Zetter Townhouse

Imagine an eccentric antique shop where the owner seems reluctant to actually sell anything, and instead sees an empty shelf, table or bit of wall as an invitation to show off a seemingly discordant but holistically pleasing collection of curios.

It is stuffed to bursting with framed portraits, landscapes, ephemera and photography, ironmongery, advertising cards and all manner of lamps, pottery, urns, vases and statues, elegant Queen Anne-style furniture and a menagerie of taxidermy.

Imagine too the antique shop served some of the best cocktails in London, and if that's not a leap too far you're somewhere near Zetter Townhouse.

Perfectly mannered staff bring menus of drinks with simple descriptions which belie the invention and attention inherent in every glass - a dainty coupe is the receptacle for a Koln Martini, the standard gin and vermouth combo brought dazzlingly to life with a pipette of homemade citrus aromatics.

Head barman Tony Conigliaro has dug out many forgotten British libationary techniques (and created a few of his own), so you'll see intriguing ingredients such as 'port evaporation', nettle cordial and gunpowder tea tinctures among the premium spirits.

Many new bars try to capture the unbuttoned revelry of an imagined English past: few do it as perfectly as this.