We all have one of those weeks occasionally where we literally find ourselves counting down the hours and seconds until Friday. Last week was that week for me. Mr.N, being the romantic soul that he is, decided meet me for dinner after work to cheer me up. He took it upon himself to book The Social Eating House. I didn’t do any research on it and just left him to it.

It’s Jason Atherton’s trendy establishment on Poland Street. We had some cocktails and bar snacks including the duck rillette and ham hock which were divine. I can only imagine how good the food must be if their bar snacks alone are this good. The problem for me was that there was no atmosphere. It could have been because we were sat in front of the window, I don’t know, but it wasn’t making me happy. I knew I couldn’t spend the rest of my night here. I’m not discrediting the place, on any other day I would have loved it but just not that Friday. “I want to go to Kingly Court” I said to Mr.N. Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street, is a cluster of eclectic restaurants and bars with a real buzzing atmosphere. The place is swarming with stylish West-end crowds on a Friday evening, and it’s far enough off the beaten track to not attract too many tourists.

We walked past a few places that I want to try including Pizza Pilgrims, Shoryu Ramen and Stax but it was The Rum Kitchen that was tugging away at my inner alcoholic strings. It was 9pm and we didn’t have a booking, surely this shouldn’t be an issue, or so I thought. Surprisingly, the very sweet waiter said he could give us a table, despite knowing we only wanted to drink, but he said he needed it back after an hour. Who books a meal at 10pm? This is not Spain, people!

Our intention was to drink but I just had to look at the food menu. Inevitably, looking quickly turned into salivating and so we decided to try a few light dishes.

We ordered the jerk chicken wings. Good God, these were incredible. They were glazed in a sweet but earthy, spicy jerk seasoning. We took a chance on the calamari, it was nice but nothing to shout about, the batter could have been injected with a bit more flavour. The watermelon and cucumber salad didn’t quite do it for me, I think the miso sauce drenched all over it wasn’t necessary- it took away from what could be a refreshing side. See, watermelon and duck works fantastically well, so perhaps even shredded jerk chicken and spiced cashew nuts could complement watermelon. I think I’ve just created a genius recipe. The sweet potato fries were delicious. I realise that on the whole this sounds negative but it’s really not, and it definitely shouldn’t put you off coming here. There were lots of items on the menu that looked amazing but we just weren’t hungry enough to order more.

On a much, much more positive note, the cocktails were on point! We had the Trader Vic’s Mai Tai, Nacional and Rumbongo MK II, to name a few. Do I remember which one was my favourite? No. Does it matter? Definitely not. If you love your rum, you need to come here.

Aside from their food and drink, The Rum Kitchen chain pride themselves on their epic playlist. I must admit, the awesome reggae and dance hall tunes, including a bit of old skool Sean Paul, had me practically dancing in my seat. There was a point where Beenie Man and Fambo’s Rum and Red Bull came on and I felt like I was back in Trinidad dancing away at a pre-festival house party. As I was bouncing around on my seat clearly getting lost in the music, Mr.N gave me that look he always gives me, that “please stop dancing and drawing attention to us in public” look. After six years he still hasn’t learnt that the more he does that, the more I feel compelled to wind him up. Mr.N should have been thankful that I didn’t join the dreadlocked waiter who was busting moves all over the place- it was tempting, I am not even going to lie!

The vibe was amazing, hands down. Mr.N went so far as saying that he felt like he’d been transported to Jamaica (I think that was the rum talking) and although I wouldn’t really go that far, it did make me feel like my troubles had momentarily disappeared.

I think it’s a great place to go with a bunch of friends, I know my girlfriends would have a great time drinking and bopping away. I spoke to a few work friends about the place and it seems everytime they try to book, it’s fully booked, so my advice is either go there late or book in advance!

Food: 7.5/10  Atmosphere: 10/10  Value: 8/10

If this restaurant were a fictional character, it would be…. Cookie Lyon, Empire-  She is not from the Caribbean, but Cookie is full of life and soul. She certainly knows how to have fun and you can’t help but love her confident and crazy ways.