Gas Light Grill at The Lost Angel, Battersea: 17/20

Location: 339 Battersea Park Road (between Clapham Junction and Queenstown Road)

Website: www.gaslightgrill.co.uk

Visit: a sunny Thursday evening launch night

To Notes: If you like the Blind Tiger/Lost Society or PKD look this is for you

Scores

Ambiance 5/5

Design 4/5

Drinks 3/5

Staff 5/5

Extra LBC star: With time…

I would not normally write a review of a bar after one visit, especially as that visit was the launch night, and it was HOT when everything seems rosier. But I liked it and I want to spread the word. The Lost Angel has been revamped and they have spruced up the restaurant area – the Gas Light Grill – to make a pub that looks rather ordinary from the outside something rather special once you walk in.

The first room is large, wooden floored with a horse shoe bar in the middle. So far, so good. There are large leather chesterfields across the room, there is extravagant brass work around the eagle statues, there is a golden phone box on the right…hold on, this is no ordinary pub. Carry straight on and you have the rather sultry grill room with a small bar in the corner and a door at the end opening onto the terrace. We tried several morsels of what will be on their full menu and I have to admit the steak – especially smothered in whisky BBQ sauce – is very tasty. Other gems included new season asparagus wrapped in ham and mini steak tartar; emphasis is on fresh seasonal ingredients. Bar snacks are also comprehensive from olives to meat platters to burgers to market fish, starting at £2.50 and going up to £18 for steak.

And then the terrace. Ah, the Not To Be Missed terrace. There is one large area under a clear plastic roof covered over with plenty of greenery that also winds up the pillars, a bar in the corner and leather sofas everywhere you look. The smaller part is more high stools and wooden tables with a large umbrella for those fairer skinned drinkers.

(Ladies, the toilets are like the New York loft apartment that you dream of BUT no full length mirror, shocking considering the detail elsewhere!)

So to the drinks; the bar is incredibly well stocked and all cocktails come in at around £8. There was a restricted menu on for the launch night and extra staff were on hand to ensure service. So I will not judge too harshly the over eager addition of Crème de Violette in my Aviation, and although refreshing the gin based Mojito twist was a little simple and the apple flavours did not come through.

So weighing the good and the ever so slightly less good (including the walk to Clapham through a slightly dodgy industrial estate) I will be back; I hope that locals support it and next time you are looking for a space for a large group, especially as the sun becomes more permanent, The Lost Angel should be at the top of your list to call. 

London Cocktail Week: Day 5 and Day 7 Bits and Bobs

Friday 14th October

This was possibly the most disappointing day of the week, which is not altogether negative considering the very high quality of Thursday (Callooh Callay, Happiness Forgets etc) I popped into Village East, Bermondsey, straight after work, something I had been meaning to do for some time. Despite there being at least two bar men, two hosts and several waitresses, we got fed up of sitting at the bar ignored and after 5 minutes asked for a menu. I went for the signature

Sake to Me

Which was a short drink of sake, apple juice, lemon and a cape berry decoration. On leaving my friend asked how me what my cocktail was like and one the verge of saying it was good I thought, actually, it wasn’t. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad. It was boring.

Later that night we headed to my most local cocktail bar – Venn St Records – in Clapham. The menu said the drink was Lynchburg Lemonade but for some reason they served us something else. I am not sure what it was, there were large chunks of lemon and lime, and it was a bit bland. It was however midnight on a very busy Saturday night in a heaving bar. So it was fun none the less.

Sunday 16th October

Day 7 only left time for one more visit before my weekend drinking companion headed home, and this was courtesy of The Blind Tiger/Lost Society, Clapham. This is another venue I had lost since planned to visit, and it sis not disappoint. Once we found out how to get in (buzzer beside the garden gate to the left of the establishment) we were led by 1920’s dressed staff to the brighter front area – as opposed to the dark 1920’s cubby holes towards the back or upstairs restaurant – for a

Gentleman’s Mojito

Mojito for me is always a good test of a bar, and this far exceeded expectations. There was gin, homemade elderflower, apple juice, mint, lime and more and was not only refreshing but well balanced for a 2pm drink. I would have stayed for more but there was a train to catch. I will be back.