Not the usual bar I’d frequent but it happens to be a gem on Melbourne Cup day, it’s across the road from work and unlike everywhere else it is quiet enough to get served and has big screens. It becomes a semi precious stone when served with champagne. My team and I took a quick break from a gruelling day in the office and made the dash across the street to this hotel lobby bar in time for the race. In early November my colleagues didn’t know that I was pregnant so I wanted to order a drink that looked suitably boozy. The mocktail was listed in the menu as a strawberry crush. That’s pretty much what it was, strawberries crushed with ice, bland and watery. In a word – unimaginative. As to presentation – there is something about these glasses (pictured below) that just instantly cries bad holidays in cheap resorts (not that I’d know). So the choice of glassware immediately detracted a bucket load of points in my opinion. It did look suitably festive, in a 1994 kind of way, and being focussed on the bad presentation and bland flavour did distract me from the appalling teal and red squiggle carpet. At least my horse won. 2/10 swizzle sticks.
Mockery - mocktails to nursery 