This week we headed to the faded elegance of Kettner’s Champagne and Cocktail Bar nestled in a Grade II Listed building in the middle of Soho.Kettners’s was, in the past, known for hosting risqué parties and catering for guests including the likes of Oscar Wilde, Edward VII, Lille Langtry, Agatha Christe and Bing Crosby. The glamour still resinates, if somewhat frayed over the almost 150 years since Augustee Kettner (chef to Napoleon III) opened his restaurant on the corner of Greek Street and Romilly Street.
Today you can enjoy great food from the Brasserie and a glorious range of cocktails in the bar. We took advantage of their rather extended Happy Hour (applicable Sunday to Thursday 8pm-close) giving you 50% off a selection of cocktails. We sampled a couple of the old classics, a Cosmopolitan and Negroni and were not disappointed. I shall not insult your intelligence by describing the ingredients of such standard cocktails, all I will say is the execution of a classic needs to be close to perfection, as they were. The bar staff are just as brave tackling these oldies as they are concoting new cocktails.
Kettner’s, 29 Romilly Street, London, W1D 5HP
By Julia Hamilton-Griffin
The Holborn 