The Rib Room Bar, Knightsbridge
The last time I visited the Rib Room at the Jumeirah Carlton Hotel, I was on a collective press dinner. These are generally events where you meet up with fellow food writers, enthuse about other people’s websites and kindly ask the people from the national press to stop spitting on you.
I had an exceedingly enjoyable meal at what is a first rate restaurant. But as we were led through into where we were eating, the group was whisked through the bar and into the dining room which had been selected for the visit. I remember particularly admiring the slickness of the design, how everything glistened and the incredible number of varieties of gin they had lined up along the back. But before I could say, “Surely we’ve got time for a quick aperitif,” I was whisked along with the rest of the gang into the room.
It has taken me three years to get back and in that time, the refined atmosphere of the bar has remained intact. The place has thankfully remained immune to ephemeral fashions, ersatz charm and chintzy chic, maintaining all the elements of good taste without making you feel that you can’t relax.
The drinks have a kindly, old fashioned feel to them, given that they are divided up into categories such as Drinking With Dickens, London Dandies and a Taste of British. There is even one dedicated to those who abstain from such nefarious habits as imbibing liquor called the Temperance Movement. My companion and I quickly skipped over this particular chapter and dropped in on the Drinking With Dickens.
I chose The Venus whilst my companion went for the Just One More. The Venus benefits from having jasmine tea as its base. This allowed for the other ingredients such as gin, sweet wine, elderflower cordial and peach bitters to elide and coalesce to produce a sumptuous concoction. My companion was equally enthused by the mixture of rum, peach liquor, lemon juice and Sauvignon Blanc.
Feeling parochial, we then poured through the A Taste of British selection, picking out the Sloely but Surely and the Rambler. The former was made up of sloe gin, vanilla and Pommery champagne along with sweet sloe berries, and topped up with brut champagne. It was the heaviest of the cocktails, the long purr of sloe berries gave it plenty of flavour but it was possibly something to be enjoyed in the autumn rather than the summer. My companion’s The Rambler was a very rustic affair with vodka mixed with raspberry liqueur, vanilla, mixed berries and soda. Asked how it was, he exclaimed, “You can almost smell the hedgerows.” I have no idea what hedgerows smell like but I gather he was rather pleased.
A special mention should go the bar’s speciality, the Flaming Bobby Burns, a combination of Glenmorangie Astar, Antica Formular, Benedictine and hot water. This is then set alight and passed from shaker to glass and back again until finally settled. The result is exquisite, even if it was a little too rarified for me.
The price of cocktails in the Rib Room Bar is quite high but not for the area, not for the surroundings in which you can take your time over drinking and not for the expertise that goes into what goes into producing what is placed before you.