For the sweet-toothed Basement Sate could be the perfect place to indulge. There’s no messing around with savoury dishes, none of those boring vegetables or salads that other places insist on serving. There are a few beers and wines on the menu but this Soho bar is all about cocktails and desserts.
Located in a basement on Broadwick Street, the unassuming entrance features one of Sebastian Horsley’s art signs informing you that This is not a brothel – there are no prostitutes at this address. The Soho dandy would have enjoyed the downstairs bar furnished with Fleming and Howland leather sofas and private booths, and, more importantly, the large selection of bottles lining the wall behind the wooden bar. The ingredients for pretty much any cocktail you could want are on the spot.
Mixology doesn’t have rocket-scientist levels of intellectual cachet but judging by the skills of resident barman Pierre-Marie Bisson it is a performance art. It’s also physical – ask him to demonstrate his crab shake – and requires the unusual ability of being able to pour exact quantities of alcohol in virtual darkness. Cocktail barmen are performers with easy patter like magicians. However their performances have more agreeable dénouements than those of Paul Daniels and his ilk. Rather than just saying yes, that was my card you get to drink what they have produced.
The standard cocktails are all available, but you’ll want to try Basement Sate’s speciality cocktails which include ingredients you probably wouldn’t expect in a glass. These have been carefully selected to give a balanced taste and include Rainbow Road (rye whisky, date, golden syrup, orange juice) and Squashed Nuts (Butternut seed infused pico, umeshu, vanilla syrup). If you want to learn more about cocktail making, special masterclasses allow you to head behind the bar and try your hand shaking up your favourite drinks or forgotten classics.
Owner Cathleen McGarry (of Parisian Sherry Butt fame) has brought sweet dishes centre stage. Purple rain, a light blackcurrant and yoghurt mousse macaroon can be recommended, but the short list includes other dishes carefully constructed by pastry chef Dorian Picard.
To help with the which dessert should I eat with which cocktail conundrum, on certain evenings Basement Sate offers a special drinks and dessert pairing menu. This consists of 3 desserts and 3 cocktails which change every month and is priced at £36 for two people. Each month, the menu will centre on a specific theme and spirit, giving a fully rounded experience of matching desserts with cocktails and teaching how complex sweet, citrus, spice and sour flavours all work to complement each other.
Barman Pierre is also full of information about the history of cocktails – did you know gin and tonic was developed by the East India Company as part of the fight against malaria? – as well as a nice line in logically-arguable aphorisms…Sometimes too much is not nearly enough…Basement Sate’s mixologists can make any cocktail from long to completely deadly, so take your pick and enjoy some distinctive taste sensations.
8 Broadwick Street
W1F 8HN
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