London's best review, food and drink news
By Guy Dimond
Hotel bars used to be places where you were guaranteed good drinks, high prices, and the company of wealthy tourists and hookers. Then hoteliers wised up to the cachet of high-profile 'name' chefs running hotel restaurants - Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, a bunch of Ramsay's other mates - and creating destination bars to go with them. At first it was just the five-star hotels; now everyone's at it.
Budget hotel The Cumberland (1,000 rooms from about £100) hired the services of Gary Rhodes last year to give its brasserie some star quality. One year later, Rhodes' fine-dining restaurant has also now opened in the hotel. They're both very good. A landmark bar is all that was missing for a hat-trick. Voilà Carbon.
Rather than going for the contemporary bar clichés of chandeliers, wit and whimsy, Carbon is dark and high-tech industrial. It looks like a set from a computer game where aliens are lurking in the shadows waiting to be zapped. Heavy iron chains form huge screens. A mezzanine floor appears suspended in mid-air over the main bar. The stairs to it were roped off.
'Can we take our drinks up there?' we asked the barman sweetly. 'It is only for people who buy at least one bottle of spirits,' we were told. We checked the menu: the cheapest spirit bottles start at about £100 and rise steeply. The mezzanine floor remained empty all evening.
Back in cattle class, we enjoyed lounging in the comfy leather seats and savouring our cocktails. There's a good selection of most premium brands of spirits to mix with an equally impressive array of fresh fruits and juices; we scored two hits out of three selections (the third was just too sweet). Service was attentive and friendly, despite the abundance of bouncers patrolling the place like goons. The DJ's funky house made the room throb, but not so loud we couldn't have a conversation.
Carbon still feels like a bar waiting to happen. It's a vast space, and there were too few people togive it a great bar vibe on our midweek visit. It's also too controlled and well-mannered, not at all edgy. A hotel bar it remains.
Time Out Issue1922: June 20-26 2007
|
|
London's best review, food and drink news
|
|
The best of London in your inbox
Up to the minute picks of the best things to do in London, delivered to your desktop.
|
|
The drinks were nice and the music was ok. i didnt like the mixes but i guess they suit all tastes. I went the week after to celebrate a birthday and i emailed them for guestlists which were confirmed and when we got there, we stood in the rain for 20 mins until we were refused entry.
Security are rude and very pretentious. We had one extra male against female ratio and we actually weren't allowed in! We argued and pleaded for an hour with no luck. They claim that guestlists don't control them and they can change their mind once you arrive.
Dont plan a night out to this place..you WILL be dissapointed
I had the unfortunate experience of going here for work drinks when me company were paying. We were met with blank looks when equiring about the reserved area we had arranged. The bar looks impresive in photo's but in reality is a big souless space with no atmosphere despite it being a Friday night. In the end the free company sponsored drinks ran out and we left to go to a decent bar.