Drink Lagos: The Warehouse Kitchen
So I started off the year sober, until things got overwhelming at work as per usual, so I succumbed. Don’t judge me please. Alcohol after all, has been more valuable to our species than we might imagine. (According to the financial times)
We visited The Warehouse Kitchen, which recently opened on Admiralty Way. I had high expectations as these new spots usually mean business for the first three months. However, it reminded me of a low-budget Hard Rock Café. The decor was all over the place. It had an outdoor area that tried to emulate a sports bar, although this time with graffiti. It also had those floor-to-ceiling windows you find at the newer hospitality structures in Lagos.
The Moscow Mule
Quite the copper…
We started with the Moscow Mule with fresh ginger, vodka, lemon juice and coke. It started off really spicy thanks to the ginger. However, dear mixologists, please note that coke is never a good substitute to ginger beer, so of course I didn’t like the cocktail. The perks of having vodka in a Moscow Mule is the ginger beer that embodies the usually bland spirit. The spicy but refreshing texture of ginger beer has no business with coke and it shows.
Folarin felt it was watered down due to the excessive ice. The alcohol was potent upon first sip but fell so faint as you went on. Although the cooper mug it came in looked pretty.
When I ordered the Strawberry Mojito, the bartender proceeded to showcase that innate sexist assumption that ladies (like myself) like sweet/mild cocktails. Boy was he wrong, because a sweet and syrupy concoction has nothing to do with Christina. The decision was merely due to their limited selection of cocktails. I liked it initially but when Folarin tasted it, he said he hadn’t quite had a “mojito” that tasted nothing like an actual mojito in his entire life. And as I kept going, I realized he was very correct. I couldn’t taste the mint… just sugar and ice.
Strawberry Mojito
The Cosmopolitan; so beautiful yet so empty.
The Cosmopolitan was Folarin’s way of putting an end to a bad night with poor alcohol choices. Of course, the universe jinxed him. It was a poor mixture as the mixologist over compensated with more vodka than any other ingredient. I guess, he would have taken it easy on Folarin if he was a woman. Lagos is full of mixologists that make drinks according to gender and faux alcohol tolerance than the actual recipe.
The Warehouse Kitchen, as the name implies, might be better with food and storing stuff than drinks. Who knows? The drink menu was incredibly boring with classics that tasted nothing like what you’re used to. Their drinks were also zero natural, it tasted empty and artificial. I’ll probably only go back if a colleague I dislike was doing her send-forth there.
TL:DR
Good for: Dinner & Drinks
Food: Full Kitchen
Happy Hour: No | Bottle Service: Yes | Wine: Yes | Beer: Yes
DAMAGE
Moscow Mule - N4500
Strawberry Mojito - N4500
Cosmopolitan - N4500
