What do we all think of butt plug-shaped lamps? Nearing ubiquity these days. Find them in situ at City Arts, a hazy, almost forgotten bar in a back alley in the City, a part of town associated more readily with quick pints among fake foliage and big windows, ones embossed with gold lettering that announce words like “lounge” and the tautologous phrase “bao buns”. These lacquered churches to the belligerent foster a clinical form of drinking, one usually bookended by some sort of average burger. I recently saw four men in identical clothing in one of the bars near the Bank of England: from head to toe came a rollercoaster of blue gilets, crisp white shirts, pressed trousers and black loafers. Mere hours from chilli and garlic chicken breasts with broccoli and rice.
Maybe they’ll soon discover City Arts, a little retro mad house, a 1970s sort of place with comfortable seats and a vague air of uncertainty. Almost disquieting. Even so, it’s an antidote to the mundane. The cocktail list features seven signatures and seven classics, none of which top £14. They do a good Blood & Sand — what my Saarf London dad uses as an exclamation — which mixes bourbon with vermouth, maraschino liquor and pressed orange juice. Those in the market for an everyday margarita, negroni, paloma, whatever, would be content enough.
But the clincher here isn’t affordable cocktails, moody lighting or breezy drapery — a thought: imagine Austin Powers’s boudoir and take it down a few notches, there you go — but the hours the bar holds: 2am Tuesday to Thursday, or 3am if busy. How thrilling. Now look: this isn’t the best bar in the world. It might be a place, even, for vagabonds and rogues. Whatever: it’s yet more proof that London very much is a late-night city, you just have to know where to find it. Just look for the butt plugs, I guess.
17-20 Ironmonger Lane, EC2V 8EP, cityartsbar.com
Bar snacks
Nekter
3 Bowl Court, EC2, bar.nekterwines.com
A wine supplier to star restaurants such as Ynyshir and The Fat Duck is this month opening a new bar and deli in Shoreditch. Jon Davey founded Nekter Wines in 2016 and specialises in New World and “new wave” wines. He’ll launch Nekter as a permanent bar concept on April 14, bringing an extensive list of wines ranging from affordable to fancy as well as toasties from big-name chefs. One will be a cheese and truffle number from none other than Gareth Ward, chef-founder of Ynyshir in north-west Wales.
Big Mamma crockery drop
Online, @bigmamma.uk
If the food at Big Mamma restaurants is hit and miss, the crockery is as sumptuous as an Amalfi Coast sunset with Sophia Loren. That is to say, it’s gloriously vibrant and mad with its blues and yellows, ribbed edges and faux Roman pastiches. Those who host dinner parties, or anyone who eats dinner, really, might be inclined to buy a few items. Big Mamma is holding a crockery sale on May 13. Dishes available are hand-painted and made in Alemana and Trinacria in Sicily and Nataloni and Fuma in Umbria.
