Hamish Smith revisits a revamped classic of the London cocktail bar scene.
Opened in 2010, ECC in Chinatown is about as a far from a new opening as a cocktail bar could be, but its relaunch this autumn made me curious to enter that Gerrard Street door and climb its stairs once again.
If founder Xavier Padovani’s plan was to breath new life into a space, it’s very much mission accomplished. For once, the interiors have been ‘reimagined’ as the press release promises – Dorothée Meilichzon’s décor is stunning.
The brick and metal framework of the bar remains, but nods to Chinatown are subtly peppered throughout and the use of mirrors and lighting borders on cinematic.
Timothy Falzon’s cocktail menu is mercifully compact – we head straight to an old-school ECC favourite – a rendition of Audrey Saunders’ Old Cuban (£15), which is suitably nostalgic yet still fresh, balanced and crisp.
The Bar/Giani Gibson (£15), meanwhile, is a collab drink with nominative determinism’s own Giorgio Bargiani of Connaught Bar and features vodka, vermouth, sherry, Chinatown bitters, elicriso spray and silverskin onion. It’s almost like this guy knows his Martinis.
We’re really just passing, but it’s clear already this pioneering bar that the in-crowd forgot is well and truly back in business.
Score: 8/10
13a Gerrard St, London W1D 5PS