Hawksmoor Spitalfields Bar

I will keep this brief as I could go one for ages about this but I love this branch of Hawksmoor, specifically the downstairs bar as much as the main steak rooms they have, probably more to be honest.
It’s cosy, intimate, warm and very charming. The cocktails are great. Shaky Pete’s Ginger brew is amazing and pairs with a French dip short rib sandwich that you dip in the most awesome gravy boat. Get some Ox cheek nuggets and triple cooked chips if you are a greedy so and so like myself and it is one of my favourite guilty sin meals. It’s all so good! Go go go!!!

This cosy basement bar is located on commercial street with a very plain black shop front that you could wander straight past.
I’ve been once before on a weekday evening for cocktails and dessert where we were seated straightaway but surprisingly enough on our most recent visit at 8pm on a Friday evening for food there was a 30 minute wait. Unfortunately for 2 people you can’t pre book a table so when we turned up we were added to the waiting list. We would have gone to the bar to wait however it was very busy so we popped across the road where service was so slow we didn’t get a drink in the 30 minutes we were queueing. In the end we came back and got in line at the bar. Kindly the waiter seating people took our order and sorted us out — 2 nice beers from their delicious selection. Still no space to sit but only a further 10 minute wait.
We then got a nice corner seat. Other areas available are large booths for groups, tall table with bar stools and sofa seating.
With our beers in hand we took a seat and ordered very quickly as we had been looking at the menu beforehand. We ordered the ox cheek bites as a snack and the burger (with short rib), short rib sandwich and a side of poutine.
The ox cheek bites were deep fried with a centre of cheese and were just fab! As was the poutine (filthy — triple cooked chips, curd and rich gravy) and the short rib. The beef burger itself wasn’t bad but nothing special.
We were so so full but the pudding menu there is amazing (previously we have had the salted rolos and peanut butter shortbread (both delicious) so opted to share a sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream. So so good — even being so full I could have devoured it myself. All in all for ox cheek bites, poutine, burger, short rib sandwich, sticky toffee pud and 3 beers it came to £65 including tip — sorta pricey but sorta a good deal! It was on the bf anyway so I was happy!
A great way to experience Hawksmoor food, ambience and great service.
Definite recommend!

Went here for a friend’s stag do where all the gal pals were also invited. We managed to secure a pretty huge table in one of the «caves» with the help of the friendly bar staff. The «pig’s head poutine» was pretty excellent, though I’m not sure I want to know what was really in it. Dimly lit and good nighttime haunt near Spitalfields and Shoreditch High St.

Cosy cocktail bar in the basement with lots of little nooks and crannies to snuggle up in with a loved one. Good bar snacks (beef sliders, Canadian poutine, salted caramel shortbread pudding…).
Excellent cocktails but not cheap… Really recommend the marmalade cocktail — it’s not on the menu but an old favourite they’ve been making for years and will continue for sure… My favourite cocktail in London (out of hundreds tried so far!!!)
Banana nuclear daiquiri is worth a try but watch out — it’s made with absinthe… :)

Our waiter (Richard) comes over with some water and we get chatting about the menu and cocktails. We’re essentially told that everything’s amazing but for different reasons so we dive in and order cocktails and food all at once. I had a Full Fat Old Fashioned Butter-​infused Bourbon and Sugar (£12.00). Pretty unusual but tasty drink, I could definitely taste the butter! Antonia had a Green & Red Margarita Tequila, Lime, Lemon & Agave Syrup (£7.50) which was nice and punchy.
Food wise we shared a Chilli Cheese Dog (£10), a Shortrib French Dip (£12), a portion of Triple Cooked Chips (£4) and some Jalapeño Coleslaw (£3.50). The ‘dog’ part of the chilli cheese dog was pretty generous and had a nice smoked flavour while still being juicy, thanks to the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ pork and beef split but I did think there was a lack of chilli on it. The shortrib french dip came in a long roll with a small jug of indulgently rich bone marrow gravy to dip it in. Delicious rib meat covered in cheese, in a bun, with gravy? Awesome. I didn’t think the triple cooked chips were any better than chips that had only had the pleasure of being cooked once but they were perfectly good none the less. The coleslaw was good but I couldn’t detect any jalapeño in it at all, maybe they’re playing it a bit too safe with that one.
Then came the eternal battle of dessert vs another starter? This time, another starter won and we went for the Shortrib Nuggets (£7) which were AMAZING! The same shortrib meat from the french dip, formed in to generous size nuggets, with a bit of cheese in the middle, breadcrumbed and deep fried… We could’ve eaten a thousand of them. We had another round of cocktails as well, Antonia had another margarita and I tried Shaky Pete’s Ginger Brew (£9.50) which is Gin, Ginger, Lemon & London Pride. Lovely drink with the beer and lemon making it smooth and zesty at the same time.

Pleasant place to lunch and and to meet friends. Not especially for children.
Good burgers and chips (fries) as well as a hearty rib eye sandwich with lite of tasty salad made with a light lemony dressing.
Beer selection low, but all of good quality.
Don’t expect oriental rugs, the wooden floors are barren. Tables in connected rows except for a few 2 – 4 seaters. Walls are painted black and white. Restrooms are downstairs.
Waitstaff is good.
Have a beer and a burger and you’ll be happy.

I recently left a review for the excellent, but pricey, upstairs steakhouse.
Now, this downstairs bar… so cool! Other than the overlapping of some cocktails and those chips… oh, those chips (have I mentioned the chips?), the downstairs is completely different than the above restaurant… a bit on the cheaper side, but smaller dishes and still perhaps pricy depending on your take on it… it doesn’t help that I have to order about 12 cocktails every time I’m down there, but alas… it is what it is.
It may be worth noting that you can’t order the amazing steaks downstairs, the upstairs menu is genuinely upstairs only, so if you need a steak that’s where you’ll need to book. That said, I’ve happily eaten downstairs many a time (Kimchi Burger, NOM!) and unless I need to have a steak I actually prefer the downstairs since it’s a more relaxed atmosphere… the food is still quite good without being anything near typical bar fare, truth be told I’m craving it now actually!
Along with the Shaky Pete’s, mentioned in my upstairs review, they do some spectacular bowls… they’re meant to be shared, but you can manage one solo if you’re up for it… the good news is that these are actually nice, and nice looking, bowls of drink… not your typical bowl or pitcher affair. (Small red berries and floating half cut fruit adorned with burning sugar, as in on fire, make it into one of my favourites… sadly I can’t describe the fruit better than that, I’m not a grocer, but it looks awesome and certainly not frozen fruit thrown into a cocktail pitcher.)
They also do an amazing Nuclear Banana Daiquiri, assuming bananas don’t gross you out… it’s especially fun for milk allergists as it tastes so rich and creamy, but is actually milk free… it’s a dessert and a drink in one, without the lactose punch that most dessert drinks carry.
The drink prices can be a bit high, but not if you’re used to drinking creative cocktails in this area… £10 is the norm so I can’t really dock it for that, and at least their drinks are tasty and creative.
The downstairs also has a fascinating architecture and look to it… sadly I can’t remember the story behind it, the bowl drink took that memory from me, but it was something like a brothel, strip joint, etc., and once you’re told the story you can picture it… one of the coolest looking bars I’ve been to, and a joy to know it’s quirky look is mostly original… think old mirrors everywhere, jade green tiles, gold trim, and a few booths set into the walls of a dimly lit basement and you’ll get the idea. (Although I’m not doing it justice with that description.)
The at seat service is just what you would want, a middle ground between personal and attentive.
As with the upstairs booking is recommended for the downstairs bar, but perhaps not as essential… it’s pretty small however, so it’s worth checking before heading out.

The amenity was
smart and enthusiastic, specially to serve up there knowledge of the cuts of
meat.Bartenders here were super friendly and charming who knew cocktail creating
which was so irrationally entertaining. The
service was certainly good and I like the ambiance. I’ll have to come
back here again. Undeniably love the place. Nice atmosphere, lovely staff,
and most of all, gorgeous food. .All in all it is the best steak house in town.

The bar at Hawksmoor Spitalfields is NOT the same as the restaurant upstairs and they are making a huge effort to ensure you know it. You cannot get steaks down here! Got it?
Well, it turns out that over the past year or so, people didn’t get it so with a relaunch of the menu, a separate entrance, another 50% off food offer (until the end of June) and 45 000 emails they’re hoping people get the message and appreciate this place for what it is and not gripe about what it’s not.
To be honest, I’ve been a regular visitor to the bar since it opened (and although I tried to create a separate business listing it was somehow deleted). The cocktails are great and they have some fantastic food on the menu.
The new menu has replaced the shortrib French dip with an Ox Cheek French dip. Basically the same but the meat is better. The nuggets of glory now also contain Ox cheek along with a kimchee dip. The pulled pork bun was completely new and delicious. A few other items have been added or tweaked but a lot of the old favourites are still there although the beef or chicken poutines have now been replaced with pig’s head poutine (which I actually preferred finding the originals tasty but a bit too much after a while).
If you feel like taking advantage of their 50% food offer then it runs until the end of June and it’s no reservations. We got there at 5:30pm as it opens and easily got a table on a Monday. By 6:15pm there was a 2 hour wait although those waiting were at the bar and not in the street.

It was an evening of cocktails and burgers this Saturday as we jumped on the East London line and headed to the newly opened Hawksmoor Spitalfields Bar. Situated in the basement, underneath the restaurant proper, the bar has its own unique vibe and feels like a destination in itself rather than just an add on to the main room. The furnishings are retro chic with lovely copper wall panels fashioned from elevator doors and lots of reclaimed furnishing from the nearby Unilever building. The lighting is very effective, quite important in a windowless basement, and the old ships lights help create a warm comfortable atmosphere. Reclaimed mirrors, beautiful old tiles and a wooden flooring all make for a very stylish bar that is sexy but grown up. This is very much the older sibling to the new wave of London burger joints. There are three or four cosy looking banquettes under the arches which would be great for a big party (they would probably seat 10 folk who got on well together). We were dining as a couple so we had a nice high table which came with old school swivel chairs a little bit of climb to get into if you are on the short side and potentially dangerous to get out of after a few cocktails. Despite being the first night the soft launch, when they get things rolling and problems ironed out before the official opening next Saturday, this seemed like a very well-​oiled machine already. Our waitress, Ashleigh, was welcoming, friendly and very helpful throughout the evening. Food and drink menus arrived quickly along with tap water which was provided without asking. The cocktail list is a cut down version of what you will find in the Hawksmoor restaurants, which is no bad thing as it makes ordering a little bit less of an ordeal for those of us who tend to swither about. I started with a Morning Glory while B ordered according to her nature and went for a Puritan. Both were excellent drinks, well made and nicely balanced. The food menu is short and majors on burgers, dogs and classic bar snacks just what it says on the tin really. We started by sharing a portion of the Tamworth Laab which was a real winner; spicy, garlicky, full of flavour pork mince which you wrap in lettuce (little gem?) and eat by hand. Very tasty indeed. It was then onto the mains, a cheeseburger for me and the chicken burger for B. On the side we both had a portion of the sublime triple cooked chips which brings the bill to £12.50 for your burger and fries. My burger was a well charred pattie which had been cooked medium rare and came nested in a tasty brioche bun. As lovely as it was the cheeseburger couldn’t hold a candle to the chicken burger which was undoubtedly the star of the evening; a moist fillet cooked in a delicately flavoured crumb coating this bad boy came with parmesan sprinkled crispy streaky bacon and was crowned with a perfectly cooked fried egg. Food envy was my order of the day! If you don’t fancy wine with your food there is a decent choice of beer. I had a fine bottle from London’s best brewery; the Kernel IPA and B had another local brew; the Meantime lager. The dessert menu looked very appealing with modern twists on classic old school puddings. Despite being stuffed we shared a peanut butter shortbread with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream (this flavour seems to be on the menu of every restaurant we have been to this year). Soft with a bit of crunch this was comfort food straight from the nursery of your dreams. After another drink or two, including the very highly recommended Marmalade Cocktail and a less successful Margherita, the nearby Night Jar and the promise of a little late night jazz beckoned. We liked this new addition to the Hawksmoor empire a lot. It has all you need to start a night on the town: nice vibe, decent crowd, good tunes, tasty snackage and some drinks that pack a punch. What’s more, and unlike many of the new breed, you can book a table in advance and avoid spending a good part of your evening standing in line on the pavement outside.