Bars & Pubs

Off an unprepossessing street in Hackney, its entrance marked only by a planter and some smoking tables, Bistrotheque's narrow ground-floor Napoleon bar is sombre and a little austere in decor (warehouse bricks painted gunmetal grey, black and grey striped carpet). It's grown-up in attitude (wood panels and a Courvoisier Napoleon mirror behind the bar, chandeliers in front, a bossa 'Blue Monday' on the stereo). Ignore the familiar beers in favour of the 30-strong wine list and two dozen cocktails - the dark 'n' stormy (Goslings dark rum, ginger ale, lime, bitters, £6) was unimpeachable, a slightly underpowered lemon drop (Ketel Citron, lemon juice, lemon bitters, £7) delivered an impressively nostalgic hit of 1980s sweetshop.

Bistrotheque's small cabaret room was launched as an addendum to the fashionable restaurant and bar, but has punched so far above its weight as to be internationally famous among alternative performance types. Jonny Woo's collective of alternative drag stars works from here; the gay burlesque bear troupe Bearlesque met in the back room; and the annual Underconstruction series gives performers a chance to try out works in progress. It's never polished, often wonderfully ad hoc - but is still the capital's most forward-thinking and inspiring cabaret space.

Time Out Bars, Pubs & Clubs Guide 2008/9