It’s 7pm at One Club Row and the cocktail shakers have started. The rattling clatters from a central long bar, where white-aproned waitstaff whisk martinis across the room. By the door, a pianist is plinking and plonking through an eclectic set of jazz songs. There is a hubbub of chatter and laughter and general “it was a sunny day in London” warmth. There’s champagne. Ceviche. Cheesecake.

What you wouldn’t know, unless you’d miraculously teleported into your wooden chair and found yourself midway through ordering moules frites and a martini, is that this is a restaurant above a pub, The Knave of Clubs, on a fairly unassuming street in Shoreditch. You also wouldn’t guess it had only just opened – that clue is reserved for those who entered through the front door and caught a whiff of fresh paint on the stairs.

But One Club Row already carries the nostalgia, comfort and confidence of a longstanding London restaurant. It also has the demand. So, on a gloriously sunny Saturday evening, Brummell headed to Club Row to find out why. 

The background 

One Club Row is the second of two openings by the team behind The Knave of Clubs: Patrick Powell, James Dye and Benjy Leibowitz. Their first, The Knave, is more of a classic British pub; One Club Row is, they say, their tribute to the best of New York hospitality. So, it has its own separate entrance (a cool, clubby door set into one of Shoreditch’s more graffitied streets) and an altogether more American vibe – martinis, live jazz and a menu that’s Parisian by way of New York. 

Critically, it is not a pub. It is a restaurant – albeit a restaurant occupying the upstairs space of a pub. We’re starting to see more and more of these in the capital lately as pubs look to shed the “gastropub” label of the 2010s and seek to redefine pub grub altogether (more on that here). And while The Knave of Clubs and One Club Row are distinct entities, there’s just something nice about popping in for a pre-dinner pint, isn’t there? 

The space

Many restaurants describe themselves as “hidden gems”. But few genuinely are – few are, for example, practically camouflaged on a street art-splashed side street off Bethnal Green Road (although the doorman and blue awning do give it away). Then it’s in, up and through a swishing curtain to the sepia-toned dining room. 

The design borrows from The Grill at The Hero’s playbook: 19th-century panelling, corniced ceilings, huge fireplaces, plastering that’s slightly rough around the edges. Colourful, Matisse-style prints hang on the walls (by London artist Joy Yamusangie) and there’s a busy central bar where you can sit and chat to the bartenders, NYC-style. 

The food

NYC tavern this, Parisian bistro that – the only thing you need to know about this menu is that it’s filled with food you actually want to eat. Fuss and pomp have been kicked to the kerb on Bethnal Green Road; you’ll eat things like soft scallops lounging in garlic butter, salty noir ham with a swirl of carbonara-like celeriac remoulade, and a straight-up steak tartare that – for once – arrives without the typical tableside performance (but does come with beef-dripping bread). 

There are surprises, too. Instead of the expected fries to accompany the curried moules frites, there are great spears of crispy chickpea – more hashbrown than chip. And the pork schnitzel (tender, juicy, succulent) is dabbed with blobs of gorgonzola for a burst of salt and swathed in mustard-ale sauce for pure bliss. 

To drink, there’s the aforementioned martini (served four ways, including one with olive oil), a selection of “not martinis” (we loved the chilli margarita), and a decent wine list that doesn’t break the £100-mark per bottle. 

The verdict

One Club Row is for those who love the theatre of dinner – not in the cloche-lifting, silver-domed sense, but the kind where you talk to the bartender, chat to your waiter and shout a Sinatra request to the pianist after your second cocktail. It is the kind of place where the night stretches long, the martinis come short and leaving feels premature.

The bill 

A three-course meal for two plus wine and a couple of martinis will set you back about £200. 

One Club Row, 1 Club Row, E1 6JX; oneclubrow.com