The setting is an old East London Boozer, the décor, menu and booze, new East London. The transformation of what used to be The Bacchus was noticeable from 100 feet down the road with the most striking artwork by talented artist Ali Hamish Campbell. En route to Made in the Shade I felt like I had walked down these streets many a time but the frontage was completely unrecognisable. What used to be a dreary old watering hole, has now been turned into an Electric Blue Odyssey. Made in the Shade is the brainchild of Jeremy Thompson Jewitt, Jim Wrigley and Peter Lewis based on their idea of the ‘absolute ultimate bar’ and it shows through their well thought out and varied cocktails, their exotic Caribbean influenced menu and the totally eclectic décor inside and out of the joint.
First impression is that they’ve done a great job with the place. The Kitchen has been opened up which I always love about eateries as you can always see the chefs working hard and that they’ve made great use of the space, enough space to chill out in an intimate crowd and some great sofas for larger groups to fill. Oh and lots of space at the bar, always a good thing in my book.
Jim Wrigley serves up Shady Maid Lemonade
We tried 3 cocktails on offer first up was the Shady Maid Lemonade. This was unlike any cocktail I had ever had. The Gin based cocktail was served up with Lime Juice, Citrus Syrup and Cucumber juice. It’s the ultimate refresher… dangerous too as I felt like I could sip on these all night after a session at the gym!
The Pink One
Next Up was The Pink One also a healthy and refreshing cocktail. Very easy to drink and pleasing on the eye, The Pink One is a vodka based pomegranate infusion mixed with apple juice, bergamot syrup and lime juice. What I loved about this cocktail is that it was served with pomegranate seeds on top of a slice of lime and served up with a mini spoon to scoop up all the pomegranate goodness. Again, the flavours were so well balanced and fresh I could have happily sipped on these all night.
Then we got to the more serious Ultimate F**king Cocktail aka the UFC a mix of Whisky, Rum, Ginseng liqueur and ahem Guinness Liqueur. There was nothing fruity about this one we were told by the PR team, this was one manly drink. So manly in fact is that it is served up with a an WWE Figurine and a bunch of props are offered to re-enact your fighting fantasies. The ice is hand-cut for all of the drinks according to what you have but what I loved especially about the UFC was that the ice is a big huge block in the centre of the tumbler so it doesn’t melt into all that lovely Whiskey booze.
Drink of Champions
If the idea was to create an experience for customers to have the perfect mix of everything, then I certainly felt transported out of the busyness of London when tasting what Chef Patrick Williams had cooked up. His menu is a mash up of English plates with Caribbean influences. Anyone who serves up rice pudding arancini is a culinary wizard in my book. Move over bangers and mash and make way for plantain fritters and oxtail spring rolls. If traditional bar snacks is what you’re after don’t bother but once you’ve tasted the tasty and tantalising soul food on offer here, I guarantee you won’t be lusting after chips and mayo. The curry mutton was delicious and tender and passion fruit parfait for afters was the perfect ending. It’s no wonder when you see Chef Patrick Williams’ impressive career that the food is so darn tasty and with the carefully thought out cocktail and food menu I certainly was Made in the Shade.
A sample of what’s cooking.
Made in the Shade is open Wednesday to Saturday 5pm-12am and Sundays 1pm-12am and is located opposite The Hoxton Hall on Hoxton Street. There is a games room upstairs to play pool and Ping-Pong and from this Sunday they will be hosting a wicked-awesome BBQ in the Made in the Shade garden. If there is any truth in the weather report for tomorrow grab onto your BBQ hats and go!
Keshini Misha.
www.mitshoxton.co.uk
Made in the Shade
177 Hoxton Street
London N1 6PJ
@MitS_Hoxton
