Gong

I was really looking forward to visit this one. It is located in the street Calle de la Concordia, close to the Porta de Serrans, and it is a small club devoted to life music. In today’s world full of playlists from Youtube and even more full of remixes, life music is a fresh new air, which is stylish and very cool and I am a big fun of that.

The capacity of this place is around 30 people, including the bartenders and the musicians. The design itself surprised me a little bit. If I would ever consider having a small music club, it would probably look like this one, with exception of the colors on the walls.  Simple desing, clear lines, wooden bar with few bar stools on your right and the rest of the tables were distributed all around the walls that created some free space in the middle for audiance in front of a little podium that was in the center of this club and close to the wall. Simple, easy and well organized.

Bar display was containing only a few bottles or alcohol and on the bar desk, there was a menu written by hand, that there are only 4 cocktails : Mojito, Pina Colada, Caipirinha and Caipiroska. Next to this menu, there was a list with 8 different types of beers. That is not a good start for a place listed as a cocktail bar.

All cocktails in Gong are being prepared by bartenders facing the other direction, so You cannot see the actual preparation of your cocktail and all the cocktails are served in short tumber glass.

After the second best Mojito I’ve ever had, which I finished only couple of minutes ago, I have decided to order the same drink even here. That turned out to be a massive mistake.

Mojito in Gong is made out of the classic white sugar and…

…lemons.

Closely not specified amount of white rum was apologized by the barmaid with words : ,,I made it stronger, so if You will need more sugar, tell me.‘‘ As she was saying this sentense to me, she didn’t even wait for me to taste it and she left the bar rightaway to sit with her friends on the other table to finish her glass of WINE.

Fortunatelly, I didn’t have to bother her anymore, because more sugar would not save this ‘‘salad‘‘ in the glass with a flat soda and 2 broken ice qubes.

Then another 2 guests (another 2 friends of the barteders) came in and sat down right next to me and ordered Blood Marry…

Wait what? Bloody Marry? I am pretty sure that in between 4 cocktails which I listed above, there was no Bloody Marry.

Well, after witnessing the preparation of it, I would not recommend anyone to order it, anyway :

First the bartender put 3 ice qubes in the short tumbler glass, then he measured some vodka and then he filled the rest of the glass with tomato juice.  Just after that he added the spices and then – I swear on the health of my kidneys – he took a straw, leaned towards to the glass and took a sip from the glass. He assesed the taste, added more pepper and stirred this mix WITH A KNIFE and took a sip again through the straw.

Then he was satisfied with the result and served it to the guest right behind him.

So first of all, if You want to stirr a cocktail, please use a SPOON, even if the knife is closer.

Second of all, if You want to do the assesment of the taste of the cocktail, there are many ways to do it. For example You can put the straw inside the cocktail, then You block the end of the straw with your finger and then you remove the straw from the cocktail. Some liquid will stay inside and that amount of liquid is your subject to test or if You stirr the cocktail with a SPOON, some liquid will automatically stay on the spoon, so You can test it in that way…

Or You can simply prepare the same cocktail 2x and drink the second one entirely and it would be still more correct, than taking a sip from your guest’s glass!

I would love to inform You, if the guest liked it or not, or if the bartender at least removed the straw which he used for himself, before he passed this creation to the guest but I was so shocked from this service, that I covered my eyes with my hand and I tried to pretend, that it didn’t happen. As soon as I got back to myself a bit, I left. And I didn’t even finish my lemonade. What a pitty.

How was the life music, You may want to ask? I would love to be able to asnwer it, however the beginning of the concert was scheduled for 20:00 and when I was leaving at 20:35 nothing was going on.

In the description of this bar Gong, You can read ‘‘psychedelic experience.‘‘ I would agree on that. I just think that I mean it in a little bit different way, than how it is presented.

After this very, very cold shower, I have decided to come back to that tent for the second, second best Mojito and I have been enjoying it until midnight when i went to see the fireworks.

After fireworks I didn’t have much time anymore so I quickly moved myself to very highly rated bar in the city center called Barcode.