drinki app + 214 bermondsey

when you get an invite from sarah that includes the words "free drink" and "bar tab" and "undergound bar", you just don't ask questions. you say yes. you go. and so go i did on wednesday afternoon, along to 214 bermondsey, albeit slightly from the wrong station, making it the longest walk in the world. no bother. not only was it gin o'clock, it was time to catch up with some friendly faces and have a good old fashioned blogger bitch with the two sarahs.

having met them both only a few weeks prior, i was looking forward to getting to know the two girls that my main squeeze lynsay talks so highly of. and, the drinks were on the house, thanks to new ladies-only app, drinki (@drinkiapp on twitter if you fancy a feminist rant) - a fact we were only to learn later that night, many thanks to max behind the bar who was more than helpful in a) making the apps work for us, b) bring us gin all night, and c) be adorable. first drink on the menu; hendricks fix. we'll take three.

so this app - basically it uses your gps location to tell you where you can go grab a drink for free. you have to show your phone to the barman once you order your drink, and then they accept the order. it's all very... manual. i mean, it's not hard to find a bar, right? i guess the whole selling point is that the drink at the other end of the app is free. well, if you're a female that is (although we're assure "drinko" is on the way in for the guys. i wonder what the drinks will look like for them.. if they're sticking to the sexist ideals, then probably just pints or straight scotch. hrm). one free drink per bar is pretty good i guess, but i wondered what this would mean for regular customers or, like, how that would affect the quality of the customers coming in...

lucky for us, we had a chance to speak to the owner of 214 bermondsey - nick, when we hurried him over (not knowing he was the top dog) to ask what the secret drink max had made us was (the one with the orange peel on top; it was a se1 sour, and it was incredible). that poor fool didn't know what he was in for; three mouthy bloggers, three cocktails in (we'd also downed an english breakfast tea each, which was my favourite of them so far), slurring and questioning him on his decision to partner with a fairly sexist pro-drinking app and how it's affected business since launching. turns out, he had the same reservations as us. so, that's nice to know.

bless his wee cotton socks because after that chat with us, he managed to drop it into the conversation that he also owned the restaurant - antico, upstairs also, and would we like to sample some dishes? maybe it's cos we were four three cocktails in with one more on the way, and he didn't want to be responsible for that particular mess. i hope it's because he fancies me. it's most likely the first thing though. and who were we to decline such a generous offer? and about ten minutes later we were scoffing down some of italy's finest dishes; for the vegetarian ladies (i sometimes pretend, cos easier) there was a courgette and spring onion risotto in a cream sauce and a black olive tagliatelle in a tomato base, while i was lucky enough to have an entire monk fish risotto all to myself. not to mention some homemade rustico breads and oily dippy things.

omgggaaaad it was so good. we weren't even there to review the food, but i must. it was delicious. and i will 100% go back for seconds. we washed our meals down with our final gin cocktail of the night (headache had well and truly kicked in by now) - the bermondsey fizz (i think? can't actually remember what it was called. i hope i haven't made that up), which was the champagne cocktail of the night. it was also our official free drink via the app. again, thanks to max who actually did all of the toying with the phones, we were... hopeless (maybe an app just for women is not the cleverest idea, just saying). and also, incredibly drunk.

so, a massive thanks to @drinkiapp for the opportunity to try out a new bar in my (sort of) area, and thanks again to sarah for inviting the other sarah and i to come along and drink with her. but, the biggest thanks of the night goes out to nick and his guys over at 214 bermondsey for being such incredible hosts and literally looking after us the whole night. the wee gin bar is so unassuming and unpretentious, it's a rare thing to find - especially at the end of a busy high street.

if you're a lady, download the app right now and head along if you're a local.

you won't regret it (the drink, that is. maybe the app).