One students will dig

Nostalgic for university life? Then head for the cavernous T-Bar, which looks uncannily like a college bar, from the cement floors to the plastic tables. The stock, though, would have your average student gibbering.

I counted at least half-a-dozen gins, including South, the delicious and hard-to-find New Zealand gin.

Other spirits were equally well-represented: this is obviously intended
to be a cocktail joint. It’s a shame my Spring Punch was much too sweet and
tasted insufficiently alcoholic, although it’s only to be expected when
you get a vat of cocktail that supposedly includes champagne for £5.50 — are they aiming at students, too?

The beer range is OK but there are only two red wines by the glass. The pricier one — Les Jamelles Merlot 2002 (£5.50) — was pretty rough.

Purple banquettes are long and deep, meaning you either have to perch like an interviewee or recline like a Roman, but the service was good (as it should have been, given we were the only customers at 7pm on a Saturday).

The ‘proper burger’ lived up to its name: huge, perfectly cooked served with a mountain of chips, all for £6.50.

Still, this is another place that includes service then leaves a space for more on your bill — sharp practice no college bar would get away with.

T-Bar
56 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6JJ