The Chims, as it is affectionately known by its hardened irregulars, was, at that time, a tiny, ancient, rural ale house in the middle of bloody nowhere
The Three Chimneys, Kent
Toast & Marmalade Martini
The Marmalade Martini saw the light of dawn in 1930 in The Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock, an American who came to the UK to escape Prohibition. It became the quintessential cocktail book of the time and is still required reference for any contemporary bartender.
Toast and Marmalade Ice Cream
This has been a real winner in the restaurant.
It came about from getting the Toast flavouring provided by maestro mixologist Sam Sareen.
Tom Collins
Perfect for hot summer afternoons, Tom Collins is probably the most well known of the Collins family of drinks, a Collins being a sour cocktail, that is, a spirit mixed with sugar and citrus, that has been topped up with soda water. Basically a Tom Collins is alcoholic lemonade for grown-ups. Lovely for a picnic or a right old punt.
Tongue Vinaigrette
Sous Vide Ox Tongue in a fruit vinaigrette
Treacle
Another fine drink of Dick Bradsell’s devising. When he used to make a Treacle in the Colony Room Club, he used cheap pasteurised apple juice, in a carton, from the Somerfield supermarket, in Berwick Street.
Vesper
75 ml Gordon’s gin 25 ml Polish vodka 12 ml Lillet Blanc (Kina Lillet is no longer manufactured) Shake with ice. Sieve into coupe glass. Dress with lemon peel. The Vesper was Ian Fleming’s creation. Bond is on the lash again. “Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon’s, one of vodka, half a measure of …
Vitello Tonnato
Although Italian, specifically Piedmontese, in origin I think of this as a classic Mar i Montana Catalan combination though rarely seen here.
Vodka Fried Chicken
Is your fried chicken a bit soggy? Is it not even as crisp as Kentucky Fried Budgie? J. Kenji López-Alt, food scientist at Serious Eats, has done some serious research and his solution: Vodka! Isn’t it always?
Vodka Sandwich
This came to me via certain reprobate, though eminently professional, staff at a particular Soho hostelry of my acquaintance. It is, allegedly, popular, towards the end of the night amongst bartenders, as a pick-me-up to help make it through the last hour. I reckon that would do the trick.
Welsh Rarebit IPA
A British staple for at least three hundred years, also know as Welsh Rabbit, so called to avoid any confusion with a real bunny, it contains no meat of any kind although Worcestershire sauce, an essential ingredient, does contain a touch of anchovy.
Wetherspoons
Wetherspoon is not the largest pub chain in the UK, that goes to the Stonegate Pub Company, with almost 5,000, but it is certainly the most visible. To its detractors, Spoons are down market scruff houses for pensioners, benefit scroungers and general riff-raff, which sell cheap beer to the poor and needy. The regulars agree; that’s why we go there.
Whiskey Sour
Yet another sour, this time with bourbon, but a most popular one. With the egg white, it can be called a Boston Sour. With a splash of red wine floated on top, over the back of a spoon, it becomes a New York Sour. Sounds quite disgusting.
White Lady
Harry Craddock, he of the Savoy Cocktail Book fame, claimed it as his own signature cocktail, and even buried one, in a shaker, in the wall of the Dorchester. However it appears that it had been around a good while before his time.
White Russian
The White Russian will be ever associated with the film The Big Lebowski, a drink the dude jokingly refers to as a Caucasian.
“Careful Man. There’s A Beverage Here!”
Zombie Punch
The story goes that Donn Beach spontaneously created it as a hangover cure for one of his regulars heading for an important meeting. Asked a few days later if it had worked the gent replied: “I felt like the living dead, it made a zombie out of me.”