The Lucky Pig

Address: 5 Clipstone Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1W 6BB, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)207 436 0035
Website: view The Lucky Pig’s website
Door: Open door/walk-ins
Style: Cocktail bar
Food: Bar Snacks
Established: 2011

Review

A top-hatted doorman at street level marks the entrance to this new basement bar in Fitzrovia. Its name mixes up the moniker of 1920s racketeet Lucky Luciano and the name given to particular types of speakeasies during Prohibition (blind pigs). A distressed interior mixes shabby chic with Chinoiserie across two levels, with curtained-off mini-cellar banquettes.

A menu covered in a reproduction of a jazz magazine from 1957 helps articulate the ethos and the soundtrack. If the inside of the menu disappoints - it doesn't continue the magazine theme - the drinks list raises expectations again. It presents a balanced mix of white and brown spirit-based drinks, from fruity to spirituous, with a focus on the classics and classically inspired drinks. Everything is at £6.50 or £7, though an 'experimental' selection that promises more off-the-wall ingredients including homemade infusions and pearl dust but that also includes simple serves of a bottle of lager and a shot of rye, ranges between £8.50 to £24 for sharing drinks. Homemade syrups and liqueurs embellish the back-bar.

A good atmosphere, an in-the-know bartender crowd and table service from intelligent staff helps raise the stakes. We visited only on day four of opening, and would expect to return to score it higher, but for now we'd say a healthy 3.5.