Crosby Street Bar, New York, falls under the umbrella of the Firmdale Hotel Group and is located in Soho. Being part of the Firmdale Group, our expectations were high, and I’m pleased to say that we were not disappointed. The impressive exterior and friendly staff are encouragingly consistent with the brand, and our experience was faultless.
The unique concept of the bar means there is no divides between bar and restaurant, making for a more informal and fluid experience. It also means that food is available wherever and whenever you’d like it (within the parameters of the bar and it’s opening times, of course!). The eclectic menu caters for all, from breakfast through to lunch and dinner, and their drinks and cocktail list are simply inspired.
“The cocktails were to die for…”
When we arrived, we thought we would start with some cocktails… We were very impressed with the novel idea of some of the Crosby Street Bar’s cocktails being the signature cocktails from other Firmdale venues. We decided these were the ones we would try.
Firstly, we went for the Covent Garden Hotel cocktail, the Passion and Ginger Caipirinha – a blend of Cabana Cachaça muddled with ginger, fresh passion fruit and lime; and the Charlotte Street Hotel cocktail, the Lady Charlotte – a delicious mix of Bombay sapphire gin, maraschino liqueur, egg white and apricot puree - their take on a White Lady cocktail!
So as not to leave the others out, we also sampled the Soho Hotel cocktail, the Soho Sensation – an expert blend of Fintanda vodka, raspberries and passionfruit with Passoa and raspberry liqueur; and the Haymarket Hotel Rasberry Lychee Bellini – their take on the classic with lychee liqueur, raspberry nectar, fresh lychee and raspberry topped with Champagne.
The cocktails were to die for, and I would return just for another taste of the Charlotte Street!
After the cocktails, it was time for dinner, and we couldn’t wait to sample the food. To start with, we went for the beet salad with herbed goat's cheese, Swiss chard and pumpkin seed vinaigrette; and the salad of shrimp, fennel, pickled garlic, raisins, roasted peppers and white beans.
For our mains we then opted for the veal schnitzel with tomato grebiche, and the rib eye steak with maître d'hôtel butter. On the side, we had sweet potato mash and Brussels sprouts with bacon and sliced apple.
Finally, for dessert we had the pot de crème with fresh raspberries and lemon thyme and the strawberry and rhubarb crumble with pistachio-rosemary streusel and buttermilk sorbet.
The food was beautiful, as was the atmosphere. This is a great find and we would thoroughly recommend you check it out when in New York, even just for a cocktail. We will certainly be back.
The Bill: £62 per head
