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Sunday, July 27, 2008

LOUNGE BOHEMIA: LONDON'S BEST KEPT BAR SECRET?








Lounge Bohemia is a buried treasure.

The discreet entrance at No1 Great Eastern St, decorated with newspapers from the three years of Czech revolution, leads down two flights of stairs to one of London’s least known but most stylish bars.

Although recently voted by CLASS magazine as one of the 50 best bars in the world, it remains a secret well kept by those in the know, not wanting to let their little hidey-hole become too popular. I only found out about it after being taken there by Nick Strangeway on Thursday (sorry for letting the cat out of the bag, Nick) and, after a welcome pint at The Wenlock, headed off to try it out again with HP in tow.

Czech owner and self-trained mixologist, Paul Tvaroh opened Lounge Bohemia in November 2007 after a number of years working at The Prague Bar on Shoreditch High St. He enforces a strict “no suits, no standing policy” which ensures a bar with a laid back atmosphere rather than a delivery system for booze for those on the lash.

The room is small, but comfortable with high design furnishings from the 60’s and 70’s and the excellent cocktails are served in beautiful stemware, which Paul has collected over the years. The menus are hidden inside hardcover editions of Czech classics.

The back bar is impressive and again, Paul does things differently, eschewing the normal horizontal selection of a wide spread of different brands instead choosing one brand for each spirit (Courvoisier, Stoli etc) and offering them from entry to elite levels. The Bar offers the widest range of Czech beers in town and Paul also has his own unique range of infused vodka, including a remarkable Digestive biscuit creation, which, he told me, Simon Difford has called one of the best he’s ever tasted.

Food is limited to canapés which serve only to take the edge of the alcohol, but like everything else in the bar they are well made and thoughtfully presented making this the perfect place to bookend a meal elsewhere, particularly as the service is equally thoughtful.

In an age of identikit bars and restaurants, places like Lounge Bohemia deserve to flourish and I hope at least some people reading this give it a try. As long as you tell them you read about it here, so DH can still get a table.

NA ZDRAVI

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7 Comments:

Blogger Chris Pople said...

Went here last night. "Discreet" isn't the word, more like "invisible". Despite knowing its exact address I still missed it and ended up calling them to figure out where the door was.

Very nice inside though - the vodka taster thingy was great fun. Oh, and I did mention I'd found out about it from DH, but the guy behind the bar had never heard of you.

Thursday, July 31, 2008 10:10:00 am  
Blogger Hermano 2 said...

how fickl these bar people are
S

Thursday, July 31, 2008 10:27:00 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I went also last night after reading about it. Yum elderflower martini!!

Thursday, July 31, 2008 11:49:00 am  
Blogger Unknown said...

found your site looking for a review of this bar. bar sounds good and your site looks good, will be checking back for more. cheers.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009 11:32:00 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Excellent cocktails. You have to make an 'appointment', so be sure to phone ahead.

Sunday, March 29, 2009 7:15:00 pm  
Blogger KnockBack said...

It WOULD be London's best kept secret if people would stop blogging about it.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 4:41:00 pm  
Blogger Hermano 2 said...

well, lets just hope it takes all the other readers of the blogs two years to notice the post. Then everything will be fine

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 7:18:00 pm  

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