Rules – London

Rules rules I have to say. This place got recommended to me by a friend. I heard about Rules way back and I knew it is the oldest restaurant in town but I never heard of the cocktail place upstairs. Probably not many other visitors know about it either. So I had to check it out as my friend said the cocktails are ace.

As I knew Rules is the oldest restaurant in town I expected the stylish old fashioned place and that’s really what I got when I walked up the little staircase to the first floor. This place is steeped by history. I went there for an aperitif early evening so not many people were there but I heard that the place gets busy at night, which I easily believe. When you come in you find the bar on the right hand side with only a few leather bar stools which are very comfortable and vintage. Just perfect to sip a cocktail on an early weekend evening. The rest of the interior is vintage too and very British. Lovely old back bar, old fonts for their Rules logo and baroque style carpet floor. Moreover dark wooden walls and towards the ceiling you find a old hunting landscape which are underlined with vintage paintings, hunting trophies and the rather heavy furniture coloured in dark red leather or fabric. Last but not least the bartender. No he was not vintage but very British indeed. Very well mannered, slightly sarcastic, a pinch of strictness and dressed very dapper. It makes the place what it is and it totally fits the scene. We were sitting at the bar and Michael served us. I knew what I wanted.

My drink of choice if you feel a slight hunger and thirst for something with substance, the most manliest drink there is, a Dirty Martini. I selected Plymouth and the lovely green olives were muddled giving the drink this slightly cloudy and greenish view. Elegantly and perfectly executed. As I like my Dirty Martini with a lot of olives, Michael just answered very bluntly: “Ahh having a little bit of lunch, are we”? You know what I mean now with the description above? Well, it put a smile on my face. Cheeky and direct, how can you not like it? The green olives were served in a tumbler and for the pits I go the small top of a cobbler shaker, a very pragmatic solution indeed. My brother ordered a drink from the menu called “A little bit of this…..”. Composed with Bols Genever, Cocchi Barolo Chinato, Aperol, Campari, Fernet Branca and a little Crème de Mure. I tried it as well and I had to say: “Wow”! What a well executed cocktail with a phenomenal taste. My kind of drink. The cocktail menu is clearly arranged and offers eight house cocktails but offers classic drinks too. The back bar offers a small but well selected assortment of spirits. All you need is there but don’t expect a huge selection of gin or rum. There is no space nor demand for that.

When we were there a lady came in and ordered a Pisco Sour. Just before Michael started preparing, the lady took out a bottle of Pisco she was interested in selling. You could just see the annoyance in his face. He told her that he is actually looking for a Pisco but he is not seeing anyone without appointment. He told her to come back in a weeks time at 14.00, probably a time when he knew he would not be there just to get rid of her. He did not even note down the time. The thanked him and left. She did not even have the courtesy to drink the ordered Pisco Sour, which he anyway did not prepare. Again a smile on my face. Now you see where I get my analysis from. When I asked Michael, he said that there are brand ambassador coming in here almost every day without appointment who want to sell something. “Its very annoying”, he added. I can understand very well. The bar does not offer huge space. One has to choose carefully what to select. You even find Gordon’s Gin in there. “It goes very well in this bar”, Michael explains. The older crowd like there G&T with Gordon’s. Well why not. It was good the last 100 years, why should it not be just because everybody is producing Gin nowadays. I am fond of this place. It is straight forward, classy, elegant, just very British. A well hidden institution. I will be back!

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