TwoRuba (Bar)

Top 10 things to know about TwoRuba bar:

1) Christmas dinner is the centrepiece of Christmas Day. The day builds to it, you mentally prepare for it and I know in my house that means that breakfast takes a back seat as we run around trying to work out what time we need to put the turkey in the oven if it’s going to be cooked by lunchtime and not end the day with us poisoning various family members.

2) Unfortunately I often feel that hotel bars have the same issue of being an afterthought to the main event and TwoRuba, which is the bar in the London Bridge Hilton, didn’t manage to change my mind.

3) The furniture was stylish but extremely uncomfortable. My friend and I were taken to giant armchairs which were so large that unless we perched on the edge, we were unable to see anyone unless they were directly in front of us, and I want comfort over style while I guzzle food and drink.

4) The waiting staff were just the right level of attentive, but not pushy, letting us take our time over drinks ordering, as my companion and I gossiped rather than focused on the drinks menu.

5) The food, which was small sharing plates, was a disappointment. It felt like a Marks and Spencer party pack that had been bunged in the oven and I expected better from a menu that included sharing plates of pulled pork sliders and fish tacos.

6) The drinks on the other hand, were good, I particularly recommend The Gentleman, which is delicious if, like me, you don’t like your cocktails too sweet. The drinks are not cheap, though, with the champagne cocktails coming in at a bubbly £14.50.

7) The other punters looked like an after work crowd, or maybe those staying at the hotel, but there weren’t enough people for a buzzy afterwork vibe.

8) And in a move that I found rather unusual for a weekday night at 8pm, there was a DJ spinning some tracks.

9) I was ready to have my hotel bar prejudices blown away by amazing food, drink and atmosphere. I was ready for Christmas breakfast to be the surprise winner of the day but TwoRuba didn’t make it for me.

10) I still have faith though, a proper atmospheric hotel bar must be out there and even if I have to drink my way through hundreds of them, I’ll find it....read more