Christmas brings many things to all men and women: good cheer, certainly, but also a happy sense at the best hotels, bars and restaurants in London that something rather spectacular will be on the menu. And so it proves at the Zetter’s outpost in Marylebone, where Larry and I venture early one unexceptional Tuesday evening in search of succour and jollity.
Well, if you’re going to find either anywhere, you’re likely to see it at one of the Zetter’s outposts in London, of which the Seymour Street one has fair claim to be both the most discreet and the cosiest.
This suitably hygge quality is on full display as Larry and I relax, suitably ensconced in a corner table, and peruse the menu. There are pigs in blankets, and they are ordered and devoured with gentlemen’s fitting relish. There are Cornish yarg croquettes, which have a satisfying crunch but lack the yarg-ish kick that some others do, but no matter.
If it’s a chilly December evening, you’d like to be warmed, and that’s what the cocktails here do in some style. The gingerbread Old Fashioned would turn Hansel and Gretel into topers, so potent is the taste both of the bourbon and gingerbread, and Larry’s Gochjuang Picante is, as the dear man so delightedly describes it, “like an exotic, spicy margarita”.
It would be a dereliction of duty for us Arbuturian types to leave after one drink, so we nobly undertake an encore, helped by the bar’s superbly entertaining innovation, that of a Monopoly-themed ‘Zetterland’ board game that directs thirsty patrons to the most interesting drinks. Larry and I took potluck and ended up with a pair of exemplary libations.
His was a Green Sorrell Sour, which had a pleasantly Wizard of Oz-ish quality to it, whereas I took a Curry Leaf Collins, which looked like a glass of ice-cold water but soon disabused with its far from innocent or temperate appearance.
The Zetter Marylebone is a class act and no mistake, whether for a pre-Christmas tipple or a more sober and serious affair in January. So buckle up, drink up and you won’t be disappointed.
For more information about Zetterland and the festive fare on offer at the Zetter outposts, please visit www.thezetter.com.
