What is a French 75?Gin, lemon and bubbles, and our French 47 at Fiena, King's Cross

A French 75 is made from gin (or sometimes cognac), champagne, lemon juice and sugar. In French it's simply a soixante quinze, "seventy-five". The barman Harry MacElhone said it was named after the Canon de 75 modèle 1897, a French 75mm light field gun from the First World War, and a brandy-based version of the drink was popular during the war.

The name and recipe we know today settled down during the 1920s. The drink was first recorded as the "75" in the 1922 edition of MacElhone's Harry's ABC of Mixing Cocktails, but his recipe was very different: Calvados, gin, grenadine and absinthe. The now-classic mix of gin, sugar, lemon juice and champagne, under the name "French 75", appeared in Here's How in 1927, and was republished in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930, which helped make it famous. It was popular at New York's Stork Club and turns up in the film Casablanca (1942).

The French 75 is very close to the Tom Collins: take the soda water out of a Collins, put champagne in its place, and you're almost there. MacElhone even said a French 75 should be served in a highball glass, like a Collins. There are relatives too: a French 125 swaps the gin for cognac, and a French 95 uses bourbon. Background from Wikipedia's French 75 page.

On our drinks menu, the French 47 follows the same pattern, with Italian bubbles: gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, prosecco and soda water, finished with a lemon twist. The splash of soda brings it a step closer to its Tom Collins cousin, and prosecco gives it a fresh, fruity finish. Like all our cocktails, it's made with a 50ml spirit measure, and cocktails are served from 10:30.

If you like gin, the back bar has Beefeater, Beefeater Pink, Hendricks, Monkey 47, Gin Mare and Dara Gin, and there's more gin on the cocktail list in the Bramble and the Negroni. Prefer your bubbles on their own? We pour Prosecco and Prosecco Axilu DOCG Asolo. See our posts on the cocktail list, the limoncello spritz and the Cosmopolitan.

Guests often mention our drinks. Yasmeen wrote that the cocktails were delicious (Yasmeen, Google review), and Kiley had a tip for sunny days: I’d also recommend sitting outside and enjoying a cocktail here. (Kiley, Google review)

Lemon and bubbles go well with seafood and fresh, salty starters. From our main menu, try a French 47 with the Capesante, pan-fried scallops with a lemon buttery sauce, the Marinated seafood in olive oil, lemon juice and herbs, the Baby calamari with tartar sauce, or a plate of Padron peppers. Later on, it suits the Salmon with lemon sauce or the Sea bass with capers sauce. See our posts on capesante and Padrón peppers.

Not drinking? The Virgin mojito and the Fiena Signature mocktail are on our alcohol-free list.

“The food and drinks were delicious and beautifully presented”

A Google reviewer, Google review, 2026