The Bite Magazine - Spring 2016 - Issue 15

Y ou may have noticed that the area surrounding King’s Cross and St. Pancras Inter- national has transformed almost overnight into an amazing city quarter with new homes, shopping experiences, offices, cultural venues and restaurants. So in comes Drake & Morgan, the neighbourhood’s first destination bar and restaurant that has taken up residence on Pancras Square amidst a series of stepped water terraces that light up in the evenings and lawn areas. The first thing you will notice about this new restaurant located behind King’s Cross station and in between St. Pancras International and Central St. Martins is that it is quite big and very long in length. Even before you approached the main entrance, you can see the activities going on in the restau- rant through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Outside, there are a number of seats and tables surrounded by small plants that will come in very handy during warmer weather. Inside, to your right, is a shelf with jars of eye-popping sweets that you would find in those old- time sweet shops, which you can take some of on your way out.To your left are some deli items that you can purchase from their shop and on the ground and lower ground floors you’ll find two long- length bars, an elegant dining room with open kitchen alongside a deli, lounge, two unique ‘kitchen pods’, private dining room and outside terrace. Drake & Morgan were formed in 2008 with an aim to create a unique space where locals and visitors could enjoy thoughtful, inspired menus and innova- tive, crafted cocktails in a welcoming environment. The name derives from the surnames of Sir Francis Drake and Captain Henry Morgan in which they share very much the same passion for adventure as their namesakes. With plans to plant a flagship restaurant in ten new locations over the next five years across the capital and beyond, Drake & Morgan is certainly setting sail with each new adventure.Whilst each restaurant is individual, they collectively aim to offer customers a retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life with “lovingly crafted escapes that are simply about the detail.” The first restaurant and bar to be opened by the group was The Refinery in Bankside, located inside the Blue Fin building on Southwark Street. The res- taurant offers fantastic food and drinks including innovative cocktails, global wines from their cutting-edge enomatic system and well-kept draught beers to a discerning media crowd. Other branches include The Refinery in Regent’s Place; The Anthologist in Gresham Street; The Parlour in Canary Wharf; The Drift in Bishopsgate; The Fable in Holborn; The Happenstance in Ludgate Hill; and The Folly in Bank. Later this year, Drake & Morgan will be opening their very first site outside of London in Edinburgh’s St. Andrew Square. When we arrived at Drake & Morgan in King’s Cross, we were immediately seated by Claudia at one of the tables in the corner.The restaurant had a lively atmosphere with music playing in the background and a décor of low hanging lights in narrow and large bell shapes. From where we sat on the inside balcony enclosed by glass panels, we could see the majority of the restaurant which is very long and spacious and it was amazing to see how the open kitchen and bar worked in harmony with each other. Before ordering food from the menu, we decided to start with cocktails in the form of Stateside Sour, Doctor’s Order and Rum Smash from the ‘Inspired’ bitecuisine