Yes Wanderlust: Cellardoor

12.12.12

Cellardoor

I spent this day in London wandering around and window shopping.

I began my night sitting at a smelly bar at seven dials listening to terrible music looking like a divorcee drinking a corona in the corner. Luckily I was quickly rescued by the lovely Yeliz. It was a Sunday night and we felt like wetting our whistles. We decided to check out an underground bar called Cellardoor. It was on my to do list since my days in Oxshott, listed as "Try Snuff at Cellardoor.

Finding this secretive little bar is actually quite hard. We wandered in circles around Aldwych until we finally realised this place that looked more like an underground public toilet was actually the place we wanted to go, and it was right in front of us all along.

You descend down the stairs and let yourself into this dimly lit underground cocktail paradise. As the website says:

"Cellar Door is an intimate bar beneath the Aldwich in a space just big enough for cats (both feline and human to swing.)"

It is a small bar with plush lip stools at the bar and comfortable lounges all around. Yeliz left me for a moment and I was confronted by a magician who to this day I do not know if he was working there or just a member of the public. This magician basically melted my brain with some card tricks so I was a mess for the rest of the night. This magician who was wearing one of those creepy floor length tench coats continued to walk around the tiny room performing for anyone who came in.

Yes that is the whole bar. And over the week nights it has various themed nights and Friday and Saturday get extremely packed with their burlesque shows. Tonight it was Jazz night which I was over the moon about. I had ticked off two things off my "to do list" in one night. "Do snuff at Cellardoor" and "Go to a jazz bar". You can see the man at the keyboard at the back of the room in the photo. He sung all night and he was incredible. He did a cover of Lana Del Rey's " Video Games" and I can't even. I don't think I have even mentioned the best part yet, you get free popcorn. And not just one bowl. I mean you get an endless supply of constantly replaced hot popcorn.

This is snuff. It is basically consumed as cocaine although it is actually fine ground tobacco. It is quite cute how they serve it though. I am telling you now, both Yeliz and I could not finish these two lines. It is incredibly strong and gives you a bit of a headspinny feeling as if you haven't smoked for a couple of days. This is most likely the only time I will do snuff. It was fun and I recommend you try it if you go to Cellardoor, to tick off your own to do lists. But I am not to big of a fan of snorting substances. It is just a bit of a painful experience and I spent my walk home sneezing black soot.

But if snuff isn't your thing then don't even worry. You have the most eccentric and amazing line of cocktails to try. They were graded with the three mistresses of showbiz, Marilyn Monroe, Dita Von Teese and there was one more but I apologize I cannot for the life of me remember. This is Y's cocktail, it was a breakfast cocktail I think. I just remember it was delicious and the little orange bit on top is marmalade. I can't remember for the life of me what it was that I actually got. All I know is that this place is amazing and I really wish I could have gone again before I left London. I wish I could find a place like this in Sydney but it just won't happen. To anyone thinking of going here is a list of what is on each night, take your pick:

here

One thing I regret and completly forgot about on the night was to go to the toilets there. They actually are known for their crazy sexy toilets. Y told me about them but I didn't understand. You will just have to go check them out for yourself.

Oh and the menu is full of charming quotes featuring the word Cellardoor.

Just writing this post makes me want to go back to this charming, underground, velvet lounge. I wish I could have gone to a burlesque night here, it was on my to do list.