Tipped

Comfortably numb

November 01, 2008

I've not been to the downstairs bit yet, but the flow of interesting-looking muso's and patrons going down there had me make a mental note to check it out sometime. Upstairs is a warm intimate atmosphere brought on by the circles of very comfy leather seats and sofas, wooden floors and plenty of exposed brickwork. You feel comfortably cocooned away from the hurly burly of the city in here. The service is smoothly efficient, friendly and attentive, and they do a full Thai menu, which I've sampled a few times now and have yet to have complaints, least of all with the size of the portions. Try the Yum Nuer - a cold salad with strips of tender spicy beef which is a meal in itself. Yum indeed! I'm not often impressed with house wines, and it takes a really good one to make me switch from beer, but it's always been pretty decent here, the last time it was a very palatable Rioja.

One thing that caused a bit of a laugh, if you're not used to unisex toilets you could get a bit caught out, as I was. My advice? Like on the dual carriageway keep left, overtake right!

Keywords: leather seating, thai food, good wines, live music

Intimate venue but poor sight lines

March 12, 2008

Note: this is a review of the venue in the basement of the Gramaphone, not the main bar.

The Gramaphone venue is a cellar with a small bar. The performance space has room for 30-40 or so people, but this is divided from the bar by several thick pillars. If you're not one of the 30-40, you won't see much. It's a nice, cosy environment, but bass notes can reverberate round it, which makes it difficult to hear anything else.

Keywords: music, venue, cellar