chinese restaurants in London, long before the lockdown mess began! Because it's nice to have nostalgia about dressing up and eating delicious meals, even if we can't quite do it yet!

Dress: Oasis

Handbag: Michael Kors

Glasses: Red or Dead

Hoop earrings: New Look

OOTD: cocktails in a pop-up bar in Paddington

Shirt: Hawes and Curtis

Trousers: Topshop

I usually find Hawes and Curtis shirts a bit steep, but there was an Easter weekend deal on them (3 for £X, I can't remember how much exactly now), and my credit card was also offering 15% cash back on money spent there. Given that I adore H&C's lovely designs, I took this as a sign that I should stock up on some work shirts!

Bar review: ADVENTURE BAR (Clapham High Street)

Having visited and reviewed the Adventure Bar in Covent Garden, I postulated whether the chain's venues outside of central London were better than the flagship one. The fact that DUSK (a terrific app that allows you have a free drink a night) featured Adventure Bar when I happened to be at Clapham Junction, meant I could put this hypothesis to the test.

Restaurant review: KOUZU (Belgravia)

I bought a voucher to dine at Kouzu on BuyAGift. The restaurant fancies itself an upmarket Japanese restaurant, and the deal retails at £49 ordinarily, so I will be assessing it as if I paid this amount for the deal (in fact, I got a fair bit off the price due to a discount code, but I’m aware discount codes don’t occur all the time).

The starters were perfunctory. With regards to the salmon, if they were going for the 'high quality and low quantity' vibe that's typical of many high-class restaurants, they really needed to work on the presentation, because what is photographed below doesn't scream 'high-class' to me:

Restaurant review: GALVIN AT WINDOWS (Mayfair)

Back in February, I had the pleasure of being able to try the five-course tasting menu at Galvin at Windows, at the Park Lane Hilton. With the exception of Yuauatcha and Sticks’n’Sushi, I rarely dine at expensive places, so when I got the opportunity to, it always feels like a special occasion!

Restaurant review: SHAKA ZULU (Camden Town)

The post-Christmas back-to-work lull one experiences in January can be quite depressing. To alleviate those January blues somewhat, London restaurants are just waiting to be explored by you, and with Groupon, LivingSocial and Wowcher deals facilitating all this, it seemed rude not to.

First thing’s first: the décor of the place was absolutely exceptional. Here’s a photo: -

Bar review: THE ROYAL HORSEGUARDS (Westminster)

I’m working through a huge backlog of restaurants and bars from which I have photos, including places I went to as far back as in 2014!

My trip to The Royal Horseguards was using a Groupon deal, £29 for a pitcher of cocktails and a sharing platter. Here they are pictured below: -

Restaurant review: COPPA CLUB (Fitzrovia)

The hustle and bustle of shoppers clambering around Oxford Circus can prove stressful, especially now, in the lead-up to Christmas. Should you crave momentary respite from crawling through a sea of shoppers, step down a side street in the direction of Soho, where you’ll find a collection of cafes, bars and restaurants. Coppa Club, a clean-lined restaurant with a bistro vibe, is amongst them.

I went to Coppa Club when I was quite hungry, on a Saturday evening. As a consequence, only one item on the menu jumped out at me: the hearty sirloin steak. As with all the steaks I’ve reviewed on my blog (exhibits A and B and C and D), I had mine rare.

Restaurant review: GOGI KOREAN BAR AND GRILL (Warwick Avenue)

Having done my Masters (part-time, over two years) very close to Tottenham Court Road, I was able to indulge in all the Korean restaurants in TCR’s vicinity, which certainly gave me an appetite for the cuisine. This fondness was cemented by On the Bab, one of the best restaurants I’ve been to, by far, and recipient of a coveted A-grade on this blog.

One part of my Korean dining experience that was sadly lacking, however, was that of the Korean barbeque. This is where Gogi, situated about a ten minute walk from Warwick Avenue underground station, came in.

Bar review: THE HIDE (Bermondsey Street)

London has some venues which do some fabulous cocktails, ranging from Yauatcha to The Escapologist, and I wondered if The Hide, about a 10 minute walk away from London Bridge, would join this pantheon of greats.

I had a White Russian, which tasted lovely, although I was slightly disappointed it wasn’t served in an Old Fashioned glass (God, I love Old Fashioneds), but a generic tumbler instead. If the varied cocktail menu wasn’t for you, then there was also a decent beer and wine list, meaning it would be literally impossible not to cater for an alcohol drinker in The Hide.

Décor was low-key but elegant, and the contemporary music playing in the background straddled the line between atmospheric and obtrusive well.

However, remember what I said about how I was a little uneasy with La Trompette, because the waiters kept checking up on me? Well, those waiters were aloof compared to those in The Hide. I told the waiter I would need a few minutes to decide, and they came back almost immediately.

I was savouring my White Russian (it had been a long day, one needs #TreatYoSelf sometimes) at a leisurely pace, and another waitress came to my table, as if to pointedly say that me drinking one drink on my own wasn’t enough to merit a place at the table.

So, whilst I have no qualms with the quality of the drinks, or the range of tipples on offer, I have to take umbrage with the way they tried to railroad me into ordering more drinks than I wanted.

Those kind of games don’t work on me, fam. You won’t swindle Emma that way. But you will get a negative review for your troubles.

Grade: C

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For more of my bar and pub reviews, click here.

Bar review: ASK FOR JANICE (Clerkenwell)

Ask for Janice is a gin bar near the bustle of St. Paul’s. I drank here one Summer’s day. It has some space outside, where I sat : -

Restaurant review: YAUATCHA (Liverpool Street)

Bar review: THE REDCHURCH BAR (Shoreditch)

The last time I had cocktails using a Groupon deal with my friend Rebecca was The Escapologist in Covent Garden, which, despite a customer who rudely pushed in in front of me, was a thoroughly enjoyably evening. Rebecca and I had had our boozy night back in September of 2016. Almost nine months later, here I was, taking advantage of another Groupon deal, again with the same babe.

However, the original plan had to been to visit The Redchurch Bar with a friend on May 20th. We arrived in Shoreditch at 4pm (where both the Groupon deal and Google say the bar is open from), but the doors weren’t open. We assumed the bar staff were just running a little late, so settled up shop in The Verge across the road, where, graciously, there was also a Happy Hour (review of The Verge coming soon).

We sat in The Verge until 7pm, occasionally popping over to see if it had opened yet. It never did, although at some points, a man (presumably the manager) was standing behind the locked door, furrowing his brows whilst on his phone. Eventually we gave up hope on our Redchurch cocktails, and went for dinner in Brick Lane. But that was really, really annoying. Of all the problems I’ve had with Groupon, up until then, I’d never experienced a place not actually being open.

So, of course, it was with trepidation that I approached the place with Rebecca some 10 days later. Amazingly, it was open! Admittedly, we got there a bit later, 8:30pm, but the lack of staff was telling immediately; it was a fairly spacious bar, yet I only spotted two couples in The Redchurch bar.

Something inconvenient that this place did with their deal which both The Escapologist and Adventure Bar eschewed (by allowing the deal-holder to open up a tab) was that we had to order all our cocktails at once. This wasn’t ideal because it meant some drinks lost some of their chill towards the end, and as we all know, if there’s anything I need more of, it’s chill.

Even more annoyingly, was the fact that they didn’t have ingredients for a bunch of the drinks. As I’ve stipulated in past reviews of Groupon cocktail deals, if I’ve shelled out £24 for six cocktails, I want to maximise my returns by ordering the most expensive drinks. There were several which were £11.50 here, and the one which caught my attention was the ‘Chinese Cosmopolitan’. I’m Chinese, and I love Sex and the City, so that drink sang to me straight away.

Even more worryingly, they didn’t have lychee to make that drink, and they also conspicuously lacked the ingredients for several of the other drinks which cost £11.50. To not have the ingredients for one cocktail is bad enough, but for the waitress to continually tell me I couldn't have what I desired because they didn't have the components? Poor af.

In the end, Rebecca and I were able to find three drinks apiece that we liked, and here they are:

Outfit of the Day: Reminds of a John Hughes movie

What I wore to drink Groupon cocktails with my girl Rebecca at The Redchurch Bar in Shoreditch:

Floral top: Forever 21

Skirt: Dorothy Perkins

Earrings: Miss Selfridge

Restaurant review: CHAI THALI (Camden)

A few weeks ago, me and my friends from my old work had a much-needed catch-up at Chai Thali. One of my friends, Sarah, had said it was a restaurant that specialized in Indian tapas, at which I was pretty much sold.

Something that goes together about as well as Cara Delevingne and Dane DeHaan.

The only difference is, unlike Delevingne and DeHaan, I enjoy gin (with a tonic) and cream soda ordinarily.  But sampled together, you get one steaming pile of Bye Felicia. The problem is that the cream soda has quite a mild taste, which does nothing to mask the strength of the gin. And it certainly doesn't complement.

So yes, because these two liquids were an absolute fail working together, I'm going to have to refer to Cream Soda + Gin as 'The Valerian'.

Restaurant review: THE GRILL ON THE MARKET (Smithfields)

Just a stone throw's away from where I'm currently doing my thesis, The Grill on the Market is a classy, upmarket venue. Unlike many of its fellow distinguished places in London, it isn't steeped in its own sense of self-importance.

I had a sirloin steak with béarnaise sauce (doesn't sound like me, does it?), and it was succulent, juicy excellence. Although I must admit, I was won over by the meal before I'd even had a bite, such was the cool presentation and the adorable mini-pan which the sauce was served in:

The restaurant also boasted an impressive cocktail selection - I had the One Long Jerry, which was like nothing I'd ever drunk before.  It's the restaurant's most distinguished drink, and with the blend of Sailor Jerry spiced rum, Lillet Blanc liqueur, Luxardo Cherry, lemon juice, maple syrup and thyme, I'm not surprised.

The decor of The Grill on the Market, a charming blend of rustic sofas (downstairs) and more modern padded stools-type decor upstairs, at the bar, meant you could choose an area to sit that suited your preferences/dining arrangements.

I visited The Grill on the Market during a lunchtime when the restaurant was fairly quiet, so the waiter I had brought my food out promptly, and had time to help with drink choices. His style of pastoral care, to give me his opinions but allow complete autonomy of choice, was a far cry from the pushier waiters, who are so thirsty for a tip, they try to force you into having a good time and ordering more. The hard sell never works for me; this more natural, genuine approach which disarmed me of my concerns that I was out of place at such a sophisticated venue, was far more to my liking.

It's not particularly cheap dining here, with the sirloin at £21.75 and £2.50 for the sauce, so I will reserve any future trips here for special occasions only.  But the good news is, with the eclectic cocktail menu and steaks bursting with intense flavour, a return trip is definitely on the cards.

Grade: A-

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I like reviewing restaurants and bars in London; my reviews are compiled here. If you would like me to give some exposure to your restaurant, do email me at lemon_and_lime7@hotmail.com.