The Punch Room - Fitzrovia, London

When The London EDITION opened on Berners Street in September, it immediately became a zeitgeist type of venue, establishing itself straight away as a nerve centre for London's sectors of business, media, music and especially fashion with its powerful arsenal of offerings. In terms of function, if Berners Tavern were the EDITION's rocket propelled grenade and the Basement its AK-47, The Punch Room would be the sniper rifle; set back away from the fray, secluded, intimate and well adapted for dangerous liaisons.

On a number of visits we have shared The Punch Room with greater mortals whose stars were on the wax, but beyond that and more importantly, it's the kind of venue where you are guaranteed to have a glamorous evening. Staff members are voluble and well-equipped in wit and good looks, the room boasts a handsome design, and the bar an array of punches that would pique the envy of Muhammad Ali. To get down to the nitty gritty details, the room is clad head-to-toe in fumed-oak panelling, with teal velvet banquettes, mismatched brown and green leather arm chairs, and a soundtrack of throwback, jazz, reggae and motown tunes piped through the speakers. Bar manager Davide Segat, who honed his mixological edge at venues including The Connaught, Hawksmoor and The Bulgari, has assembled a crack team of bar tenders with equable backgrounds, to create a menu of punches, available for 2, 4, 6 or 8 drinkers. So far from our visits and the bowls we've sampled, our favourites have been the Milk Punch - a bewilderingly delicious amalgamation of Batavia Arrack, Somerset cider brandy cognac, rum green tea, lemon juice, pineapple and spices syrup - and the Punch a la Romaine, allegedly served during the fatal voyage of the Titanic - with Tanqueray, lemon sherbet, Pierre Ferrand Curacao and Champagne poured suggestively over an outsized block of ice.

You might be asking yourself whether this venue can pack a knockout punch, and it does. Namely, bar snacks from Jason Atherton. Ka-pow!