Unfortunately this review won’t be dripping in details. It’s for all the right reasons, however, as opposed to a psychological suppression of my espionage themed evening hosted by Lime & Tonic. Lime & Tonic is a directory app that elevates its status to’social concierge service’. The goal is to consolidate the finest, most novel leisure activities in London. It also offers experiential evenings for those who, heaven forefend, need to spice up the tireless events of eating and drinking. The app allows you to browse through events by category. It even allows you to preselect dinner preferences such as still or sparkling water before you feast. In the establishments on offer even tap water would probably collected from a mountain town in the Himalayas.
The evening I attended was a three hour long, espionage-themed, progressive dinner, hosted and staged in an indulgent hotel in the City. In the more elaborate rooms the’mini’ bar is an altar of cirrhosis disguised as a cabinet of every mainstream spirit in a variety of brands. Wall decorations included framed paper butterflies cut from porn magazines. The Do Not Disturb sign? A light-up display outside a room.
It’s forbidden to drop the name of the hotel. The fun of the evening is mystery; I was picked up in Paul Smith’s original 1960s mini and driven by a garrulous driver to the destination. Rather than being taken through reception we were greeted by stern-faced’operatives’ and ushered through the concrete back-stairway for our covet assignment: canapés.
Ready to embrace the evening, we were split into two groups and briefed that we must follow clues placed around the venue and find an underground, rogue operative. Here’s where the details must be shrouded in secrecy for the highly sensitive issue of keeping things fun. Each course was divided in a different room that led on from clues from the preceding area. The starter was a slider burger with streaky, crispy bacon and beef which was perfectly (temporarily) cooked to a Barbie-pink. As we collected passwords and hushed, curt telephone calls from mysterious disembodied voices.
For drinks we were treated to a variety of whiskey based cocktails and shooters. All were made in front of us by a mixologist. A unanimous favourite, judging by the frantic extra batches being made, was vodka and orange drink with absinthe smoked with burning tea leaves. One was enough to pre-empt counting birds the next morning. For those unfamiliar with a Pisco sour, the drink is a creamy, foamy blend of lime, sugar, egg whites and the Peruvian spirit Pisco. It’s sweet as marshmallows and has a kick like a stampede of baby alpacas.
The Lime & Tonic app is available now on the Apple store for iPhones and iPads only.