Helix & Iris

The Gherkin.

It’s kind of a big dill.

So getting a publicly accessible bar and a restaurant into the space on its two upper floors – including the transparent 40th floor glass bubble that caps the whole thing, and looks out over 360 degrees-worth of skyline – is kind of a coup. A coup that the people at Searcy’s are playing particularly well.

Previously a members-only club, they’ve now unveiled their new restaurant & bar in the bi-level space on both the 39th (Helix, the restaurant) and 40th (Iris, the cocktail bar) floors. They’re so high up, you need to take two elevators just to get there.

Here’s what you can expect from both of them…

HELIX

The restaurant is headed up by Executive Chef Daniel Loftin (previously head chef at Royal House London and Peninsula Restaurant), and he’s brought a menu of modern British dishes made with strictly British produce, with salmon coming directly from John Ross Jr, holders of the Queen’s warrant, lamb coming from the Rhug Estate, etc.

Menu highlights include English green asparagus with Dorset crab, grapefruit, soy and sesame; and confit Suffolk chicken with slow-cooked Burford Brown egg, and sweetcorn for starters. Mains include Goosnargh duck, chicory, gooseberries, and honeyed walnuts; or South Coast turbot with grelot onion, peas, broad beans, yoghurt & caviar.

IRIS

The cocktails here are split into the geographic regions of London itself, all pretty much visible from where you’ll be drinking them;

• The West includes the No.17 (Bruton Street) named after the exact address that Queen Liz was born, and including cocoa nibs-infused gin, Sweet vermouth, creme de cacao, lemon juice, and Champagne.
• The East has a Jack the Ripper (Whitechapel) which rejigs the Bloody Mary with Mediterranean herbal vodka, beetroot, tomato, lemon, Worcester sauce, and Mexican spices.
• The North has a Hibiscus Mint Tea (Edgware Road), which takes the North African influence on that part of the city as its inspiration, with mint vodka, Earl Grey and cloves, lemon, grenadine, hibiscus, and elderflower foam.
• The South includes a Brixton Pound (Brixton) which is the bartender’s personal favourite: a take on the Rum Old Fashioned with El Dorado 12 yr old, tonka beans molasses, and chocolate bitters.

And thankfully it’s your drink that will be in a Gherkin…

…not the other way around.

NOTE: Helix & Iris are now open daily. You’ll need to make a booking to get up there – due to the security of the building, there are no walk-ins – and you can do that at their website right HERE.

Helix & Iris | 30 St Mary Axe, EC3A 8EP

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