Cocktails, food and music: Hard Rock Cafe has a secret date night experience for Londoners

Tourist trap: those two words may appear in the head of the average Londoner when the name Hard Rock Cafe comes up.

It’s the kind of place you stumble upon in the most unlikely of cities while on holiday, an odd mash-up of a merch store, an upmarket burger restaurant and bar. The Piccadilly Circus Hard Rock Cafe is an iconic spot for the London tourist... and as a local I usually avoid it at all costs.

But! There is a new Hard Rock Cafe event that should even appeal to people like me —The Back Room Cocktail Experience.

The Back Room is in a intimate and elaborately decorated bar just a minute or two’s walk from the very first Hard Rock Cafe on Old Park Lane — that’s right, it began in London in 1971, not in the US as you might guess.

For £49.95 a head you get a four-course cocktail menu, each paired with a food course. And what initially appears a bit of a tall ask for a "two-hour" experience (ours went on longer) starts to seem like a bit of a deal considering what you get, considering that you could easily pay £17 for a cocktail around those parts.

But, OK, if you’re the kind of person that wants to flirt with the mixologist and have that fantasy (at times no doubt a literal fantasy) of having a cocktail designed for you, The Back Room Cocktail Experience isn’t that. It’s instead what's dubbed as a “guided” cocktail night that offers something a little more than either just an overpriced or overcrowded cocktail bar.

There’s a host, who provides an introduction to each course of cocktails — and the whole deal is each round is part-interactive too.

The Booze

Round one is a citrus vodka martini, served with a lemon spray bottle to let you regulate the sheer alcohol punch with more lemony flavour.

Round two — the favourite of my American drinking partner who last visited Hard Rock Cafe on holiday while feeling homesick — a Negroni served with a dollop of orange marmalade on a spoon to let you choose the sweetness level. Plus a teat pipette of salty solution to balance that out.

You may have no idea what you’re doing, but if that’s the case just try the drink straight before you start playing cocktail-maker.

Round three is a spicy margarita with two vials of booze. You choose whether to go with the smoky Mezcal or the straight tequila. But no-one’s going to stop you if you want to shove both in.

Skewered raw green chilli, lime, spiced salt on the rim — this one has the lot.

And what cocktail experience would be complete without getting to jiggle a cocktail shaker? That’s the interaction with the last round, a classic espresso martini.

Cocktails with little interactive elements may sound like the classic slightly cheesy stuff of one of these activity nights. And it is. What helps elevate The Back Room Cocktail Experience is what comes with it.

The Food

The food — small to medium-size plates to accompany each cocktail — is surprisingly refined. You start with a red pepper humous crostini combo, which is just packed with smoked red pepper flavour. And its served with pine nuts and pile of soused onion, which bring texture and a bright ’n' tangy leavening side respectively.

Your main of sorts is a giant saffron-laced arancini ball part-filled with pea ragu, on an arabiatta vinaigrette base.

Once again, there’s that balance of sharp and warm flavours, while the arancini itself is light — not overly dense and stodgy.

From a main to an elevated bar snack, this is followed by a tostada — jackfruit and artichoke for the veggies — served with delightfully crisp plantain and corn chips. And there’s even a dessert, a rich amaretto and chocolate pot.

It’s a full, if light, meal. So don’t turn up super-hungry, but you’re definitely getting a meal’s worth of calories here. And more, mostly likely.

More of your senses get involved than taste too. And here’s where our particular Back Room Cocktail Experience was a bit special.

The Music

On the average night, it’s accompanied by a DJ, from “Pete Tong DJ Academy” according to the website.

We were there for one of the Back Room’s new Blues Edition nights, with a live set split between courses from UK Americana act Eddy Smith. And while his Nashville-via-London suburbs performance takes us back to the cheesier end of the Hard Rock Cafe spectrum, in the cosy environs of The Back Room bar we’d take live music over a DJ set any day.

It all adds up to what was a pretty special evening — with no overpriced Hard Rock Cafe hoodies in sight.

The Hard Rock Cafe Back Room bar is found at 148B Old Park Lane, London, W1K 1QZ. These Cocktail Experience sessions are currently available to book for Friday sessions at 7pm — our review slot — or at 6pm on Saturdays. It’s listed as a two-hour experience, but ours ran on a chunk longer than that. Beware if you have a train booked.

The Back Room bar is also open daily outside of these hours, until 9pm, with no booking required.

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