Cigars @ No.10, Manchester Street, N1U: The One with Only 6 of Us

Cigars @ No.10, Manchester street – an anniversary of the club treat. The One with Only 6 of Us

Six of us visited No. 10 on a Saturday afternoon in mid January. Why so few? No, it’s nothing to do with my personality. If you must know, that was the maximum we were allowed to book for. Actually, even booking for six was tricky, as the website said bookings were allowed, but when I emailed them to book I was told “we don’t take reservations”. Confused? I was. Anyway, after some back and forth I eventually managed to get us a table for six.

At 2pm, we met outside the hotel and proceeded inside. We were led from the hotel reception to the cigar lounge/terrace. As we walked in, we were greeted by beautiful humidor cabinets full of cigars on the right hand side and on the left, a super fancy 15 seat lounge. The cigar terrace, which seats around 20, stretched out in front of us, and that was where they had our tables waiting. The weather was cold and windy but the heaters had us covered completely. They were almost too warm, if anything, but we shouldn’t complain. On top of that, they also had blankets on the backs of chairs too – if you’ve always dreamed of lighting up in a blizzard, this is the place for you. The table was adorned with perfect cigar ashtrays and branded matches (as you would expect) and a lighter and cutter were brought over for us once we had chosen our cigars from the menu. We selected some Partagas Coronas Gordas Añejados, a Davidoff Signature 2000 and a Davidoff Petit Corona. These cigars were personal choices from the members as there wasn’t a ‘monthly stick’ from me on offer due to the fact we would celebrate in style at the lounge. It was exciting to have such a fantastic list to peruse before selecting our choices. It makes the lounge visits, and the prices that accompany them, all worth it.

I can imagine it’s tricky to be a waiter on a cigar terrace because you have to find the balance between leaving the guest alone to enjoy their smoke but also remain attentive as the guests are paying good money for that level of service. We did find it very strongly either one or the other here though. We were either looking for service and had to go and find someone for repeat drink orders, or the waiter was trying to do everything in one visit including taking cocktails that hadn’t yet been finished. Call me Old Fashioned, but I like to finish a drink, especially at that price. That said, the waiters we encountered were all very pleasant and professional.

In summary, I would go back for a special treat (which is exactly what it was for in the first place). It was a pricey visit, though, especially with an added 12.5% service charge on the bill, which came to around £300. And unfortunately we had said no to a couple of other members who wanted to come along as the 6 places were filled already. This was especially annoying as on the day there was only one other chap smoking, so there would have easily been room for eight of us. Having said that, the selection of cigars, attention to detail in terms of preparation and lighting, and delicious selection of drinks do make you feel pretty special.