5CC at Harrild and Sons, Farringdon

Set in a handsomely converted Victorian printworks, Harrild and Sons echoes owners Barworks' hit E2 gaff, Well and Bucket. As at that Shoreditch marvel, the ground floor taproom is done out in Whitechapel Gothic with macabre portraits of dead gorgeous Victorians, skeletons in full period finery. In Farringdon,you'll find 100 craft beers (possibly more) such as Marble Brewery’s Earl Grey Manchester IPA , Danish Evil Twin Disco and, delivering what it promises, as it should do at £14 a swally, Oregon’s spicy-nutty Rogue Oregasmic IPA. Plâteau de fruits de mer (£35), lobster with Dijon mayo in brioche, sliders, hanger steak with dripping chips, and duck burger with Reblochon and forest mushrooms all appeal but for me, the real interest lies below. 5CC numero 3, the biggest yet among a trio of similarly monickered cocktail dens (the others are at the Well and Bucket and upstairs at The Exmouth Arms EC1, with a fourth soon to open in Hackney) is a bobby dazzler of a basement tricked out in Edwardian cough syrup tones. Park up at a butch zinc for classy scotch and rye fixes such as an Indian whiskey and spiced chai old fashioned, remember the Maine, caipercaillie, or big rye sazerac served to a soundtrack of 60s calypso, 50s hillbilly hell-raisers and 40s jazz and doo-wop. Flush (flash) nighthawks, with £150-plus to drop on a dram, should dip into 5CC's 'whisky porn' selection for some of Scotland's most shaggable exports since the young Sean Connery.

26 Farringdon Street EC4A 4AB 3714 2497 www.harrildandsons.com

Well and Bucket/ 5cc, Shoreditch

Reversing an invidious trend, here's an old boozer that, having kicked the bucket, has come back from the dead as the Well and Bucket. Presumed lost when the previous pub shut in the 1980s, the place was until recently a rag trader's shonky showroom. That was before the Barworks team (Electricity Showrooms, The Slaughtered Lamb, etc, etc)  got to work on it. As part of its inspired nu-Edwardian steampunk makeover, the old Shoreditch boozer's original (listed) glazed wall tiles have been uncovered, much to the delight of ossified Jack The Ripper era dandies, captured in creepy Gothic portraits, that oversee the buzzy brasserie-style ground floor space. At its copper-topped island bar, choose from a dozen draughts such as Old Dominion Double D from the USA and Ink by Camden - stout and porters a perfect match for oysters presented, comme il faut,  on ice-laden vintage stands, or wrapped in bacon with crushed hazelnuts and creamed leeks (£14). Bivalve avoiders might prefer memorable 3 for £7.50 sliders filled with lamb shank pomegranate yoghurt and walnuts, ginger beer chicken and spicy slaw, or a cracking chilli and cheese dog (don't be deterred by its scary Alien-like assembly). If I admire the main room (and I do), then W and B's downstairs drinking den, 5cc has got me all loved up. Done out with flair, care (and a lot of spare cash), its butch captain's cabin pose recalls another East End gig I dig - Hawksmoor's cellar bar. As chez Will Beckett, the Bucket's cocktails are the biz: call a creamy Vesper using Black Cow vodka made from Dorset moos' milk or try colonial old fashioned, cosmo daisy (£9), honey sour and boulevardier - like this gorgeous gaff, another rave from the grave I'm mad keen on.

143 Bethnal Green Road E2 7DG 3664 6454 https://www.facebook.com/WellAndBucket