Inside Soho’s Coolest New Cocktail Bar: Under The Counter

When your first restaurant quickly becomes one of the most talked about in a city, opening up a second comes with a whole lot of expectation – and even more risk. But risk it chef Kemal Demirasal has. Following the success of The Counter in Notting Hill, which opened in 2022, the Turkish chef has gone central with the launch of a Soho follow up.

Rather than an identical cut-and-paste approach, though, Demirasal has ventured into new territory with the launch of his second London restaurant with the addition a sexy, subterranean cocktail and listening bar tucked away beneath the main Kingly Street dining room.

Aptly named Under The Counter, the 30-seater bar was brought to life by Turkish design firm Mia Architecture and Tuğcu Design, who worked to create a sound-focused space that envelops each guest. Running along one wall, the bar doubles up as a DJ station, with a Michell Gyrodec turntable, a Michell TecnoArm and a Technics 1210 turntable dotted among the bottles.

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Double-stacked drinks shelves and disheveled stacks of vinyls give the impression of being in your coolest friend’s swanky living room rather than a central London bar. I’ll bet everything is curated to within an inch of its life, but the result is impressively effortless.

An eclectic playlist thumps out daily, but come evening the soundtrack will mellow into Jazz and R&B – if you see an album you like among the piles, I’m sure the obliging team will give it a spin if you ask nicely.

But then, what of the drinks? Like the food menu, the cocktail list takes inspiration from Aegean flavors and incorporates Greek and Turkish ingredients. The result is a drinks selection unlike many others you’ll find in the city: An old fashioned-style serve is enlivened with cinnamon, sour-style cocktails find themselves mixed up with Greek yoghurt. It hadn’t made the menu by the time I visited, but I was told a Greek salad-inspired dirty martini was about to launch; I’ll be back to try it.

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For a hot summer’s day though (something London has admittedly been missing), try the Esikya – a fresh, simple mix of mezcal, citrus and ginger beer that is treated to a punchy kick thanks to isot. Also known as urfa biber, the Turkish pepper delivers some gentle spice, but it’s the subtle smoke that really takes the Esikya cocktail up a notch.

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Ingredients:

– 5cl mezcal

– 2.5cl lemon juice

– 2cl Isot syrup

– ginger beer to top 

To make isot syrup: Add 20g of iIsot (urfa biber/Turkish pepper) to a saucepan with 500ml sugar syrup and gently warm over the stove for five-ten minutes, and then double strain.

Method:

Add the mezcal, lemon juice and isot syrup to a cocktail shaker and shake with ice. Strain into a long glass with fresh ice and top with ginger beer.

Under The Counter Soho, 15 Kingly Street, Carnaby, London, W1B 5PSthecounterlondon.com

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