Tayer + Elementary

Stumbling through the hallowed, neon-lit labyrinth of Old Street, one finds themselves at the dimly glowing epicenter of London's cocktail cathedrals – Tayer + Elementary. The two-headed beast lies in wait, a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of London's drinking scene, composed of the sharp, brilliant split personalities that are Elementary, the friendly, uncomplicated upstart, and Tayer, the dangerous alchemist's lair. This place is not just a bar. It is an immersive expedition, a journey through the soft haze of citrus-infused fantasies and unbridled creative intoxication. Heaven, hell, and everything in between poured into a glass and served over hand-cut ice.

Elementary is the warm-up act, a bustling bar designed for drinkers of all shades—the highball chuggers and the cocktail cultists. The space itself feels like a playground for the thirsty mind: it's raw, industrial, a bit like drinking in the middle of a Bauhaus artist's studio. The concrete bar, lined with communal seating, invites strangers to engage in the grand and gritty social experiment of just being human, with booze as the common denominator. If Tayer is the white rabbit, Elementary is the rabbit hole—inviting you to descend, inch by inch, into a curious universe of potent pleasure.

But behind this seemingly minimalistic façade, one finds precision as sharp as a chef's knife, a finely calibrated matrix of flavor, fuel, and fervor. There's no pretension here—just excellence distilled and filtered through the playful hands of mixology masterminds Alex Kratena and Monica Berg. You don’t come here to sip quietly in the corner; you come here to participate in the theatre of drinking, surrounded by a mixed bag of after-workers, cocktail cognoscenti, and bleary-eyed aficionados who know the nectar on offer is worth any hassle.

Then there’s Tayer. Tayer is where the magic kicks in—where booze isn’t just poured but conjured. A temple of creativity nestled behind Elementary’s come-as-you-are ethos, Tayer evokes the ambience of an apothecary for the unhinged, or perhaps a scientist’s basement lab after one too many fevered late-night experiments. It is a dark, enigmatic space where every drink tells a tale—and that tale is always a choose-your-own-adventure. Ingredients are paraded like stars in their own right: seaweed, eucalyptus, fermented tomatoes, Brazilian tonka beans... a veritable cornucopia of the weird and wonderful, each one poised to wreak some beautiful havoc on your taste buds.

"Ingredients are paraded like stars in their own right: seaweed, eucalyptus, fermented tomatoes, Brazilian tonka beans..."

A trip to Tayer is a dive headlong into mixological myth-making. Forget a menu that gives you a list of sugary cocktails with little umbrellas. Here, you get a chalkboard that reads more like a challenge: dare to try the ‘Tayer + G&T’? Sure, it might sound straightforward, but what arrives before you is an evolutionary leap in the gin & tonic’s somewhat humdrum lineage—bursting with spruce freshness and garnished with a cold clarity only a place like Tayer can distill. Or there’s the ‘One Sip Martini,’ a single glacial mouthful of crystal-clear martini bliss, enough to make your soul shiver—a symphony of cold, pure notes that slaps you alive with one dazzling bite.

Now, I must offer praise where praise is due—there is no lukewarm here, no compromise. Take the Red Star, for instance: an iced, rosy crimson fusion of mezcal, red verjus, and buckwheat honey. Sweetness and smoke collide like two lovers in a passionate frenzy; it’s sweet fire with an edge that hits your gut like the best kind of train wreck. It’s the type of drink that pulls you to the center of your own story, a dangerous narrative spun with vibrant tendrils of citrus and peppered nuance.

And let’s not overlook the food—oh no, Tayer + Elementary isn't content to simply dominate the kingdom of liquid creation. Their bites may read as understated, but they pack the punch of a heavy-weight contender. The sourdough toast with smoked butter, for instance, hits just right, even when the rest of the world feels slightly tilted by drink number four. And if your feet (and soul) are in need of a proper foundation, opt for the koji-marinated beef—a flavor bomb that anchors your float through the flavor cosmos.

The truth about Tayer + Elementary is this—it’s a bar that operates at the edges of logic, a place where you discover new realms of booze-soaked imagination, where every glass is a Pandora’s box, just waiting to unleash a new adventure. You can call it one of the best bars in the world, but that might just be selling it short. Tayer + Elementary is not a titleholder—it’s a world-building experience. It doesn’t matter if you’re here for a casual cocktail, a night of strange discoveries, or just to drink in an atmosphere where high art and high-proof coexist in glorious unholy matrimony—Tayer + Elementary will take you by the hand, spin you around, and push you off the deep end with a grin.

To drink at Tayer + Elementary is to indulge in the anarchic joy of losing oneself in an unending procession of textures and tastes. It is to surrender, with a cheer, to the fact that sometimes, drinking is the only sane reaction to an insane world—and if you’re going to take the plunge, it may as well be here, amongst the mad scientists and dreamers, surrounded by concrete, steel, and the crackling alchemy of pure magic.