Bring Your Own Cocktail

Even though booze is not illegal these days, speakeasy bars are so hot right now. BYOC (which stands for bring your own cocktail) is a speakeasy bar in the middle of Covent Garden and I was invited to come and have a look.

It's all very hush hush and secretive and you need to book before you go there. The venue is completely out of sight from the unsuspecting passers-by and it took us a while before we'd actually found the way in. Its entrance is hidden inside a juice bar called the Juice Club on Bedfordbury Street among the crates of oranges and lemons and behind bottles of freshly squeezed bottles of juice.

The hostess took us down the stairs into a teeny tiny and very dark room. It took a while before our eyes were adjusted to the lack of light, but when they did we were pleasantly surprised. The place is very intimate with exposed brick walls and wooden furniture and only 6 tables. There were only two other parties when we were there, which made the atmosphere even more cosy. In the aisle there was an antique looking dolly trolley stacked with bottles of syrups, gomme and fresh herbs and fruits.  A gramophone playing some Louis Armstrong songs. (Actually it was an IPad perched on the gramophone doing the playing, but hey, this is the 21st century.)

We were greeted by our cocktail master Alexei who grabbed our bottle of rum and after consulting our preferences and favourite flavours, swiftly started mixing it up with all sorts of interesting ingredients and fresh juices. Our first drink was a breakfast martini made with fresh orange and lime juice, some vanilla syrup and egg white for the froth. His second concoction was made with real cucumbers, rose syrup, some apple and vanilla syrup. Our third drink was even more unusual as it was made up of yellow bell peppers. We finished our evening with a strawberry, basil and balsamic cocktail. The cocktails were all very experimental, but each and every one was extremely tasty. After two hours we had to leave our table as our session was finished, but the weird and wonderful cocktails of BYOC certainly left a taste for more. Must go back soon.

To book your own BYOC evening, check out their website:
http://www.byoc.co.uk/