Disover a new pub this weekend: Sebright Arms, Bethnal Green

Discover Lucky Chip food, real ale and Gaz’s Rockin’ Blues at this tucked-away pub off the Hackney Road. The Sebright Arms on Coate Street (off the Hackney Road) is stumbling distance from several East London bus routes, Cambridge Heath train station and Bethnal Green tube. It’s open evenings, and ’til midnight on Saturday.

We’re promised beers at £2.50/pint. Ales include local London Fields, Brodies, Sambrooks, Redchurch, Meantime, and Redemption; also, ciders from the cask and a real countryside perry from Herefordshire. Enjoy! And remember; if it ain’t clear, don’t drink the beer.

New Hawksmoor bar menu live

Hail the resurrection of the Green and Red margarita, and the birth of  the Sausage and Egg ‘HkMuffin’. The new bar at Hawksmoor Spitalfields ensures that, with just £10 to your name, you can enjoy the delights of your favourite steak restaurant any night of the week. New menu here, reservations here.

Hallowe’en in Bethnal Green: spooky cocktail recipes and club night frights for East London

There are plenty of parties planned for East London this year from Newington Green to Bethnal – and I’ve also got tips for your hip haunted house party.

One Whitechapel classic for October 31 is a Jack the Ripper tour – so book up now to ensure you get a place. If you go with London Walks or the Jack the Ripper tour, then you can sneak off to Bodean’s on Byward Street afterwards for a bourbon to calm your nerves.

Saturday 29 October bring taxidermy workshops at the Tour de Force theatre on Well Street, Hackney for a mere £25. Hosts The Robin Collective will be serving cucumber sandwich punch and Victoria sponge air.

On Hallowe’en itself, Monday 31 October, the last Tuesday Society offers a show by lanternlight at their Mare Street basement – they’re sure to be serving Hendricks gin too. Tickets for 7pm and 9pm shows are £10.

Alternatively if you’re having a house party, serve black vodka such as Babicka or Blavod, and Death’s Door gin, or mix up some Zombies. Don’t be afraid of the dark – it’s full of good bars!

Common opens, Off Broadway serves picklebacks for Lucky Chip burgers and Bethnal parties ’til late

Cocomo is no more! Regular Old Street walkers will have noticed that the red circus-styled bar Cocomo is no more. Under new ownership, it’s now Common, and Nick Telson of Design My Night tells me it’s worth a trip. Read his review here.

In London Field direction, burger van Lucky Chip is serving up greasy delights with drinks by nearby bar, Off Broadway. Order Beaver beers, ciders, smoky margaritas and picklebacks (Google it) to wash down those tasty beef patties. Thanks to Ruth for the tip!

And if you fancy a DIY-style night out in Bethnal this weekend, the working men’s club is having a Zombie-themed party (£7 before 11pm), and Resistance Gallery is having a ‘Bad Reputation‘ disco (£3), both running ’til 2am.

Click here for early September’s bulletin of new bars in East London, or here to see the news category in full.

Common, 323 Old Street, Shoreditch, London EC1V 9LE

Lucky Chip, Netil Market, E8 3RL. Opening times variable; check their Facebook page for info

Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, 42-44 Pollard Row, London, E2 6NB

Resistance Gallery, 265 Poyser Street, Bethnal Green, London E2 9RF

In pictures: Sky Lounge

Where to go when the dark winter nights close in? Somewhere with a cracking view of the starry City. Sky Lounge floats 305 feet above Spitalfields and, if you don’t mind walking through the front door of a halls of residence, makes a great place to play a nocturnal I Spy of the East London skyline.

The view from the Sky Lounge at night

Sky Lounge @ Nido Spitalfields, 9 Frying Pan Alley, London E1 7HS. Booking advised – email events@evensus.com

Bar, drink and food news round-up: East London, September 2011

It’s been an exciting back-to-school moment for Shoreditch foodies with loads of new excuses to order a Martini.

Top of the bill, a new Hawksmoor has been announced for Guildhall. Opening on 31 October, the Basinghall Street restaurant is expected to be similar to its Spitalfields and Seven Dials sisters – but with a ‘beef tasting menu’ to offer besides the staple steak-and-bourbon.

Next door to Hawksmoor’s original venue, a new pan-Asian restaurant run by a former Nobu chef has kicked a little new life into the Commercial Street slew. ‘Funky Asia’ (sic) occupies the old Lahori Masala restaurant and has a cocktail list full of ginger, Thai basil, green tea and Bulldog gin.

Following the success of its launch party, London Fields Brewery is having an ‘open day’ event with beer and pizza on Saturday 24 September. Join them for freshly brewed lagers from Hackney’s only commercial brewery at 374 Helmsley Place, London Fields, E8.

Lastly, a new free folk night has taken over Tuesdays at Manero’s Bar – one of Dalston’s secret bars. Cocked-Ale, run The Magpie’s Nest, can be found behind the yellow door at 232 Kingsland Road. Check the promoter’s website for gig listings.

London Cocktail Week 2011: Random Cocktail Bar Generator

Image: Odd Firm of Sin

It’s that time of year again! London Cocktail Week 2011 kicks off on Friday 7 October and once the East End has a cracking range of 55 venues involved in the fun.

And Mother Brown has an old-school internet treat in store for you.

With my web wizardry, I’ve created a random bar generator to help you choose where to start your week-long East London bar crawl.

Just type in your name and click ‘Serve’, and I’ll recommend a drinking hole in East London that’s serving a special cocktail, priced at just £4 a pop for LCW wristband wearers.

Be sure to share your results on Twitter and leave a comment here! I’ll be seeing you in Loungelover for a Lavender Lady very soon…

Click here to read more about last year’s event.

Sir Ian McKellen buys East End pub, The Grapes, Limehouse

Photo: Brett, the Wine Maestro

Veteran thesp and national treasure Sir Ian McKellen has done what any of us would do with a lifetime’s earnings: bought an East End boozer.

The Grapes, a pub in Limehouse near McKellen’s home, was immortalised by its most famous punter in Our Mutual Friend as Dickens recalled its Thames-side charms.

Barbara Haigh, its 61 year-old landlord, told PA: ‘Sir Ian is buying the pub with his own interests at heart, especially living close by’.

McKellen will be appointing a manager for The Grapes when he ousts Guy Ritchie as London’s coolest celeb landlord.

It will almost be tempting to get yourself barred, if only to invoke the Lord of the Rings actor’s famous battle yell… Click below for a reminder.

Click here to meet some lesser-known gems of the East End food and drink world – Will Foster of Casita and Oli Barker of Brawn.

The Grapes, 76 Narrow Street, London

Bombay Sapphire Ice Ball Cube Cocktail: Imagination Series Recipe

One cocktail caused quite a stir for Mother Brown last week. What the heck is my flatmate drinking?

It might look rude but it’s actually a delicious beetroot and liquorice gin drink, served in a coupe glass. That huge pink thing? A ball of ice, studded with spicy ‘grains of paradise’ – very similar to little black peppercorns.

Like any gin nut, I like my drinks crammed with ice – cubed, crushed, in the shape of ocean liners, whatever it takes to make the glass sweat. Ice balls keep your drink cold, but more importantly, they don’t dilute the delicious thing you’ve just shaken together – especially important if you’re using intensely-flavoured ingredients.

For silicon ice balls molds, check these, and the recipe for the Bombay Sapphire cocktail is given below.

Photo: Bombay Sapphire

Bombay Sapphire gin, fresh lemon juice, sugar, 4 dashes of liquorice oil, dehydrated fresh beetroot and grains of paradise embedded ice balls. At home, try replacing the beetroot with beetroot juice, and putting juniper berries or strips of lemon peel in the ice balls – the aim is to bring out ingredients that flavour the gin.

Want more drinks ideas? Try making, and drinking, cocktails from jam jars.

City drinks blogger: Cathy Adams, CityBird for Square Mile magazine

Mother Brown’s a bit nervous of the City – it’s full of collars, ties, briefcases, business cards, all sorts of American Psycho apparel – and she’d rather stick to the friendly streets of E2.

But there’s one intrepid financial journalist who’s got the run-down on the latest pop-ups and deals. Cathy Adams, a journalist at Money Observer magazine, has a column in Square Mile magazine dedicated to the pursuit of decent after-work drinks.

Recently she’s nailed a pop-up Japanese barbecue on Brick Lane, as well as discovering the City’s best café to handle your hangover. You can also follow her on Twitter @cathman – financial insight by day, liquid capital by night.