Bars & Pubs

Clerkenwell's most likeable bar is this table-football themed gem, now ten years old. The soccer paraphernalia is authentic, retro-cool and mainly Latin (though you'll find a Zenit St Petersburg scarf amid the St Etienne and Lusitanian gear); equally, bar staff, beers and bites give the impression you could easily be in Lisbon. Vitor and his crew plonk bottled Sagres, Super Bock, Brahma, Cusqueña and Krombacher on to the zinc counter, at the end of which a modest open kitchen ('we don't microwave or deep-fry') dishes out tapas, sandwiches and charcuterie platters. Kick cocktails (£6.50), two dozen martinis and drinks long and short, involve football-related names shaken to the background rattle of table football and victorious whooping.

Time Out Bars, Pubs & Clubs Guide 2008/9