All cosied up? Time to drink yourself warmer
THE next best thing to snuggling up in a woolly jumper or – if you’re a Morning Wire reader, perhaps a Burberry snood – is a warming tipple. We’ve carefully combed the options to find the best ones near you.
CITY
Five hot cocktails are on offer at the Folly and the Anthologist near Bank, the Parlour at Canary Wharf and the Refinery in Southwark (drakeandmorgan.co.uk) – we say go for the Warm Spiced Apple Toddy. It combines cider with calvados, cognac, fresh apple juice, mint and liquorice bitters – and best of all, is served in a Thermos with accompanying chunky chalice glasses.
NORTH/EAST
Colebrooke Row in Islington (69colebrookerow.com) has the only drinks lab in England, where cocktail genius Tony Conigliari cooks up things like Fisherman’s Friend liqueur and horseradish vodka. The menu has a few good warmers – I like the liquorice caipiroska since aniseed warms the throat – but if you ask nicely, he might make you a toddy, which is a wonderful brew of whisky, apple and melted butter.
Over in Shoreditch, the Chinese-style Drunken Monkey (thedrunken monkey.co.uk) is offering a Spiced Chestnut Whirl – vodka with chestnut liqueur and cinnamon liqueur, plus milk, cream and cinnamon syrup. It doesn’t get cosier. Meanwhile, glitzy new bar Glo Glo’s R&R Blazer involves V/X rum, dates, orange and lemon zest, muscovado sugar and bitters. Rich and fruity (gloglos.co.uk).
CENTRAL AND WEST
Dishoom, the Bombay café (12 Upper St Martin’s Lane), has a few cockle-heaters. We favour its hot toddy – Johnnie Walker Black Label with warm Darjeeling tea and fresh citrus. At celebrity chocolatier William Curley (williamcurley.co.uk), there’s exquisite chilli hot chocolate (made with the house 70 per cent) and at Chelsea newbie Eighty-Six (86restaurant.co.uk), the house toddy features brandy, flames, lemon, brown sugar, cinnamon and apple.