Josh Barrie On the Sauce at Mad Cats: Listen up and give the poetry a rest

Don’t let the Mad Cats website put you off. “Music sets the scene, hearts convene,” begins a message from the bar team. “A clash of worlds, vibrant, unseen.” It sounds like one of those obscene adverts for a bank where a smiling man in a Gap jumper sicks up a dose of spoken word. On a journey are you, mate? Enjoy the house in Bracknell.

Back in Shoreditch and Mad Cats is yet another listening bar. It’s a trend, you see: walk into a dimly lit room flooded softly in orange, order a drink, sit down on a neutrally toned banquette and listen to Van Morrison. It is what the bar industry is telling everyone to do. Shall we oblige?

This one opened quietly in October, presenting a concise list of snappy cocktails and a fairly straightforward list of small plates. There are influences from Japan, so too Lebanon: za’atar crops up in drinks and Lebanese Wata cider appears next to sake flights. As for the cocktails, Mad Cats is hitting buzzwords. Butter-washed liqueurs? Check. Mezcal front and centre? Yes indeedy. Hot honey? You bet. Fair play, recognise that we’re in Shoreditch and for many London go-getters they are more novel, less same old.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a theme at Mad Cats beyond the vinyls, the Japanese touches and Lebanese flourishes. That’s fine. Not everything must be a concept. But I also don’t think a list heavy on the spritzes and crushes is particularly enthralling.

Still, drinks are considered and well made, the space is chic and moody and the record collection isn’t short of a banger or two. I’m not sure when listening bars became the vibe of the moment. It’s definitely a recent thing. I have to say, I quite like the generosity of them, the spirit; pause and think and relax, drink, listen, have a bowl of nuts.

Just for god’s sake, stop the poetry: “Dreams blend, cultures meet. Chilled vibes, funk on repeat”. Can you not?

107 Redchurch Street, E2 7DL, madcats.uk