New alternative nights out for all the senses

Experience a different kind of stimulating after-dark activity, whether it be a seductive candelit speakeasy or a nostril-challenging workshop, this month. Perhaps you'll break your New Year's resolutions with one glance at a brunch party's menu, or find someone cute at an iPod-swapping soirée. Here's hoping…

Sight
It feels like every club bills itself as a speakeasy these days, but the clandestine Candlelight Club (www.thecandlelightclub.com), from the group that brought you The New Sheridan Club, really is the closest you'll find to an authentic Jazz Age experience in central London. In truth, it will probably cause a sensory overload. Each event (£15) features flappers and dandies, gangsters and molls, ragtime bands, vintage DJs, a bespoke cocktail menu, supper and burlesque at a secret location. But its unique ambience, fuelled by the hundreds of candles used to light its secret drinking den, is truly a scene to behold - check out their absinthe-themed one on Saturday January 15.

Smell
Give your snout a workout at Odette Toilette's monthly olfactory evening Scratch + Sniff, which is next at The Book Club (100 Leonard St, EC2) in Shoreditch on Tuesday January 25 (£12). The theme this time is 'A Scented Journey Around the World'. James Craven, perfume archivist at perfumery Les Senteurs, will lead you by the nose on a journey to an Egyptian desert or an Alpine forest (let's just hope Paris isn't on the list, where Eau de Poop rules). There's even a perfume swap-shop for unwanted Christmas pressies.

Hearing
Indulge in some saucy literature at The Erotic Book Club, which gets fruity every month at The Bökship (Donlon Books, 210 Cambridge Heath Rd, E2). Their January edition on Thursday 27 focuses on sexually explicit female memoirs with readings from 'The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl' by Belle de Jour and Catherine Millet's 'The Sexual Life of Catherine M'.

Meanwhile, back at The Book Club, the Thinking and Drinking series welcomes back The Note Well and its Speed Listening social (£5) on Monday January 10. There, you can meet new people through exchanging iPod playlists in speed-datelike sittings. You'd better start hiding all evidence of Meatloaf now…

Touch
Channel your nerdy teenage years at a retro-gaming night where they provide classic arcade games to kitsch consoles to have a go on. At Nintendisco, at Brick Lane's 93 Feet East (Thursday January 27), treat your thumbs to 'Mario Kart', kick the crap out of your opponent on 'Street Fighter II' or roadtest new Sega Saturn games - all free of charge and to a bleepy soundtrack.

Taste
For a hangover breakfast banquet with a twist, head to Notting Hill's restaurant-cum-club Supperclub (12 Acklam Rd, W10) and gorge on its monthly affair Love Brunch. From noon, you can nosh on a range of dishes priced from £7 to £14 while sprawling out on a plush white bed - very Emperor Nero. Wash it all down with plenty of cocktails, dance it all off on the floor, or simply recline and soak up the afternoon's cabaret platter, all on Saturday January 29.