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The East Room
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By Guy Dimond
This cracking bar shares the same conceit of faux-exclusivity as its established Soho sibling, Milk & Honey. That is, anyone can get in before 11pm, as long as they phone in advance. After 11pm (from March), it will be members-only (£350 a year). As if to emphasise this 'exclusivity', The East Room has an inconspicuous entrance; fire-exit doors (to the right of stablemate Sosho) are opened by a ringing a buzzer, and the nameplate is so tiny your thumb could cover it.
To reach the main lounge, you walk along a corridor lined with Enomatic wine preservation and dispensing machines, which offer 36 New World wines by the glass. It's the same approach already seen at Islington wine store The Sampler, and at Selfridges' Wonder Bar. You pay to charge up a smartcard (a bit like an Oyster), then help yourself to measures up to full glass sizes of 125 or 175ml.
The selection of southern-hemisphere wines is costly but excellent. It includes the likes of Penfolds 707 (£50 per 175ml glass), though prices start much lower, at around £4 per glass. The spirits and cocktails list is also exemplary.
Past some diner-style booth seating is the main lounge bar, with comfy sofas and chairs around tables. It's a very good-looking, well-designed space, reminiscent of good bars in New York or the Antipodes.
Even if your eyes can read the challenging menus in the low light (green type on beige), the menus don't make a lot of sense, so our waitress explains: there's a small à la carte, but the buffet is the best deal. The dozen or so dishes are vibrant with colour and flavour, from slivers of roast beef with a horseradish sauce, through Mediterranean-style vegetable salads to carved ham. The à la carte lamb cutlets were good too.
As the evening progressed and the volume pumped up, the bar filled with a youngish crowd of new-media types; we could only see two City suits. But having seen what's happened to Shoreditch House, we wonder how much longer this bar will remain the preserve of creatives rather than City slickers. A print on the wall paying homage to the famous Sex Pistols album cover reads 'Never Mind The Bombings Here's the Six Figures', a prophetic reference to the imminent influx of bonusheads who'll replace the graphic designers once the membership policy kicks in.Time Out Issue 1957: February 20-26 2008
Time Out reviews restaurants anonymously and pays for meals. Of course, we cannot guarantee the accuracy or independence of user reviews.
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Details
- 2a Tabernacle St, Shoreditch, EC2A 4LU
- Area: Shoreditch
- Tel: 07000 847876
- www.thstrm.com
- Category: Bars & Pubs
- Travel: Old St or Moorgate tube/rail
- Times: Open Mon-Wed 11am-1am; Thur, Fri 11am-3am; Sat 7pm-3am, Sun 11am-7pm
- Services:
- Outdoor tables: Members only: The Lounge and Roof Garden. Non-members are welcome in The Dining Room and Terrace
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I am a staunch believer in passion and happiness (I think if you do what you are most passionate about if life you'll be happy). So since I love to...
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what a disappointment! After my colleague booked a visit and the beginning of the year and an excellent culinary and hospitable experience we thought we were on a winner when we rebooked. Unfortunately this was not the case. The food was more like the chefs studied at the Wetherspoons school, of catering. On questioning the staff we were told a new head chef was in residence. I'm glad my colleague that is in charge of booking such events has declared we definitely will not be rebooking!
Fantastic evening with great service and great food and drink which I couldn't fault. I especially loved the wine grid and enomatic machine. Would definitely visit again
Went to a part here last Saturday and found the whole exclusivity environment unnerving and a quite pretencious. Drinks were over priced and didn't really need an overview of the beer from own country by some tosser English guy. Food was very average. Starters came out in haphazard fashion, the tuna - which was subsitituted as salmon - was drowned in olive oil and warm. The steak was fatty and garnished with a couple of leaves (literally) served with deep fried chips (real classy!). All in all, wouldn't consider coming back here for no other reason than it is a place for tossers and toffs who have to pay into exclusivity. And I agree with the previous review that the staff are down right patronising. Quite ironic really when they are the help.....
Great food, lovely place...shame about the staff who were rude, unhelpful and downright patronising
As per the rest of he match group bars - wonderfull atmosphere - Fantastic Food, Quality ingredients cooked in an uncomplicated way. great experience.
The food is amazing and the drinks are fantastic. The atmosphere is really relaxed and chilled. I became a member shortly after going to the Club House in Chamonix (France) part of the same group.
Became a member a few months ago, and have been many times since joining. Food is great and really good value, wine is good but a bit pricey (altho for the quality you get it's worth it - haven't had a bad glass yet). Lovely cocktails, too. My only gripe is that they consistently get reservations wrong - e.g., book a tabe for 2 for 6pm, show up and get told I've booked a table for 6 people... Also had a strike against my membership recently, when they claimed I'd made a booking and not turned up, when in fact I had and have the bank statement to prove it... Staff not particularly apologetic about this. This has soured the experience for me somewhat.
What a great place, finally a nice bar in shoreditch where you can get great drinks, great food and be able to actually talk with your group. Have been a few times since opening and even joined as I love it so much. Well worth the membership fee. These guys know what they are doing.
Cant wait for the terrace and restaurant to open!
Really good vibe in this bar. It is members only from March so you will have to pay a fee, but if you are already a member of Milk and Honey it's free.
Staff friendly and relaxed, it's never too busy or full of drunk city boys wanting to pick up.
A good place to catch up with friends and have some food.