Oriole

Beech Street Tunnel at the Barbican was closed this evening for a light show and Tom had got us tickets.

It was pretty cool being on a road in the dark with atmospheric lights and bus stops.

The light show began and patterns of light started appearing on the ceiling and walls in time to classical music.

There were some cool atmospheric scenes where it felt like a storm was coming and that we were under water.

My favourite were the super colourful segments, especially one where it looked like rainbow spaghetti was flying through the tunnel.

We went for dinner at Carluccio's afterwards as Tom had a vocuher for a free bottle of wine.

Tom had Spaghetti Vongole while I tucked into a butternut squash filled with goats cheese, pine nuts, pesto and roasted vegetables.

We then shared a plate of Italian biscuits from the bakery.

Afterwards we went for cocktails and dessert at Oriole, a speakeasy inside Smithfield's Market by the same people who run Nightjar.

Tom ordered the Blackrock Martini with gin, whisky and juniper infusion. It came in a frozen glass with a thermometer, so he could drink it at exactly the right temperature and a spoonful of juniper berries to mix in.

I had the Acadia cocktail with bourbon, root liqueur, maple syrup, peanut butter, rowan berry and grapefruit. It was delicious and tasted just a little like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

We then ordered dessert, starting with a chocolate moose which was amazing. Our waitress convinced us to order a cookie type dessert too which was also really good.

For my second drink, I tried the Marine Drive with gin, vermouth, tamarillo juice and grenadine. It came it a scientific decanter filled with honey smoke which the waitress turned upside down to infuse the cocktail.

Tom had the Peruvian drink Oll Antaytambo with tequila, eggfruit chicha, soda and lime juice. It was topped with all kinds of interesting garnishes including blue corn and rings of radish.