There are bars that serve cocktails, and then there are bars that serve pure art in cocktail form. Scarfes Bar has been doing the latter since it opened in 2014, and its accomplishments over the years have earned it all the bragging rights.

Its trophy cabinet includes No. 31 in the World’s 50 Best Bars, No. 35 in the UK’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars, and No. 1 Best International Hotel Bar at Tales of the Cocktail – a list that doesn’t accumulate by accident.

Its newest menu, Heroes & Villains, launched on the 1st of April, is further proof that the bar isn’t remotely interested in coasting on any of it. We went. We stayed longer than planned. We’re still thinking about the aubergine cocktail.

The bar

Tucked inside Rosewood London, a short walk from Holborn station, Scarfes Bar is one of those rooms that pulls off a rare balancing act: it has the warmth of a local pub and the refinement of a five-star hotel bar, and neither quality undermines the other.

The walls are covered in Gerald Scarfe’s caricatures (the British artist the bar is named after), with live jazz playing daily. The mixology team, led by Director of Bars Andy Loudon, works from an in-house lab, producing house-made syrups, distillates, and ingredients that underpin every menu they release. This isn’t a place for a quick pit stop. It’s a two-hour affair, at the very least.

The new Heroes & Villains menu

Heroes & Villains takes its name from Gerald Scarfe’s 2003 art book and exhibition. Twenty cocktails – ten iconic figures, each reimagined through two serves: a hero and a villain. The menu itself is a ten-page object, each page featuring a Scarfe caricature, with the hero cocktail on the main page and its villainous counterpart hidden behind a pull-out. Six months of development and a raft of new house-made ingredients went into it, and it shows.

The heroes champion the techniques that define modern mixology – clarification, distillation, carbonation – while the villains gleefully resurrect the classics that bartenders love to hate: tropical serves, Cosmopolitans, Pornstar Martinis, Mojitos, and the like.

The cast runs from Paul McCartney and the Beckhams through to Darwin, Rosalind Franklin, Isaac Newton, Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie, Shakespeare, Richard Branson and Margaret Thatcher.

Darwin’s hero serve, for example, is the very fitting Natural Selection: a bright whisky highball with carbonated raspberries and evaporated carrot. His villain, meanwhile, is a tropical concoction served in a bespoke mug that transports you, conceptually at least, to the Galápagos.

Agatha Christie is honoured in 4.50 from Paddington (pictured above), a reworking of a G&T made with Fords Gin, chinotto honey, Acqua di Cedro and zesty tonic. Her more mischievous alter ego, Whodunnit, channels the structure of a classic Sidecar-traditionally a cognac, citrus and orange liqueur serve – reimagined with Rémy Martin 1738 Cognac, wild sour blackberry and kumquat aperitif.

Our favourites from the new menu

As you can imagine, the menu is lengthy, and we studied it like it was the latest Stephen King novel (the stakes are high when you regrettably can’t try 20 cocktails in one go). We’re confident we made the right choices – but there are flavour combinations for every taste bud, so we strongly recommended you take your time finding your favourite hero and villain.

Some of our favs include:

• Oscar Wilde’s Temptation – a spicy margarita on Lost Explorer Espadín mezcal with hot kiwi sherbet, roasted aubergine and Ancho Reyes. Aubergine has no business being in a cocktail, and yet here it is, adding this deep, smoky, almost savoury undercurrent that’s just so unique and utterly delicious. We went Wilde for that.
• Richard Branson’s Hot-Air Balloon – a whisky-forward drink with The Macallan 12, palo santo, Earl Grey sherry and peated almond. It’s serving rich on a champagne glass, and it does feel like the kind of drink billionaires like Richard Branson would be sipping on. The earthiness of the whisky counterpoints the sherry and almond, making it both intriguingly smoky and charmingly sweet. Not a drink you rush.

• Shakespeare’s Final Act – a cocktail with Campari, discarded banana, pear and black cardamom soda. Because it’s quite refreshing, we wouldn’t have it as the last hurray (despite the name) – but it makes for a strong first act. It is, however, the kind of drink you’re three rounds deep into before you’ve noticed. You’ve got our warning.

• Whodunnit – Rémy Martin 1738 Cognac, wild sour blackberry & kumquat aperitif – this is one for the sweet tooths out there, and it seemed to be the most popular on the launch night. While it wasn’t the standout for us, it will absolutely be if you’re after something on the sweeter side.

Verdict

Heroes & Villains is an outstanding menu, particularly for those drawn to more adventurous cocktails. Sometimes, these more unusual flavour combinations or riffs on classic cocktails can go awry (cue cheesy cocktails – yes, we’ve had those before) – but that definitely isn’t the case here. You can tell this isn’t just a conceptually rich menu (with a beautifully realised story to back it up), but a deftly crafted set of recipes, where no cocktail disappoints – even if it’s not your favourite spirit or the kind of drink you’d typically go for.

We relished every single drink, and wouldn’t mind sticking to this menu alone for a while.

Key details

Address: Rosewood Hotel London,252 High Holborn, London WC1V 7EN

Website: www.scarfesbar.com

Socials: @scarfesbar

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