London’s best booze-free pairings

It’s that time of year when words such as ‘Veganuary’ and ‘Dry January’ start doing the rounds again. If you’re signed up for the former, head to our roundup of London’s best vegan-friendly restaurants; if you’re doing the latter, keep reading. 

This article is not a list of London’s best mocktails or zero per cent bars. Instead, it is a list of fine-dining restaurants that offer elite alcohol-free pairings alongside top-level tasting menus – wine is no longer the only choice. We’re talking mocktails infused with flavours from the kitchen, sommelier-selected sparkling sodas,, and specially infused teas.

So, we’ve scoured the capital and found five restaurants that do all the above, all year long. 

Aulis, Soho 

Simon Rogan’s three Michelin-starred restaurant hasn’t used up all its creativity on the food; its alcohol-free pairing is one of the most interesting in the capital. Each serve employs the same ingredient-led, locally sourced approach as the rest of the menu, with creations like ‘Red Wine, Not Red Wine’ (Japanese black tea cooked with beetroot juice, unfermented grape juice, cacao nibs, and blackberries) and Apple & Whey (Pink Lady apple juice threaded with whey and smoked with Cartmel pine shoots) providing compelling reasons to order the booze-free options.   

The Clove Club, Shoreditch  

Ask any northerner and they’ll confidently tell you that you can drink tea with any part of your meal. And you can also put that question to The Clove Club, which – alongside its two Michelin-starred menu – offers a tea pairing in place of wine. But builder’s brew this is not. Each of the nine teas is cold-infused and served room temperature in a wine glass, with a sommelier on hand to provide the same level of detailed blurb as you’d get with the wine. Don’t fancy going full tea? You can also do a mixed wine and tea pairing to experience the best of both.  

Kitchen Table, Fitzrovia

There are two names you need to know at Kitchen Table: James Knappett, the chef in charge of the daily changing menu, and Sandia Chang, the sommelier and co-founder behind the genuinely brilliant soft drink pairing. Her creations include a Forelle Pear (pear, French ex-Cognac oak chips, and pear verjus), Oyster Leaf & Samphire (oyster leaf, samphire distillate, and lemon sherbet), and Golden Beetroot (golden beetroot, Tellicherry peppercorns, and orange). They’re all served as part of the tasting menu spectacle on the restaurant’s 18-seat oak bar, which encircles the kitchen table itself. 

Mauro Colagreco at Raffles London at The OWO, Whitehall

There’s a lot to love about Argentinian chef Mauro’s restaurant (the Pablo Neruda poem served with the bread course! The cheese trolley! etc.), but, with Dry January in mind, the temperance pairing by Director of Wine Vincenzo Arnese tops the list. Each serve has been designed to complement Mauro’s intricate (and ever-evolving) cooking – you’ll be drinking things like The Smokey Carrot (CROSSIP dandy smoke, carrot, and sea buckthorn) and The English Garden No-Tini (Seedlip 108, Everleaf Marine, and celeriac leaf). 

Akoko, Fitzrovia

You probably know Akoko as the brilliant West African-inspired restaurant with warm terracotta walls and ‘60s-inspired pottery. But you should also take note of its soft drinks pairing, which is not just a January special but available year-round. On the menu: Chapman (a Nigerian drink mingling grenadine, orange juice, lime, and mint), pineapple tonic, and a scotch bonnet and lemon cordial. And lots of jollof rice – Akoko’s most celebrated dish.