Lucky Voice and the search for a perfect Vodka Martini

On Saturday night I was waiting to meet my date and thinking about what we could do to kick the evening off.
I thought perhaps a cocktail or two would be a nice start and we could decide where to eat whilst drinking our aperitifs. I know this isn't a mind-blowingly original idea but it was met with enthusiasm so my instincts weren't too far off the mark.
A short bus ride from Finsbury Park station (oh the glamour) and we were in Lucky Voice on Upper Street perusing the cocktail menu.

I'm a fan of the Pina Colada (and so is my date) but that wasn't on the menu so I decided to try my new favourite drink and ordered a vodka martini straight up with a twist.
My date ordered a dirty Martini.

I watched them being made and noticed a few differences to my inaugural VM.

Measures: overall the drink was smaller. The glass was not filled to the brim. The menu states that cocktails are made with 25 ml shots but the waiter poured both the vodka and the vermouth by hand without measures. I forget the brands used but will find out and update later.

Mixing: A pint glass was filled with ice and the vermouth was poured into this and decanted into the empty cocktail glass which had been chilled with ice at the start. Some surplus vermouth was poured off. The vodka was poured over the ice, the vermouth was poured back into the pint glass and stirred with a metal twizzle. The mixture was then poured back into the cocktail glass.

Twist: One piece of the lemon peel was twisted and dropped into the glass. Another piece was run around the glass edge then squeezed over the drink.

Verdict: A good martini although I can't vouch for the measures or the ratio of the two ingredients.

Cost: £7.50 plus 12.5% service charge

My date's drink was exactly the same except for the substitution of the twist with three olives on a plastic stick and the addition of a generous drop of olive brine. This is the ingredient that bestows "dirty" status.

The vodka martini is a sipping drink and very conducive to conversation.

During that conversation I thought that a search for the perfect vodka martini would make a good theme for my otherwise un-used blog.

Thirty minutes or so into the evening we decided on a second round.

I wasn't present at the making of the drinks but both mine and my companion's were significantly stronger than the earlier efforts. While this is no bad thing in itself it does raise a question about consistency of product which I think is important. If you can only make a great martini once then it's a fluke. Reproducibility of results is essential to the scientific method and I intend to apply this to my research.


Overall, I like Lucky Voice as a place for a drink. It is comfortable environment with nice staff and the drinks were ok.

I'm still trying to figure out a scoring system that is sensible and fair.
I'm going to start with a star system based on my enjoyment of the drink with some note given to the surroundings. After all a great drink is wasted in a crappy setting and a nice setting can improve a mediocre drink.
If a maximum score is five stars I will give Lucky Voice Islington two stars.