This article was originally published on the Guardian Soulmates blog. Click here to view it. 

If you’re a cocktail connoisseur, 2-8 October 2017 could be one of the most exciting weeks in your calendar. Yes, London Cocktail Week is back, and with it comes a host of events and venues at which you can enjoy a spirit-infused date.

One particular partnership which has got our mouths watering is that between cocktail bar Nine Lives, which opened earlier this summer, and El Tigre, the head chef of Mexican family seafood restaurant Los Barcos. Coupling up for a week-long pop-up at the London Bridge base of Nine Lives, ‘The Nine Lives of El Tigre’ will be offering guests authentic tacos and Don Julio tequila cocktails – such The Pink Flamingo (pictured below) which has recently been shortlisted as one of the top six signature creations from the capital’s best bartenders.

We caught up with Tom Soden, co-founder of Nine Lives, and El Tigre, head chef of Los Barcos, to find out more about their collaboration, and whether Nine Lives makes for a decent dating venue.

What sets Nine Lives apart from other cocktail bars in the London Bridge area?

Tom Soden: Soul. The bar is the culmination of three friends’ favourite things; it’s less of a concept and more of a personality.  You feel this in every aspect of the venue, from the staff to the music and through to the drinks.

You market yourselves as having a sustainable ethos – can you tell us a little bit more about this?

TS: Whether we’re purchasing pieces of equipment or dealing with waste, we look at everything we do and assess if there’s a way we can create less impact on the environment.  For example, the carbon footprint of distribution is influenced by both distance and weight, therefore we looked at the beers we stocked and moved towards local breweries and cans.  A can weighs about 33g when empty whereas a bottle weights 200g.  It’s little things like this that start to make a difference when you use them every day.

The decor inside Nine Lives is pretty wacky. What inspired the design?

TS: The venue certainly has personality.  The tropical vintage design was chosen by my business partner Emma Hutchinson. We’ve pulled together a range of furniture from the 60s and 70s to give the venue a lived-in vibe, and packed the room with plants to bring some sunshine into what is essentially a basement bar in London Bridge.

A little bird told us you met your wife in a bar. What makes a bar an ideal setting for striking up a romance?

TS: It has to be somewhere with a cozy corner where you can block out the rest of the room.  Good drinks coupled with some good food is key too, then you won’t need to move from that spot until the end of the night.

What makes Nine Lives a good venue for a date?

TS: Everyone gets treated like a friend at Nine Lives so it’s the perfect place to bring a date; we’ll make sure you both feel right at home.  There’s nothing too ridiculous on the menu either so you won’t have any awkward moments like asking what a vacuum-distilled avocado leaf tincture tastes like.

What makes tacos such a perfect accompaniment to cocktails?

El Tigre: Tacos are like cocktails – inside a tortilla you have to make sure all the ingredients match and are well-balanced. We have a saying: marry the one that looks at you in the same way they look at tacos.

Which cocktail would you recommend ordering to impress a partner on a date?

TS: Well I’d say the Crossfire Hurricane.  It’s a beautiful rum punch – a twist on the classic New Orleans Hurricane cocktail.  It’s also the second drink that I made for my wife when she walked into the bar I was working in at the time, so surely the proof is in the pudding?  11 years later and she still loves both the drink and me!

If you see yourself making the most of London Cocktail Week, you might want to invest in an LCW pass, which will get you £6 cocktails in over 250 venues. However you can still explore the bars and buy tickets to individual events and talks (some of which are free) without one.

Happy cocktail tasting!

You can find Nine Lives at: 8 Holyrood Street, London, SE1 2EL