One Drink Turned into Three and Snacks
My birthday buddy was in town for a couple days for work, and since I couldn’t make dinner work a couple days earlier, we met up after work before his flight. We initially were going to the Corner Bar at the Nine Orchard Hotel, but they had space at the Swan Room (same hotel) so we headed there instead.
They have quite an extensive cocktail list and we both only had 1 drink prior to heading to dinner.
I had the Sbagliato Primavera (strawberry campari, cocchi rosa, rhubarb, rosé shrub, prosecco) as I’ve only just heard of this drink, courtesy of Emma D’arcy, although her favorite drink was slightly different than this. I love when you get 1 giant square ice cube in a drink. It was a very bitter drink, but I have really come to appreciate the bitterness.
My birthday buddy has the Umami Negroni (isolation proof mushroom gin, cynar, amontillado, white soy), which came with such a fun dried enoki mushroom garnish.
It really was a beautiful space and you can’t help but look all around you, especially at the detailed ceiling. A very fun place to grab a drink with a friend before moving onto your next location.
Originally I was not going to dinner, however there was a last minute cancellation so they had space for me. Since I had nothing else going on, I decided go along.
We headed to Holywater, which I did not realize until we literally got to the doorway that I had been once before with my cousins to have a drink!
The space is very cool, you head downstairs and the entire restaurant looks like you’re in a ship. We started off with some drinks, last time I had the Purple Jesus (Vodka, Kool-Aid, High Life, lime), but this time I went with the Mermaid’s Revenge.
I can’t find the description of the drink online as their menu is out of date, but it was very light and refreshing with a citrus-y taste.
Since my birthday buddy was in a rush, we got a bunch of plates to share to have some dinner. We went with the bluefish dip (Smoked line-caught bluefish rillettes, toasted potato bread),
Le Burger (Dry-aged Angus, smoked cheddar, layonaisse, griddled leeks, green peppercorn aïoli, toasted challah),
and some Hushpuppies.
The food was pretty good, no complaints there. It was rather difficult to eat on the low tables we were seated at though. But the drinks were great and would definitely come back for those again.
