The latest venue from City-centric operators Drake & Morgan, The Drift continues their winning formula with a few quirky touches that are more Shoreditch than the City.

The Venue
Located within one of London’s tallest buildings, the Heron Tower, The Drift is perfectly located for post-5pm drinks. The venue is divided into a downstairs bar area and upstairs dining space; the walls are glass – as is the elevator – and the gleaming surfaces are polished to within inches of their perfect lives. However, it’s been given an injection of Shoreditch fun with some neat little details that lift this above your bog standard City bar. Upstairs best illustrates this with beautiful mosaic tiling that runs from the ceiling to the floor around the bar area, funky flower-patterned chairs, bench-style seating, an open kitchen sat below shelves filled with tins of olive oil, funky lamps, an industrial ceiling and – best of all – little treasure troves on the end of some of the tables, filled with cute trinkets and costume jewellery. If you’ve been to any of The Drift’s siblings - The Folly, The Refinery, The Anthologist etc – you’ll be familiar with the surroundings.

The Atmosphere
If you’ve been to the bars of Canary Wharf or even Bank then you’ll be forgiven for approaching The Drift with some trepidation; however, the attitude here is very chilled out. Sure, it’s filled with suits, but the whiff of pretension that usually accompanies these bars is refreshingly absent. That may be thanks to the staff, who are a mix of gorgeous model types, cute Antipodeans and funky Shoreditchites, lending a certain authenticity to what they’re trying to do here.

The Food
The prices at The Drift are excellent, and certainly not in line with many over-priced City haunts. And the choice is large with sharing platters and main courses, although they’ve played it safe with the dishes themselves. And everything – everything – is served on huge chunky wooden boards, which gets a bit annoying after a while.

The sharing boards look to be popular for drinkers, and they are well priced at under £10. However, if you’re settling in for the evening then you can enjoy a three course – equally well priced – dinner here. For starters, the steamed mussels in a saffron broth is good value - the huge portion is less than £6. The mussels are meaty and perfectly cooked and they have a delicate, light flavour. It’s just a shame that more isn’t made of the broth, which is so heavy on the olive oil it drowns out any of the complexities of the dish. Alternatively, the chicken satay (also less than £6) is a delight. Four big pieces of meaty, tender chicken arrive on skewers with a delicious, slightly sweet peanut sauce for dipping and some perfectly spiced, crisp prawn crackers.

For mains, the most expensive dish on the menu is still very reasonable at £19.95 for the cote de boeuf. It’s served more as a steak but the portion of quality meat is huge for the price and cooked perfectly to specification. It comes with a slightly oily and lacklustre béarnaise sauce and quite possibly the best chips you’ll have ever eaten. Seriously. Alternatively, the marinated Thai beef salad (£9.95) is a bit of a mixed bag. It’s huge and beautifully presented in a takeaway-style cardboard box. The beef – also generously portioned – is tender and covered in a sweet sticky sauce that lifts the flavour of the meat perfectly, but it’s served on cold, thick noodles and a rather dull choice of limp salad leaves.

If you have the room and can’t decide on the dessert then a nice touch is the dessert shots – mini portions of the knickerbocker glory, brownie and creme brulee served in martini glasses for £7.50.

The Drink
Of course, there is champagne. Of course, there is fine wine. They even offer some excellent wine flights that make a nice change from buying a bottle, priced at around the £10 mark for three 125ml glasses of specially chosen wine selections. However, it is the cocktails that reign supreme here.

The choice is good, the prices excellent and they’ve cleverly introduced a large selection of ‘skinny’ cocktails, complete with calorie content stated on the menu. And no, they’re not inferior. The skinny lemon sherbet made with gin (£7.95) is still full of flavour, wonderfully sweet and packs a small kick. If you’re most definitely NOT on a diet then the crème brûlée martini (£6.95) is at the other end of the scale. Served with Ketel One vodka, lemon curd, house vanilla sugar and cream, it is sinfully good. Rich, creamy, decadent, sweet… And oh so bad for you. Not one for the girly cocktails? They also mix a mean cigar-infused old fashioned (£8.75), which packs quite an alcoholic kick.

The Last Word
The Drift is an excellent example of what City bars can offer if they would only strip away some of the pretension. Well priced and stylishly presented, it’s definitely worth a visit.

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