NoMad London hotel restaurants: Side Hustle review

My most recent discovery doesn’t seem so secret, but it’s hidden away enough for me to feel like I’ve found a gem.

In the heart of Covent Garden lies the stunning NoMad Hotel, and as part of the building’s former Police Station and one of the hotel restaurants, is Side Hustle.

Side Hustle offers casual drinks and dining in a lively setting with good atmosphere and vibes, with a menu of food inspired by Latin America, and a whole host of agave-based spirits.

It’s dark, it’s cool, and it has a feature bar with enough alcohol to get you drunk by looking at it.

There are bar seats and booths, and the food menu’s intention is that you order a few bits to try and share.

My boyfriend and I went for a date night, and while we aren’t doing Dry January strictly, we are trying to drink less – something hard in a bar where the drinks all sound so good.

I treated myself to one drink and asked for the sweetest tequila-based cocktail.

I was recommended the Pink Elephant which was made of aperol, lemon, cherry heering, orgeat, passion fruit and bird’s eye chilli.

Don’t get me wrong – I wouldn’t describe it as sweet – but it had elements of sweet in and had a nice kick to it, and it also went perfectly with the flavourful food.

For those doing Dry January properly, some £11 highlights on the specially-curated menu at Side Hustle are the Horchata - made with rice, almond and cinnamon, and El Diablito, made with ginger, hibiscus, lime and London essence club soda.

The cocktail menu is extensive, and split into NoMad classics, Side Hustle classics, refreshing drinks and spirit forward ones.

There are also some mocktails for those being better at Dry January than I am.

We ordered some bits to share to eat, including the guacamole which I really enjoyed, and which came as a generous portion that I could have eaten more and more of.

We also had the seabass ceviche, which is one of my classic favourites, and my boyfriend ordered the esquites croquettes which looked like they were bursting with flavour.

For a main option I went for the tuna tostado, and my boyfriend had the pork belly al pastor.

The tuna I had was melt-in-the-mouth, moist, and you could tell the flavours had been paired together deliberately and carefully.

All of them were small in portion size but we were absolutely stuffed and the waiter recommended the perfect amount of dishes to order, as well as offering his thoughts on which were the best tasting.

I’d definitely go back and it was a great spot for a bite to eat and some tequila-y fun.