Bar Review: Stratos, Preston

Leave a comment

Stratos Bar – Preston’s Best Cocktails

Stratos is justifiably not a budget bar; nowhere in Preston is as attractively designed and fitted. Drinkers who behave themselves early doors, receive complimentary aperitivos – thanks to Stratos, visitors from Burnley can now recognise tapenade. Plus, nowhere else in Preston is open until 3 am with no entry free, with flesh and blood DJs, not iPods.

Stratos, Kuckoo and Forum are the only progressive bars in Preston shaking quality cocktails. The vast majority are £6.50, contain double premium spirits and often unusual ingredients – this price point is rare in Manchester and extinct in London. If you think Stratos is poor value, get out more. Something masquerades as similar in Yates or Revolution, but is predictably sweet, on a sticky table, in a cheap glass without a garnish, but with a 2005 playlist. Spend another £2 and drink something to enjoy, not something to later vomit.

Stratos’ bar staff unpretentiously graft, pushing Preston kicking and screaming to the next level of boozing. If you drink Cosmopolitans through a straw, think Daiquiris only exist with strawberries, and regard Mojitos as exceptionally exotic, converse with the passionate and knowledgeable Stratos’ bar staff. Likewise, if you’ve had more than your fair share of drams, Stratos staff are always happy to learn more.

The real value of Stratos is their willingness to develop customers tastes for those unaware of the great products available, and the ability to cater for the seasoned drinker. A Preston bar where customers can forfeit a menu entirely, forming a relationship with the staff is progress. Regardless of how manically busy Stratos gets, they will craft drinks to your individual tastes. This level of enthusiasm to learning and promoting cocktails is unmatched, making Stratos the best cocktail bar in Preston. (The food’s not bad either).

Stratos Bar Review Summary

Atmosphere 10  Cost 8  Quality 9 Service 10

Stratos Preston Bar Restaurant Review
Stratos – Still Preston’s Best
IMG_2357
Stratos – Still Preston’s Best
Stratos - Still Preston's Best
Stratos – Still Preston’s Best
Stratos - Still Preston's Best
Stratos – Still Preston’s Best

Find Stratos Preston

Bar Review: White Stone, Cagliari

Leave a comment

White Stone – In The Holiday Spirit

White Stone Bar sat on the busy Piazza Yenna –  Cagliari Marina District’s focal point. It provided perfect people-watching potential, made all the more attractive by very reasonable prices. Be warned: everywhere in Cagliari, music is hideously inconsistent, fluctuating between naff and painful. Think MTV dance hits, intertwined with a Phil Collins medley nobody wanted. Fortunately, there was ample seating outside, mostly free of irritation.

Given White Stone Bars low cost relative to the UK, it would be unkind to be too critical. I visited three times in three days – they did something right. That said, there was plenty of room for improvement. ‘Bourbon Sour’ was made with Irish blended whisky. Everything arrived with a completely unnecessary cherry. The margaritas were undrinkable. They weren’t blends

‘Bourbon Sours’ were made with Irish blended whisky. Everything arrived with a completely unnecessary cherry. The margaritas were undrinkable. They weren’t blends of tequila, lime and triple sec – just tequila with lime wafted over the glass for ceremonial purposes. Crucially, White Stone Bar’s consistency of drinks between servers was laughable. Even the same drink, made by the same person, in the same evening, differed considerably.

However, the size of the pour was gigantic. The Weights & Measures Act of 1985 evidently hadn’t reach Cagliari. The Negroni was intimidating, taking me all afternoon to tackle. I appreciate Italian’s love bitter flavours, but I’d consumed 500ml of Campari after three cocktails. I like an occasional bitter drink, but not to be pummelled mercilessly by them. I hoped Stockholm Syndrome would kick in, so I could perversely come to welcome my aperitif abuse, but sadly it never did.

Thankfully, White Stone Bar wasn’t just quantity over quality. Despite its tacky name, the ‘Between The Sheets’ cocktail was an ironically classy drink. By some miracle, it dodged the ever zealous Campari, although couldn’t survive the obligatory cherry. The sophisticated combination of cognac, rum, triple sec and lemon juice was rather wonderful. An excellent Mojito benefited from mint and lime swollen by the sun’s loving rays. A pleasing frothy, beautifully balanced Pina Colada was perfect on a late summer afternoon. White Stone Bar’s free aperitivos were in plentiful supply, and their budget buffet offered vegetable lasagne and vibrant salads, that were embarrassingly delicious for their low cost.

White Stone Bar pertained to being a proper cocktail bar but lacked the attention to detail required to be one. However, White Stone Bar genuinely friendly staff shouldn’t be unacknowledged, who were happy to chat in broken English, despite my shameful inability to meet them halfway.

White Stone Bar Review Summary

Atmosphere 8  Cost 10  Quality 4  Service 9

White Stone Bar Cagliari Review
The Holiday Spirit

Find White Stone Bar
Cagliari

Restaurant Review: Su Tzilleri e le Cantine, Cagliari

Leave a comment

Su Tzilleri e le Cantine – Scary Sardinian Supper

Visit Su Tzilleri e le Cantine for unpretentious, informal Sardinian food, rich in both history and flavour. If you seek something else, Sardinia won’t be your island, let alone Su Tzilleri your trattoria.

Choosing the taster menu, I naively brought only one stomach. Don’t bother with lunch beforehand and only pencil in tomorrow’s breakfast. Never before had I been intimated by a pending main course. Su Tzilleri e le Cantinea didn’t sell meals but character building challenge. The realisation I’d eaten too much came as I struggled to breathe. Mercifully, my partner’s inhaler rescued me, despite not being asthmatic.

Now I see why Italians are so fusilli fussily protective of their pasta. The Culurgiones (Sardinian Ravioli) with goats cheese, tomatoes and mint were perfection. A minimalist celebration of summer on a plate. Seeing the tomatoes basking in the sun outside, was iconic as it was romantic. The antipasti produced cured wafer thin lamb so good it would be illegal in England. Ensuing Su Tzilleri e le Cantinea highlights included delicious rabbit, tasting like a gym-obsessed chicken pampered in luxurious oils, and a perfectly balanced, angelically light tiramisu. All washed down with local Cannonau and Barbera which was embarrassingly rambunctious for its frugal price point.

Dining wasn’t faultless; meatballs yearned for seasoning, rigatoni flirted with being raw, plates were cold, and the menu didn’t always match what arrived. However, all this can be forgiven when the same euros in Milan only get you some prosecco and a scowl.

Su Tzilleri e le Cantinea haphazard, customer is always wrong philosophy of Italian service wouldn’t survive in England. I didn’t suggest the dishes weren’t strictly as ordered, for fear of a skillet-wielding emotional chef. However, the food was so memorable I had no right to complain. Walking out into the warm, clear Sardinian night I was disorientated, shell-shocked but jubilant. Su Tzilleri e le Cantine served a truly memorable dinner and provided bagged-up bunny for brunch to boot.

Su Tzilleri e le Cantine
Review Summary

Atmosphere 9    Cost 9   Quality 9    Service 4

Su Tzilleri e le Cantine: Soaking Up The Sunshine
Su Tzilleri e le Cantine: Soaking Up The Sunshine
Restaurant Review Su Tzilleri e le Cantine
Exceptional quality antipasti
Restaurant Review Su Tzilleri e le Cantine
Leftover rabbit boxed up and reheated for brunch!

Find Su Tzilleri e le Cantine
(Cagliari)