Ruby’s

2 Reviews on “Ruby’s”

• Gingle Lists Everything

  I often say to my friends, when I go to a new cocktail bar, I rarely have the same cocktail twice – I want to try as many different ones as possible, and invariably whoever I’m with tries different ones to me as well so we try a full range. So it says something about how much I liked the chilli apple martini that, once I’d had it for my first ’round’ I decided to end with it too. And so did my boyfriend.If Ruby’s was a piece of furniture, it would be described as ‘distressed’. But you get the feeling that, unlike with designer furniture, no process or procedure has been applied to Ruby’s to create this look – this is just how it is. There’s attention to detail (take a trip to the bathroom to see that no space has been left forgotten) but there’s no pretension to the place.I see Ruby’s described frequently as East London’s best secret and worried that this wasn’t so. We went at about 9:30 on a Thursday night and my fear was that it would be packed (you couldn’t make bookings after nine). We could hear a little hubbub as we went down the stairs but – hallelujah – there were plenty of tables free. It got busier as the night wore on but it was by no means heaving. It had enough people to create an atmosphere but few enough that the waitress wasn’t overwhelmed and came back at about the right frequency to get us drinks when we wanted them.We ended up having three drinks apiece in there before closing time. They’re very reasonably priced for a cocktail bar. Mostly around 9. Like I said, I had the chilli apple martini to start, which was garnished with a chilli on the side. Just hanging there I couldn’t resist but to take a bite – I figured they wouldn’t use a chilli TOO hot for a garnish. I was wrong. One tiny bite from the end was all I could really take, though I did use it to stir my martini which imparted some extra heat.It was such a good creation – you could definitely taste the vanilla which of course gave the cocktail a sweet flavour but the bite of the chilli tempered this so that it didn’t feel like a ‘dessert’ cocktail. And the apple taste was the main flavour.Stephen had a morello julep because he likes cherries so much, but as with most juleps it mostly tasted of alcohol with the cherry flavour just lending it enough sweetness to take off the roughness of the bourbon. The pepper sprinkled on top was a nice touch when you got some of the ice on which it had settled.I think I had the apricot cooler for my second drink, and it was nice but I can’t remember much about it. This isn’t to say this was a bad drink, I know it wasn’t – I would have remembered it vividly if it had been, but it was eclipsed by, you guessed it, that martini. Stephen had the rhubarb sour which sort of suffered the same fate.The cocktail list is relatively short, which I liked as it made choosing much easier. I can see myself making a beeline for this place in the cold winter nights, to bask in its cosy dim where I can happily work my way through the cocktail list developing a ‘beer coat’ especially in the winter when its cosy intimate aura will be like a warm blanket. jaminaward.wixsite.com

  March 25, 2015, 9:11 pm

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• Becks Dobson

  Ruby’s is a drinking den like no other. Tucked away down some rickety stairs beneath an ever-changing old school cinema sign (the night I went it read ‘Don’t grow up, it’s a trap), it’s like going back in time. Peeling wallpaper, mismatched wooden furniture, classic cardboard coasters, you feel like you’ve stumbled into someone’s living room or their opium den. And that’s the point.The barmen here are probably the friendliest I’ve met in London. With the inexplicable inability to guess my perfume and a promise of great drinks, these guys really make you feel at home. We started with a Blackberry Mojito – rum, chambord and mint, all muddled with fresh blackberries and served in milk bottles. Now I’m a big mojito fiend and raspberry ones usually get my vote but this one with the tangier fruit completely won me over. I’m sold.I’s French so we got talking about Paris and the absinthe soaked streets of Montmartre. Feeling a little bit naughty for a weekday, we asked the barmen if they could knock us something up with a little of the Green Fairy for good measure. So along came the Corpse Reviver. Absinthe, gin, Lillet Blanc, Cointreau and lemon juice combine to make one frosted little freak of a drink. Naturally, we loved it and were conjuring up images of tilting with Toulouse-Lautrec and friends in a world inspired by Moulin Rouge!Ruby’s is a perfect little place for a cocktail or three whatever night of the week. I’m just gutted I haven’t been sooner. And the fact that the music they play is so on point it hurts (anywhere that plays Prince is a winner in my books) makes this place pretty damn special. What’s even better is that they’ve just taken over my local The Cat And Mutton on Broadway Market so I’m super excited about a five minute walk to get my freaky fix. This cool cat gets a five out of five from me. thenotsosecretdiary.com

  February 7, 2015, 8:27 pm

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