Callooh Callay

Located in the belly of Shoreditch, east London, Callooh Callay is apparently modelled on Lewis Carroll’s classic, Through The Looking Glass.

The mixture results in a chicly maximalist result, all retro and antique trinkets, imposing wardrobe doors, gramophones and low-lying lamps of blown glass shaped into bunches of grapes. Visually beautiful and pulsing with Shoreditch’s hot young things, there aren’t many bars that mix haute cocktails, destination drinking and a party atmosphere like Callooh Callay does.

Drink names are tongue-in-cheek (“Anise and a Nephew”, “The Golden Ticket”) but the bartenders are serious about their craft and the result is stunning – we love the Quick Buck, with its complex Four Roses bourbon flavour, apricot sweetness and ginger ale bite.

Walk through the wardrobe door towards the back of the bar and you’ll find yourself in a dark corridor, at the end of which lies the Lounge, another living glamorama of knowingly kitsch decorations and mirrors.

Convince the bar staff you really love the sauce, and if you’re lucky you’ll be handed the coveted key to the JubJub bar, the secret bar that is often referenced in guides across the land. Lying behind a heavy wardrobe door, the bar’s atmosphere is more intimate, downtempo and served by a different bartender every week whipping out stellar concoctions and sippable homages to bartenders old and new.

Opening times: Monday - Wednesday, Thursday - Saturday: 18:00 - 01:00, Sunday: 18:00 - 24:00