I'm a bit of a Doctor Who fan so I've seen them in the TV show together and thought it might be nice to see them in a live stage show. Also, I've never seen Much Ado live before so I was attempting to kill two birds with one stone if you will. When I asked my hotel concierge if it was possible to still get tickets to Much Ado (which was in its closing week) I thought I had buckley's chance, but he informed me of the lottery. Apparently if you turn up to Wyndham's Theatre sometime between 10 and 10:30am they'd give you a raffle ticket and then at 10:30 they'd draw 20 of them and the people with those tickets are able to buy some of the best seats in the house for just £10. I decided that I might as well go along and see how it went, nothing ventured nothing gained and all that.
I would like to be able to say that I'd managed to get a winning ticket. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, I was one number off! :-( But, then I lined up to buy a returns ticket - one which someone had bought at full price and had to return for some reason. It wasn't cheap but it still wasn't full price, so I ended up getting one for the performance that night.
Decided to make a decent night of it and head to a bar that a friend had recommended before seeing the show. Had to catch the Piccadilly Line to King's Cross St. Pancras station and then switch to the Northern Line to get to Old Street station, and it took me a little longer than I was expecting to find the place, but once I got there it was one of the best bars I've ever been too. I've been noted by a friend as someone who it's hard to make a drink for, as according to him I'm a bit of a "fussy one" - his words, not mine (you can read them here on his blog in a post about Motel Bar, an amazing place in Wellington).
If you believe the whole fussy drinker thing then it might surprise you to hear that this place in London managed to make me two incredible drinks in a very short half hour time period.
Where was I? At a place called Bar Nightjar on City Road. (Go check out their website)
Service at Nightjar was brilliant. I walked in, without a booking and was immediately greeted by a hostess who was quite happy to sit me at the bar. Admittedly, it was quite early in the evening on a Wednesday night for it to be too much of a problem, but having mentioned that someone I knew had been raving about the place she actually knew who I was talking about right away once I said where I'm from, which I found quite surprising since my friend has only ever been there once!
The bartender was great. He let me peruse the menu for a little while, then talked to me about what sort of drinks I normally like and made a couple of recommendations. I ended up going with a Scoff Law and a 24 Volt Cobbler. The Scoff Law was at the recommendation of the bartender, something which I'd been eyeing off in the menu but couldn't decide if I would drink or not. I'm glad I took him up on the suggestion, it was a very enjoyable drink and I only wish that I'd had some more time to savour it. I probably could have drunk it a little slower, but the 24 Volt Cobbler had caught my eye before the Scoff Law, and I just had to try it.
Here's why:
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| 24 Volt Cobbler - side view |
Mozart dry chocolate eau de vie
Fresh cranberries
Maple syrup
Fresh squeezed lime
Nightjar electric bitters
Mixed berries liqueur
Red wine
(all credit to Nightjar's website menu) |
| 24 Volt Cobbler - top view |
Firstly, who wouldn't want to try something called Electric Bitters? But, aside from that, it sounded delicious to me before I even saw it. And then I was presented with the cocktail itself. Absolutely incredible! That's all I've got to say. I'm not one for reviewing a drink so I've not got the appropriate repertoire of words to describe what I was tasting, and I didn't really make any notes about it's flavours, but wow! Probably one of the best drinks I've ever had in my life, that's really all I need to say I think. I would go back to Nightjar in a heartbeat if I'm in London again. It's unfortunate that I couldn't spend the evening there. I should've gone earlier in my trip when I could actually take the time to enjoy the drinks as they should be enjoyed, but that's life.
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| David Tennant |
Had to make my way back to Wyndham's Theatre very quickly, since Much Ado was due to start at 7:30pm. I took my seat, which turned out to be quite a nice one. Royal Circle B15, pretty much smack bang in the middle of the second row on the first floor. Had a brilliant view of the stage so I didn't miss anything, which was good because it was a great show. There was some tension in the audience to start, since David Tennant had been sick for the last two performances and not been on stage, but the curtain lifted and the play started straight off without any announcement of the sort, so it was no surprise to me when he appeared on stage. He did get a massive round of applause though, since we were all pretty stoked to see that he was in it.
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| Catherine Tate |
It was a brilliant show! Moments I don't think I'll forget include seeing David Tennant in a denim mini-skirt and Catherine Tate dangling in mid-air and flailing about. And I ended up getting some autographs and photographs out of it all, so I'd say my trip to the West End was a success if you ask me.
Disclaimer: All photo's taken by myself; 24 Volt Cobbler recipe from Bar Nightjar - please see their website
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