Spray the customers with chilled vintage champagne, give away a free python with every Pornstar Martini, serve drinks in hot air balloons? I don’t know if the first two tactics have been employed yet but the last one has. Enter the Cocktail Trading Company in Shoreditch. I’m not sure about the name – evocative as it is of the bar at a Premier Inn, but the drinks are definitely above average. Yes there are gimmicks, yes there is unnecessary use of at-table foam syphons, but the flavours work and so does the presentation in its own over-the-top way.
Punch credit: The Cocktail Trading Company
There are only 11 cocktails on the menu and we tried most of them. The stand-outs were the Blue Moon (the one served in the hot air balloon) which incorporated a deftly mixed concoction of green tea, shiitake flavoured genever, celery and basil sherbet and violette. Tangy, sweet with a few sour notes it was well rounded and delicious to drink. The Weeper’s Joy was another favourite; served in a tissue box gin, celery and caraway liqueur, Martini ambrato and grapefruit and lavender sherbet it was full of punchy flavours.
There were far more hits and misses during our evening and if you’re in the mood you could easily work your way through all of them and leave feeling rather happy – and not too poor. The prices are reasonable with everything less than £10 and it’s a great place for either pre-dinner drinks or as a standalone and stand-out evening.
The Cocktail Trading Company
68 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6GQ
0207 4276097
