Above Board is a rare sort of cocktail bar. There’s no luminous back bar stacked with bottles and bottles of brand-name spirits. There are no intimate corner tables or booths – the only place to sit is at the big 12-seat island bar, or the coveted pair of two-seater banquettes behind it. And though owner Hayden Lambert has impeccable bartending credentials (Bar Americano, the Merchant Hotel), he won’t make you any drink you can think of, no more than a restaurant will make you any dish you can think of.

It’s a polarising place, but you can’t fault Lambert’s intentions. He’d rather serve 25 cocktails he knows how to make perfectly, than hundreds he’s less familiar with. Business partners Manu Potoi (Rockwell & Sons, Bar Liberty) and Cornelis Ribbe are down with it.

There are 25 or so cocktails on the menu, split into signatures and updated classics. The Big Four are still here – Negroni, Old Fashioned, Manhattan and Martini – made to exacting standards.

Finding the place isn’t easy. When BeerMash is open, go inside and enter the unmarked door at the back of the shop. Above Board is a sharp U-turn and a flight of stairs away. Otherwise, entry is at the rear. Walk down Perry Street and up the graffiti-riddled Chopper Lane, which isn’t listed on Google Maps.