VOC

The 'coming up' of King's Cross continues with the arrival of a small yet stylish new cocktail bar sat across the cobblestones from Camino and Bar Pepito in the Regent Quarter.

The chaps behind Purl and the recently opened Worship Street Whistling Shop have taken what was previously CellarN1 and turned it into what it describes as a seventeenth-century punch house. It looks like Phileas Fogg's front room with cartography adorning the brick walls; swashbuckling busts, telescopes and cosy candlelight. There's even a faint seagull soundtrack set behind the main music.

It takes its name and seventeenth-century maritime theme from the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, more commonly known as the Dutch East India Company which, from 1602, enjoyed a lucrative monopoly of the Asian spice trade.

Back in the seventeenth century, punches were a bit of a big deal in the colonies and one of the earliest examples of a mixed drink. Traditionally made with five ingredients including a spirit (either Dutch gin called genever or arrack made with coconut palm), punches have been making quite the comeback in cocktail bars such as Hawksmoor, Callooh Callay and Mahiki.

The punches packed here, however, run a gamut of styles. Some are individually bottled while others are aged in new and ex-sherry casks and dangle in mini-barrels from the ceiling. The 'Dog's Nose' brings together Tanqueray Rangpur with fresh horseradish, Meantime porter, fresh citrus, spices and honey.

Beer boffins should opt for the Porter Cup - chocolate porter and ale, brandy, ginger and nutmeg while, for a bit of theatre, order one of the flips which are warmed with a 200-year-old poker heated by a flame on the bar.

The shelves are stacked with Dutch genevers, arracks, bourbons and rums sourced from the Americas yet, punches aside, it's the bespoke bottlings that are of most interest. As well as a house-blended spiced rum, there's an array of bottle-matured cocktails decanted into apothecary style vessels. Each bottled is wax sealed, individually labelled with the date of creation and priced accordingly - the older, the dearer.

The Negroni, priced at £9, was superb and substantial enough to share while the Vieux Carre was equally impressive - made with Hennessy VS cognac, sweet vermouth, Jim Beam Rye and Benedictine.

Plans are afoot for a food menu and outside seating, while special mention must be made of the toilets. Like Bar Pepito next door, it doesn't have its own facilities so patrons head up the stairs and through the door where, like some kind of reverse speakeasy, they're propelled into a separate restaurant. Slightly surreal.