More jazz at CellarDoor in Aldwych?

Having an address which is "Zero Aldwych" is cute enough, but this teeny tiny venue with a huge heart is in a former Gent's loo just outside One Aldwych. As you walk down the stairs, it's like stepping back in time through a number of cliches - the decor is red, red, red and there is glass everywhere giving the dark cavern an illusion of space.

When I was there with a couple of mates there was no live jazz music - although the venue is famous for this. Maybe we just arrived too early...

Anyway. We sampled enough cocktails on the menu to know that they do cocktails good - for example, Mack the Knife was a modern twist on old favourite whisky mack. My colleagues tried out mojitos and daiquiries - some of them looking rather bright and some of the them tasting rather zingy. We had some nibbles too.

The staff - or fallen angels as they are called and they have little red and black wings on their back for ease of recognition - are super friendly and just attentive enough. There was an interesting mix of fellow guests - after work crowd mostly. Not the hard core jazzies I witnessed last week in the 606 Club.

But the big attraction for me was the world's first text message jukebox. You have a list of an eclectic range of tracks - fashion, travels with my aunt and songs to die for - being some of the themes. You then text the 4 digit code of the track you want to hear to the number provided. And not only do you get a very polite acknowledgement but you also get a further text when your track is about to be played. With my pals the selection included The Clash, Roxy Music, David Bowie and Duran Duran. Yes, I know this was not very jazzy and a bit 80s but that's what it felt like in a happy kinda retro way.

And then, when I read their site (I rarely read the web site before a visit as I fear it may colour my views) I learn that the founder of the bar is a former lawyer from a law firm with which I was once associated. I didn't know they made lawyers from real people these days...

This looks like it might become a favourite venue.....