Bars & Pubs

You've got a lotta nerve... to put a Japan-themed, NY-style cocktail bar on a nondescript street corner halfway to Camden; but, like the Dylan song, it works. In an atmosphere that's half speakeasy, half colonial clubhouse (note the disconcerting lines of leaf-shaped fans above), the dozen or so cocktails served are wonderfully inventive. In the Zimmerman Revisited, 'the bile and bitterness of tequila is tamed temporarily', in this case by raspberry liqueur and passion fruit. A Japanese cosmopolitan includes Finlandia Mango, Midori, lime and cranberry. Perhaps even more incongruously, Tetley's features among the draught beer options (Red Stripe, Leffe, Grolsch); sakés, umeshu and udon noodle soups (£5.95) add a further twist.

Time Out Bars, Pubs & Clubs Guide 2008/9