The Stats: Troy Bar

What we ordered
To Drink: Guinness, Two Brew Dog’s

To Eat:
• Jerk Fish
• Jerk Chicken
• Jerk Beef

Cost £40 for three people

London is a city of neighborhoods and tucked away treasures. It’s a city where everything is available but it’s hard to find unless you know where to look. Troy Bar is a gem in the heart of the hip and bustling Shoreditch neighborhood. Its tag line is “London’s best kept secret.” It also claims to have been “part of the Shoreditch community before the area became one of the main social hubs of London’s night life.” With its low ceilings, no frills seating and peeling velvet wall paper, I believe every word. 

Troy Bar hosts live music 5 nights a week with Spirit and Soul Tuesdays, Hoxton Jam Wednesdays, Reggae Thursdays, Jazz Fridays and a host of Saturday night Blues, Funk and rock acts. We went on a Thursday for reggae with one of Craig’s friends, Luke who is a guitar player who had been looking for a place to play. 

Craig and I showed up around 7 p.m. thinking we could eat and hang out before the music was set to start at 9:30. We were newbs and unfamiliar with the unwritten rule that one does not show up on time for Reggae night at Troy. And one certainly doesn’t show up early. The lights were off, the door was locked and boxes were stacked in the entry way. Was this an actual pub? A guy came out as we had out noses glued to the door trying to decide if this was a working establishment. Yes, he said there would be reggae tonight. Yes, he said there would be food. Come back in at nine, he said. We said okay and went on our way. 

With two hours to kill we moseyed into The Blues Kitchen, just up the road. It’s a chain with three locations in London that holds live music acts most nights of the week. With phonograph lamp shades and lots of iconic ’60s and ’70s concert posters on the wall, it’s a fun vibrant place. It’s also very loud. 

We retreated to the beautiful and more intimate basement bar, which has a stained glass ceiling and green columns. We had a few drinks, admired the silver airstream turned private dining area and bided our time until 9 p.m. 

We were still the first patrons in Tony’s when we returned. The band wasn’t even set up yet. We ordered drinks at the bar, which seemed to favor liquor drinks over beer as some of the taps were out. The staff was friendly and while they take card for drinks at the bar, ordering food is a whole other story. 

After finding a seat against the wall not too close to the stage, we wanted to order some much anticipated Jamaican food. The bartender told us to just knock on the kitchen door to ask for what we wanted and that the kitchen only takes cash. Clearly there are two very separate businesses operating out of this property. We did as we were told and pretty quickly three plates piled with amazing delicacies arrived. 

I had the jerk fish which was the best of the three. It was flakey and seasoned to perfection and came in a generous portion. Each plate came piled with rice and peas (which is actually rice and black beans or black eyed peas, not green peas as Ikea recently learned.) Green plantains, a mountain of coleslaw and salad rounded out the meal, which would be hard pressed to leave anyone hungry.

As we finished eating, more people were starting to trickle in. The band had begun to set up and by 10:30 the reggae was on. The curated open mic meant that pre-selected singers fronted the house band singing reggae classics and reggae versions of pop, rock and jazz songs. Everyone was exceptionally talented and the crowd was responsive. As it was a weekday we bowed out at midnight well before the music finished with full belies vowing to return.