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Please note, Wringer & Mangle is now closed. Time Out Editors, June 2018.
The first Wringer & Mangle (in London Fields) took its name from the venue’s former role as a launderette. There are no such connections at this sister location in Spitalfields, although it should be said that up until recently, this was where owners Jon and Gerry Calabrese operated their ill-fated chicken restaurant The Holy Birds.
The peculiar closing times – 1.30am on Thursdays and Fridays; 8pm on Saturdays – mean that the bar probably focuses on a chiefly professional crowd from the City. True to form, it was a bit quiet early on a Saturday evening. The interior is stylish, but in a by-numbers kind of way – there should be some kind of moratorium on suede-upholstered mid-century furniture, and don’t get me started on the pile of empty wooden crates. But as soon as the cocktails we ordered arrived, all décor decisions were forgiven and forgotten.
Staff clearly took pride in their concoctions, asking for feedback. We had nothing but praise. Everything was served with pomp and circumstance: an Electric Sidecar had a piece of candied fruit pegged to the rim of the glass; a Carbonated Corpse Reviver No. 2 was spiked with absinthe delivered from a perfume atomiser. These theatrics would have been intensely irritating if they weren’t backed up with such harmonious flavours. The pear liqueur in the Sidecar gave it an earthy, rather than sickly, sweetness; the bitterness of the lime leaves in a Kaffir Mule perfectly matched the cleanness of the vodka.
There are plenty more drinks on the menu to try out here, and they have brunch, daytime and evening food menus, too. Time will tell if this place becomes an established go-to – let’s hope it’s second time lucky on Middlesex Street for the brothers Calabrese.