The best cocktail I’ve ever had was at Rake’s Café Bar. It only opened on June 1, but has quickly made itself known among as a go-to evening spot. It offers the perfect place to relax, escape the hustle and bustle of the city, and indulge in some extraordinary food and drinks.

The Marriage, made up of gin and cloudy sake paired with coconut, lychee syrup, lemon and adorned with petals, can only be had at the Liverpool Street bar.

It is adjoined to Andaz London Liverpool Street Hotel who recently collaborated with (RED), the AIDS organisation founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver, to create a custom room suite personally designed by Sir Terence Conran.

The cocktails take inspiration from, and are named after, the world famous series of eight paintings by William Hogarth, The Rake’s Progress, a fictional story of the rise and fall of Tom Rakewell. The series show the heir of a rich merchant come to London and waste his money away on luxuries, gambling and prostitutes before being imprisoned in Bethlam Hospital.

Also known as Bedlam, it was the first mental health hospital in London, in which Andaz London Liverpool Street Hotel can now be found.

I sampled several of their new and unique concoctions over the evening, but The Marriage was by far the best on offer.

As well as getting to grips with their cocktail creations I tried some of their most popular dishes.

Their food menu is made up of smaller plates and large, for sharing or for yourself. To start my friend and I chose the sesame cauliflower Wings in cashew sauce (£6.50), salt and pepper squid with saffron aioli (£6.50), and burrata with smashed peas, mint and lemon (£9.50).

Each dish was full of mind blowing flavour which gave way to great joy as we made our way through the three.

For mains we chose the Devon crab linguine, cherry tomatoes, red chili and crab jus (£13.50) and the beef short rib, soy, sesame, wasabi and sour cream potatoes with summer slaw (£16.50).

The latter was by far my favourite. I might even go so far as to say it is the best beef I have ever tasted. It was unimaginably soft, slipping away from the bone and melting in my mouth with the perfect balance of flavour to supplement its own.

The linguine, also delicious, was favoured by my friend and so what was meant to be shared ended up under the ownership of each of us thanks to our differing tastes.

Three dishes to start may have been a little too much as we had to take a long break between our mains and dessert. This gave us extra time to try out cocktails so we were more than happy to let the evening slip by.

Eventually we settled on vanilla bean cheesecake to share with seasonal fruits and coulis (£9). It is specifically for two as it is presented as a whole, but mini, cheesecake.

Dare I say again that it was the best I ever had? I could blame the cocktails for my enthusiasm, but I won’t because I honestly believe it is founded. The food was spectacular, the drinks ingenious and the interior design mixed with history – ingenious.

40 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 7QN. Details: 020 761 87 007, rakescafebar.co.uk

For every booking of the (ANDAZ)RED Suite 30 per cent of each booking goes directly to support (RED)’s fight to end AIDS.