If I had to make a list of sexy London hotel bars, I wouldn't include the Covent Garden Hotel. Or, rather, I wouldn't have included it. But then I went past it the other day, and it looked so tempting, with people sitting outside on Monmouth Street having tea and drinks, that I decided to go in. It's called Brasserie Max, btw.
First impression: are the staff nice or what? It was around 5-5.30 and I asked initially if they were still doing tea. No, says the guy, sadly they stopped serving about 15 minutes ago - but, hang on, he would ask. No no, I said, it's fine, I'll just have a drink, but no, he asked the person in charge of the restaurant and they said yes, they could still do tea. Awesome!
Less awesome: I then realised I didn't have time for tea. But I did have time for a drink.
The bar menu was plenty long, with a nice list of non-alcoholic cocktails too. Bar staff were great. But what really struck me was that they do a daily special (so fresh that they don't even have a name).
On that day, it was a grapefruit-champagne-peach vodka-peach bitters-pistachio syrup combo up for grabs. When I said it sounded amazing but I didn't want to drink, the guy immediately promised to make me a non-alcoholic version with soda, peach puree and grapefruit juice. Sweetly, he actually seemed to care how it tasted, too.
He needn't have worried - it was delicious. This picture doesn't do it justice but it was a great wake up mix of citrus tempered with a hint of sweet. They should put it on the real menu. The damage: £7 (£12 if I'd had alcohol).
Next time: afternoon tea. And more cocktails of the day.
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