Shoreditch House

It’s currently one of the most talked about member’s clubs in London, transcending sister venue Soho House and a plethora of others in the trendy stakes. Its location in the heart of Shoreditch along with its appealing rooftop swimming pool mean everyone wants to be a member, and while its clientele was originally intended to be mostly composed of creative East End types it’s largely investment bankers and their friends who turn up.

The discreet entrance of this former warehouse (naturally) leads to reception – you must be a member or be signed in by one to get in. The club occupies the top three floors of the building, each with its own bar and dining area.

Situated on the fifth floor, House Kitchen looks a little like an upmarket canteen. The long wooden tables are communal, and as the restaurant has a tendency to get very busy you can forget about having a quiet conversation.

The menu is a little bit Italian interspersed with glorified junk food – there are stodgy options like pizza, macaroni cheese and club steak and chips, as well as the slightly more high-brow silver mullet with clams, or lamb cutlets with Sicilian couscous. The calamari is just a tad on the tough side, and the chargrilled club steak is a perfectly tasty, smoky hunk of meat, but one wishes they had chosen a plumper, juicier and altogether better cut of beef. The chips are hand cut and fat, and the vanilla cheesecake is addictively rich, but overall the House Kitchen is not worth the hype; then again, it’s not the food that makes people flock here.