Keep Calm it's Cocktail O'Clock...

With Monday done and dusted, I don't know about you, but I'm feeling parched... There's nothing for it but to give into the cocktail cravings, Thursday's far too far away and as London Cocktail Week's in full swing it would be rude not to. 

So what's in store? Well for the rest of the week 200 of the best bars across London will each be offering a killer signature cocktail for a mere £4 a pop! All you have to do is buy a wristband for £15 here and you're good to go.

In addition to the cocktail drink-up trail there is a whole host of stuff going dowwwwn, including pop-ups, parties and tastings - enough to help you work up a serious thirst. 

With two hundred bars to choose from you may well be wondering where to start? Well, on this Tuesday morning, it's the Mice to the rescue! I'm going to share our 3BM top picks of the best bars in London where this week you can sip on cheap as chips cocktails and give you a sneaky peek as to what's on the menu...

East:

Beagle - cream of the crop due to this being a favourite weekend brunch spot of ours ... 'Go Bananas' with the tequila based concoction charged with a homemade pineapple cordial and pomelo soda.

Worship Street Whistling Shop - whistle your way to drunken ecstacy with the 'Loch Harport Fizz' ... Talisker 10yo, Tawny Port, lemon juice and homemade Rhubarb & Balsamic Shrub shaken with fresh egg white and topped with soda.

Satan's Whiskers: give into temptation with the 'Silver Pineapple' - Havana Club 3yo, fresh pineapple and lime juices and topped with white wine.

3 South Place Bar & Grill: if the unlimited champagne weekend brunch is anything to go by, the 'SPH Autumn' cocktail should be a sure winner - Bacardi infused with cucumber, green tea syrup, lime juice, peach bitters, cooked pear and mint leaves.

Callooh Callay - mix things up with the 'Mexican Mustard Trick' - Don Julio Blanco, shaken with Luxardo maraschino, fresh grapefruit juice and Coleman’s mustard powder.

West:

Beach Blanket Babylon: we're a sucker for their signature Porn Star Martini but could be stolen away by the oh-so-sweet-sounding 'Fig and Honey Sour Vodka' - fresh fig, acacia honey and citrus juices shaken with fresh egg white and served straight up.

The Botanist: stay true to your roots with the 'English Cosmopolitan' - Rhubarb Vodka, Cointreau mixed with cranberry juice and fresh lime.

Upstairs at the Oak: keep summer going with the 'Fresh British Sour' - Bold London Spirit, fresh raspberries, honey and lemon juice and a dash of Peychaud’s bitters.

Central:

Archer Street: 'Do you Pink I'm Sexy' ... yes I do, when you sound this darn good it's pretty hard to resist - Cocchi Rosa Vermouth with elderflower cordial, lemon juice and tonic – served in a champagne flute.

Bourne & Hollingsworth: a fav haunt of ours with teacups, granny wallpaper and cracking cocktails - 'The Rathbone' promises strong things - Rathbone Gin and sweet vermouth, shaken with Grand Marnier and lengthened with fresh pomegranate juice and served in a coupette with seasonal red currents.

Call Me Lucky: a play on the bar name withhhhh wait for it ... 'Lucky Ducky' - a concoction of Bathtub Gin, pear, blackberries, coconut water and fresh grapefruit and apple juices. Served from a punch bowl.

Chotto Matte: if you hadn't guessed by now, we're kinda in love with gin, so here's another gin-based beauty to sip-up ... 'Moshi Moshi #4' - Botanist Gin and Sake, produced using deep sea pacific spring water, married together with St Germain elderflower liqueur and lemon juice.

Riding House Cafe: our number one Espresso Martini hot spot is cheating on us with 'All The Small Things' cocktail - Stolichnaya Vanilla Vodka, Aperol, St Germain elderflower liqueur, cucumber, egg white, lemon and tonic - go on then, we'll try it ... if we have to!

North:

Made in Brasil Boteco: show your fruity Brazilian side with the 'Mango & Passionfruit Caipirinha' - Cachaça, muddled fresh lime, white sugar and mango & passionfruit pure served over crushed ice.

Porky's BBQ Camden: taste-test the 'Jam Julep' - Evan Williams Bourbon, raspberry syrup, blackberry syrup, plum bitters and a handful of fresh mint.

York & Albany: cosy up with the 'Pear & Chestnut Julep' cocktail - Homemade pear puree stirred with Chestnut-infused Bulliet Bourbon

South:

Mark's Bar: it doesn't get much better than the 'Tanqueray Autumnal Orchard' - Tanqueray No. TEN Gin, pressed apple juice, Martini Rosso an elderflower cordial.

Northcote Records: prolong summer with the 'Strawberry Fields' cocktail - Vodka churned over crushed ice with fresh chilli, mint, fresh lime and a dot of strawberry puree

Black & Blue Borough Market: 'Bold English Rose' promises bitter sweet deliciousness - an infusion of cherries, cassia, packed with sweet-and-sour cherry, spice and floral notes, mixed with elderflower cordial, fresh lemon juice and raspberries.

Bottom's up!

On the 3BM iPod: James Bay

I was recently introduced to the British spine-tingling and oh-so-soulful indie-pop singer James Bay. His graveled tone, mellowness and boyish good looks had me at hello! 

I'm a sucker for a stellar success story and James Bay is just that ... discovered by Republic Records and signed after a fan uploaded a pub performance of his to YouTube. Jammy James!

Originally from my neck of the woods, Hertfordshire, Hitchin to be specific he released his debut extended play, 'The Dark of the Morning' in 2013 and then a year later his second EP followed, 'Let It Go'. 

I'm actually only going to share one of his songs with you because it's so frickin' good it deserves to stand alone, loud and proud, solo. 'Let It Go' - I have a particular weakness for the stripped back acoustic version. So a bit about the song because James takes it away ... It's all about that point in a relationship when you've tried and tried but you know it's now time to call it a day:

Told you : epic. You're welcome...

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

So this week has been a bit of a crazy one. The London Mice spent the beginning of the week basking in the Portuguese sun with a gaggle of girls getting up to so much mischief that they've spent the rest of the week wearing enormous dark glasses and quietly trying to recover.

Meanwhile over in Hong Kong, the streets have been awash with yellow ribbons, umbrellas and the most peaceful, polite protestors campaigning for democracy. I'm not going to get political on the blog, but I'm completely blown away by the calm, determined way that thousands and thousands of Hong Kongers have united to fight for the city's right to universal suffrage. Here are a couple of shots I've captured this week.

If you want to understand a little more about the whats and whys, this is a pretty neat summary.

Portugal and protests aside, there's been plenty going on in Miceland over the last seven days, this week the Mice have mostly been... 

Chomping my way through a couple of fresh new Hong Kong restaurant openings. 

First up, Gordon Ramsey's Bread Street Kitchen & Bar. This year has seen a slew of British chefs opening up in Hong Kong from Jason Atherton to Jamie Oliver, and Ramsey's new restaurant is the latest to join the line-up. Perched just above Lang Kwai Fong, Bread Street Kitchen & Bar is a buzzy, low-lit, laid-back space. 

The menu focuses on comfort food staples, think: Shepherd's Pie, macaroni cheese and fish & chips. The food is hearty and tasty but nothing particularly spectacular. In short - good gastropub grub in the heart of LKF.

The cocktail list is a little more exciting. Ranging from the novel - the Cinema Highball, a popcorn infused rum topped up with Coke - to the deliciously British - the Britz Spritz, Kamm & Sons Aperitif, sparkling wine, elderflower cordial and soda. 

Next up, Carbone, a New York Italian restaurant set just a few floors above Bread Street, but leaps and bounds above the Gordon Ramsey opening in every sense. Carbone is so mind-blowingly awesome that I ate there twice this week and if anything, the second time was even better than the first. 

I'll be writing a whole post on Carbone in the next couple of weeks, so keep your eyes peeled, and in the meantime a sneaky peek of a dish so simple, so perfect and so world-rockingly tasty that my mouth's watering as I type...

Watching in wonder as Paris Fashion Week brought fashion month to a close with a rally of jaw-dropping shows. 

Karl kicked off the fab finale with a catwalk overrun by Chanel Suffragettes... 

And then, in the belly of the brand new Foundation Louis Vuitton, a steel and glass Frank Gehry masterpiece... 

...Nicolas Ghesquière unveiled his LV ss'15 collection - one part folky, floaty Parisian girl, a heavy dash of Edie Sedgwick and a whole heap of futuristic sparkle.  

All of which left us breathlessly bravoing and working out how we can adopt even a little of the Louis Vuitton girl's cool come spring...

And that's your lot for another week!

Lots of love

x

The Mice

On the 3BM iPod: Deers

If we say Spanish girl group, you say.... Las Ketchup?

NO. Just no. 

Scrub all memory of annoying Europop from your mind, the Deers are here to shake up your perception of Spanish girl groups in a very, very good way.

Deers are a Madrid-based duo - Ana Garcia Perrote and Carlotta Cosials - who grab an extra two members when they're playing gigs. Their sound may be slightly scratchy and seat of their pants but they apparently record their tracks using their mobile phones and it just seems to work (they look like their having the most fun ever in their Bamboo video). Take a little Thursday listen...

Deers - Bamboo

Deers - Castigadas en el granero

 

Desk Decor Worth Going Into the Office For

The average person spends 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime.

If you haven't already jumped out of the window on hearing that fact, it's probably time to take a little look around at your desk, and work out if it's really the sort of place you want to be whiling away roughly ten and a half years of your life...

Home office decor has been a bit of an obsession of ours for a while now, evidenced by the fact that our Pinterest Home Inspiration Board is probably about 80% beautiful workspaces...

Images via: Pinterest

I've done the best glam up my work spaces at both home and in the office, so that sitting in front of my computer for hours on end is as pleasant as possible. 

Home office....

Office office (a work in progress)...

I've mixed in basics from Ikea and Muji with eBay finds (mini balloon animals and metal initial) and a couple of DIY bits and bobs (orchid in an old Diptyque jar and a free printable calendar from Jasmine Dowling). My latest new desk decor obsession though, is Danish interior design company, Ferm Living, which sells a gorgeous range of clean, contemporary Scandi pieces with a retro twist. When I started my new job I went on a little spree and just glancing through the new season collection has got my credit card twitching again. Browse the below at your peril... 

Ferm Living Letter Tray
€42

Ferm Living Brass Semi-Circle Stand

€81.88

Ferm Living Brass Cup

€25

Ferm Living Treasure Diamond

€31

There's also (whisper it) a whole host of other homeware deliciousness for every  other room of your home. 

Oops, there goes this month's paycheck...