Galante

This is Gaucho’s attempt at a posh Brompton Cross bar — and it works.
Great cocktails, excellent service and you can even drink the fantastic wines from next door.
Highly recommended

Galante is a super-​swanky bar in Kensington. A dimly-​lit interior, with the bar at the centre manned by male bar staff in white DJs. Customers sit on leather booths or bar stools, served by female waitresses in glamorous dresses.
I was there with Andrew M, Erica U and Dza D. First up were the cocktails, in my case, the signature ‘Galante’. I’m generally a cocktail-​sceptic: too often they appear to be little more than labour-​intensive, watery additions to a glassful of ice. But the ‘Galante’ served here was so much better than that: a super-​strong mixture of various liqueurs, a cherry at the bottom of the glass and no ice in sight. Had I drunk that all night, I would have been a happy man.
But as a Unilocaler I thought it my duty to try their other stuff too. So, feeling lucky, I opted for their random mix of the day: ‘Canta’ (Spanish for ‘chance’). And quickly discovered that I should have listened to Clint’s monologue about the Magnum being the most powerful gun in the world, for ‘Canta’ proved to be exactly the kind of cocktail I dislike: hardly any alcohol, some fruit juice, and a whole lot of ice. To their credit, the staff took it off the bill and replaced it with some Argentinian beer instead. A welcome gesture, but unfortunately the beer wasn’t great, rivalling US Budweiser for depth.
In and amongst the cocktails and beer I also tried some of their Argentinian wine. I loved the huge glasses they came in, but I didn’t think the wine was spectacular, certainly not for the £8.50 charged per glass.
But I wasn’t done there. An ill-​conceived game against Erica (that stuff about alcohol affecting your decision-​making? It’s true) of ‘Spot the American’ in the crowd of women in the neighbouring booth with double Tequila shot stakes resulted in, well, us all trying their Tequila. Perhaps for the better, because it showed their Tequila to be pretty good.
Overall, okay. Great service, swanky interior and some good drinks (their ‘Galante’, the Tequila) off-​set by some not-​so-​much ones (their beer, the ‘Canta’ cocktails) and the high price of everything (most cocktails were around the £12 mark, wine was £8.50 a glass).

Posh doesn’t even begin to describe the visual image of Bar Galante. Having organised drinks here on Friday, I failed to dig in a bit (or use any sort of common sense) as to what an appropriate dress code would be. So naturally, being Friday and all, I rocked up in jeans, polo, and cycling gear.
Wow was I out of place. I’ve got to describe how it looks to put this in perspective. This is the epitome of glamorous (despite the door to Gaucho) with black, white, and silver being the colours of choice. The bar is the centrepiece with tables and booths scattered around. The hostess is delicately attired in a slim black dress, the waitresses in skin tone shifts that hug their shapely curves and show off long legs, and the immaculately coiffed (never thought I’d use that word) bartenders are dressed to kill in white dinner jackets. If I was wearing my tux I would just about be on par.
That being said, I’ve got to give credit to the warm personalities of both the hostess and waitresses. They didn’t have that puffed up sense of importance you all too often find in such places and really made us feel comfortable and welcome. Our waitress was very knowledgeable about the different cocktails and ingredients (some of which I’ve never heard of) and patiently answered our questions. She even recommended drinks when requested and her choices were fantastic. I had an old fashioned style drink which was sweet and smoky in just the right ways and something that was a tropical version of a Moscow mule.
They have a selection of food although be warned that these aren’t meant to be a replacement for dinner but merely to take the edge off your hunger. I suppose that makes sense since Gaucho is attached and most people likely come for pre– and post-​dinner drinks. However, the seafood ceviche was most excellent and the trio of mini-​burgers was well received by my friends who polished them off in a heartbeat.
It’s ridiculously quiet in part due to the design and part due to the fact it’s rarely more than half full. This makes it great for catching up with friends but also discourages people watching. I didn’t realise Erica U was in the booth next to me until Peter S showed up and pointed it out to both of us!
It’s a bit of an expensive place with cocktails running from £10−14 and food being about £7 per dish. I think two drinks and the ceviche took me to around £35−40 so definitely not a place to spend the whole night unless you are feeling proper flush. Still, if I’m in the area and just meeting up for a drink, I’d definitely keep this in mind! Provided I had my tux on of course…

I went with a couple Unilocalers and pretty much stayed til they closed… Next day was ROUGH! You know who you are DZA and Peter S. I was surrounded by the two tallest men in town. Pretty funny to see the waitresses reactions when we all stood up.
So lets go over what we had to drink shall we…
Quilmes — Its a nostalgic beer for me because I’m argentine and It reminds me of home away from home. But its an Aight sorta beer… meh at best. BUT the Quilmes BOCK which I haven’t been able to find here or in the US is pretty good.
The Chiche was good, not too sweet and included a nice garnish.
I had El Viejo which translates in to the old man. Quite fitting to the drink and it was a super delicious version of a manhatten/​old fashioned with a touch of Orange. Once the drink became watered down the orange essence became more present, nice ending to a lovely drink.
Then we moved onto Wine… great wine selection and I couldn’t make up my mind so the waitress was kind enough to give me a bit of lengthy time consuming wine tasting without being unkind about my indecisiveness.
The staff reacted perfectly when I asked them to take a drink off of our bill because we were not happy with what seemed like a weak and bland drink. Forgot what it was now.
Overall, expensive, but fun.

The drinks were alright, nothing to write home about. We tried a few of their signature cocktails and their version of the old fashioned. Prices range about 10 pounds a drink. It’s def. not a bad place to have a few drinks to kickstart a night or to take a date — its not too loud but there will be a wait for a table on Fridays and Saturdays. Service was pretty quick and friendly.