The White Tie Club’s second evening event was a stunning success on November 15, with about 30 formal dress enthusiasts huddled into a reserved area of the beautifully elegant Bedford & Strand in Westminster.
The bar is subterranean and, being on a corner, somewhat secretive and wonderfully marries old school style with an informality that perfectly suited a black tie cocktail evening. The boughs of this speakeasy-esque bar were fully decked with holly for the festive season and, as though that were not magical enough, we arrived to the sweet, sweet sound of 1920s jazz playing on the bar’s speakers. Perfect.
Of course, dinner suits and 1920s jazz call for nothing short of cocktails at the bar, so the cocktail menu was the first stop after the customary meet and greet. At about £10 each, the prices were moderate as for that part of London – and the taste did not disappoint.
I started my evening with that sour old favourite, the Sidecar, before moving onto something a little sweeter – the foamy strawberry goodness of the French Martini. Many guests spoke well of the wine at the bar, not to mention the nibbles, and as the night wound down the party found itself migrating to the East India Club – a venue familiar to many but welcoming to many more.
Festivities carried on until about midnight, which wasn’t bad for an informal soirée, and it was an excellent apéritif for the society’s return to more formal, white tie, dinners next year.
Photography by See Li
