Remember cocktail pitchers? Big jugs of nonsense, each one a commitment to a noble cause: to live, to laugh, and to love. In all their fizzy reckoning comes the promise of something silly and, last time I checked, silliness is what life is all about. The moment any one of us pauses to deliberate the state of the world, everything seems to crumble. So off we went to Cubana, entirely by mistake, an old-time Latin bar at the foot of the Cut in Waterloo, a strange and transitory part of town less cool, not chic, but fun.
I can’t remember the last time I had a cocktail pitcher. Years ago, when the world felt far simpler. Maybe it was in a branch of that pub chain and the contents was bright red and unforgiving. Or on some beach far away, post-swim, with crab fritters and sandy toes. At Cubana, we ordered mojitos, having been drawn in by a two-for-one deal. Such dramatic offerings are rare, if non-existent in the bars I tend to frequent. Hey ho, an ointment. And who am I — who are you? — to deny a large, ice-filled jug of rum and mint and lime. Most of it was soda water but at a tenner or thereabouts, that’s merely horses for courses.
Cubana is a joyous place. Why a replica AK-47 hangs above the bar is beyond me. Not something to consider. We didn’t venture inside, but set up in the covered terrace, a festival of colour and sexy murals, of plants and wicker. We drank to the background melody of Cuban music, surrounded by waving flags of eclectic nations, Thai cafes of institutional repute, and Vaulty Towers — our next stop — one of the maddest pubs in London thanks to all the clown faces and its sunken treehouse table where drinkers congregate like party Hobbits. Cocktail pitchers are not something to make a habit of. Every now and then, they propose a noble cause.
48 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7AB, cubana.co.uk
Bar snacks
Cantinera
Good news everyone, the team behind the Codillos pop-up — chefs Jake Barwood and Celia D’Ortiz — have found a full-time home. Now called, Cantinera, the restaurant will serve dishes inspired by D’Ortiz’s Spanish and Mexican heritage, including seabass crudo tostadas, braised cuttlefish with chickpeas, and tortilla de patatas with chile de arbol, onion salsa and goat's cheese. The idea came about after the duo bumped into one another at Brockley Market. For now, the restaurant is BYOB, and walk-ins only.
10 Coulgate Street, SE4 2RW, @cantinera.restaurant
Dante
It was always going to happen: Dante becoming a permanent fixture in London. The New York import opened as a pop-up at Claridge’s last year, to much fanfare, but it was only ever touted as temporary. The collaboration will now operate as the indefinite restaurant at Claridge’s, serving the famous Garibaldis (Campari and orange juice, whizzed up in this case) and elegant martinis, and to eat, burgers, shrimp cocktails and chicken alla diavola. NYC, London loves you.
Brook Street, W1K 4HR, maybourne.com
