Cocktails at Kingly Court's Cahoots!

We clattered down the narrow staircase, following the sign to the ticket office. A smartly dressed ticket officer in a double breasted blue coat and flat cap greeted us. “The train tonight is full Madam, unless of course, you were looking for something else..?” We were handed our tickets and buzzed through a door, where we were directed ‘to the trains.’ We rounded a corner and ended up on the most lively platform I have ever seen. No, sorry, the tube hasn’t started hosting secret after hours parties- we were in Cahoots, London’s newest (and only) war-time tube themed bar!

 Cahoots has taken one of London’s old air raid shelters and turned it into something totally magical. Sand bags line some of the walls, while vintage posters, signs, tube maps and train paraphernalia cover the others. We sat on the southbound platform (others sat in a recreation of a 1940s train carriage!) while staff dashed around not only in costume, but also in character! The menu looked more like a collection of vintage newspaper clippings, each page different, while the cocktails were themed with some rousing names such as ‘give peas a chance’ or named after stars of the ‘40s!

The cocktails were all tasty and presented beautifully. Mine came in a pretty crystal champagne flute, decorated with an apple crisp and a skewered blackberry. Another came in a tin mug (white with a blue rim of course!) and apparently you can even get one which is served in a working clock! We were also given a tin proclaiming to contain baking soda but instead was filled with popcorn, and, much to our delight and surprise, we were later presented with two complimentary lunchboxes filled with mini sandwiches, crusts cut off and filled with classics such as cheese and pickle. Hey, nothing excites me quite like free food!

Cahoots was a lot of fun- there was so much going on around us that I had to leave my seat several times to go have a closer look at something I’d just noticed and I caught myself more than once just gazing around the bar, taking it all in! All in all, Cahoots is definitely worth a visit, but I’d recommend you book- rush hour seems to go on all night!

Anniversary Weekend Part One

This weekend, my wonderful boyfriend and I were celebrating the second birthday of our relationship and I have to say, we did it in style! We munched on beautiful food, drank delicious cocktails and even went to a fashion show (but more on that later)! However, for me, the fun all started off rather on the wrong foot.

You know how expensive trains are these days? Well, I'd booked my ticket to London so far in advanced that a first class ticket was the same price as a standard one. However, I was also so excited about the week ahead, I ran  to the station (convinced I was late) and jumped on a train an entire hour early. I only realised I'd hopped on the wrong train when a rather bemused ticket inspector handed me back my ticket with the reservation time underlined in thick blue pen. I have to say, my stomach dropped. In advanced, my ticket had only been fourteen quid, but on the day first class tickets were into the hundreds! Luckily the ticket inspectors were very nice and saw it had been a genuine mistake so didn't make me pay the full first class price, but by this point I was fairly shaken up by images of my student bank account shriveling into none existence! I'd even forgone the first round of complimentary biccies out of sheer terror. When everything was settled and my bank account hadn't died, I finally got to sit back and enjoy the wonders of first class, while cradling a glass of (complimentary) red wine- I think I deserved it!

From this point onwards, my weekend could only get better. My boyfriend (Marcus) and my mother (who'd been up in town that day) met me off the train and my mother whisked us off to another of her little haunting spots- the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel Booking Office. I loved the fact you could step off your platform and into this bar and simultaneously step back into the age of steam trains and top hats. The building its self has retained its Victorian magnificence without being overly imposing which made it a beautiful location to have a quick drink and a catch up. The cocktail menu was also steeped in history, bursting with reincarnated Victorian classics- I had a delicious Orchard Sour and M had a Sloe Gin Fizz. We also ordered a round of crab sandwiches (they were yummy!) which came with wickedly crispy but some how still fluffy chips. The only hiccup was we had a rather sour waitress, but hey, sometimes you just can't have it all!

After drinkies with Mumsie, M and I headed off home where he'd prepared me the cutest platter of nibbles (including my favouite smoked salmon bagel bites!) which we ate over a glass (or two) of sparkling wine, while watching the hilarity which is the BBC series "Penguins- A Spy in the Huddle' (narrated by David Tennant).

Salmon, mozzarella and spring onions on toast, sweet chili prawns and smoked salmon bagel bites 

And then, with full tummies and happy thoughts of slipping penguins we headed to bed in preparation for the next day's celebrations.


(P.S- someone has made a brilliant collection of some of the funnier moments in Penguins- here's the youtube link!)