About
Turkish restaurant chain Haz has taken over a grand former banking hall, creating a first-floor restaurant and this airy, street-level saloon bar. A full menu is served upstairs, but here you’ll find a bountiful array of snacks: from kebabs or falafels to calamari or burgers – alongside hot and cold meze sharing boards from £12.50. The sleek, dark-wood interior is little changed from its previous incarnation as Champagne bar Tirage and before that Chez Gérard, but if it ain’t broke… Drink prices are at the lower end of the City spectrum: £7 for classic cocktails such as Cosmopolitan, Daiquiri, Negroni and retro revivals Tequila Sunrise and Piña Colada. Wines start at under £20, though there’s ample Champagne too: from £9 a stem (Louis Dornier) to Perrier-Jouët Brut Rosé at £195. Turkey’s Efes is the house beer. House music plays unheeded in the background, drowned out by City boy babble and banter.