If you are starting to get a little bored of hosting garden parties, or attending those of friends, Garden Bar in Mama Shelter Hotel is the next step.
What do you do on a hot London summer evening? Go to a garden party. However, there are only so many friends’ gardens one can visit.
So, we went to a hotel garden party by Mama Shelter, a colourful and lively hotel in Shoreditch with a bar, restaurant and an outside garden bar.
The garden bar is really quite something. It is a mini get away to a laidback open roof with terrace-style seating in a green outdoor courtyard right in the centre of the hotel.
The island style bar has black and white bold accents combined with relaxing straw coloured cosy sofas, nooks and deckchairs with plenty of vegetation around making it a perfect spot for after work drinks, a friends’ get together or a date spot.
It also has table football and classic arcade games, which we should have played but we got distracted by sampling the summer cocktails. They were focused around Italicus and Lillet liquors.
My favourite was Machu Italiano with Italicus, pisco, cava and tonic. It was well balanced with pleasant sweet notes, very easy drinking and refreshing yet the sweetest on the menu.
My next favourate was Hugo Lillet with Lillet Blanc, St Germain elderflower liqueur, mint and cava. It resembled a less sweeter version of Mojito and with lighter notes of mint. It was good and equally as refreshing.
To be fair, all of the four cocktails on the menu were summer appropriate, with light notes and plenty of ice for cooling on a hot summer day.
Being a fan of grapefruit I also decided to try Little Italy with Italicus, London Essence Co Rosemary and grapefruit tonic lemon. It had a good citrus accent with herbal notes and a slight grapefruit peel bitterness. It was not sweet so if you prefer sweeter drinks this one is not for you.
While my friend being a gin lover, enjoyed Pink + Drupe – Lillet Rose, Sloe Gin Sipsmith, cava and lemon juice. It was both fruity and a little herbal with gin juniper essence. It came in a beautiful rose tinted colour.
If Spritz is not your thing the garden bar also serves classic drinks but with a twist including Mama’s Porn Star No 2, a spin on a Pornstar Martini or the Holy Smoke, a boozy blend of Jameson’s Orange Irish whisky, Jameson’s Black Barrel and Disaronno.
There is also an interesting list of virgin cocktails specially curated in partnership with London Essence Co such as Zeroproof Paloma with fresh pink grapefruit juice, sugar syrup and rosemary tonic water and Papa Passion – passion fruit, lime and London Essence Co soda.
We were in a spritz mode though so we did not test out the virgin cocktails. We did however, try some of the nibbles. The summer cocktails go perfectly with traditional Italian cured meats such as parma ham, salamis and cheeses. My favourite was truffled brie.
In addition to the alfresco garden bar Mama Shelter also has a restaurant and indoor bar. All premises are dog friendly. And there are dedicated work places and karaoke rooms.
The hotel is designed in collaboration with French interior designers Maxime Dion & Florence Arles. It is filled with vibrant furnishings, bold artworks, colour and pattern at every turn.
It is classy yet colourful with plenty of art pieces and ornaments around the lobby and clever lighting highlighting them all.
There is only one Mama Shelter in the UK and that is in Shoreditch however, it is a collection of hotels present throughout Brazil, Los Angeles, the Middle East and Europe with seven in France.
Although the hotel is based a little walk away from the main centre of Shoreditch it is definitely worth a visit whether it is for a casual drink, a meal or a night stay. I know I’ll be checking Mama Shelter Hotel out for my Paris trip in Autumn.
Mama Shelter, 437 Hackney Rd, London E2 8PP