Amathus

On the 5th of May before going to Islington we stopped in Soho for a tequila tasting at Amathus. Amathus is a wine shop with several small stores around London, at their Soho store they have enough space to set up a bunch of tables in the middle/back of the shop. On the biggest table at the rear of the shop there were a few employees making margheritas in tiny little shot glasses. They later handed out these glasses to everyone in the store, if you weren't holding anything they gave you one. 

There was also a woman that makes her own queso, which in her case is a specific type of cheese, a younger version of queso manchego. It was really refreshing and taste-y, a really good contrast to the alcohol. She also had a chili spread if you wanted to add more flavour to the cheese. 

The smallest table, closest to the entrance was serving tequila. There are 3 main different types of tequila. White tequila, which is the youngest just taken from the plant, reposado tequila which is slightly aged tequila (reposado means rested) and anejo tequila which is the most aged and darkest tequila. Out of all these tequilas I liked the white one the best because its got the freshest and lightest taste where as the darkest tequila is very similar to whiskey. 

Overall, I really like the musical atmosphere because they had a mariachi band playing and everyone was incredibly happy and friendly. I was really tempted to buy one of their t-shirts that said "tequila is never enough" but they didn't have any left in my size. Maybe I'll have better luck next year. 

Here's their website: http://www.amathusdrinks.com/

Barrio North

On the fifth of May Mexican people celebrate "Cinco de Mayo". Since this year I didn't get to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I felt like it was my duty as a person to go out and drink on another day that is celebrated with alcohol. So in the evening on the 5th of May we decided to go drink margheritas at Barrio North near Angel. 

The place was decorated with pinatas and colourful banners, whenever you bought a drink they've offer you a stick on mustache and the first round of margheritas were 8 pounds each, but after that they were 5 pounds each. The drinking festivities started around 8pm, and continued on until about 3am. The music was fun and fast pace with a mix of latin music with newer house music and the occasional reggae piece. 

The outside smoking area was really nice too, cause there different coloured tiles all along the entrance, giving you the impression you're not in London. The main dancing area was really crowded, and there were so many different people out enjoying their night. Further back into the venue there were some couches and stools for people to sit, talk and relax which for us was really good at the start of the night, before the first few drinks.

The back section of the bar had really cool wallpaper with cut outs from newspapers, and pictures of Mexican wrestlers. The bathroom had a repetitive print of golden skulls all over the walls too. I think what I enjoyed most is that the bar was so authentic to the night's celebration. Even the stamp they put on our hand when we went in had a Mexican wrestling mask on it. 

Here's their webpage: http://www.barrionorth.com/