SOHO RESTAURANTS

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Hixter Bankside


What Mark Hix opened his latest outpost on the South Bank last month, keeping the rotisserie spinning into the small hours. The refurbished Victorian metalworks factory is done up in the same mould as his popular Tramshed in Shoreditch, boasting not only a clucking good menu (roast barn-reared Indian Rock chicken, £25), but also contemporary art by his YBA pals Tracey Emin and Tim Noble. Cocktails from £8.50


Best after Front-row seats at A Streetcar Named Desire at the Young Vic


Last orders 12am





A little old place where...


The Love Shake


What The ideal choice for a late-night get-together, The Love Shake serves up delicious diner grub until the supplies run dry or the doors shut at 2.30am. Save your jukebox money for alcoholic shakes (the Oreeto, with Amaretto and Oreo cookie, £7.50) or hot dogs (Cheese Melt, £4, left), then enjoy hipster-spotting from a seat outside (like Where’s Wally, only everyone is wearing round frames and stripey tops). There’s also a bi-monthly Saturday party that keeps rolling till 4.30am


Best after A midnight screening at the Rio


Last orders 2.30am





Dress to impress


Bob Bob Ricard


What All dolled up at midnight and nowhere to go? For the last gentleman (or lady) standing on Piccadilly, Bob Bob Ricard offers caviar (12g for £25), cocktails and capers with its English/Russian menu (Beef Wellington for two, £39.75, left) until 12.15am on Fridays and Saturdays. Inside you’ll find cosy booths, a ‘press for champagne’ button on each table and a glitzy new downstairs space (above) if you’re planning a late-night assignation. Warning: there’s a dress code, so leave the high-tops at home


Best after A hazy evening in the Cognac and Cigar Garden at Dukes


Last orders 12.15am

SOME TIME AGO...

 

Carnaby Street, 1973

Pictured above shortly after its (typically hip) pedestrianisation, Carnaby Street will forever be prefixed as ‘the epicentre of swinging London’, with mod and hippy clans a permanent fixture in the street’s various fashion boutiques throughout the 1960s. 

Dean Street, 1968

Given the various film studios and media agencies based there, it’s not uncommon to stumble across a celebrity or two on Dean Street. It’s been that way for centuries, too: Karl Marx lived there, Mozart played there and Charles Dickens pursued a short-lived interest in acting at the Royalty Theatre before becoming a writer. More significantly still, Admiral Nelson stayed on Dean Street the night before the Battle of Trafalgar, where he drew up battle plans and chose the coffin he would later be buried in.

Old Compton Street, 1947

While London’s restaurant scene is currently in the midst of a French revolution (with Brasserie Chavot and Little Social leading the pack), it’s nothing compared to the Gallic influx that followed World War II. By the late '40s, you could barely move in the West End for cassoulet and bœuf bourguignon, with Restaurant des Alliés on Rupert Street, the still-standing L’Escargot on Greek Street and Old Compton Street’s Chez Auguste the places to be seen.

 

SOHO NIGHTLIFE

Here are some of my favourite coctailbairs that I´d like to share with all of you:

ECC

Behind an unmarked door, up some stairs and set over two storeys of a townhouse, you'll find a super-sexy Parisian cocktail bar, with good dance music, gorgeous decor and a vibe that is super French and super cool. The French owners also run three of Paris's best bars. The cocktails (most around £10 each) are exquisite and unusual, and include vintage cocktails mixed from spirits dating back to the 50s and 70s – these cost an eye-watering £120-£250.

Milk & Honey

Milk & Honey has been around for years and it still serves some of the best drinks in London; it takes the art of boozing very seriously indeed – every fruit juice is squeezed by hand, and ice in the members-only Red Room is chipped from a twice-frozen block of mineral water using an ice pick. Choose from punches, cups, cobblers, hot drinks and flips, fizzes and swizzles (from around £8.50). The speakeasy vibe sees you through the heavy curtain and into a dark, New York-style of room with muffled jazz coming from somewhere. Although this is a pretty tight members' bar, you're able to get in before 11pm with a reservation. Cocktails are amazing, and if you're a woman sick of being hit on in busy bars, you're in safe hands. With Milk & Honey's set of house rules, no man can pester you without you approaching them.

Dean Street

Open from 7am, this is the ultimate early morning drinking spot, plus their breakfasts are banging. It's all dark wood and red leather, with a big long bar to sit at. Perfect for business, dates, or just hanging with your mates. Be sure to book one of the comfy chairs by the window if you're just drinking, or, if the sun's out and you're quick, get a table outside. They have plenty of cocktails to choose from – the bloody marys are pretty damn good – or ask the barman to shake you something special.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbqZnrM2sPY

Hix

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Underneath Soho restaurant Hix is one of London's coolest bars. With dim lighting, leather sofas, mirrors, an apothecary cocktail bar and free Twiglets (best bar snacks ever?!) you'll want to stay in Mark's Bar most of the evening so get comfy. There is a no-reservations policy, so get here early to grab a seat. Coming solo or your date's late? Sit at the long sunken bar and get chatting to the bartenders. There's a series of "early British libations" (around £8.75-£11) including punches and Robert Burns' Hunting Flask – Jameson whiskey infused with Kent redcurrants, ginger and citrus; a series called "London's Golden Age" (£9.75-£11) featuring 1930s cocktails from London's great hotels and bars; plus an "On the Continent and in the Colonies" series (£9.75-£13.50) – try the Pegu Club, named after an officers' club in Burma, with gin, curaçao, lime...

LAB

A bar for bartenders – it stands for London Academy of Bartenders – this has become a bit of an institution. LAB boasts a huge menu of world-renowned cocktails made by some of London's finest. Head here for a party atmosphere and affordable drinks made well, plus with more than 100 to choose from (cocktails around £7.50-£10) there has to be something that suits your taste, whether it's the Banana Wacky Baccy (gin, lemon, banana liqueur, vanilla and mango sugars, Lagavulin single malt) or a Nutt Job (Frangelico and Chambord with lemon, raspberries and cranberry juice).

The sleazy heart of London’s Theatreland has thankfully stood firm against the worst ravages of gentrification and managed to retain some of its unique character. Tourists and immigrants created Soho, and while the flashing neon of the sex shops hints at a darker side, the area also abounds with excellent old shops and restaurants run for generations by the same French, Italian, Russian or Jewish families.

Dozens of theatres mean that the pubs and bars are full of actors and celebrities – who often flock to the shabbiest looking spots in an attempt to avoid prying eyes – and the area has a genuine 24-hour nightlife. You can find some lovely hotels nearby to lay your head at the end of a long night. South of Soho, Chinatown is a chaos of exotic sights, sounds and smells, where English is a second language for a majority of residents. Leicester Square's cinemas still play host to two or three star-studded movie premieres a month.







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpGQLWtWPeM