It's no secret that here at Hot Dinners we're definitely partial to a cocktail or two on a night out. Thus the arrival of Silk & Grain, a new cocktail bar and restaurant in the Square Mile is right up our street.
Situated on Cornhill near Bank station, this City bar and restaurant is also not far from Jason Atherton’s recent opening, City Social. Silk & Grain prides itself on serving an eclectic menu of signature aged and conditioned cocktails alongside a British ‘grazing menu’ made up almost entirely of seasonal British produce.
The signature cocktails have been subjected to a strictly controlled aging programme with many aged in wood, glass and even leather (a process first introduced to us at Hot Dinners favourite bar Artesian).
Hot Dinners were recently invited to a tasting of a few of their latest drinks offerings fresh from the barrel. The session started with an explanation of the aging process and its potential to enhance classic cocktails. This was followed with a menu tasting combined with a selection of cocktails which had been aged using a variety of methods, some of them months old, comparing them to freshly made examples of the same type.
While we would probably usually choose a barrel aged Negroni or Martini over an aged Cosmo, all of the drinks we tried were interesting. The owners have taken the better part of a year to develop the aging programme. Their hope is that these signature cocktails will pique an interest in this style of drinks which have previously been the preserve of high end cocktail bars.
Moving hungrily to the menu we started by sampling a few of the ‘grazing’ menu items including Clonakilty black pudding scotched quail’s eggs and crispy pig’s ears – hearty stuff to say the least. The starter, a plate of scallops in English pea puree and smoked bacon from Trealy farm was a dish designed to show off the provenance of their ingredients, which it did well.
The mains continued in this vein and focus on steaks and grilled dishes. A 35 day dry-aged rib-eye quickly arrived straight from their Josper grill, a piece of kit they’re keen to showcase (described on their menu as the ‘Aston Martin of grills’). For dessert, a homemade chocolate brownie with a dollop of pistachio ice cream came paired with a Barrel Aged Manhattan – a powerful and sweet note to finish on.
Silk & Grain is open now and can be found at 33 Cornhill, EC3V 3ND. For more information, follow them on Twitter @SilkandGrain.
Follow Louis Fernando on Twitter at @tuckandvine and on his blog Tuck & Vine.
Hot Dinners was invited to Silk and Grain.
