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198 Shaftesbury Avenue
Freud's Furniture Shop
London WC2H 8JL
+44 (0) 20 7240 9933
Freud's Cafe Bar Gallery serve a variety of fresh sandwiches, salads, soups and refreshments. The cafe still remains open after the furniture shop has shut.
3 reviews
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June 05, 2008
Freud's is oddly tucked underneath a furniture shop, and although I don't quite comprehend the psychoanalysis implications of such a juxtaposition, it certainly makes for a contrast. The bar itself (the listing calls it a cafe, but I have to admit that it seems to be a pretty straightforward bar to me) is full of slate-topped tables and seems to be focused on cocktails.
As we finally had some nice weather again the other when I was there, I decided to celebrate the summer with some rum cocktails, and they had a lot of choices. The bartenders seemed pretty rushed, but they did make a nice zombie and planter's punch. There is no beer on tap, but they do have bottles of Staropramen, Budvar, and some other choice imports.
Prices are a bit high by my standard, with the majority of the extensive cocktail menu hovering around £6.50, but as this was a special occasion, I didn't put up a fuss, and as stated the drinks were well prepared so probably worth it in the end. My party of about 10 arrived early (around 5pm) and found plenty of room for us all to sit together, but by 6:30 the place was well crammed with after-work folks. My main complaint would have to be the fact that despite my summery cocktails and the lovely weather, Freud's is underground!!
December 14, 2007
'I thought I knew this street...' was my commentary as we descended Freud's steep 'hole in the sidewalk' ladder entrance.
The crowd last Friday night soaked up the carefree atmosphere, very different to most of the Covent Garden bars I visited, which, at that time, felt more like kegged trading floors.
Freud is older than some of it's clientèle, it was established in 1986 as London's first café-bar.
The low lighting is in swing with the sublime tunes, both turning the focus to the central bar, where a crew of cocktail waiters strain, shake and bake.
The cocktails are refreshingly experimental and surprisingly cheap. The poison of the night was a blend of lychee, lime, ginger beer and an array of liqueurs. That was only the beginning. At times the cheap cocktails are in such high demand that the bar becomes more like a peak hour tube carriage but it's well worth the wait.
This place reminds me of the 'hole in the wall' bars through El Raval in Barcelona, something we don't see much in London. I'm already planning a return trip to sample the kitchen, indulge in some mid-afternoon Bloody Marys and take a more sober look at the bar's art exhibition that is redone each month.
