On some of my many wanderings around London I had frequently passed a building in Bethnal Green which I didn't give to much thought to. It was obviously a municipal building of some description and I assumed it was still being used for local government purposes. I adore municipal buildings and my dream home would be an old school or council offices. All that parquet flooring, brown furniture, filing cabinets, large windows, coat hooks... Perfect

It was only when a few months ago I walked by late at night, and noticed that it was open and there was an amazing chandelier inside, that I began to think maybe all wasn't as it seemed.

This week I finally got around to Googling it and discovered that whilst the original town hall opened in 1910, back in 2010 it was turned into a hotel, two restaurants and a bar...

My decision to visit was pretty much made by then, but when a bit more searching showed me a mention of a cocktail tasting menu... well it seemed silly not to give it a shot.

Let me start by saying that my photos and words will in no way do justice to what we experienced- sorry. I can't express to you just what a lovely couple of hours we had tasting drinks inspired by the season, the food and the creator's thoughts and skill.

Some examples of what we were served were: A cocktail containing rhubarb gin, Bitter Truth Elixir, vodka and lemon bitters accompanied by a small tasting portion of potato noodles. It might not sound amazing but trust me, it was.

The food and drink continued with a gin, cucumber, celery, egg and soda concoction served with roasted celeriac, ricotta and lemon thyme.

Our third drink (well 4th if you count the class of Prosecco we were given at the start...) was Apple Jack, sweet vermouth, Fernet Branca and Maraschino served with Beetroot with milk yuba (I had never heard of yuba before, but it was delicious, and this information about making tofu yuba will give you an idea of what it is).

Last, but by no means least, in fact the dessert was one of the nicest things I have ever eaten, was a blazing cocktail containing Martell, peach, apricot and ginger. The dessert was reduced milk sorbert and cucumber grantia with pickled cucumber. Out of this world good.

The tasting menu is unbelievable value at £40 a person for 4 cocktails made especially for you and 4 small portions of amazing food. I seriously worried just 1 drink in that I'd mis-heard and it was going to be £140 each. It wouldn't have surprised me but I'm glad it wasn't as it means going back is more likely!

Afterwards we were still hungry (we hadn't actually eaten all day, oops) so headed up to The Corner Room for some more delicious food.

Fully sated we had one last wander through the corridors, swooned over the floors, high ceilings and meeting rooms, admired the artwork and vowed to return soon.