PortSide Parlour

PortSide Parlour

That was the longenst walk of my life! From my hotel to PortSide Parlour it was more than 12 kms. Was it worth the way? Absolutely.

PortSide Parlour is ½ to speakeasy bar with the way it exists. You don’t need any reservation and above the entrance there is a massive sign that there is this bar. However You still need to ring that doorbell to get in.

Behind the doors You will find a pretty small bar with nice, clear and very simple desing, dimmed lights and comfortable sofas and the biggest collection of rum in London.

Until now it really looks like regular speakeasy bar. Many people are telling me, that speakeasies are boring, because they are intimate and quiet, which makes them no fun. Also the tradition of speakeasies is using slow jazz/soul music to underline the relaxing atmosphere.

PortSide Parlour steps aside of all of this. They took a sledgehammer on this traditions and thanks to that, we are sitting in an intimate bar with very cool and very stylish pulsing energy, fantastic cocktails and incredible music across all the genres.

 My first cocktail was El Presidente which was nothing too special, it was good but in comparison to my second drink it was forgetable.

Basically I was sitting there, drinking my El Presidente and enjoying this bar a lot. I was watching both bartenders while working and I could witness the way they work. They are preparing cocktails with great accuracy, they care about their creations a lot, but they were missing something here. Some little detail, that means a lot and that would send the customer service even higher. And something, that would match to this bar more than to any other bar, because of its atmosphere. Bartenders never came back to their customers to find out, if they like their drinks or what they think about it. It would break the barriers between the customers and the bartenders and You, as a guest, would feel better here. Also it is even more important to do these things here, because all around PortSide Parlour, there are tons of bars and some of them, they are also very highly rated (for a good reasons) as for example Happiness Forgets which is 5 minutes of walking from here. That certainly creates a competition for the guests.

Anyway, my El Presindete was finished now, my bartender came back to me to ask what else I want to drink. I have seen the potential of those bartenders so I wanted to get 10/10 from them. I told him, that I want something special, something out of menu with the profile of taste of my previous cocktail, but I will leave him absolutely free hands and then I simply said : ,,Surprise me.‘‘ He smiled and replied : ,,Ok I’ve got something for You.‘‘ And then he started to work. Unfortunatelly, I cannot describe excatly, what did he make, as I didn’t know most of the bottles (except of Aquavit) and I don’t want to give You missleading informations. Of course I tried to get to know it, so I asked bartender, when he presented me this cocktail, what does it contain. 
He replied, that for now it is still his secret, but in about 14 days it will be on the new cocktail menu, listed as a Batanga.

This time he waited in front of me for my first sip and then he asked me my opinion. All I could say was: ,,This cocktail, is the future…‘‘  
There are 2 different types of cocktails. There are bad cocktails and good cocktails. It is not necessary to introduce to You a bad cocktails and the good ones can still be divided to 2 sub-categories. Good cocktails are the ones, that are very well made. That includes the preparation, ingredients and even the service. But if You will taste them, You will still be able to say, how they have been made and what it contains. And then You have superior cocktails like this Batanga. Cocktails so perfectly ballanced, where every single ingredience is unexchangeable and perfectly linked from one to another, so it creates an absolutely unique taste not similar to anything else.

And then new song comes out of the speakers and it is Ludacris – Move B**ch ! Get out way… And both bartenders are singing it, waitress is singing it, all guests are singing it and You are singing it too. All together and out loud.

Then it was for me only 12kms of walking back to the hotel with Batanga on my tongue and this song in my head. Yeah, by the way I didn’t want to walk back, but I missed the last underground and I didn’t want to take a taxi.

Still worth it?

Hell yea.