Cocktails at Gaucho Tower Bridge

I tried being a vegetarian once for a week.  I won't use the word grim but I will use the word...oh hell with it, it was grim.  Don't get me wrong, I like vegetables but as soon as you self impose (and I don't even remember why I did this) something you can't eat, it takes a lot of will power not to leap out of bed in the middle of the night and run towards the nearest McDonalds.

So it was smiles all round when I went to Gaucho for dinner with friends. I don't know much about Gaucho but I know it's not a place for vegetarians.  This was validated by the conversation I had with a vegetarian who unwittingly went there for a work dinner and left a hungry (and possibly traumatised) man.

So Gaucho is great for anyone on the Atkin's diet and as such, not AT ALL suitable for vegetarians.  There is cow hide all over the wall.  The members of staff come looming towards you with platter of cut up meat.  There's an open kitchen with a herd of meat.  It ain't for the veg-hearted.

I was being a bit of a bore and decided not to have too many cocktails, knowing how giddy I get on them.  Having recently completed yet another course of antibiotics for the longest cough going in the world, I concluded my lifestyle wasn't quite conducive to my recovery (#My mind's telling me "Ooh yes I'll come along to that" / but my body...my booody's telling me "stop drinking and have an early night for god's sake"#).   Therefore, that really hones the mind to make a choice.  My friend suggested I have a Hanky Panky and whilst I'd love some hanky panky, a quick glance of the concoction made my decide to go for the more lighthearted Giovannoni.

Passion fruit is second favourite on my list after lychee to have in cocktails.  This was a perfect pre-dinner drink although the rosehip jelly was completely unidentified.  Also, I couldn't really taste the white wine.  So really it's a very nice vodka and passion fruit drink. 

I expected Gaucho to be pretentious (we can see Tower Bridge from our seat; they deserve to be pretentious!) but it isn't.  I guess a place who can't afford wallpaper so have to get their suppliers to send the hides to cover the walls have to be down-to-earth.  The waiter was great at dealing with my general stupidity ("I've narrowed it down to rib-eye...that's about it really"), our complicated mathematics and probably overhearing me telling my friend that we should order more chips because quite frankly I wasn't sharing mine with anyone.  And the steak?  As awesome as its cocktails.