Meet Me at St. Pancras...

EUROPE'S LONGEST (90, 91 or 95 metres depending who you ask) Champagne bar is good, but not quite worth the fanfare. Publicity spumed almost a year before St. Pancras re-opened and now appears to have gone flat. Nevertheless it is a couth, comfortable, calm venue, which evokes a Pullman car, re-interpreted by a chic designer. I liked the deep, heated leather seating and thick wood fittings.

In between two softly lit wings seating over 100, the pagoda like hub provides fizzy fuel. Fifteen brands are available by the flute, ranging from slightly stale tasting Jean-Paul Deville Carte Noir NV (£7.50) to Dom Pérignon's highly regarded '00 (£36.50).

My friend and I ordered Meet Me @ St. Pancras (Pommery NV, Absolut Citron, passion fruit juice and a few floating seeds, spiked with lemon). The waiters were smart, although not universally knowledgeable. They must presumably be well-exercised too, considering the furlongs they furrow during an average day.

Despite the annoying '@' symbol, the opaque cocktail was effortlessly drinkable, rendering rising stars almost invisible to the eye, but tangible on the tongue. Paris pendulums glided on the platform alongside, behind a glass wall.

I aspire to a Champagne breakfast here, a floor above the bustle below...

I think the baby blue ceiling of St. Pancras is an improvement on the sky.

T. 020 3006 1550

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Incidentally, whilst visiting Farringdon's Vivat Bacchus, an Italian friend reports that he resorted to giving away his profession when faced with ludicrously innacurate advice. The dialogue went like this:

M: 'I know that's not true, I am a Sommelier'

Barman: 'Ah, you're from Somalia!'