If you have strict notions about what can and can’t be considered cocktail ingredients, proceed with caution: Peg + Patriot proffers a drinks menu that reads more like a dinner prix fixe than, well, booze. Take the love-it-or-loathe-it Marmite Martini, or the Pho Money Pho Problems, which magically transforms a bowl of fragrant Vietnamese brothy soup into – surprise! – a cocktail (sans noodles, natch). Then there’s the D. Groner, which lists “Salt Beef Beigel” as an ingredient. Yes, really.

These drinks aren’t for everybody, but they’re also far more subtle, more beautifully put together, and yes, much more delicious then you’d guess at first blush. Credit goes to Matt Whiley, bartender extraordinaire who’s also overseen Talented Mr. Fox (where the Bloody Mary famously came dosed with pigs blood). As another hotel bar – this one across the hall from the delectable Typing Room in Bethnal Green’s Town Hall Hotel – Peg + Patriot keeps vibes set to laidback and the soundtrack to old school hip hop. Grab a place on the banquette and a drink of your choosing: it certainly doesn’t hurt to try.