The King of Ladies Man

Rather unimpressed. Having booked to take my partner here for our anniversary (thinking it’d be a fun date), the ‘secret entrance’ was open to the world to see, with the curtains pulled back so everyone on the main road could see in, and it wasn’t much of a surprise. As the place was otherwise empty, there was the awkwardness of having two members of staff who essentially just watched us drink and eat, and while the cocktails were actually very good, the Mac ‘N’ Cheese was literally a bowl of fusilli with oil on and a meagre sprinkling of cheese.
I wouldn’t recommend it, and it made for such an awkward date that we finished our drinks/​food and left without staying longing than we had to.

Batchelor pad speakeasy. ha, ha!
This place rocks. Cheesy 70’s batchelor décor with a modern and stylish twist. My friends and I sipped on the old school drinks that were brought up-​to-​date and potent.
Slightly lacklustre entrance and actually is you go out and come back in then you will get a better impact. This place will look more ‘concealed’ during winter months and I fully intend on going back.
We also tried some of the bar food. I’m a die hard mac ‘n cheese fan and was a bit skeptical about the Chipolte prawn dish but it did work. Beware, the portion looks deceptively small but it is massively filling and tasty. My friend said the grilled cheese and kimchi was nice.
They also play some good oldies but goodies that helped get us in the mood for a great mid-​week session.
The King doesn’t take bookings on weekends and the size is good in here but not huge. We sat at the well table which, frankly has a terribly high partition so you will feel a bit cut off from some your friends opposite you.
Service is efficient and done with a smile.
This pad is groovy.

I haven’t been to too many speakeasies around London and starting to become a real fan as it gives you a different watering hole experience. I wouldn’t have heard about this place if it weren’t for Unilocal (Thanks Alex for organising!).
There’s a huge selection of cocktails — almost too spoiled for choice with some you probably won’t find elsewhere like the Thai Green curry one. They’re pretty good about helping you select something if you’re stuck or have trouble deciding — so service is generally really good.
Overall, it was a pretty cool and funky place. I’ve only been to a couple of speakeasies before and it did feel a little underwhelming that it wasn’t too hidden. Totally dig the idea and concept but suppose this falls more on just personal taste as I’d probably prefer to be in a rustic wine bar or modern cocktail bar. If you dig the theme and love stuff from the 70’s, this is a real find as there aren’t too many places like this around London.

A solid performer, despite the damp squib entry, as compared to what I was expecting!
Nearly a 4 star and and and… I would love to have given this place a 5 star review, but they fell down in places. Not in service nor quality of food and drinks, but in concept. You know, that same concept that made me brave the schlep of a journey across town to check it out here.
I would have loved it if they went to a little more effort in faithful reproduction of 70s disco era appointments around the place. As I said to my friends that I was there with, I felt like I was in the Café 80s from Back To The Future! Many aspects were correct, but many things were just «off».
There were many nice touches in the place, from the vintage Playboys behind the bar to the Ron de Jeremy rum that they served, to the flamingo wallpaper, to the vintage Athena posters in the men’s bathroom (you know that classic shot of the young tennis player touching her bare ass!).
What I did not like about this place were the modern touches that were included like exposed brick work in places (this definitely was not a 70s feature) to halogen lights that shone brightly down over the tables. Also, the music was good, but very rarely era-​appropriate! What’s the reasoning???
It was suggested that you have to «head through The Breakfast Club to the rear, find an old door to enter a 70s style launderette, that you then have to find a secret door to which you enter the bar from». However much to my disappointment, they had opened the patio doors of The King of Ladies man, so you did not need to enter in the secret method after all. This was a real anticlimax. Even, to the point that I was uncertain of whether I was even in the right place or not. After asking one of the bartenders if I WAS in the correct place, I ordered one of their happy hour drinks. Service here was very friendly from our friend Nabs with his Hawaiian shirt and disco era mustache. He produced some truly interesting drinks with flair and panache.
So then, I slid myself into one of the vinyl chairs and started the drinking. Later on in the evening they closed the patio door and drew a curtain over the window. This changed the ambiance to a huge degree! It really gave the place of the vibe that I was expecting.
We tried a few different drinks. My first one was a tasty, yet slightly small glass of a Vesper Martini, after which I followed up with another cocktail called a Mr Miyagi and then finished off with the superb Thai Green Colada. This was a Pina Colada-​based drink, however instead of being made from pineapple, there was red chili and green tea in the drink!
My friends ordered some food and were nice enough to share it with me. The pulled pork barbecue macaroni and cheese was far better tasting and so much more… moreish than I expected!
Overall, I really like the King of Ladies Man. The next time that I return, I would love for there to be the proper entrance way, because if they are relying on it to be a speakeasy type place, they are doing themselves a disservice in that you can just walk through a patio door on the main road! I would love to give this place the extra star (s) that it really deserves.

Throw on your satin robe, comb out your moustache, grab that smoking pipe. The King of Ladies Man is in town.
Ignoring the singular vs. plural inconsistencies in the name, I was very excited to hang out at the Ladies Man. I’d been a giant fan forever of Mayor of Scaredy Cat Town (The Breakfast Club’s other secret bar near Liverpool Street) and when I heard they were making a new one, I was all in, baby.
Both bars are located in secret portions of The Breakfast Club. Now, in MoST, you enter through a smeg fridge in the front of the room that leads to a secret cocktail bar. KoLM is similar… but different. You enter through a ‘70s era Laundromat tucked away in the back of the restaurant, which opens from a semi-​secret door-​panel in the wall (unlike the fridge, there is a giant EXIT sign about the door, so you do know it’s there.)
Or… we would have entered this way, but it was such a nice day, they actually had the front doors open and the curtains pulled back, turning it into just another bar that you could walk into off the street. Kind of killed the mystery of the place but the air and warmth was nice for sure.
However, by the time we left, the doors had been shut, the curtains closed and it really did feel like a sexy, skeevy, bachelor pad, complete with old Playboys above the bar, Flamingo wallpaper in the back room, bartenders in Hawaiian shirts and moustaches everywhere.
It’s the little touches that make this place amazing. The menu come in The King’s little black book, complete with space in the back to write fun messages to future patrons. And the menu is packed with amazing drinks with excellent names, like the Mr. Miyagi or The Big Blue One (ps. Do not get the Big Blue One.)
We tried a bunch of great things throughout the night. The Green Thai Colada was an excellent mix of Pina Colada and green tea and damn refreshing. The Aloha was tangy and wonderful (and came with a great star paten on top). In fact, the only thing we didn’t like was, again, The Big Blue One, a mix of gin, blue carasau and cider. Sounds interested, tasted like cleaning fluid. Yikes.
Luckily, the staff was nice enough and took it back and off the bill.
They also do a selection of American-​pub-​esqe food like gourmet mac & cheese and grilled cheese with tomato soup. We got the Shrimp and the BBQ mac & cheese and both were hot and tasty and deceptively large (since it comes packed into a smallish pot). The whole table shared both and barely finished it.
This place was excellent. They take reservations from Monday to Wednesday and have a happy hour that goes until 9 on the weekdays and a little earlier than that on the weekend (8 I believe he told us) where cocktails are just £5 each. Great deal from the Ladies Man.
I will return babies, you can count on it.