46 & Mercy

The best part about traveling in a foreign country where you have local friends is when your local pals take you to awesome hidden spots away from the tourist traps. On my recent trip to London I was lucky to be able to visit 46 & Mercy so soon after opening their doors (I mean it still had/​has new bar smell — similar to new car smell, except far better).
While hidden from the main street view, the sign is clean once you locate the Hotbox restaurant above. Once downstairs, you’ll notice that the design is super eclectic, it made me think of a space decorated by Andy Warhol or the like. Filled with a great mix of larger communal table and low to the ground comfy loungers perfect for all sorts of evenings.
Drinks were exceptional, I had a Stormy Monday as well as some Tiki drink and both were home runs. The food on the other hand was OK, not necessarily fine dining but not terrible either. My thinking is that they’re trying to go for that tapas vibe but offer too few options in far too small a size, OK for snacking but we had to order 3 – 4 options between two of us just to have something to share.
That said, this is a cocktail bar and a damn good one, so come for a cocktail, or two… or six, and then go upstairs to Hotbox if you’re really feeling a proper feed.
Until next time…
Eatcrest Out

So I love Hotbox. Love it. It’s one of the best, if not the best BBQ spots, in all of London. And so when I learned they were opening a cocktail bar underneath, I was excited. Oooh, yes, bbq and cocktails!
And it is good. It’s very dark space, lit by little lighting and candles, which only makes the artwork on the walls, which is strange and wonderful, feel more strange and wonderful. And they have a great cocktail book of cocktails, with stories and unique takes on drinks (love the Stormy Monday, which is like a Dark and Stormy but more delicious and comes with a little bottle of ginger beer so you can make it as gingery as you’d like.)
My one complaints, really, is the food — shocking, I know. But for having one of my favourite menus in London, the bar beneath has a very small selection of the great things they do and none of them wowed me. We got the Asian Wings, which were kind of cold and over sauced and the sweet potato fries which were soggy. Yikes! Only the mac and cheese balls were reminiscent of the amazing food they do above.
I’m still giving it four stars because it’s a cool space that wasn’t so crowded (yet) on a Saturday night and the cocktails are great. But I know you can do better food, I’ve literally been telling everyone I meet to get to HotBox for their ribs. Up your food 46 & Mercy and you’ll earn that five stars for sure!