Bar of the week: Why Three Sheets is a little slice of old Soho
Three Sheets Soho | 13 Manette St, W1D 4AP
This new column celebrates the great drinking holes of London, the pubs and bars that keep the capital lubricated despite the government’s best attempts to send them crashing out of business.
Last week I profiled The rising Sun, the Victorian gin palace that claimed our Best Boozer award. This week I popped into Three Sheets in Soho, which is the exact opposite of that. I’ve long been a fan of Three Sheets, having spent many an ill-advised evening in the Dalston original. Some of them I can even remember.
Where is Three Sheets Soho?
It’s located down that alleyway a minute or so from Tottenham Court Road and Soho Square. As you approach, people sway merrily under the archway that separates Charing Cross Road and Greek Street. Victorian tiles frame the entrance, a rare nod to history in a thoroughly modern cocktail bar.
What’s the vibe?
I visited on a Friday evening but it has a buzzy energy whenever you go. Three Sheets is one of London’s top cocktail bars and booking in advance is almost obligatory. Here handsome people sit at the handsome marble bar and drink handsome cocktails. Our excellent, handsome bartender was called Cameron and he introduced a mercifully slight menu that combines interesting spins on classics and in-house creations.
What should I order from the Three Sheets menu?
I start proceedings with a ’bramble’ featuring blackberry, framboise, gin, grape and beetroot. It arrives as a clear liquid in which bobs a giant cube of ice, atop which is a little pool of vivid purple liquid. It tastes like an orchard on a summer’s afternoon, like a walk in the woods, like basking beside a river. It goes down real nice.
Next I make a slight misstep with a frankly mad take on a whisky soda called a whisky soda 2.0. Made from tonka, mallow root, clear milk (milk that’s been curdled using acid then strained through cheesecloth), whisky and… soda, it’s too sweet for my taste, like those cans of ice cream soda you used to get as a kid but are probably illegal now because of the sugar content. Still, interesting.
I rounded off the evening with an absolutely filthy olive martini, as well mixed as any I’ve had and the perfect way to send you stumbling out into Soho with a pleasant glow to your cheeks. Three Sheets is the real deal – get yourself booked in immediately.
• To book go to the website here