Have you been to Churchill Bar & Terrace? Set in Marylebone overlooking the Portman Square and just a short walk from the occasionally overwhelming Oxford Street, is Winston Churchill’s favourite bar.
Or at least the bar believes it would have been. The Churchill Bar & Terrace is named after Sir Winston Churchill and inspired by him and his beloved wife Clementine, with the permission of his extended family of course.
The bar’s walls are decorated with original love letters between Clementine and Sir Winston Churchill, his photographs and travel mementos. The setting is elegant with golden accents, luxe velour sofas and homely British touches, such as traditional fireside armchairs.
There bar also features an outdoor terrace complete with natural plants and comfortable seating to create a stylish escape from the very centre of Zone 1.
Part of the hotel Hyatt group the bar serves an array of intriguing cocktails both with alcohol and without. Each cocktail is created with immaculate detail.
Churchill Bar is sustainability-focused and not shy to share their passion in their cocktails book. The signature cocktails are inspired by nature using local ingredients such as local honey for the Be Hive or Red Wilderness supporting the Fox Project charity.
Don’t mind the picture of Be Hive, as the cocktail look arrived slightly incomplete. Our lovely waitress told us the bar run out of fresh edible flowers. I sided with the bar, I think for sustainability reasons it’s always best to under order than over order.
Nevertheless, the flavour was not affected. My guest sips it slowly with pleasure. It has mellow honey floral, pollen and mead notes with Inverocche Amber Gin hint. The glass is satisfying to hold too. Perhaps I was even more fascinated by the glass than its content. It took me back to my beekeeping lessons.
I had my own favourite though Agua de Vida, which came in turquoise blue glass bowl, topped with a real oyster shell and sour sweet candy instead of a mollusc resembling a pearl.
There is something about holding a cocktail with both hands and sipping it slowly by a fire place, comforting and relaxing. The cocktail is inspired by Tiki flavours with Mount Gay Black Barrel rum, coconut oil, carob, bramley apple and banana skin kombucha.
Tiki was definitely the way to describe it. It was a little bit like a fresh apple juice with tropical palate and subtle notes of rum. Kombucha provided that unique sourness although I could not have guessed the banana skin in it.
I was debating with myself on my favourite cocktail that evening – Up in the Air was equally as impressive but in itsown way. Sitting on a tall stand a glass within a glass with smoke, resembling a schlenk flask or retort flask even minus the long nozzle was Up in the Air.
It’s Ketel One infused with electric daisy, electric liqueue – hence the shimmer and balsamic pickled beetroot. Don’t be put of by the latter. Betroot adds an earthy feel to it with balanced sweetness of Italicus.
You drink it through a glass straw. We were warned that some guests get confused apparently. I was impressed with how well our waitress guessed our cocktail preferences. I was over the moon with mine while my guest loved his.
We paired the cocktails with a few bar snacks the croquettes come to mind first, coming in pairs of two varieties: potato saffron aranchini and osso bucco. You need to pick a bit of both for a full palate. The meat was delectable.
We both love burrata so that was our second nibble, like with croquettes we cannot fault it, creamy on the inside with that mozzarella texture on the outside.
We also shared baja tacos, although, rather small they were packed with flavour. The tacos came topped with trout caviar. A first for me to have trout roe on a baja in a taco but it worked well with the texture from creamy corn taco, to crisp batter, flaky fish and a popping on bite roe.
The bar snacks were not the most budget friendly given the size, but the ingredients and flavours made up for the price tag for sure. Not to mention the location and this level of the venue that’s the going rate. Personally, dare I say as far as bar snacks go they were one of my most memorable.
At such positive rate we couldn’t skip the desserts. We shared a chocolate and hazelnut sphere, which was a little bit like Ferrero Rocher minus the wafer layer and the packet. So it was very fresh. A quick tap breaks the milky chocolate into fragments revealing an airy mousse like centre.
Impressive size and plenty of chocolate made it into a bit of a struggle to finish it, unless you are a big milk chocolate lover the dessert is best to be shared between two guests, perhaps three even.
On the other hand our second dessert was something I would have preferred all for myself, a delicate slice of zesty Key lime pie pierced with meringue shards. It was gone in no time with us scrapping the plate.
The Churchill Bar & Terrace with its sustainable cocktails and detailed drinks book is unique and offers something individual in its mixologist hotel world. It’s warming to the heart to know the number of sustainability conscious venues is growing, taking the guilt off us slightly for going out. So we can just turn up and have a drink there.
Perhaps it’s not so suited as your regular Friday hangout place but rather a special occasion venue. Possibly to impress someone special on their birthday, Valentine’s or Mother’s day?
Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, 30 Portman Square, London W1H 7BH