Sunday 28 October 2012

W Hotel Leicester Square Cocktail Bar Review

W Hotel Leicester Square Cocktail Bar Review

Hurray, pay day week!  Before I spend the large bulk of this month's salary buying presents for other people, let's get the cocktails in and do it in style.  This month's venue was the W Hotel Barhttp://www.wlondon.co.uk/w-hotel-bar (10 Wardour Street, W1D 6QF).  I've been here once before for pre drinks before going to a film premier (that's how I rolled in my last job...) and knew I had to come back again.


The W Hotel Bar isn't pretentious but I think they like to try and be.  The bouncers on the door were blocking my intention to just waltz in and honestly, they were more like the concierge and directed me to the lift (like I was totally struggling to figure out where it was).  The entrance of this place is very 'look at me, look at me' and I was more than happy to perv.  Firstly you can't miss that massive W outside the hotel, cue standard tourist shot (sorry had to be done), then as you enter you're greeted with masses and masses of glitter balls which you just can't help but smile at.   

Despite being in quite a touristy location, the people there weren't too dissimilar to me and my friends; working professionals just after a few nice drinks on a Thursday night.

I had a Lady Chatterley.  I loved the names of the drinks in general.  For quite a glamourous looking place where the staff were immaculately dressed and the toilets were half hidden with mirrors, I like names which show some humour and slightly flirtiness to it - probably what I'm after in a man as well - and not taking it to seriously.  A Lady Chatterley had Ketel One vodka, with raspberry, Aperol (an Italian aperitif), vanilla syrup, lemon and soda.  The glass it was served in, again, was quite surprising given how glamourous the place looked.  Served in one of those medium height curvy glasses, I felt like there should have been a small cocktail umbrella in it and I should have been by the pool side with the faint sound of copacabana playing.  I chose this because I'm a fan of berry based drinks and lemons to make it refreshing but I couldn't get past it's sweetness.  It was also quite a dense drink which slightly stopped it from being as refreshing as I'd like.  Whilst I did enjoy it, I did wonder whether my teeth were going to dissolve with every sip.

Therefore, the other drink I tried was a Le Fizz 16.  Grey Goose vodka, lime juice, elderflower and soda.  It sounded like a good remedy for the sweetness.  Elderflower, having been a relatively unknown drink in the last decade, appears to be coming into fashion in a big way.  It should have been served in a champagne fluter but the bartender, who was SO friendly it was ridiculous, plus awesomely talented and had a clear passion for his job, saw I had major retro champagne glass envy so served it up in that.  This was just the drink I needed to balance it out such a sweet drink before.

The W Hotel bar is a great place if you want to make more of an effort.  A good date venue actually (must bear this in mind...) and a bit more pricey than the average bar.  The prices on the menu didn't include the service charge so beware of that.  However it was an equally good venue with go with the girls where the topics of discussion included holiday 2013 destinations and how I am an awesome matchmaker.

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