Drink Shop Do Birthday, 12th August

I am no stranger to Drink Shop Do. I used to work around the corner from the place and on my first visit went there for lunch and was back again for drinks that night. When I wanted to celebrate my birthday, they had by that time opened Drink Shop Dance in the old sex shop below so this is where we ended up and had an excellent night. I found myself there again for a vintage hen do, where we all had our hair and makeup done while having afternoon tea. But I had never been to one of their ‘Doing’ events so when I was invited for their fifth birthday party I was quite excited.

They’re famed for nights involving arts and crafts or just being silly – such as Doodle Shop, making Lionel Richies out of Rich tea biscuits, and also having lunchtime discos. On their birthday we had a round of Lego robots and then some Musical bingo. I’ve played musical bingo before (though not with Jess Indeedy) so I knew what to expect and it was just as fun as the original night – she played mostly 90s hits that were as fun to dance in your seat to as playing the game of bingo itself. Prizes were such things as pom poms and fake mohawks – what more could you want?

For lego robots the rules were simple – it had to have a name, a special power, and limbs of some sort I seem to recall. I was quite pleased with my half-truck-half-oven creation but didn’t end up submitting it as it kept falling apart.

We had been treated to some delicious cocktails throughout the evening (as well as some delightful cakes and sandwiches to soak it up) and also, rather magically, bubbles of gin and tonic! Actually catching these was quite difficult but I managed to get a couple in my mouth. 

At the end of the bingo everyone made a conga line to the basement where the party continued and I started sipping on some frozen slushie margaritas and dancing around. Hell of a birthday party. And the perfect excuse to draw your attention to my previous post about Drink Shop Do. Here’s to another five years at least!

Longplayer, 1st August

Longplayer is a ‘melody’ that lasts a thousand years. Hence the name. More of an art project than a composition, it has been designed to be future proof so that it may be played continuously no matter the technology that arises. Since hearing of its creation I have been intrigued and wanted to get to one of its listening posts. You can tune into it anytime online but I thought being at one of the places it was broadcast physically would be a better experience.

It also provided an excuse to discover Trinity Buoy Wharf with all its artistic oddities and take a stroll along the Lea discovering more things along the way.

There isn’t much at Trinity Buoy Wharf but it has become a bit of an artists’ hub and there are strange sculptures and artworks all around which I was delighted by. Longplayer is housed in London’s only lighthouse so I think that is worth seeing as well. As you go in, the strange, ringing sound envelopes you, and in front of you is a set of bowls that were used to play part of the song live. The tune is continuously evolving, never repeating, and is a slightly eerie, but calming sound. You go up some stairs and can take a seat and just listen for a while. It was peaceful yet melancholic.

I decided not to get anything from Fat Boy’s Diner and instead get some exercise by walking to Stratford which took me along the River Lea and through some parks and generally lead me to explore a part of London I would never have wandered through otherwise. An excellent day trip.

Arabica Bar and Kitchen, 31st July

Honey & Co – done. Palomar – done. Arabica also had to be done. So I made a reservation for one Friday night to cross it off the list.

It wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Knowing it was borne out of a food truck I expected a more intimate setting but this is definitely a fully fledged restaurant. Though our slightly clumsy waitress gave it the less polished feel I had anticipated!

Choosing what to eat was a task as pretty much everything made my mouth water. But they had a few interesting-sounding dishes that particularly stood out. To start we had a couple of dips and bread. We ordered the whipped feta with Turkish chillies, toasted pumpkin seens and mit, and the hummus with lamb which also came with pine nuts, hook and son ghee.

The whipped feta was as light as a cloud. I now believe all feta should be flaggelated in such a way to be scooped up and spread on bread. There was far too much of both dips for the bread we were given but we kept them on the table and used them to accompany our mains so that we made sure to eat up every last drop.

For mains, we had chicken and pistachio shish, which we were warned literally came as is, so also had some Turkish style tomato bulgar wheat pilaf to go with it, and we also got some crispy lamb belly, some chicken wings and a fattoush salad. 

The pilaf was the best rice style dish I have eaten and that is not something I would normally get excited about. The salad was as unhealthy as a salad can get, with great slabs of fried crouton in it. I don't normally feel overwhelmed by salad but this was a lot to handle.

The lamb belly is a dish you shouldn't bother trying to share - deliciously crispy and well spiced with the fat all flavoursome and moreish. 

Chicken wings, while I remember enjoying them, were rather in the shadow of the lamb and I'd probably go for something else instead another time. 

Likewise, the chicken shish was a tasty version - coming with cardamom, honey and green chilli, but could have been a bit spicier, and well, another shish for your dollar (they were £10) wouldn't have gone amiss!

I blame the salad for filling me up too much to try dessert, although there was nothing which shouted out to me to try it despite my fullness. I certainly enjoyed my meal here and would happily return though out of the three places mentioned at the start, it was probably the one I least fell in love with. 

Club Pedestal, 30th July

I’m a firm believer in trying most things once and so, even though I wouldn’t in any way describe myself as a ‘Dom’ in the fetish scene, I wanted to see what Club Pedestal was all about. It describes itself as a club ‘for dominant women and those who worship them’ and even if you’re not into the kinky scene at all, being worshipped has got to sound pretty appealing!

Women can wear what they like, men are supposed to dress as if they are there to serve women – if they haven’t dressed up especially then at the very least they need to wear a collar.

I wasn’t sure what to expect beyond the usual play area that such nights have. I knew there was a cabaret show and it’s held at Fire so there would likely be dancing. I know one of the guys involved in it and had been reassured it was a very friendly event. And it was. I had one of the best nights ever there – just being in a setting where women are in charge was incredibly empowering and liberating. I didn’t expect to feel that way but I did and I can’t wait to go back.

We arrived around 10:30. I had thought we had missed the newbie tour they do every time but luckily we got there just before it started off. There are only three rooms so if you haven’t been before and you miss it, it’s no big deal but it was nice to get an overview of the different areas and what to expect, when. The main room is a general area for hanging out but also contains the quite impressive trample frame, where willing subs can line up and allow women to literally walk all over them. Balance is aided by ropes attached to the frame to hold onto. An excellent idea and I made full use of this in my knee-high boots with killer heels.

To the right is the room where the cabaret happens and then the seats are cleared away for a dance floor. After the cabaret they also have a best dressed male competition – happy to say one of my number made it into the final head to head. A bottle of champagne is on offer for the winner.

To the left of the main room is the Goddess room, where women are absolutely in charge. Men may not sit down ever, and they may not even speak unless given permission. I had quite a few guys with me who weren’t submissive in their nature but they fully got on board with the ethos and, I think, enjoyed to a certain degree being able to give up their yoke of feeling like they have to do all the ‘work’.

All the women who went were big fans, so in general it was a massive success. It might push you slightly out of your comfort zone to see the different degrees of subservience – as a woman, expect your feet to be pounced on any time you sit down (with your permission of course), and you may receive the odd request. But you are always, always, free to say no and that goes for the men too – it was stressed that no one should feel under any pressure either way to do anything they didn’t feel comfortable with. So go, and you might discover something you ARE comfortable with that you hadn’t explored before! Otherwise, there is no pressure at all to get involved if you don't want to - it could be just like a regular night out, but with the sound of spanking in the background. 

C.O.L.D. Bar, 27th July

Sometimes I forget what I’ve even officially got on my List and what are places I just kinda want to go to. So I went to the COLD bar the other night thnking I’d just like to see what it was like, but in fact I have had it on my List.

So, I didn’t really take any pictures but hopefully my words will paint conjure an image for you. I went on a Monday night, assuming it wouldn’t be so busy that a reservation was in order. I was correct and had almost the pick of the place. I chose two comfy looking armchairs in the corner by the still. For COLD stands for City of London Distillery and they make gin. And besides making it, they sell lots of it too. One of my very amiable bartenders told me they have something like 320 varieties in stock. More than one could ever need. So it is no surprise that all their cocktails are gin-based. I happened to take someone who doesn’t really like gin but, starting off with a beer, he was able to wean himself onto a gin cocktail that he really liked. How so? Well, while some of them are purely gin-based, there are enough that are blended with others to create quite a non-gin taste, especially if they use the more ‘blank slate’ varieties.

As I descended the stairs I was pleased by the warm, welcoming tones of the place. Lots of soft browns, it feels like your kindly posh old uncle’s library, if such a person existed in your family. The guys bringing the drinks were chatty and knowledgeable and happy to help you choose a drink to suit your tastes or moods. My first was the millionaire, a sweet yet punchy drink with sloe gin and rum.

For my second I went the other way and ordered something more bitter, the Communist - more gin but this time some brandy too, and citrussy fruits. A good contrast to my previous, this was just as easy to drink as the first.

Sadly, this place is not cheap and much as I would have liked to work my way through the entire menu, after two drinks we departed for somewhere a little more affordable. Hidden off Fleet Street where you would never expect to find a distillery, this definitely counts as a hidden gem and would make for an impressive date venue or somewhere to go for a special occasion.

Camden Crunch, July 17th

I really wanted to go to the Camden Crunch because I knew it would be full of the kinds of people I love – warm and friendly fetish folk, some of which I would probably recognise from my attendance at other events. But I was worried I wouldn’t like it. Why? Because they unashamedly say that, unlike many other events, the music here is on the cheesy side. And I hate cheese. Its purpose is for beered up people who don’t know how to dance to jump around and not have to worry about having rhythm. That is not me.

But it all turned out better than expected. Apparently the DJ normally drifts through several genres so everyone hears something they like for at least some of the evening. But this night he seemed to get stuck in the hair metal phase – when it became apparent he had disappeared (illness). Cue the Crunch attendees to come to the rescue and ensure the party continued – by purely taking requests, only turning things down if they didn’t have it on their phone. And people were mostly requesting things I really like to dance to (RnB mostly). So that all worked out very well and I rather hope it is repeated if I go again!

Apart from that, it was just a fun night at a bar, having a few drinks and talking to several people, both new faces and old from this scene. It would be a really good entry if you are curious about these sorts of things – nothing actually kinky goes on there but there are plenty of experienced people there to chat to about it. Also, there’s no dress code so if you’re wary of getting all latexed up, you needn’t worry. Some people do, for sure, but whatever you feel comfortable in is encouraged – be that going outrageous or in your jeans.

The Crunch host their own pre-meet for anyone who is new or coming along on their own, though of course I went with the Meetup and did my own version of this so can’t report on what that was like.

If you’re interested in this sort of lifestyle, then definitely head along. It’s every month, on the third Friday of the month so the next one is this week – the 21^st August.

Cuisson POPdown and Cherry Cola, 27th June

I went to Cuisson’s Pop-Down dinner at the end of June. Held in a basement coffee shop, it certainly had the transient pop-up feel to it, giving it a slightly guerilla atmosphere.

And the cooking was quite impressive, even if unfortunately most of the dishes weren’t to my own personal taste.

There were six ‘courses’ (if bread be counted as a course??). For each I would say the ingredients and combinations were very well thought out leading to well balanced dishes. They were the perfect idea for a summer’s day – all very light and fresh.

We started with bread and their own made cultured butter. I was so pleased my dining companion was late as it allowed me to eat all her portion as well. It was exquisite. Then came the first real course – described as yoghurt with cucumber and anise, this was served almost as a gazpacho – a very thin soup. I don’t like yoghurt but luckily the other flavours counterbalanced this and I found it did taste quite nice – like a ‘souped up’ (excuse the pun) tzatziki. I couldn’t quite get over the fact I was spooning very thin yoghurt into my mouth however, which wasn’t the most pleasant sensation.

After this was something I could easily tuck into – ratte potatoes with hay, grelot tops and umami, closely followed by duck liver, thankfully served in pate form. This was spread onto a homemade cracker and was a very rich, savoury taste and my favourite (apart from the bread) course of the evening. The chunks of pineapple were a good foil to the deep ducky taste.

Next up – octopus pil pil with mustard and wild rice. Again something I would never order for myself. I think if you liked octopus then this was probably a good example of it. And it was at least sliced and presented in such a way that it was very easy to forget what it looks like in the natural world. It was now we began to realise all the courses so far had been cold, which we thought a little odd. I don’t think this was meant to be a feature of the night, but perhaps had something to do with the facilities available to them. It meant that I felt vaguely dissatisfied with the meal after, wishing I’d had at least one piping hot, filling dish.

Instead what I had as the final flourish was a lukewarm piece of salmon with horseradish cream/mousse. The horseradish was light and fluffy, and, most importantly to me – subtle. The fish was firm yet translucent. An accomplished dish but not one that rocked my particular tastebuds.

The dessert was similarly light and summery with a lychee and mango bavarois. It was so light and airy I felt I practically inhaled it rather than ate it. Very pleasant and a refreshing finish to the evening’s meal.

The aim of the pop-down was to create a relaxed and somewhat interactive dining occasion and it sort of worked. The chefs introduced the meal and you were free to take a wander and have a look at what they were doing, as well as them circulating and checking on you. Service was attentive and warm. As a supper club experience it was quite fun, and we chatted to the fellow diners on our table. Cuisson also do a dessert-only version which I think would be worth checking out, and they regularly change the menu so if the one I have described doesn’t float your boat I reckon it would be worth taking a punt on another evening.

Cherry Cola

After our grown up meal, I went back to Cocktail Trading Co and proceeded to get really quite pissed for the evening. After this we went up to Cherry Cola in Camden to bid farewell to the Purple Turtle. This indie institution was closing its doors forever and Cherry Cola, the indie night were seeing it off. We got there and caught the tail end of the final live band and then they plunged into some very decent indie and indie-tinged pop. Everyone was bopping and dancing and jumping about and I am very pleased to say Cherry Cola hasn't ended with the Purple Turtle - you can find it resurrected in East London at The Macbeth these days.