Best London cocktail barsChiave, ShoreditchChiave, meaning ‘key’ in Italian, cuts a subtle exterior on Shoreditch’s Redchurch Street bar the large, polished brass-effect key on the door. It comes courtesy of two London bar veterans, Chris Tanner (formerly of Milroy’s and Silverleaf, and founder of Dram London), and Edwin Frost (wine bars Half Cut and Oranj), who have partnered for this bar-cum-restaurant with a rotating kitchen residency. Their new cocktail menu is headed up by William Campbell-Rowntree; the Mello cocktail, a mixture of vodka, Cocchi Americano and honeydew was beautifully refreshing. The bar’s characteristically detailed drinks menu riffs on old cocktail recipes (ranging from the pre-prohibition to post-war periods) but adds its own twist. Hidden away in the basement of Pali Hill is secluded cocktail bar Bandra Bhai, with interiors inspired by 1970s India and old smuggling dens.