I’m not sure if the backdrop of the hotel bar in Lost in Translation looks like an enormous picture of a sperm because we only ever really see Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson from the perspective of a bartender, but the one in Waltz does. The painting is part-mottled white dreamscape, part-biology textbook, and appears on a background of moody night-time blue.
Why the Lost in Translation reference? Waltz is run by the talented Tokyo-born mixologist Gento Torigata, possibly best known for his work at the highly rated Kwãnt. He named the bar after Bill Evans’ jazz piece Waltz for Debby, though Oasis is on when I visit.
The cocktails (Elliot Wagland)
It isn’t only the Japanese link. Save for a table to one side and small space for standing, Waltz is taken up almost entirely by a long wooden bar, while the walls separating street from the room are mostly glass. These are cordoned off by heavy hanging curtains; the lighting is atmospheric and low. And so the vibe is hotel-like: enchanting when busy and probably depressing when not. The sort of place you end up having landed somewhere on the East Coast of the US before parking yourself at the far end, ordering an Old Fashioned that is too sweet and a club sandwich that blows your socks off. The only question is whether you can finish it before the large man from Virginia asks you where you’re from.
Waltz is full on Wednesday night, mostly a tourist crowd. The sign outside is small and the place is easily missed — not a speakeasy, not contrived, more somewhere you happily stumble upon by mistake while on holiday. After dinner at the excellent Duchy nearby (get the crab spaghetti) I visit for a nightcap and pretend I’m in the aforementioned Coppola flick, muddling through a couple of Japanese whiskies for my own Suntory time of sorts. The staff are superb. The mood is soothing. Somewhere to go before karaoke, I’d say, amid a strange rendezvous.
28 Scrutton Street, EC2A 4RP, waltzbar.uk
Bar snacksThe Hawthorn
434 Uxbridge Road, W12, thehawthornpub.com
The growing pub group behind country pubs such as the Fox Inn in the Cotswolds at the Bell Inn, Langford, has quietly taken on its first London premises. Publicans Peter Creed and Tom Noest now operate The Hawthorn near Shepherd’s Bush, bringing a food menu of devilled kidneys on toast, fish fried in beef dripping, sausage and mash and chicken and chips. A pub group to watch out for with well-priced house wines and an always decent beer selection.
Cloth
44 Cloth Fair, EC1, clothrestaurants.com
The wine bar and restaurant is among London’s best right now, a measured, considered place with impeccable service and an ever-enlivening menu. No wonder there are rumours swirling of a second venue, whatever that might be. For now, it’s just chatter, so information remains a little sparse, but anyone invested in the capital’s hospitality game will likely be keen to see a second space, whether bar or bistro.
AloJapan.com