Review: Bowie Themed Bar Ziggy's Could Do With Some Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Ziggy's ★★★☆☆

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 65 months ago
Review: Bowie Themed Bar Ziggy's Could Do With Some Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes Ziggy's 3

We'll be honest. If David Bowie had thrown a star-studded 'Last Supper' jamboree for his alter ego Ziggy Stardust at our hotel, we'd cash-in on it too. It's just that Ziggy's at Cafe Royal lacks the fizzing imagination, the ineffable creativity that the Starman himself had in cosmic spades.

Don't get us wrong: the cocktails — supposed to be twists on Bowie's favourite drinks — are competent. Favourite Melodies is an earthy riff on the Manhattan; the Tiger on Vaseline takes roasted pineapple, cachaca and white chocolate foam, turning it into something we'd actually drink again. Were this a run of the mill cocktail joint, you might go away singing its praises. But flogging the Bowie brand deserves more.

He, of course, ripped up the rulebook on a near-weekly basis and was — dare we say it — unafraid to be trashy. That's what this bar needs. Toss in a space-age sparkler here. A line of 'sherbet' coke there. Have a drink called Tin Machine, that's bloody awful. Whiz up a cocktail from Beaujolais nouveau called All the Young Booze (that last idea is terrible, but still, we're thinking).

Framed Bowie prints aside, Ziggy's lacks the Thin White Duke's creative zing, not to mention the hedonistic overtones of the blowout it's meant to celebrate (well, aside from the bloke who's cut his thumb on some champagne foil). It's a decent enough bolt hole for those seeking solace from the Regent Street shops. But if this is to become a place of Bowie pilgrimage, they need to make some ch-ch-ch-changes.

Ziggy's at Cafe Royal, Regent Street, open daily

Last Updated 26 October 2018

Continued below.