It’s a truth universally acknowledged that here at SHCQC we quite like a relaxing G & T and particularly love trying anything new so when I discovered there was such a thing as the London Gin Club, I went ahead and booked a table. I do recommend booking. Just imagine walking into a bar and seeing this beautiful sight, only to be told there’s no room for you. Not least because the fragrant smell of gin hits you as soon as you walk in (in a good way I promise!)
I don’t know quite how to describe what’s happened to The Star at Night on Great Chapel Street in Soho. No longer a tiny pub in a Soho backstreet, it is new my spiritual home and I will be back. Again, and again, and again.
Quite a small pub on a corner has become the home of Gin. Some wonderful ladies are offering some wonderful things: Over 130 gins from all around the world. Admit it, you’re already sold? Well, keep reading and you’ll be there like a shot.
If you just fancy a gin and tonic. Go for it. Pick your choice of gin from the extensive menu. Pick your tonic, as you’d expect premium tonics such as the delicious fever-tree range and the fabulous Fentimans are available, and enjoy. Your garnish will be matched to the gin you choose. Yes it makes a difference, if you don’t believe me, experiment, but I defy you not to think that a Bombay Sapphire tastes completely different with lime as opposed to lemon.
If you fancy being a bit more adventurous there’s a range of cocktails available or, you could try one of the gin tasting menus. I know, how heavenly does that sound? We chose a tasting menu as there was no way on earth we could have picked one or two (or even three, or four) of the vast selection of spirits available.
You can guess how thrilled we were when this little board arrived:
Each jar contained 25 ml of juniper-delights. Together with four huge copa glasses filled with ice (the LGC is very proud of its ice by the way) and 2 bottles of fever-tree we were good to go. We tried the following gins:
- D1 London gin (London, 40%)
- Shortcross (Northern Ireland, 46%)
- Four Pillars (Australia, 41.8 %)
- Edinburgh Cannonball (Scotland, 57%)
Following the advice of our lovely server we tried each gin neat first of all. This wasn’t without some hesitation on my part: The last, and only, time I drank neat gin was out of a chipped mug whilst at University. It is not something I have ever repeated for what, I hope, are fairly obvious reasons. But, we like to do as we’re told here at SHCHQ so neat it was. The only one which produced a true burn was the Edinburgh Cannonball. Mind you, that’s not particularly surprising given its strength. Having tried the gin neat, we added tonic and tried again without the garnish. The effect that the tonic had on the gin was actually quite interesting, particularly with the Shortcross, the first Northern Irish produced craft gin.
Finally we added the recommended garnish: D1 with lime; Shortcross with lemon; Four Pillars with orange, and Edinburgh Cannonball with blackberry and mint. These really finished the drinks off splendidly although, hindsight being the wonderful thing that it is, we should have tried the Cannonball with just the blackberry first. I think I may have liked it even more this way. Mr SHC certainly enjoyed eating the gin-soaked blackberry when we got to the end of the drink!
Each gin was really good, and a very long way from that stuff in the big green bottle! As we have slightly different preferences in our gin, so we both had different favourites. Mr SHC likes a very dry gin, and his personal recommendation would be the D1. I like a more floral, aromatic gin and loved the Edinburgh Cannonball. It’s very juniper with Szechuan pepper and is just amazing. Don’t let the strength put you off. If you can find it, try it.
We’d never tried an Australian gin before. Mr SHC described the same as “surprisingly subtle” although I suspect this was in part a dig at Aussie rellies! He was right though, it is subtle, but it’s good, and has rightly been included in a list of Top 10s by The Independent.
The venue is a super-chilled place for gin lovers to enjoy their favourite tipple. It’s quirky. It’s vintage. It’s inviting. It’s amazing.
We didn’t eat as we had reservations elsewhere but food is available at very reasonable prices. One couple did order food – the slow-braised beef, in what looked like a perfectly formed pie as it swept past us, smelt fantastic. I suspect it tasted as good.
In case you’re wondering, yes they do have our very own gin from the Hills: Silent Pool. Or at least they do if they’ve found another bottle since I finished the last one :).
Any fellow gin lovers would be mad not to try this place out. Become a member first and enjoy special rates on the tasting menus. World Gin Day is upon us folks, where better to celebrate?
Surrey Hills Chills 