New Bar Review: The Shoreditch Butchery

M@
By M@ Last edited 136 months ago
New Bar Review: The Shoreditch Butchery
Sliders galore.
Sliders galore.
That food and drink menu in all its minimalist glory.
That food and drink menu in all its minimalist glory.
A Tequila Boozy and Badman Juice.
A Tequila Boozy and Badman Juice.
shoreditchbutchery.jpg

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to wander around Shoreditch or Soho and find a bar, restaurant, cafe or popup that doesn't offer posh burgers, hot dogs or sliders (mini burgers on sticks). They're all at it. And here's another: Shoreditch Butchery, recently opened above XOYO on Cowper Street.

It's your fairly standard low-lit drinking den, with sham-shabby walls, bouncers on the door and objets d'random scattered diversely. Drinks come on a minimal-list. Three reds, three whites, three cocktails. The latter were a reasonable £7.50, although the quality is also best described as reasonable. As the name implies, Shoredtich Butchery is as much about the food as the drink, and almost every table was tucking into small plates of small grub. The menu photographed above gives you the full (again minimalist) selection.

Given that the bar is right next to the Silicon Roundabout, and the clientele are partly drawn from tech and media firms, it seemed appropriate to crowdsource the rest of this review. So here are the opinions of 14 other people in our rather sizeable group that night.

Drinks

  • Even though they only advertise three cocktails on the menu, they're pretty good at rustling up a Mojito if you fancy something a bit more traditional!
  • I'd say 'Pot Luck' on the cocktails — which version of the same drink, and how strong will they make it this time!
  • I ordered the same cocktail three times and it looked and tasted different each time. Nonetheless, I found every avatar to be equally delicious.
  • They could use a bigger drink selection - I only had one option of white wine as they had run out. A little more knowledge about their wine would have been nice too (i.e. where it was from, etc).
  • Too cool (and maybe too stubborn) to serve wine in glasses (we used tumblers instead) but despite this it's a really fun place.
  • I like white wine out of tumblers.
  • The cocktails were questionable.
  • Potent cocktails, mini burgers and funky decor.
  • The Badman Juice was just bad, man. The Vodka-Something Girly was lightweight. Tequila Boozy was among my favourite cocktails anywhere, though.

Food

  • The food menu looked appealing though their sliders only scored 5/10 from me; I’d have liked to try the chilli hotdogs.
  • The staff were friendly and mini burgers are always a good thing!

Décor and atmosphere

  • The décor in the Butchery is certainly distinctive – funky industrial with a voodoo edge, I’d call it, with fairly comfy (if slightly cramped) booth seats. Surprisingly atmospheric venue for early evening drinks. 8/10
  • Loved the great wooden sculpture artwork behind the bar. The dark lighting and decor also set a nice atmosphere. They could use a bigger drink selection - I only had one option of white wine as they had run out. A little more knowledge about their wine would have been nice too (i.e. where it was from, etc).
  • A touch of New-York-underground in a handy location right by the tube.
  • Really good vibe, loved the masks on the wall, they made me feel part of a great tribe :)
  • Dedicated smoking area, which is a rarity these days, and made a happy change to puffing away out on a street. It had some interesting graffiti too.
  • It made me feel a bit old — more style than character.
  • Bloody difficult to photograph.

The Shoreditch Butchery is at 32-37 Cowper Street, EC2A 4AP. It's open from 5pm until very late Monday to Friday.

Last Updated 08 November 2012