Opening Night Review: Ruskis, London

Ruski’s Tavern, the new soviet kitsch bar and club on Kensington High Street owned by the creators of Bodos Schloss, opened last week to wild applause. The queue for the launch stretched down the high street, with some guests reportedly spending two hours in the line just to get inside. The reason? The Moscow Mule. Not often found in London, the cocktail that is described as ‘Home-Infused Belenkaya Vodka with ginger & lemongrass, Freshly squeezed lime juice, Splash of fever tree ginger beer’ had guests scrabbling at the bar for more, pushing one another out of the way for this copper-mugged delight.

A beautiful concoction of flavours, you can really taste the lime and lemongrass, and it’s surprisingly refreshing considering the name. As party revellers, including James Middleton clutched onto their Moscow Mule copper mugs, Champagne was being passed around the room in traditional Matryoshka dolls.

Ruski’s not only features the best cocktails in town, but also some original soviet artwork. The mural on the main wall of the bar was lifted from a crumbling wall in Russia and shipped back to London. The mix of luxurious leather banquets and rough-wood features around the bar makes you feel as though you’re in some sort of banned, secret tavern in the darkest parts of Moscow, with a long forgotten past of Tsarist Russia. The stairway reinforces this, as the candlelight guides you down and you scrape your hands on the roughened wood, before a giant bear welcomes you into the warmth and safety of Ruski’s.

Ruski’s is truly the coolest place in town, and you’ll see me down there every week until Diego and Antoin open another wildly unique nightspot. Мы любим Ruski’s!

Catherine Lux

www.luxlife-blog.com