If you haven’t heard of Dick Bradsell, then look him up on Wikipedia. He has done as much as any single person in this country to create the globally enviable, almost unparalleled, cocktail scene that most of us enjoy, and a few take for granted, in this great city of ours. He was most probably best known as the head bartender at the eponymously named Dick’s Bar in the now extinct, Atlantic Bar and Grill.

However, his influence stretches far wider than that, having invented such world-famous cocktails as The Pharmaceutical Stimulant (a.k.a. the Espresso Martini), The Bramble, and The Treacle, an innovative rum-based take on arguably the greatest cocktail of all, The Old-Fashioned. 

Well? Where is he now, and why am donating some time to telling you about him?  

Three Words. The. Pink. Chihuahua.

Dick now runs a most magnificently casual bar underneath a really very good, Baja/Mexican restaurant called El Camion (formerly known as El Camino. See what they did there?) in London’s Soho. If you didn’t know it was there, you’d never find it. You certainly wouldn’t know that it was open until 3 a.m. most nights, way after the restaurant has shut. If the beautiful, striking, body-pierced door hostess Polly lets you in, that is. 

Look, I’m obsessed, with the house cocktail. It is simply delicious. On several levels. It has depth, balance, texture, and it even looks sexy. It’s as though someone has made a cosmpolitan with a few dashes of blood. It’s sexy the way that crimson underwear is sexy. It looks so naughty.

Well, here is the drink, being served by Mr. Bradsell himself.

What’s in it, I hear you cry?…..

Well, I’ve watched them make a few, and I think I’ve got it..

25ml of fresh lime juice

25ml of fresh pomegranate juice

15ml of orgeat (almond) syrup

50ml of Olmeca Silver tequila (or some similar high-quality 100% agave brand)

A dash of egg whites

Shake all the above into a martini glass, and garnish with a wedge of lime. Simples.

I strongly recommend that you order a plate of their delicious shredded pork nachos from upstairs, to soak up the booze too. Once you’ve had a couple of PCs, go on to these. Tommy’s Margaritas made with Tapatio Reposado. 

Now that’s how I roll….

After that lot, so will you.