Cato opens in London
NYC-inspired cocktail bar Cato has opened in London’s Covent Garden, three months later than originally announced.
The bar originally aimed to open in Mercer Street in November as part of hospitality group Bart & Taylor.
The project is a partnership with Angelos Bafas, who left Nipperkin and the Creative Restaurant Group in September 2025.
The bar takes its inspiration and name from Cato Alexander, who is said to be the ‘world’s first’ celebrity mixologist in 19th-century Manhattan.
The venue features two levels, with the House on Julep on the ground floor and Colour Has Flavour in the basement.
The House of Julep is intended to be a ‘lively and welcoming’ entry point to Cato. The space is centered around the Julep cocktail, which Alexander made famous in the 1800s. The interiors channel the ‘warmth and ease’ of a New York tavern, with ridged dark walnut panelling and a custom aged-zine bar top.
The space is finished with Pooky lighting – common in New York bars – Irish-inspired Brentwood stools and oversized American-style black leather seats.
Mint and other herbs are grown in house, with the bar having ambitions of becoming the first fully self-sufficient bar for herbs and fruit.
Colour Has Flavour is a more ‘intimate, experiential’ area, built around its debut cocktail menu of the same name. The space features custom sapele-veneered panelling, industrial lighting from Industville, and custom velvet booth seating.
The bar and menu are inspired by synesthesia, a neurological condition where senses can overlap, causing people to be able to ‘taste’ colours. Accordingly, the menu explores how colour shapes flavour, aroma, texture and expectation. The menu’s theme is also reflected through artwork by Noj Barker.
The basement bar offers 14 cocktails divided by colour: green, white, pink, yellow, orange, red and brown. Each drink is named after its two defining ingredients, which have been chosen from their ‘shared colour and sensory character’.
Sweet Woodruff + Cream is a white cocktail that infuses the flowering perennial into gin and pairs it with a koji-based cream, creating a ‘deeply rounded, aromatic’ liqueur.
Meanwhile, a green cocktail pairs vacuum-distilled Dorset wasabi with wild mustard greens foraged in London and along the south coast.
Medlar + Mushroom combines dried mushrooms with a fermented mushroom water kefir, while Red Dulse + Cherry sees Atlantic red dulse seaweed infused into aged rum and softened by British cherries.
All produce and spirits are sourced exclusively from the UK.
The basement bar is also home to the Study, a creative laboratory that features a communal table for masterclasses, pop-ups and experimental serves.
Cato’s food offering is equally ingredient-driven, with bar snacks and small plates intended to complement the cocktails.
Dishes include Cobble Lane cured meats with focaccia and caper berries, and Neal’s Yard Dairy cheeses. Also on offer are fried oysters with mint and chilli mignonette, popcorn-fried chicken with spiced apricot sauce, and house burgers.
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