An adjunct to Mark Hix’s new Soho restaurant, this swish downstairs bar offers suitably presentable souls the chance to sample some high-end mixology at bearable prices (around £8 a swallow). There’s talk of it becoming a members’ club, but for now punters can settle in at the counter for the royal toast (Sipsmith vodka, cherry brandy & Noilly Prat red) or Spitfires over Kent (a Battle of Britain homage using wild morello cherry-infused Beefeater gin). Otherwise, a shot of Hix fix (those cherries again, with an eau de vie from Somerset & a top-up of Champagne) will fix just about anything that’s troubling your head. Wines start at £17 & beers range from Innis & Gunn or Harviestoun Schiehallion to Hix’s own Dorset-brewed Pale & Oyster ales. Modish ‘snax’ (from £2.95) include pollock fish fingers with mushy peas, meat boards & jellied ham hock with piccalilli.
66-70 Brewer Street, London W1 7292 3518
