Yauatcha

Address: 15-17 Broadwick Street, London, W1F 0DL, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7494 8888
Website: view Yauatcha’s website
Door: Make reservation
Style: Restaurant bar
Food: Set menu

Review

Yauatcha has long been churning out cocktails - some 2,000 a week! - from a service bar in its basement attached to its Michelin-starred restaurant, but they've only cottoned on recently to the fact that that volume of drinks could be turned into a viable business of its own right, and has seen them create a distinct cocktail bar at the rear of its ground floor towards the back of the space.

It certainly looks great. Striking bar stools which don't look that comfortable (they are, just) against a white marble-fronted, chrome-topped bar. It's all divided from the restaurant with transparent blue glass, which looks a lot better than it sounds.

The drinks? The speed rail is made up only of super premium brands. However, it's not the most balanced menu - mostly long and fruit-driven with eastern twists, mostly tasty but not 'wow' drinks and some you'd struggle to identify the base spirit. Only one spirituous drink on the list really. Everything is, however, beautifully presented, with exotic flora and fauna decorating them. You might say it's a girly menu, but hey, there were plenty of girls in there and the cocktails were flying out so it's probably pitched right. They'll happily go 'off-piste' and make you anything you don't see on the menu though.

Service is spot-on - striking that balance between ruthlessly efficient with genuine personality, but you'd expect nothing else from a restaurant of this calibre. It seats 20 people tops, so book a space. And don't forget the delicious dim sum bar snacks.