Whether one admits it or not, we all want our five minutes of fame, and an evening at the utterly ingenious Timeless Bar & Kitchen provides the stage, the script, the cast and of course the drinks…
The concept is simple; a great bar, great food, great team and a great time – we’ve heard it all before – but this time is different!
This time is orchestrated by the dynamic team at Funicular, famed for their immersive creations including The Murder Express…
Picture the Funicular board meeting; ‘Let’s open a bar in London’ directors raise an eyebrow, one even yawns – it’s not exactly rocket science is it – oh no, but time travel is!
The venue is on a cool corner of Hackney, typifying everything about the East End,
trains rattle overhead, arches keep secrets and a shabby chic terrace leads to a raised space that is home to not only to the Cocktail Time Machine experience itself but an uber-trendy bar, house music, rustic furniture and an incredibly impressive sharing menu designed by 2017 Masterchef winner Louisa Ellis. One can enjoy the bar and restaurant without the experience, but hey, who wouldn’t want to go back in time?
The space is interesting, it is a warehouse (pop-up?) and it succeeds as a standalone destination, with one caveat – it also goes back in time…
Amid the funky front of house bustle, one can spot the Cocktail Time Machine hosts, where Virgin meets Thunderbirds!
We have our briefing, and the time has come… and gone it seems…
We are escorted to a departure lounge, a cosy affair for groups of 12, we view a desperate bid by from an ally lost in time, and we are set a time task, which is simple in theory but after a couple of 1980’s Bramble gin-based cocktails …mmm need I say more?
It is at this point that I am going to become vague – not because of the Bramble cocktails, or indeed the potent shot in the departure lounge but because I don’t want to spoil the experience for you, a stroke of genius in terms of three immersive stages, entertainment, acting, adlib script and of course timing…
What I will say is that the three-stage experience captures what is great about the 1920s (Cuba), 1940s (USA Prohibition) and 1980s (Soho), in three all-consuming eras. Three plausible sets of around 20-minutes each with engaging scripts and education, the kind we like – the history of three classic cocktails; the Mojito, Long Island Iced Tea and Espresso Martini…
This is great fun; it is a really smart package, great for team building, hens and stags, lovers, friends and for those flying solo as everyone engages with each other, more so perhaps by the time the calendar hits 1980 in the last of the three timeless zones!
This is something new; it is great fun and comes at a price point that is really proportionate to delivery.
So, back to the present, and there is everything to go back for, as the bar and menu rock on their own merits with or without the Timeless experience…
It is fair to say that the canapés showcasing the menu on launch night were some of the best we have had on the Enjoy-It tour in the past year, Louisa has got it going on in the kitchen; smoked haddock croquettes, prawn with avocado topped with charred sweet corn on sourdough toast, whipped cod’s roe and crispy potato skins, and a sage risotto with pine nuts and cultured cream… off the scale!
This is a bright night out; it is fun, welcoming, clever, and delicious and a great time, back in time!
The hospitality industry needed a shakeup, and what is so clever is that the proposition can be modified, and I am just biding my time for the decades to change – so I can lose myself for another evening, with a new set of cocktails, in the fascinating world of the Cocktail Time Machine!