The Bar Room

After a great dinner at Le Gratin, went to this lounge that was right beside it in the financial district.

Great architecture, vibe, and drinks.

For my first drink asked for something between an old fashion and whisky sour, but did not have simple syrup. They gave me something pretty good, but wish it was slightly sweeter (my fault for not mentioning they could have thrown table sugar in there).

For my second drink asked for a pisco sour. That was great.

Food menu looked good, it did not order anything. Next time.

The Parlour Room

We went here on a night we landed in New York City. We were staying near Penn Station, and wanted a place with some seafood, steak, and a full bar. Their whisky selection was awesome (see the pic below).

It is recommended to get a reservation beforehand since it does get full easily (although you can also eat at the bar).

For main courses got the crab dip, the seafood tagliatelle (had shrimp, clams and mussels), and the filet mignon. I would get all of them again.

For drinks, did a Japanese flight (note you can only get 1 flight for your whole visit). They have a cool placemat for the flight glasses (see below), and they tell you the background of each one. Two things that stood out. First is that the Shibui wishing was a pure malt, (which is different from a single malt since that whisky comes from two distilleries, but the families are related). For the Kaiyo whisky, apparently their requirements is that the oak tree is 350 years old (partly due to the fact it is endangered).

I also did get a whisky sour, which was also good.

Oh, and we finished off with a crème brûlée.

Public Gardens

We were at the King West area trying to find a bar that had a good vibe and served drinks. This definitely was both.

They have a variety of espresso martinis, even a Nutella one! My friend got a decaf espresso martini since it was 10pm, and I thought it was reasonable. I stuck to whisky’s (they had a good assortment). Only complaint is that for one of the servings we specified two oz. But they only served a single oz.

I will say that the mozerella sticks were also not that great (would not order that again).

(FYI below is not my photo)

Lido

This restaurant was close to our hotel. I think it was good for drinks, but definitely not recommended for food.

The restaurant is by the water which is nice (although you can get foo led if sitting outside).

Ordered the truffle ravioli, and loaded fries. Wasn’t a huge fan of either.

The Standard Biergarten

We pregamed here before going to a day EDM event on. Saturday afternoon.

Normally I wouldn’t really care for Biergartens, but I would say I liked this one. The people, the vibe, and the drinks were good.

For drinks, I didn’t get any beer, but instead did an Aperol spritz. For food, got the Mac and cheese balls. That was great. Also tried the pretzel, which was a good snack.

One other thing we did was do a ski-shooter with Jameson. That was fun.

Note: next time don’t buy so many drink tickets since they can only be used for beer and food (like only get 2 or 3 next time, not 6). Also might be interested to try their actual restaurant next time (called The Standard).

Ruby Soho

Mentioning this place even though I didn’t take any pictures (photo attached isn’t mine) since apparently it’s a great place for drinking and for Toronto finance bros to make deals. Need to check it out again next time (but maybe right after a work day).

Aside from whisky, also got the nachos here (probably would want to get something else other than the nachos next time).

Bar Bonobo

Tried this place for after work drinks. I like the loungey type vibe, but will say I would try and get another drink than the one I ordered. I ordered an espresso martini without the sweetener (and it was not that good). There were other cocktails that seemed interesting for next time.

Dragonfly

This is apparently the oldest cocktail bar in Edinburgh.

Got the Whisky Away drink. It seemed like it would have been an old fashion with a banana twist, but it was not as sweet as expected, which I was kind of disappointed.

My friend got the Ka Pao Tao (or something like that) drink, which I thought was great.

Also tried their cheese plate. The Scottish brie was pretty terrible, but I did like the Scottish Gouda.

We went on a Tuesday night so vibe was pretty dead. So maybe would go back on a Thursday or Friday night.

NRH (Never Really Here)

We went to this sort of speakeasy place (it has an unmarked door). It has a reaction system (fortunately they were able to accommodate us with just a 45 minute wait).

For our waiting the bartender gave us free apple martinis.

For main drinks, got an old fashion with just regular sugar (not simple), and a custom drink that had whisky, chocolate, and cherrry flavors.

Also, you’re supposed to write on anything in the restaurant. Wrote Trancienzo.

Encore Une Fois

We ate here for a dinner at Inverness. Got to say even though we had to wait an hour for our reservation, it was worth it.

First the piano player / singer was amazing. Also the drinks were good (got a raspberry and lemon martini and an Aperol spritz).

For appetizer the pork belly was phenomenal. And for the main, got the cod (it had mussels, but safely ignored that). Would get everything again.