When is a pub not a pub? Bethnal Green’s The Sun Tavern is somewhere between old-school boozer and nu-school bar, largely due to its array of cocktails and a rather refined snack menu that edges into charcuterie board (parmesan petit saucisson, anyone?). Rest assured, though: it looks and feels very much like a pub, with bar stools and creaky wooden floors honouring the venue’s origins, which stretch back to 1851. The Tavern is also set apart by its penchant for poitín, an Irish moonshine that, traditionally, varies from 40 to 90%. Despite that hair-raising fact, it actually goes down very easily – a little too easily, if anything – with a fruity flavour that more than complements a crisp lager. Throw in regular club nights and guest DJs and there’s something for everything here (existential quandary notwithstanding).
Order this
They love their whisky at the Sun Tavern, with a good few of the bar’s cocktails based around the firewater. The Swanton Bomb will knock your socks off.
What’s nearby?
E Pellicci, an Italian café that’s been in Bethnal Green almost as long as the Tavern – since 1900 – serves monumental fry-ups that seem tailor-made for soaking up a poitín hangover.
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