Even though this wasn’t intended to be the letter B also
(well, its second part), we’ve decided to give it a go as we’d heard good
things about it. Deciding to go before going to see the newest edition to the
Marvel Cinematic Universe Doctor Strange,
there was nothing better than the thought of a cocktail before the mind-trip of
a film.
Found tucked away on School Lane (just down from the Epstein
Theatre) the little bar is pretty much separated into three rooms, with one
front one, a hallway and a back room, and can only be described as a bit cosy.
Due to this though, it’d probably be recommended if you were in a small group
or on a date, any group above around six or seven people will probably struggle
to fit in.
On walking in the first thing I noticed was the fact nobody
was actually eating. The main purpose of the trip (besides the cocktails,
obviously) was to get dinner in. The other thing I noticed was the fact that
some of the seats were swings. I later learnt that they promote taking selfies
on the swings, which is something I definitely wish I’d done.
However, with the fact that nobody was eating there was
definitely a pang of fear as I was absolutely starving at this point. Even when
we’d gone into the backroom where there seemed to be bigger tables that seemed
to be for food, there was still nobody eating. It turns out they do food until
8, and we’d gotten pretty lucky turning up at half 7.
The backroom itself was different itself. The entire bar was
covered in Halloween decorations with the holiday round the corner; however I’d
love to go and see the place without the cobwebs and gory hands everywhere. The
ceiling was covered in umbrellas and it had four tables, with a couch for each
one. Each table could only fit about 4 or 5 people, but there were only two of
us which meant that the entirety of the couch was for my comfort.
Ordering cocktails first, we both decided on martini’s to go
with our food. I went with the French Monkey Martini (vanilla vodka, Chambord and
pineapple) while Becki went for the Monkey 47-75 (Monkey 47 gin, strawberries
& lemon that’s topped with prosecco). With the cocktails ranging from
between £7.50 to £8, it can only be said that these cocktails are worth their
price. You can understand why the bar promotes itself for its cocktails, as
they were pretty incredible.
While maybe not the strongest drink, my martini was
incredible tasting with the pineapple taste really sticking out, while Becki’s
seem to go straight to her head, which had a lot more sweet taste to it.
While the cocktails were great, the same couldn’t be said
about the food. The bar doesn’t really promote itself for its food but we gave
it a go anyway. I went for an 8oz steak with homemade slaw and sweet potato
wedges while Becki went for the Monkey Club sandwich, which include chicken,
bacon, the regular sandwich salads and an egg.
It’s safe to say that Becki picked
the better of the two. The steak in all fairness wasn’t that good and was just
a little too tasteless to be totally enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong though, the
meal overall was more than filling enough and kept me full for a long while,
though the taste just wasn’t enough for me. Becki’s sandwich though was pretty
big in size, no doubt. Large chips also came with it that were pretty good and
accompanied her meal well.
Overall though the quirky bar is
well worth a visit. It does also do Mad Hatter brews, a local brewery found in
the Baltic Triangle. The three drinks, named “Penny Lane”, “Toxteth IPA” and
the appropriately named “Nightmare on Bold Street” were sold, and even though I
was eager to try all three, the film was set to start and we had to promptly
leave.
I’d say you should absolutely
visit this place, give it a go, enjoy a cocktail or two and hang around for its
atmosphere. However, in terms of food, you may be better off going somewhere
else.
If you’d like to keep up with me, you can follow me on Instagram at Jamesrobertjones or on Twitter @JJ_Journo.
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