tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415518245900757582024-03-13T16:57:32.278+00:00North East EatsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger160125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-73363361440377468232016-07-11T19:26:00.000+01:002016-07-11T19:43:22.185+01:00Eating South Eastern SicilyI've fallen in love with Sicily. Well, the tiny corner of it where I spent a week in May. Sicily is a big island and you'd be crazy to spread yourself too thin covering its vast, diverse geography- from Palermo in the North West to Etna and Catania in the East and down to the baroque hillside towns and ancient Greek cities of the South East.<br />
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Sicily is also quietly becoming a destination for food and wine lovers looking for an unspoiled corner of the Mediterranean. My Instagram feed has recently been a steady stream of snaps of Sicily's white washed towns, empty beaches and stunning plates of food. There is no greater advocate for the island than my favourite food writer <a href="https://twitter.com/MarinaOLoughlin" target="_blank">Marina O'Loughlin</a>, whose<a href="http://www.olivemagazine.com/restaurants-and-travel/southeast-sicily-best-places-to-eat-and-drink--marina-oloughlin/14437.html" target="_blank"> gushing fangirling about the food and drink of Sicily</a> had me set on visiting.<br />
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Marina has written extensively about her tips for eating and drinking on the island, and was generous on Twitter in dishing out a few more. Each one was 100% on the mark, and I found quite a few other places that were well worth a visit. Almost anywhere you go will be great because there is so much pride in local food and wine, because the produce is so so fresh - straight out the sea or picked at a nearby farm. You will weep.<br />
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All I can say is get over there, and get a car so you can get to the most stunning beaches, nature reserves, more off the beaten track towns like Scicli. Off season is amazing - we went in mid May and couldn't believe how quiet it was, although the weather was mixed. I reckon June and September are ideal times to visit.<br />
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<b>Ragusa</b><br />
Ragusa is perched on two dramatic hills, with jaw dropping views between Old and New Ragusa and across the surrounding valleys. Ragusa Ibla (old) is the more beautiful and where most of the action happens.<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.ristoranteilbarocco.it/" target="_blank">Il Barocco</a></i></b><br />
We rocked up late after a mad dash to the airport (caught our flight with 5 minutes to spare), a long flight, a tired night time drive down unfamiliar roads. Our Airbnb hosts showed us to Il Barocco and we couldn't have been happier with our first meal. The antipasti platter was sublime and generous, with salami, cheese, ... I had tagliatelle with sun dried tomatoes and pistachio, classic Sicilian ingredients combined simply for a rich, earthy, tangy set of tastes. Mmm. We were knackered so ordered wine by the glass. House is €2.50 and they have a more interesting white and red at €4. We went for the latter, and though I can't recall the wine, it was very very good.<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.trattorialabettola.it/" target="_blank">La Bettola</a></i></b><br />
A Marina rec, La Bettola is an old school little trattoria in Ragusa Ibla, all chequered table cloths, menus of the day and locals drinking wine by the carafe for a late dinner. We make our way through the daily specials - a gorgeous fennel, orange and sun dried tomato salad, spaghetti with anchovy-herb-breadcrumbs - historically a poor man's parmesan, but very delicious. The prices are low cheap, so make sure you reserve - it's booked up pretty much every night.<br />
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<b>Ortigia (Syracuse)</b><br />
Ortigia is the island part of Syracuse. the third biggest city in Sicily and once the third most important city in Ancient Greece. It's a bustling metropolis compared to everywhere else we visited in SE Sicily. Be warned though: parking is a nightmare. Just look up the Talete paid carpark at the mainland end of the island and go there - you'll never find a free parking space on the island.<br />
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Everyone recommended this place to us. It's just at the end of the food market (watch massive tuna get chopped up with massive knives!) and is a salumeria, wine shop, and restaurant. We make three visits here during our stay - we get the most delicious sandwiches to take away. All DOC cheese, ham, sundried tomatoes, herbs, oil. Utterly dreamy. We come again for a lunch and enjoy buratta with the most excellent grilled courgette antipasti and more cheese, ham and sandwiches. And finally we clear them out of wine. They delight in our enthusiasm for the wine of Sicily, ask our price range and come up with a diverse selection of the most interesting wines we can get. I'm using all my restraint to make the haul last.<br />
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<b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Apollonion-Osteria-Da-Carlo/148587608633490" target="_blank">Apollonion Osteria da Carlo</a></i></b><br />
This is another Marina rec, and one of our most memorable meals of the trip. A seven course fish menu for €35. It starts raw, with giant oysters, red prawns and anchovies, then mussels with almonds, mint and tomatoes, seared tuna with caponata, fried squid and fish cakes with a dollop of agrodolce puree, then a prawn spaghetti, followed by some grilled white fish. It was epic, and perfectly finished with a zingy lemon granita. Apollonion's wine list is excellent and incredible value. We like our €13 grillo so much we buy a bottle to take back to London.<br />
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<b><i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Sicily-fish-chips-1466561376975725/info/?section=hours&tab=page_info" target="_blank">Sicily fish and chips</a></i></b><br />
Tucked away in a backstreet is this cute little chippie. Despite the anglicised name, this is a great spot to go for some fried fish and a glass of prosecco or a crisp white wine in the sun. We tuck into a big box of assorted fish (lots of squid, anchovies, small fish and a couple of prawns and anemone) and a big portion of chips. It's all super simple, but hits the spot.<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.movimentocentrale.net/" target="_blank">Moon</a></i></b><br />
We visit a vegetarian restaurant on the recommendation of a non-vegetarian friend. And now we non-vegetarians recommend it to you. It's a cute hipstery restaurant on Via Roma, not far from the main square. They have a nice selection of natural and organic wines and the mwnu is great. There are lots of Sicilian vegetarian dishes as well as some more international flavours. Of course there's the fried Sicilian fried caciocavallo cheese, some of the best caponata we have during our stay, and I have a blue cheese, pear, honey and walnut risotto.<br />
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<a href="http://www.movimentocentrale.net/" target="_blank"><b><i>Movimento Centrale</i></b></a><br />
Another sign of hipsterism in Ortigia, this cycling cafe/natural wine bar is just over the square from our Airbnb. We only make it for breakfast (I fail to convince my other half of the merits of second lunches and aperativo every day) and love the home made organic ricotta with home made organic brown bread toast (a special ancient recipe) with local organic honey. The coffee is a cut above too. The menu has some deliciously well sourced panini filling on the menu, and the wine list is an exciting selection of local natural and biodynamic wines.<br />
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<b>Scicli</b><br />
Pronounced Sheegly, Scicli is a true gem of a town, set in a series of dramatic valleys and amidst a sleepy rural landscape off the main trail around the Province of Ragusa. We fall in love instantly, as we tuck into the amazing homemade snacks that our Airbnb host's mum has made for us, sitting on our roof terrace watching the sun go down and cast the most amazing golden light on the town. It's well positioned for towns on the coast like Sampieri and Marina di Ragusa, both of which were totally dead in early May, but are bursting at the seems through July - August.<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.ristorantesatra.it/" target="_blank">Satra</a></i></b><br />
A Marina O' Loughlin recommendation, Satra is a stylish restaurant just tucked off one of the main pedestrian streets in Scicli. It's in a big stone vaulted room, with luxuriously large circular wooden tables, linen napkins and fancy glassware. The menu is traditional and it's all about the techniques and best seasonal ingredients. I have a bean and wild fennel soup, which is unbelievably velvety, earthy, refreshing. We also have an almond cream and dried tuna pasta, octopus with a cheesy potato croquette, palamita fish with a rosti potato and wine reduction, and the best ricotta cannoli with have all holiday. It's pricier than most, but they also throw in amuse bouche and a glass of prosecco. The wine list is very reasonable and service is refined.<br />
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<b><i><a href="http://www.trattoriadacarmelo.com/" target="_blank">Trattoria da Carmelo</a></i></b><br />
So, not technically Scicli, but you might find yourself down at the beach in Marina di Ragusa if you're staying in Scicli. This is our final meal and our final Marina rec of the trip, and definitely the best. Carmelo is a refined shack of a building, literally on the beach. Reserve a table by the water, ask for them to open the windows, and you can eat your meal with an uninterrupted view of the sky and sea. The food is exceptional - the most generous antipasti platter we have in our stay: scallops with breadcrumb and tomato, frittata with thin strips of baby courgette, caponata, octopus ragu filled arancini, and sardine fillets with agrodolce onions, raisins and pine nuts. It's a miracle we can even look at our main courses, which are the classic sea anemone spaghetti, and pistachio crusted tuna steak. Everything is exceptional, but nothing more so than the view.<br />
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Come what may with Brexit and a plunging Pound, I will find a way to keep exploring Sicily, a little corner at a time. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-48608083454247247932016-07-09T13:57:00.000+01:002016-07-10T11:25:55.291+01:00My Neighbours the Dumplings, Lower Clapton Road<a href="http://www.myneighboursthedumplings.com/" target="_blank">My Neighbours the Dumplings</a> is the second of two interesting small-scale new openings on Lower Clapton Road. It's fascinating to observe which restaurants thrive and dive on this strip of road. More than half the new food and drink businesses that have opened here in the last few years have failed, but those that get it right do a roaring trade. <a href="http://www.pfranco.co.uk/" target="_blank">P Franco</a>, <a href="http://yardsalepizzaorder.com/" target="_blank">Yard Sale</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/119LowerClapton" target="_blank">119 Lower Clapton</a> are the big LCR success stories, and My Neighbours the Dumplings has smashed straight into the Top 5.<br />
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My Neighbours have been popping up around Hackney for a few years now - a regular gig at Palm 2, a residency on Wilton Way, and then a few nights at <a href="http://www.klubtrop.com/" target="_blank">Klub Trop</a>. They opened up their permanent place on Lower Clapton in April, and it's been busy every night since then, which is quite unusual without a big name and reputation.<br />
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Dumplings here are of the dim sum variety, and are mostly faithful to traditional recipes with a few interesting flourishes and using high quality meat from the Rare Breed Meat Company. Fancy provenance Asian food is proving popular across town (a trend spurred on by my absolute favourite from San Francisco, <a href="http://missionchinesefood.com/" target="_blank">Mission Chinese Food)</a>, and the instant success of MNTD is proof of what a gap in the local market this was.<br />
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The menu is relatively short - a few steamed dumplings, a few fried dumplings, a couple of salads, and an assortment of other dishes including fried turnip cake (savvily: a vegetarian and non vegetarian option), steamed whole fish of the day, and crispy pork belly.<br />
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The Siu Mai dumpling is the classic pork, prawn and chive steamed dumpling. It is perfectly formed, generously stuffed with tasty filling and comes topped with fish roe.<br />
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On the fried front, we love the potstickers - think gyoza with northern Chinese flavours. We have both the lamb and coriander potstickers and the aubergine and sesame. Both deviate far from common expectations about Chinese flavours - the North has a large Muslim population and the cuisine wears the influences of Central Asian countries.<br />
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<br /><span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">More traditional (and also fried) is the turnip cake. We opt for the meaty version, with pungent Chinese sausage, shiitake and dried shrimp. All of these strong flavours are subtly cut through the turnip cake, chopped fine so as not to distract. This is a couple of levels above the turnip cake at Dalston's long established Shanghai restaurant.</span><br />
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We get six decent size bites of pork belly for £8.50. It's been slow cooked, and is incredibly moist and tender inside while crispy on the outside and full of meaty flavour. The plum sauce is fruity, sour and spicy. The prices generally are a bit more expensive than you'd find in an old school dim sum joint, but the quality of ingredients easily makes up for it. It's still a relatively affordable eat - we end up paying about £26 per person for lots of food and two drinks each.<br />
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Drinks include a number of sakes, sake based cocktails, a house red and white from Borough Wines, Asahi beer, and the mildly sake-infused Japanese craft beer Hitachino Nest White Ale. The latter is particularly tasty.<br />
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The service is friendly, but slightly overwhelmed later in the evening. The day before they have a <a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/my-neighbours-the-dumplings" target="_blank">four star review in Time Out</a>. It's a blessing, in a way, to not have all your small plates dumped on your table in one go, but there were definitely times we felt like we'd been waiting a while between dishes. It's also quite noisy - the music's pumping, the kitchen is open to the restaurant, and the communal tables notch up their volume accordingly.<br />
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With its current popularity I'd advise getting there before 7.30 at the latest to avoid waiting too long for a table. But it's worth it - a great addition to Lower Clapton's food scene.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-14858938582537607022016-06-01T08:33:00.000+01:002016-06-01T08:33:48.985+01:00Le Merlin, Lower Clapton RoadAt the end of February I wrote about the closure of a couple of gentrified Clapton restaurants and suggested a couple more might close. And sure enough, they did. The lovely <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/jackdaw-jazz-cafe-lower-clapton-road.html" target="_blank">Jackdaw Jazz Cafe</a> shut its doors in April, the wine-cum-furniture shop (yeah...) <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Residence-814459231941402/" target="_blank">Residence </a>looks like it's shut, Senegalese cafe and music bar <a href="http://littlebaobab.co.uk/" target="_blank">Little Baobab</a> shut in April (from a spot which has also seen Riley's and Candela shut...), and a few more have their leases up for sale even though they're still trading.<br />
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But as one story ends another begins. A couple of interesting new business have opened on Lower Clapton Road, and there are rumours of a couple more big openings in the works. One of the more low key new restaurants is <a href="http://www.lemerlin.co.uk/" target="_blank">Le Merlin</a> - a creperie.<br />
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It's not the first creperie in Clapton, but it's head and shoulders above the other one. This is the real deal. Authentic savoury galettes and sweet crepes, Breton cidre, craft beers and a small selection of wines. And Orangina, naturelment. The menu is broad but stays true to classic French flavours. Every dish sounds delicious - from simple classics like the complete, to more lavish combinations like scallop and leeks.<br />
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We try the complete (with added mushrooms). It's superb. The galette is tangy and crisp in all the right places, expertly folded. The gruyere has a good pungency to it, and the mushrooms are herby and full of fungal mustiness - a world away from the bland button mushrooms you might get elsewhere. The ham is good quality and the egg perfectly runny.<br />
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We also try a more unusual combination: goats cheese, bacon, caramelised pear and maple syrup. It works a treat. I'm a sucker for sweet and savoury hits (swavery), and this has it all with some contrast between the crispiness of the bacon, the soft saltiness of the goats cheese and the soft, rich sweetness of the pear. This is pure heaven.<br />
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The sweet crepes are worth saving some space for (I purposefully create space with a 40 mile cycle ride in the morning) - again, the menu has a decent selection derived from classic ingredients. There's chantilly cream, chocolate sauce, nutella, grand marnier and plenty of salted butter caramel sauce. There's no question for me: it's the caramelised apple with salted butter caramel and cinnamon - another rich, sweet and sticky combination of flavours. My other half recommends the melted chocolate and chantilly cream crepe.<br />
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The food is excellent, and it's matched by a convivial atmosphere. The staff are friendly, the kitchen is open with countertop dining around it, the decor is understatedly stylish - a deep industrial green, a soft cream and light woods. It's family-friendly, but doesn't feel like a giant playroom.<br />
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More importantly it's affordable - galettes start at £5.70, sweet crepes from £2.60. Yes, I know it's "just" batter and some filling, but the batter's great and the filling's great and it's just nice. I recommend it. It was busy on the Saturday lunchtime we were there, but slightly quieter in the evening. Not for long I suspect - I'm going to be here often.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-60896276386258069182016-02-29T23:13:00.000+00:002016-03-18T09:59:00.622+00:00P Franco, Lower Clapton Road, E5The first post-gentrification closures are starting to roll in. <a href="https://maeveskitchen.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Maeve's Kitchen</a> up by Clapton Pond closed it's doors over Christmas, and T<a href="http://hackneyplough.co.uk/" target="_blank">he Plough</a> on Homerton High Street - one of my favourite bars in the area (but clearly not frequented enough) - shut its doors at the end of January. I suspect a few more may decide to shut up shop over the coming months, if trade doesn't quite pick up.<br />
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Despite the climate, Lower Clapton Road's perpetually steamed up wine shop and bar <a href="http://pfranco.co.uk/" target="_blank">P Franco</a> has recently started doing food, and it's heaving - even on a cold Sunday evening. There's good reason: a<a href="http://www.hot-dinners.com/Gastroblog/Latest-news/former-garagistes-chef-takes-over-the-kitchens-at-p-franco-in-clapton" target="_blank"> man called William Gleave, a Tasmanian export, who ran an acclaimed restaurant in Hobart</a>. He took up residence at P Franco in November, cooking a short menu from a tiny kitchen attached to the big communal table in the middle of the shop.</div>
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I had seen the menus pop up on my feeds for months and seen very alluring snippets and snaps on Twitter, but a succession of belt-tightening months had me dialling down my eating out for a while.</div>
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The wait is worth it. My discerning friend and I are naming it the best meal we've had in ages mouthfulls into the first dish that's brought out: raw chopped beef (soz, 'crudo'), with crispy shards of dried seaweed (like nori), crumbed anchovy, rocket and mayo-like emulsion, and powdered seaweed. It's cool, creamy, firm, crispy, leafy - a gorgeous mixture of temperatures and textures, borrowing from Japanese and Italian flavours and ingredients.</div>
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Next up is a "risotto" without the rice - it's all toasty seeds, pine nuts, orzo pasta, and two types of wheat in a thick, luscious nettle sauce, topped with crispy kale and tiny shards of broccoli, topped with parmesan. There's an egg yolk buried in the risotto, and we're encouraged to pierce it and blend it into the sauce. This is a stunning looker - all rich, emerald green - but it's a proper taster too. It's the most extravagant vegetarian dish I've had without any of the usual buttery, creamy cliches of extravagance. </div>
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A chicken broth with cuttlefish comes out next. The cuttlefish is cut so thinly it's almost like rice noodles, ghostly floating in the rich, fully flavoured broth, topped with just-blanched squares of greens, and then generous glugs of rich, fruity Le Coste olive oil. It's simple, fresh, under-stated.</div>
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We climax and conclude with the pasta dish. There's always a pasta dish on the menu, and I've recently spied a food blogger call this some of the best pasta in London. Uhuh, yup. The pasta is rough cut, wide sheets - somewhere between papperdele and lasagne, with a good bite to it. The sauce is a simple tomato sauce, topped with basil and generous parmesan, and the quality of the ingredients just sing. My highlight is a creamy curd cheese, like that in the middle of treasured burata. It's utterly luscious, and nicely chilly against the warm, fruity, acidity of the tomato sauce. It's made by Gleave every day, and I'm already making plans to make my own...if only I could find some buffalo milk.</div>
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There's a great selection of wine, as you'd expect from a wine shop. The pricing is simple - just add £10 to any bottle on the shelves, which are chiefly from small producers, often natural/organic/biodynamic, and most supplied by esteemed suppliers <a href="http://tuttowines.com/" target="_blank">Tutto</a>. They have a couple of red and a couple of white open for pouring by the glass, which suits us as a way to try a few interesting glasses between us over the course of the evening. </div>
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We get the impression that most people here are pretty serious about their wine, many in a professional context - perhaps working in other East London restaurants. It feels the slightest bit sceney, and sometimes it's not clear who's working and who's a guest. But there's a welcome for everyone, and the food prices are exceptional value for the quality - ranging from £8 - £10. While there isn't a wine list, the wines are very clearly priced on the shelf, with bottle prices from £9 (before the £10 corkage), which compares favourably with house wines at other local restaurants.<br />
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By the end of the meal we're sure it's the best we've had in ages. So simple, so concise, so on the mark. I'm already formulating plans to take various friends here for a relaxed evening of wine and inventive dishes brought out in gently paced succession. Don't delay, this is the real deal.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-33947904379903481252016-01-01T17:52:00.000+00:002016-01-02T12:54:24.965+00:00Hackney's best new restaurants 2015Hackney's dining scene just keeps growing and developing, showing only the slightest signs of slowing down. While in<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/hackney-201314-and-ritas-bar-and-dining.html" target="_blank"> 2013</a> and <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/hackneys-best-new-restaurants-2014.html" target="_blank">2014</a> the pace of change felt astonishing and exhausting, by now it feels that this is how Hackney's going to be for a while.<br />
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That quiet acceptance was disrupted briefly by the <a href="http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/interview-with-class-war-fuck-parade-903" target="_blank">Fuck Parade</a> protesters who sought to highlight the effects of gentrification by bottling the lamely iconic <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/cereal-killer-cafe-owners-what-its-like-to-be-the-most-hated-men-in-london-a2970776.html" target="_blank">Cereal Killer Cafe</a> on Brick Lane. It was an easy, high profile target but the reality is that most places opening in Hackney will be unaffordable for people without much spare income. Intimidating small business owners and their customers won't change that reality (only radical political action can), but I hope businesses and individuals reflect on how they impact on their less fortunate neighbours.<br />
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2015 felt like a year of maturing, with a significant number of high quality new openings from established and inventive chefs. We've seen the rise of modern, crisp, playful bistros – my favourite being <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/brooksbys-walk-chatsworth-road-clapton.html" target="_blank">Brooksby's Walk</a>, and I'm confident that the much praised <a href="http://www.pidginlondon.com/" target="_blank">Pidgin</a> on Wilton Way and newer <a href="http://www.ellorylondon.com/" target="_blank">Ellory</a> in London Fields will knock my socks off when I have some spare cash/time to check them out. The Mare Street/London Fields axis seems to be where most of the fancier places are opening.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Parmesan Pannacotta at Brooksby's Walk.</span></i><br />
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As I blogged yesterday, Middle Eastern food is on the up, as are venues doing a bit more than just serving you food – I loved the clubby atmosphere at <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/berber-q-shuk-shuk-good-egg-black-axe.html" target="_blank">Berber & Q</a>, the camp metal at <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/berber-q-shuk-shuk-good-egg-black-axe.html" target="_blank">Black Axe Mangal</a> and the live jazz at <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/jackdaw-jazz-cafe-lower-clapton-road.html" target="_blank">Jackdaw</a> in Clapton. We've also seen specialist restaurants opening all over Hackney – sushi at <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/uchi-hackney-clarence-road-clapton.html" target="_blank">Uchi</a>, ramen at <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tonkotsu-mare-street-hackney.html" target="_blank">Tonkotsu</a>, Japanese yakitori skewers at <a href="http://www.jidori.co.uk/" target="_blank">Jidori</a>, jerk meat at <a href="http://rudieslondon.com/" target="_blank">Rudie's</a> in Dalston, lobster (obvs) at the <a href="http://lobsterbar.co.uk/" target="_blank">Lobster Bar</a> on Richmond Road.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Softshell crab sushi at Uchi.</span></i><br />
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<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/hackneys-best-new-restaurants-2014.html" target="_blank">I predicted last year</a> that the neighbourhoods adjacent to Hackney would see their restaurant options broaden as more priced out young professionals moved in. That's certainly been the case, with just a bit of Hackney export about some of the openings. Clapton businesses <a href="http://sodopizza.co.uk/" target="_blank">Sodo</a> and<a href="http://www.claptoncraft.co.uk/" target="_blank"> Clapton Craft</a> are due to open in Walthamstow in the new year, haggis pushers <a href="http://www.deeneys.com/" target="_blank">Deeney's</a> have<a href="http://walthamstowfoodies.com/2015/11/22/two-new-openings-in-leyton-masak-malaysian-kitchen-deeneys-cafe/" target="_blank"> opened a cafe in Leyton</a> after running toastie stalls in Broadway Market and Chatsworth Road for severeal years, and Tottenham has now got <a href="http://chicken-town.co.uk/" target="_blank">Chicken Town</a> – healthy, fancy fried chicken with a social conscious, with Giorgio Ravelli, Head Chef at Clapton/Homerton's <a href="http://www.brooksbyswalk.com/" target="_blank">Brooksby's Walk</a>, as Executive Chef.<br />
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Tired, established streets like Stoke Newington Church Street and Islington's Upper Street have seen a renaissance after years of derivative, generic restaurants opening. Church Street has had the highly regarded <a href="http://www.thegoodeggco.com/" target="_blank">the Good Egg</a> open, along with<a href="http://www.escocesa.co.uk/" target="_blank"> Escosesa </a>– an intriguing Scottish-Spanish seafood restaurant, and some fancy pie shops and wine bars ae on their way. Meanwhile, Islington has had high profile new openings like <a href="http://www.oldroydlondon.com/" target="_blank">Oldroyd</a>, Alsatian brasserie <a href="https://www.bellanger.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bellanger</a> and the ridiculously fun <a href="http://www.blackaxemangal.com/" target="_blank">Black Axe Mangal</a>.<br />
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Less established streets have also seen big booms. Well Street in Homerton stands out as seeing some of the most striking change – a<a href="http://www.wellstreetpizza.com/" target="_blank"> sourdough pizzeria</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/machineno3" target="_blank">cocktail bar in a former laundrette</a> have opened, while most of the change in Clapton has been on Lower Clapton Road where <a href="http://rootdownlondon.com/" target="_blank">Rootdown</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/blondiesldn/timeline" target="_blank">Blondies</a>, <a href="http://www.jackdawlondon.com/" target="_blank">Jackdaw</a>, <a href="http://www.tentenlowerclapton.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ten Ten</a>, <a href="http://www.klubtrop.com/" target="_blank">Klub Trop</a> have opened, soon to be joined by dim sum restaurant <a href="http://myneighboursthedumplings.com/" target="_blank">My Neighbours the Dumplings</a>. Notably many businesses on this stretch appear pretty quiet mid-week, suggesting there's not quite the level of demand in Clapton for so many restaurants and bars, especially when there are already many strong local favourites, like <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/verden-e5-clarence-road-clapton.html" target="_blank">Verden </a>and <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/everybody-needs-good-neighbours.html" target="_blank">Shane's</a>.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lamb belly at Jackdaw.</span></i><br />
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In 2014 we saw a number of independent but derivative restaurants opportunistically open in Hackney, and in 2015 the trend has been towards the new generation of 'trendy' mid-range chains on a roll out. Honest Burger has opened in Old Street and soon Dalston, Franco Manca opened in Broadway Market and soon Stoke Newington, Foxlow from the Hawksmoor group opened in Stoke Newington before rollin' rollin' out to other yummy 'burbs like Balham and Chiswick.<br />
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I expect things to slow down a bit more in 2016. I think we're closing in on saturation point in Hackney, and only restaurants who understand and offer value to the local market will survive. Big name new openings from the <a href="http://www.moro.co.uk/" target="_blank">Moro</a> crew on Hackney Road and <a href="https://twitter.com/lucky_chip" target="_blank">Lucky Chip</a> on Ridley Road are likely to do well, but wacky or pretentious 'concepts' chasing a Dalstonist headline are unlikely be sustainable businesses if they don't deliver the goods.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Lamb at Moro.</span></i><br />
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We'll see more of the neighbourhood bistro format, more trumpeting of the provenance of ingredients and drinks, more pushing at the boundaries of 'traditional' cuisines. I'd expect to see Walthamstow to get a few more 'grown up' restaurants, and see a few more independent options open up in Leyton, Leytonstone, Forest Gate and Tottenham. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a few more specialist food shops open in North East London – we have some great beer and wine shops, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a fancy cheesemonger or fishmonger open up this year.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-38473958392575998542015-12-30T16:37:00.000+00:002016-01-01T17:31:36.245+00:00Berber & Q, Shuk Shuk, The Good Egg, Black Axe Mangal - new Middle Eastern restaurants in Hackney<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Middle Eastern food had its big moment
in British culture about a decade ago when <a href="http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/" target="_blank">Ottolenghi</a> hit the scene
and brought his generous, zingy, lavish Levantine food to the masses
in his London cafe-restaurant-delis and through his <a href="http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk/ottolenghi-the-cookbook-shop" target="_blank">eponymous debutcookbook</a>. Soon you could buy tahini, za'atar, sumac and proper bunches of fresh herbs everywhere, and our larders all
got a bit more interesting.</div>
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In that time we've seen handy little
chains like <a href="http://www.yalla-yalla.co.uk/" target="_blank">Yalla Yalla</a> and <a href="http://www.comptoirlibanais.com/" target="_blank">Comptoir Libanaise</a> popularise mezze, and
the Lebanese restaurants of Edgware Road and the Mangal grills of
Green Lanes and Dalston have continued to do their delicious thing.
The spirit of Ottolenghi has made it into people's cooking repertoire
and into the salad counter in many cafes, but only a handful of
restaurants – such as Fitzrovia's <a href="http://honeyandco.co.uk/" target="_blank">Honey & Co</a> – have continued
to really push and innovate within the Levantine range to bring exciting Middle East inspired cuisine to restaurant tables.</div>
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That was until 2015. A new generation of Middle Eastern restaurants have sprung up across London. North East London, and Hackney in particular, is home to a number of them. <b>Best among them are Haggerston's <a href="http://www.berberandq.com/" target="_blank">Berber & Q</a>, </b><b><a href="http://berberandq.com/random" target="_blank">Shuk Shuk BBQ</a> in Hackney Wick, </b><b>Highbury's <a href="http://www.blackaxemangal.com/" target="_blank">Black Axe Mangal</a> and Stoke Newington's <a href="http://www.thegoodeggco.com/#home-section" target="_blank">The Good Egg</a>. </b>Read on and find out why.</div>
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<b>Berber & Q</b><br />
<a href="http://www.berberandq.com/" target="_blank">Berber & Q</a> was the first of the bunch
to open, in a big space under the arches in Haggerston. Loud house
music pumps out, it's dark and buzzy with a clubby vibe. For
restaurants are the new clubs, as Hackney gets a bit more old and
moneyed. The menu comprises meats and mezze with a heavy emphasis on
grilling and smoking on the barbe-Q. Q-ueue you will also have to do,
as it's terribly popular. Rock up at 7 and they'll probably call you
an hour later to tell your table is ready.</div>
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But it's all worth it. The barbecued
cauliflower 'shwarma' (the most 2015 of dishes) with pomegranate and tahini was
the best I've had, and all the vegetarian mezze was swimming in wow
factor: the beetroot came with whipped feta, orange and
hazelnuts, smoked aubergine with browned butter and pine nuts, a
whole smoked garlic head, home made pickles, green beans with garlic
and preserved lemon.</div>
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The barbecued meat selection was
excellent. We had a portion of their homemade merguez sausages, some
'hand pulled' lamb mechoui – essentially an authentic and delicious
version of doner meat, and a sticky, rich slab of pork belly cooked
in a pomegranate barbecue sauce. It's all served with fresh herbs,
grilled vegetables, flat breads and home-made garlic and chilli
sauces. All of this is topped off with a great cocktail menu that
makes the most of Middle Eastern flavours – think pistachio syrups,
sumac, rose harissa in the Bloody Mary, saffron infused rum.<br />
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<b>Shuk Shuk BBQ</b></div>
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<a href="http://berberandq.com/random" target="_blank">Shuk Shuk BBQ</a> in Hackney Wick was
opened as a collaboration between the local craft brewery Crate and
Berber & Q, and is so very Hackney Wick: street food kitchen,
kombucha bar and craft beer bar in a two floor renovated warehouse
with ping pong tables, sofas and 'mess hall' (i.e. communal) style
tables. The menu has much of the same meats as Berber & Q HQ (I opt
again for the lamb mechoui, but try their smoky pulled chicken this
time).</div>
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The sides here are more of a fusion
between US and Middle Eastern BBQ – potato salad is infused with
saffron in a nod simultaneously to Iran and the Deep South, the slaw
has tahini, yoghurt and fresh herbs through it, and the mac'n'cheese
is made with Balkan kashikaval cheese, with a herby crumb running
through it, and lovely crunchy bits on top. The sides and topping
really made it – help yourself to zhoug – a herby, garlicky green
sauce, their sweet and spicy BBQ sauce, or the ultra garlicky garlic
and yoghurt sauce You also get lightly pickled onions, pickled
chilli peppers, rocket and fresh herbs, harissa, and a cumin salt to
sprinkle over it.</div>
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<b>Black Axe Mangal</b></div>
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Fusion is also on the table at <a href="http://www.blackaxemangal.com/" target="_blank">BlackAxe Mangal</a> at Highbury Corner, but here it's taking the
Turkish/Kurdish mangal grill as a starting point, mixing in
influences from Head Chef Lee Tiernan's days at nose-to-tail
trailbalzers St Johns, mixed in with Asian influences, spice mixes
from (my absolute favourite fun fusion restaurant) <a href="https://missionchinesefood.com/" target="_blank">Mission ChineseFood</a> in San Francisco.</div>
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The menu is short with a small selection of flat breads, interesting sides, and larger main dishes. We have the lamb offal flat bread, which is their spin on lahmacun. The offal is only lightly pungent but fully flavoured, and it's topped with lightly pickled pink onions, parsley, garlic and chilli sauces. My offally sceptical friend is initially hesitant, but the chewy dough and perfect balance of flavours means we have more competition than we bargained for.<br />
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We could take or leave the kale with preserved lemon, but the century egg with cod roe and crispy pig ear is one of the most remarkable dishes I've tried. It conjures up the taste of egg mayonnaise with bacon and cress, but with rich, deep umami flavours from the core ingredients. A charred hispi cabbage with fermented shrimps is buttery, smoky and so so savoury.</div>
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The two main meat dishes are nods to mangal classics - the Bakken special is a ludicrously delicious lamb chop with a tomato and pepper sauce, crunchy lentils, yoghurt and chilli. But the only choice for me was the Mission Chinese spiced lamb doner - a zingy, asian-y spiced mixture coating and dusting the offaly lamb, served on a flatbread with lettuce and cucumber, topped with a yoghurty sauce and crispy onion. </div>
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Like Berber & Q and Shuk Shuk BBQ, Black Axe Mangal puts the party into Middle Eastern food, with fun cocktails (love a Lagerita) and a heavy metal soundtrack. </div>
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<b>The Good Egg</b></div>
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<a href="http://www.thegoodeggco.com/#home-section" target="_blank">The Good Egg</a> is a bit more sedate and traditional in its presentation, and mashes international Jewish and middle eastern influences with nods to Montreal and New York at the same time as Jerusalem, Iraq and Eastern Europe. It's from an ex Ottolenghi team and located on Stoke Newington Church Street, opening after much anticipation to queues of people hungry for brunch.<br />
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They bake their own bagels and challa, which are the most delicious I've had, served with nice olive oil and a za'atar mix. They also cure their own beef for pastrami, which I had in their Good Egg Burger (plenty of bone marrow in the patty for extra pungency, and it comes topped with an egg and pickles and served with zoo fries, which have lots of yemenite herb chilli zhoug on top) and is also available on platters, as a big short rib in its own right, or on pastrami chilli cheese fries. Yum.<br />
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Like with the other new middle eastern restaurants to open in North East London, the Good Egg is good for sharing, with lots of smaller dishes for the table. We ate burned aubergine with zhoug (again!), beetroot with sour cream, dill and poppy seed, a whole roast cauliflower with tahini and pomegranate (as I said, the most 2015 dish, and a fine version of it) and buttermilk fried chicken with za'atar and a chilli honey dip (greaseless crispy coating, juicy inside).<br />
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Brunch is supposed to be a big deal, with lots of inspired egg options - a shakshuka, burned aubergine in pita, pastrami meat hash, challa french toast, pastrami hash. I intend to try it out in the new year.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-1906177854895223852015-11-27T08:07:00.001+00:002015-11-29T10:05:18.929+00:00Uchi Hackney, Clarence Road, ClaptonI've not been blown away by many of the new openings in Clapton recently. Some seem to shove their 'concept' down your throat a bit too much, showing off the chefiness and forgetting that there are only so many people who won't baulk at pretentious, try hard menus. Anyway. I'm not here to rant; I'm here to sing the praises of <a href="http://uchihackney.com/" target="_blank">Uchi</a>, which is one of the better new openings in Clapton this year.<br />
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Uchi specialises in sushi and sits neatly on the same road as <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tonkotsu-mare-street-hackney.html" target="_blank">Tonkotsu</a>, which specialises in ramen, and <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/sho-foo-doh-pacific-social-club-clapton.html" target="_blank">Sho Foo Doh</a> at <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pacificsocial/" target="_blank">Pacific Social Club</a>, which specialises in okonomiyaki - Japanese pancakes. Three specialist Japanese restaurants on a road where four years ago the riots blazed.</div>
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Uchi's opening has been gradual and tantalising. It started with them launching a bicycle sushi delivery service. They deliver anywhere in the Hackney borough (to the envy of my friends just outside the borough boundaries), and it's a pretty neat thing having getting nice sushi delivered on a bike. For delivery you can order from a selection of white rice sushi, sashimi and nigri and black rice vegetarian sushi options.<br />
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<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DwwYKkkFpBs/Vld5p-5K6oI/AAAAAAAADAY/lCTDAH0xSfw/w422-h563-no/IMG_20150528_213903.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DwwYKkkFpBs/Vld5p-5K6oI/AAAAAAAADAY/lCTDAH0xSfw/w422-h563-no/IMG_20150528_213903.jpg" width="299" /></a><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-s6ofYLdzM6M/Vld5k-ETXOI/AAAAAAAADAQ/rb9tpCnbZuY/w316-h562-no/IMG_20150528_213330256.jpg" /></div>
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The restaurant itself opened in early September, and was worth the wait. They've done it out beautifully in a low key, but high quality Japanese style. It's all white and bright, with lovely bleached, untreated floorboards (my friend says to me "wait til customers start spilling soy sauce on it", low tables and bars that run along the walls, all with low wooden stools. There is a nice bar, with Japanese spirits behind it, nice little brass-plated ceiling lights, and all the staff are wearing denim aprons. </div>
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It's pretty busy on the cold Saturday night we visit, and the crowd seems chiefly locals. People swing by over the course of the evening to pick up sushi orders, and I spy the manager dash onto his bicycle at least three times to do deliveries - the delivery cyclist has called in sick that evening.<br />
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The menu is simple, with all emphasis on the sushi and snacky sides. There is a short selection of black rice vegetarian sushi rolls and white rice meat and fish rolls, as well as nigiri and sashimi. The take away/delivery menu has a slightly wider selection than the restaurant menu, but you can order any favourites from the delivery menu if you can remember them.<br />
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I rate the sushi as good by London standards. It's not the snazziest or the most manicured - this isn't about obscure, expensive fish, but well-made, hand-rolled goodies with a few flourishes here and there. We enjoy a roll of soft shell crab, which is fried in tempura, and rolled up with avocado, spring onion and maybe some mayonnaise.<br />
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We order a salmon and avocado roll off the delivery menu. It's not the inside out roll I loved when I first had a delivery, way back in May, but the salmon is fresh and the classic combination doesn't tire.<br />
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We also order haloumi, sweet potato and carrot black rice sushi, which is a lovely combination of nutty, crunchy and sweetly salty.<br />
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A black seaweed salad with lightly pickled carrots and thins of deep fried tofu is full of interesting umami tastes, and a surprisingly crunchy texture.<br />
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The warm dishes include skewers of pork belly, chicken and miso aubergine, and a few fried dishes - kara-age chicken, gyoza and tempura vegetables. The karaage chicken is succulent and juicy, with good flavour. Its coating is crisp and not claggy, and we polish up every last bit. The tempura veg, too, are nicely done, and includes king oyster mushrooms, sweet potato, aubergine, peppers.<br />
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The prices are just fair for the quality and quantity. This is no bargain night out, but neither is it taking the biscuit compared to other mid-range Japanese restaurants.<br />
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A few creases still need ironing out - the frying happens too close to the restaurant (can leave you a bit greasy), service could be a little more attentive (drink re-ups, clearing empties), a dish is forgotten from the order.<br />
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But this is decent sushi in a part of town where you don't find much of it, at a time when Japanese food is having a bit of a moment. With a decent offer to pescetarians, carnivores, vegetarians, vegans and gluten intolerants, I suspect Uchi will do quite well serving Hackney. I'm already thinking about my next delivery!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-40533752675261815672015-10-18T14:22:00.001+01:002015-10-18T14:22:49.044+01:00Jackdaw jazz cafe, Lower Clapton Road, HackneyNew openings are trickling through in Clapton, not quite as fast as in 2013 or 2014, but still steadily. The new openings are a mixed bag, with some really blowing me away (<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/brooksbys-walk-chatsworth-road-clapton.html?m=1" target="_blank">like the wonderful Brooksby's Walk</a>) and others leaving me cold as they try too hard to impress with fussy menus, excruciating 'concepts' and food that fails to live up to its descriptions. I won't name them because I'm here, chiefly, to sing about what's great.<br />
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<a href="http://www.jackdawlondon.com/" target="_blank">Jackdaw</a>, a new jazz cafe opposite Clapton Pond is one worth singing about. Enough to get me out of my rut of not blogging (mostly driven by all my eating out cash going into a renovation project, but that's another story). Yup, a jazz cafe. A proper jazz cafe with live music every night. The jazz is downstairs in the basement bar, but the live sounds travel up to the restaurant and bar upstairs, where 22 year old head chef <a href="https://twitter.com/JoshuaDallaway" target="_blank">Joshua Dallaway</a> and his equally fresh-faced team will serve you up an exciting, unusual but incredibly competent menu of sharing plates.</div>
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It sounds like it shouldn't work, like it's all ...'concept'. But it does, and that's chiefly down to the warmth and passion of the owners, Angela and Ash, who live in Walthamstow, love love love jazz music, and have decided to follow their dream at the end of their careers and open a jazz cafe. Rumour has it that Angela spotted Joshua Dallaway on a telly programme, liked what he was about and got in touch to see if he'd be interested in heading up the kitchen at Jackdaw. </div>
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Josh and the team's creativity with food is impressive. Every dish is full of interesting flavours, textures, with fresh, seasonal ingredients that are cooked to perfection and beautifully presented. Read the descriptions and you think it won't work or that it's trying too hard, but the love for experimenting with ingredients and flavours is palpable. The menu changes every week, and you get the feeling they spend most of their downtime experimenting with different combinations for the next week's menu.</div>
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The menu is divided into snacks, small plates and desserts (except Saturdays when a £35 tasting menu is also on offer). The small plates range in price from £6 - £10, but they're really not that small at all. On our visit two £8 and two £10 dishes was just right for two hungry cyclists. </div>
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Pumpkin gnocchi with wild mushrooms was "the best gnocchi I've had" - perfectly formed little pillows, with a nutty, fruity taste. The wild mushrooms were bountiful - king oysters, girolles, chanterelles, pickled little Asian mushrooms in sesame oil and a sharp vinegar. A few leaves of sea aster gave a lovely salty freshness to the dish.</div>
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Cauliflower came several ways (pickled, roasted, raw, pink, white, etc) with jasmine tea soaked raisins and a creamy barley and parsley root risotto-cum-porridge topped with cacao nibs. It was a strange mix of flavours, with the raisins and the nibs and the creamy sauce evoking a wintery breakfast porridge, while also being very savoury, nutty and earthy. </div>
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Shorthorn onglet steak was absolutely perfectly cooked and seasoned, and served with a soft stilton cheese, roast baby turnip, roast salsify and blanched turnip tops. The presentation was stunning, the portion generous for the price, and every mouthful was layered with salty, earthy, fresh flavours with heaps of beefy juice to soak up.</div>
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Our final (not so) small plate was lamb belly with grilled hispi cabbage, mint sauce and hay baked shallot. The lamb belly had a lovely thin crisp layer of fat and the meat underneath was pink, juicy and meltingly tender. The shallots were luxuriously rich, the on-trend grilled hispi was perfectly sweet and smoky, and the mint sauce paid a nice homage to the kind you'd get in a Toby's Carvery with your all you-can-eat roast lamb. This was probably our favourite savoury dish.</div>
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Desserts are also a treat, and vary up every week. You get the feeling that Josh and the team have just as much - if not more - fun dreaming these up, testing and experimenting. We order both (we really don't need to). One was a chocolate mousse, with a wild mushroom ganache, whipped buttermilk and walnut marzipan - the funghi ganache was like a more pungent, earthy white chocolate. It really shouldn't work, but it does - contrasting nicely with the tangy buttermilk and the richer mousse. The other dessert was a fancy take on a carrot cake - with candied carrot, sour cream ice cream, a sweet, moist and sticky maple cake and candied pecans. This dish alone was definitely enough for two.</div>
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We end up in Jackdaw for three hours on this chilly Thursday night, enjoying the music, the just-right pacing of the service, with the fruity Sicilian nero d'avola wine keeping us going. A steady stream of customers came in for dinner, all local. I suspect Jackdaw will do well on return custom, as people see how great value it is for the quality of cooking - and the fact you get the live jazz coming up from downstairs too. They're open all through the day for coffee, breakfast, lunch and snacks. It doesn't reek of hipster, and the owners are very keen to encourage people from all backgrounds to come in for the jazz. Let's hope they manage it, because Jackdaw is a real treat to have in the neighbourhood. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-77523590305304003972015-08-30T09:09:00.000+01:002015-08-30T09:09:23.265+01:00Affordable Marseille and Cassis restaurant tipsTo <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bouillabaisse" target="_blank">bouillabaise </a>or to not bouillabaise, that is the question. Or was certainly my question when planning a trip to Marseille and Cassis. Bouillabaise is a 'must do' according to many blogs and guidebooks - the signature dish of the area. But boy is it pricey - a bouillabaise ceremony starts at about 45Eur, high in price because of the rare fish that need to go in, only found in this part of the Mediterranean.<br />
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After consulting our Marseille guru, British-born but Marseille-based restaurant and architecture critic <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Meades" target="_blank">Jonathan Meades</a> (<a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/3b98121e-ba6d-11e1-aa8d-00144feabdc0.html" target="_blank">well, we googled his views on it</a>), we decided to skip the tourist traps and see what good things were on offer. </div>
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<a href="http://restaurantlesouk.com/" target="_blank"><b>Le Souk</b></a></div>
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High on our list was North African food, and we followed a Jonathan Meades tip to Le Souk on the Old Port. In any other city you'd expect there to be little to recommend in such a prominent spot, but Marseille is wonderfully low key like that - no sign of droves of tourists in our late June trip. The menu has all sorts of mezze and grills, but this place is all about the tagines and cous cous. We ordered a delicious mixed mezze platter, but it did too good a job at filling us up before our generous mains.</div>
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I went for a sweet'n'sour tagine (pure savoury is also an option): duck with figs, prunes, honey and onion. IT came with two confit duck legs, and the thickest, sweetest, richest sauce you can imagine. The figs and prunes gave it a real intensity, and only pungent meat like duck and lamb feature on the sweet/sour menu because anything else would get lost amongs the flavours. Toasted almonds cut a crunchy, earthy taste through it, contrasting nicely with sprinklings of icing sugar. The cous cous itself was fluffy with a crunch and a lovely plain vessel for this intense dish.</div>
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I also tried a classic cous cous stew - which was served in all its component parts - chicken, cous cous, a light and watery broth, with stewed vegetables, soaked sweet raisins and chick peas. It was simpler and lighter and every item sung for itself. Mains cost from 12€ to 18€.</div>
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<i>Le Souk Marseille, 98 Quai du Port, 13002 Marseille, +33 4 91 91 29 29.</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.cafedesepices.com/" target="_blank"><b>Café des Epices</b></a></div>
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'Neo bistro' is your search term if you're looking for something a bit more modish and cheffy, and when the Euro's as affordable as it is in Summer 2015 you can get some pretty good value in Marseille. I agonised over which neo bistro to try on our trip, but settled for Cafe des Epices, just a block back from the Old Port. The tables are spread over a large square, surrounded by massive potted olive trees. It felt a little less in-the-know than other spots, with a few guidebooks on the tables and a few bigger parties. Our table was at 8pm, and the place was deserted when we arrived, but every table was full by 9, which is worth noting for reservations.</div>
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The forumle is set at 45€, includes some delicious bread and olive oil, and a selection fo 4-5 dishes at each course. I had major food envy of my partner's gazpacho-like dish - the most perfect, zingy, cool tomato base laced with top drawer olive oil, with confit tomatoes, stunningly good smoked mozzarella, olives and a parmesan crisp.</div>
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My sea bass tartare was fresh and cut with an Asian inspired sesame dressing. It was good, but I wish I'd had the gazpacho.</div>
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Not to worry - I won on the mains, with an exceptional lamb and aubergine dish. There was so much lamb, it was basted with a moreish, anchovy, herby sauce. It came with quinoa, which was lifted a couple of levels above with rich sun dried tomatoes, caperberries.<br />
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Desserts were nice but not especially memorably, but the main drag was the struggle to get service - we were forgotten about after an intense service start. We were compensated with a large glass of the rose we were drinking, but by the end of the meal we'd probably had enough and would rather have had a little bit docked off the bill. Alas, language barriers!<br />
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<i>Café des Epices, 4 Rue du Lacydon, 13002 Marseille, France, +33 4 91 91 22 69.</i><br />
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<a href="http://www.laboiteasardine.com/" target="_blank"><b>La Boite à Sardine</b></a></div>
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Our favourite find was the lunch-only, reservations-necessary fish and seafood restaurant on a busy junction not too far from the station. La Boite à Sardine is one of those places you just want to rave from the rooftops about - definitely locals only (telephone only reservations and limited openings help), but the whole thing is just so bloody convivial and conducive to a happy meal. </div>
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The chefs rotate daily on days off from other restaurants, the menu changes up daily with a few consistent numbers - such as deep fried sea anemone and platters of sparklingly fresh prawns with their *unbelievable* aioli, and are introduced to you personally by the knowledgeable waiting staff.</div>
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Wine is served in the Disney glasses that mustard comes in and are staples in every French family home, the mark ups are reasonable, and there are some fine wines available at 500ml for your moderately sensible weekday lunch.</div>
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As well as the sea anemone and prawns, I devoured a bowl of sweet little clams in a herbalicious sauce, made all the more delicious by the generous scatterings of aniseedy chervil. It came with chick pea chips - shaped like good chunky chip shop chips, but paying a nutty, earthy compliment to the clams. </div>
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To end we shared clafoutis, which was served from a tray, family style, and got hoovered up too quickly to get a photo.<br />
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<i>La Boite à Sardine, 2 Boulevard de la Libération, 13001 Marseille, +33 4 91 50 95 95.</i></div>
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<a href="http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/restaurant-le-bonaparte-cassis" target="_blank"><b>Le Bonaparte, Cassis</b></a><br />
Cassis is the fanciest seaside village in this part of the South of France. We stayed for three nights, as a base for exploring the wild Calanques national park for stunning beaches and walks. Cassis itself is very pretty and relatively small, but it's jam packed with restaurants bars and shops. It's a proper place to see and be seen, with lots of promenading down the front, and every table in every seafront bar is occupied.<br />
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Prices are relatively high in the restaurants and quality is variable. Some are targeted at once-and-never-again tourists, others at monied locals. But find your way down some of the back streets and there are some classic little neighbourhood restaurants that have a loyal following of return customers. Le Bonaparte is one such place, tucked down a side street, with tables spilling out into the little alley. All the tables outside were fully booked on our evening there, so we took a table inside.<br />
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There are menus at different prices depending on how fancy you want your mains. The 26€ menu's options worked fine for us, so we both started with fish soup - the real deal, with bread, a garlicky saffron rouille and grated emmental. It was rustic and simple, a big pan of the stuff, which was really just an excuse to have lots of rouille and cheese topped baguette rounds and dip them in the soup.<br />
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The 26€ menu afforded the most perfectly cooked and prepared sea bass - crisply grilled, then filleted by the waiter and presented off the bone, lightly seasoned and drizzled with olive oil. It was sheer, delicate perfection. And it came with ratatouille (the best ever) and roasted new potatoes; simple, homely, perfectly cooked.<br />
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Le Bonaparte had an excellent wine list, with a good selection of wines from the immediate Cassis area (great for whites, rose and red!), and the staff were very good at recommending one to our taste. Drop by earlier in the day if you plan to go - reservations recommended for a good table.<br />
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<i>Le Bonaparte, 14 rue Gén Bonaparte, 13260 Cassis. +33 4 42 01 80 84.</i></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-81848947941089224122015-07-19T12:16:00.000+01:002015-07-19T13:18:07.470+01:00Top eats in Kreuzberg and Neukoelln, BerlinWhen I lived in Berlin from 2005 to 2006, it was not the place for exciting, high quality food. Eating out was cheap and cheerful - there were heaps of generic "national cuisine" restaurants which did watered down versions of curry or noodles, and it kept us happy as Erasmus students. You could probably say similar of London back then. The fetishisation of food has benefited both cities, and it's always a pleasure to go back to Berlin and see how the food scene is developing.<br />
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Like London, the last decade has seen the city's gravity shift. In Berlin it's all slunk south-east from Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg to <a href="https://www.airbnb.co.uk/locations/berlin/kreuzberg" target="_blank">Kreuzberg</a> and <a href="https://www.airbnb.co.uk/locations/berlin/neukolln" target="_blank">Neukölln</a>, which have that potent mix that leads to hipster-led regeneration: a history of protest and radicalism and melting-pot feel from being the home to decades of waves of migration.<br />
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I was lucky enough to stay with <a href="https://elizabethrushe.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">my amazing multi-talented friend Elizabeth Rushe</a>, who has worked for many years in food, <a href="https://elizabethrushe.wordpress.com/2015/05/09/hallesches-haus/" target="_blank">design</a>, <a href="http://www.travelettes.net/?s=elizabeth+rushe&x=0&y=0" target="_blank">travel</a>, start ups and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/offtherecordfluxfm" target="_blank">music </a>in Berlin, and is an excellent source of knowledge for what's new, old and interesting in the city. Follow her on <a href="https://twitter.com/elizafoxxx" target="_blank">twitter</a>, <a href="https://instagram.com/elizafoxxx/" target="_blank">instagram</a> or just <a href="https://elizabethrushe.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">admire her photos</a>.<br />
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For older tips (google them to see if they're still open), check out my blogs on <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/berlin-prenzlauer-bergmitte.html" target="_blank">Prenzlauer Berg</a>, <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/hello-kreuzberg.html" target="_blank">Kreuzberg in 2012</a>, and a<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/hop-over-to-berlin.html" target="_blank"> five year old general round up</a>.<br />
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<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stella/1561313447449241" target="_blank">Stella</a></b><br />
Stella is New Yorker Suzy Fracassa's cafe and take-out on Neukölln's Wesestrasse, which is like a much more sleepy, low key version of Kingsland Road, or a suped up version of Lower Clapton Road. Suzy's been doing gorgeous catering of fusion-y salads, meals and sweet delights for many years, earning a big enough cult following to open up this permanent space. There's a daily selection of cold dishes a single hot dish, decent coffee, cakes and cold drinks.<br />
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Suzy's Italian background, time in New York and admiration of Ottolenghi's dab hand at Asian and middle Eastern fusion influence the cooking. There's a pretty price guide setting out the cost of all the combinations of portions of cold and hot dishes and different sizes.<br />
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I go for three cold salads, but have a nibble on a friend's meatballs in tomato sauce - sublime. I try the sesame noodles - a homage to a late-night New York Asian fast food staple, made with Italian spaghetti, expertly seasoned with a sesame dressing, spring onions and toasted sesame black and white sesame seeds. There's a broccoli slaw, which has a lightly creamy dressing and lots of toasted bits, a wild rice salad with sweet potato and asparagus (Germany goes WILD for Spargelsaisson!). I also try a friend's wild garlic pesto potato salad. Everything is delicious, with carefully balanced flavours that sing in your mouth for ages afterwards.<br />
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We finish sharing some rich and gooey chocolate brownies and marshmallow Rice Krispie cakes. There are tables on the pavement outside, and a lovely back room with a big table, views of an overgrown garden, and a beautiful mural of verdant plants along one wall.<br />
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<img height="426" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Ufyzh6s9tDw/VauFTYjjVoI/AAAAAAAAC4M/nF1qDKMu8fQ/w845-h563-no/IMG_9784.JPG" width="640" /><br />
<i>(photo by <a href="https://elizabethrushe.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Rushe</a>)</i><br />
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Suzy knows how to feed the soul and put a smile on her customers. Watch this space to see how Stella develops.<br />
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<b>Street food nights at <a href="http://markthalleneun.de/?lang=en" target="_blank">Markthalle Neun, Kreuzberg</a></b><br />
<a href="http://markthalleneun.de/?lang=en" target="_blank">Markthalle Neun</a> is a stunning old covered market building in an understated Kiez in Kreuzberg. Through the week it's a mixture of farmers selling vegetables and other produce with a good few specialist mini delicatessens selling booze, olive oils, salamis, cheese, smoked fish and much more. But every Thursday night lots of street food stalls and bars open up inside, and people flock from all over Berlin to savour the food, drink and atmosphere.<br />
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There is so much to choose from, but we try Korean hot dogs (available vegan too), loaded with kimchi, sriracha, cheese and crispy onions.<br />
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I love the bar siu steamed buns, made by a Chinese lad and his mum. The pork mince filling is nicely pungent, full of flavour. The rice dough is light and pillowy and literally steaming from the steaming.<br />
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<a href="https://www.facebook.com/BaoKitchen" target="_blank">Bao Kitchen's</a> open steamed bun (Momofuku-style, so now) with pork is more pulled than those perfectly cooked, glazed pork belly slabs done by the pros, but it stills tastes good.<br />
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And I'm blown away by the smoked veal ribs from <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bigstuffsmokedbbqberlin" target="_blank">Big Stuff Smoked stall </a>- one of the most popular, demonstrated by all the beef brisket and short rib gone by 7pm when I develop enough appetite to order. You can choose from a number of specially made sauces - I get their barbecue cherry cola sauce, which is every bit as sweet, sour, smoky and delicious as it sounds.<br />
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By 8pm it is heaving. So many people. There are a decent number of tables, so it's all quite grown up, and the queues are rarely too long. It's nice that the demographic is much more mixed than it would be in London - lots of families, older groups, not just brash 20/30 somethings. Some of the stalls change each week, and there's a huge selection, so lots of reasons to keep going back. Most of the prices are sub 7€, comparing favourably with the likes of London's Street Feast.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.stilinberlin.de/2014/04/revisited-the-thai-park.html" target="_blank">Thai Park in Preusselpark</a></b><br />
Sundays are a big deal in Berlin. All the shops are closed, and you've probably had a late boozy night, so it's all about being outside (when the weather's good) and nourishing yourself with good food and a good mosey. Flea Markets are a big part of the Sunday experience, with Mauer Park in Prenzlauer Berg being the biggest and most famous. Boxhagener Platz in Friedrichshain is also nice, and Ankona Platz in Prenzlauer Berg has much more high quality bric a brac than a lot of the junk at Mauer Park.<br />
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Quietly gaining in popularity is the Thai Market in Preussel Park, deep in West Berlin. Berlin is home to a big Thai population, but many of the restaurants serve a duller version of the cuisine. Not so here, where you'll find about 50 stalls run by Thai (mostly) women, who're all sat on mats on the grass, with a few implements (cool boxes, gas powered grills) to make usually a single dish. The flavours are totally unedited - pungent cuts of meat, copious quantities of fish sauce, chillies with a proper kick.<br />
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A foodie friend guides us to a longish queue for green papaya salad. This is one of my benchmark dishes, and it blew every other version I'd had out the water. Each portion is made from scratch and to order. The papaya is shredded with a mandolin, tipped into a huge pestle where it meets its mortar, along with lime, chilli, fish sauce, dried shrimps, roasted peanuts and a few tomatoes, and is then pummelled and tasted and adjusted and pummelled and tasted and adjusted, until she's happy with it. Oh boy - this was so hot, ask for her to hold the chilli if you've not got a pretty hefty tolerance for spice. But it was so good, and a steal for a huge portion at 5€.<br />
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<img height="426" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Wvwfy2q3IOk/Vaq0ne4LcVI/AAAAAAAAC18/BGjBfXZOsU4/w845-h563-no/IMG_0063.JPG" width="640" /><br />
<i>(photo by <a href="https://elizabethrushe.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Rushe</a>)</i><br />
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<img height="426" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sBTkXpGzeKI/Vaq0qOcGiOI/AAAAAAAAC2E/rQx-M2rkwVo/w845-h563-no/IMG_0074.JPG" width="640" /><br />
<i>(photo by <a href="https://elizabethrushe.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Rushe</a>)</i><br />
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I also try some squid skewers, which are a steal at 2€ each, loaded with tentacles, griddled on high and lathered in a chilli sauce. I grab the last three pork and peanut skewers (1€ each, WTF), and<br />
enjoy some ludicrously sweet ice tea - which is strong and bitter, Thai style, then topped up with lots of condensed and evaporated milk. It's sublime.<br />
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<img height="426" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ffOIPTpSMMw/Vaq0vqUAyYI/AAAAAAAAC2U/Bh-7oOxfP-4/w845-h563-no/IMG_0093.JPG" width="640" /><br />
<i>(photo by <a href="https://elizabethrushe.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Elizabeth Rushe</a>)</i><br />
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<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cocolo-Ramen-X-Berg/480234328730559" target="_blank">Cocolo Ramen, Maybachufer</a></b><br />
I love a stroll by the canal down by Maybachufer, a couple of blocks south of Kottbusser Tor. The Ankerklause pub down by the water is legendary. But there's another reason to go there now - a nice ramen restaurant, with a lovely garden for schlurping down noodles on a warm evening. I'm totally spoiled when it comes to ramen, what with Tonkotsu Mare Street a 5 minute walk away. Over in Berlin, I order their Tonkotsu as a comparison - the broth is not quite so creamy from the bones, but it is full of porky flavour, and comes with a generous amount of pork belly and other cuts. lots of fungal, seaweed and gingery bits and decent noodles with enough of a bite on them. You get a neat selections of oils and shakes to pimp your Tonkotsu - I go wild for their onion oil, which has a lovely rich umami taste.<br />
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We also enjoy their pickled king oyster mushrooms, an almost creamy sesame spinach, and edamame beans. Schlurp schlurp.<br />
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<b><a href="https://plus.google.com/100199204376824042026/about?gl=uk&hl=en" target="_blank">Kirk, Skalitzerstr</a></b><br />
I don't usually focus on drinks, but I have to tell you to go to <a href="https://foursquare.com/v/kirk-bar/4b0c3b80f964a5205e3923e3" target="_blank">Kirk</a> on Skalitzerstr for cocktails. Everyone I know or met in Berlin would light up if you mention the place. It's the best spot for cocktails for miles, possibly hundreds of miles. The star of the show is the mixologist, a Nick Cave lookalike, rumoured to be from Croatia but to have learned his craft in New York. He silently makes the orders, having the odd chat to the waiting staff but never with the customers; he chain smokes and puts on dark records. I was delighted to hear a vintage PJ Harvey album while I supped my (first class) negroni.<br />
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The decor is retro without being kitsch, and it gets really busy later on, so get there before 9. Grab a seat at the bar if you can. Their whiskey sours comes highly recommended.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-3018501871691765972015-07-12T11:40:00.001+01:002015-07-12T18:22:58.881+01:00Brooksby's Walk, Chatsworth Road, Clapton / HomertonJust when I thought new openings were getting a bit derivative over in Clapton, I got a very pleasant surprise. The public toilets on <a href="http://www.brooksbywalk.com/" target="_blank">Brooksby's Walk</a>, previously home to the social enterprise Nana, got taken on by a crew of bright young things who really know their onions, so to speak.<br />
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The art deco public toilets were converted two years ago to provide a bar/café in the original men's loos (urinals in tact), opening the original women's side as unisex public toilets for all the hours the premises is open. It benefits from a stunning roof terrace which catches the sun pretty much all day long. And for the summer - and hopefully beyond (subject to planning permission) - it's open as a restaurant and cocktail bar, with <a href="http://www.thelondonmagazine.co.uk/people-places/interviews/giorgio-ravelli.html" target="_blank">Giorgio Ravelli</a> (ex of <a href="http://londoneater.com/2012/07/16/upstairs-at-ten-bells/" target="_blank">Upstairs at the Ten Bells</a> and the Ledbury) in the kitchen, Jarrod Cooke (also ex of Upstairs at the Ten Bells) on front of house, and Jimmy McMahon, an esteemed mixologist, on the cocktails. The whole operation has a pally, family vibe - helped by the fact that the team are all chums, and they're bringing other chums in to help with the odd waiting and cheffing shift.<br />
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<img height="480" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-LmC6ZLEMyOw/VaI0mUBe-hI/AAAAAAAAC1E/0_0xRMgUMqw/w693-h520-no/_1040158.JPG" width="640" /><br />
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The food menu is seasonal Northern Italian - Ravelli himself is Swiss Italian - and changes up regularly with a few regular dishes, such as their parmesan pannacotta with broad beans and pea purée. This was an instant highlight - a light, moussey, creamy parmesan custard, which mixes gorgeously with the lush green, the delicate flavours of marjoram and slightly acidic slivers of nectarine.<br />
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Nectarine appears again, chargrilled and topped with shavings of princess alicia cheese (a mountain cheese not dissimilar to comté) and a rich balsamic dressing.<br />
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Beer battered samphire is generously portioned for its £4.50 price tag, and is almost like a marshy bhaji. We break bits off with our hands and eat it animal style. Every last fleck of sea salt and oil is consumed, fingers out towards the end. It's a theme with the meal.<br />
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A unanimous highlight of the meal is the crispy squid. This is among the best squid I've had: fresh, crisp, flavoursome, generous. It's topped with tangy sumac, but it's all about the Kentish tomato salad it sits atop. The tomatoes are lightly macerated so their juice forms a liquor that's fragranced with elderberry capers, lovage, celery, finely diced red onion and a twist of vinegar. It's like the most luxe bloody mary you've had. My friend shamelessly necks the bowl of liquor back once we've done our best.<br />
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Pan fried plaice is another highlight. We gush as we cut into the fish with its white, meaty, flesh perfectly intact under a golden crisp crumb. But gushing reaches fever pitch as we spoon up the aubergine caviar that's cut with sweet sultanas and perfectly toasted earthy pine nuts, and served with a<a href="http://www.cosstores.com/gb/Men/Tops/Circle_print_t-shirt/10603263-31799922.1#c-22755" target="_blank"> Cos-like</a> perfect circle of mustardy-capery agrodolce purée. Again, not a trace remains on the plate.<br />
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The thought of veal tartare scares my friends, so we don't order it. But a spare portion from the kitchen winds its way to our table. They savour every mouthful, with its flecks of dried mackerel skin, pickled girolles and parmesan for umami kick.<br />
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We literally eat everything on the savoury menu (there's sourdough bread with peppery, fruity olive oil too) and we end with swaledale lamb leg, baby beetroot and sea purslane. Maybe we're overwhelmed by all the flavours of previous courses, but we end up finding this dish a bit underwhelming. The lamb is perfectly pink, with a crisp, almost bacon-like skin (lamb bacon, there's a business idea), but it's a bit tough to cut with our normal knives. The beets are gorgeously earthy, and the sea purslane subtle. It's not a bad dish, but we prefer everything else.<br />
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An understated dessert of ricotta beignets, strawberries, marsala reduction and cream hits all the right notes and is a refreshing end to the meal. On a separate trip, I devour plates of brilliant cheese with a chum over wine and cocktails. Taleggio, gouda, a soft unpasturised cheese called Tentation and an ash rolled goats cheese served with complementary jams are utterly delicious.<br />
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Oh boy, I haven't even mentioned the drinks. Cocktails are great - very summery. We enjoy their Number One (aperolly aperativo) and Number Two (a cool, almost punch-like infused 'old fashioned' digestivo). The wine list is impressive, well-sourced and well-priced. Over two visits I have all the whites by the (large) glass - the stand outs being a zingy, aromatic Grillo from Puglia and a young, deep straw coloured Monteforche Veneto Cassiara. I need to get a hold of that wine...perfect, just perfect.<br />
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So, an epic meal - we are there for 3.5 hours. It's one of the best meals I've had in a long time, and up there with <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/verden-e5-clarence-road-clapton.html" target="_blank">Verden</a> and <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/everybody-needs-good-neighbours.html" target="_blank">Shane's</a> as the best restaurants in Greater Clapton. As the bill came I was pleasantly surprised at the cost of our indulgence (£24 inc tip for my non boozing friend, £38 inc tip for those of us who had wine and cocktails), and sad - sad that this brilliant restaurant and bar might only be here for a few more months. A planning application will shortly be going in for <a href="http://yellowcloudstudio.com/portfolio/the-convenience-brooksbys-walk-toilets/" target="_blank">this brilliant, less weather-dependent design</a>. I will certainly be registering my support for it - this venture is too good to lose.<br />
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Reservations recommended, and it's best to call their mobile: 07555 229870.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-10356580613365176432015-07-11T19:25:00.001+01:002015-07-11T19:25:27.997+01:00Patty & Bun, Mentmore Terrace, London FieldsIf Peak Burger was three years ago, are we at Peak Fancy Burger Chain Expansion now? There's <a href="https://www.byronhamburgers.com/locations/" target="_blank">a Byron Burger on every third street in Zone 1</a>, and <a href="http://www.honestburgers.co.uk/locations/" target="_blank">Honest Burger has transposed from Brixton to every gentrified high street in London</a>,<a href="http://meatliquor.com/" target="_blank"> MeatLiquor Inc</a> no longer attracts such massive the queues because it has seven branches - one in SINGAPORE - and one more to open soon in edgy Islington. <a href="http://pattyandbun.co.uk/" target="_blank">Patty & Bun</a>, opening at a similar time just off Oxford Street, has expanded more slowly: first to Liverpool Street and now to London Fields.<br />
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I'm willing to travel for a good meal, but happier when it travels to me. <a href="http://pattyandbun.co.uk/contact/the-arch/" target="_blank">The new Patty & Bun under the arches on Mentmore Terrace, London Fields,</a> is next to the esteemed <a href="http://e5bakehouse.com/" target="_blank">E5 Bakehouse</a>, and so my weekly trip for a large loaf of Hackney Wild will now involve some serious burger temptation. Patty & Bun is a cut above the other excellent burgers I listed above, and I'm going to say it's up there with Hackney's other best burger joint,<a href="http://www.lucky-chip.co.uk/" target="_blank"> Lucky Chip</a>, about to open their first permanent restaurant on Ridley Road in Dalston.<br />
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Patty &Bun is open all from 11.30am to 10pm Tuesday to Friday and from 9.30am on both Saturday and Sundays. That's right. It's now possible to have a burger for breakfast every weekend.<br />
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The core menu has a concise selection of their classic burgers, which have all the classic components of a good burger, but prepared with a brush of creativity. The Ari Gold (think Big Mac equiv) comes with all the usual trimmings but delicate, fragrant mexican style pink pickled onions and their own smoky mayonnaise. The Smokey Robinson burger smoky barbecue sauce and sweet caramelised onions are so heavily packed in that it's basically like lava. And so very good.<br />
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Chips come as they are in rosemary salt (very good), or with a chicken salt and roast chicken mayonnaise. It's like a mini roast dinner. Inspired.<br />
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Alongside sides of coleslaw, wings and salad, there are also regular specials. We enjoyed moist duck nuggets with a sweet, smoky Mexican chilli sauce. A smoked tomato salad features robust, sweet and lightly smoked San Marzano tomatoes, thins of raw courgette and crunch baby gem. My salad dodging other half savoured every bite.<br />
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But wait...there's more. Patty & Bun's London Fields outpost does brunch burgers. They swap the demi-brioche for a sourdough bun, and fill it with eggs and other goodness. I order a smoked ox cheek bun, which comes with cheesy scrambled eggs and sweet pickled chilli. The ox cheek is rich in flavour and spice from slow and low cooking. It's a bit intense for 9.30, but by 11.30 it hit the spot.<br />
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Other options include harissa fried egg with avocado, lime relish and bacon mayo, and cheesy scrambled egg with smoked guacamole, slow roast tomatoes and wild garlic creme fraiche. You get the picture.<br />
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They're still waiting for an alcohol license, so it's just soft drinks for now (including unlimited refill Allpress filter coffee for £1.50). Expect a short selection of wines, beers and mixed drinks when they get it. The service is quick, and it's communal tables - so it's walk-ins and relatively fast turnover, but you won't feel hurried by the professional, friendly staff. Prices are very reasonable too - you can go wild with the sides and still come in around £20. Burgers are all £7.50 - £8.50.<br />
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It's easy enough to get a perch now, it's early days and they deliberately launched under the radar. But once the word gets out, Patty & Bun London Fields will be just as rammed as the others.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-20180884561791106192015-06-29T22:38:00.002+01:002015-06-29T22:38:31.908+01:00Taberna do Mercado, Spitalfields, Commercial StreetI recently turned thirty, which is the perfect excuse for a slap up meal. I've been cutting back recently due to an enormous building project at home. It's also the reason that I haven't been blogging much recently. I've been without proper facilities for three months now, and the extra effort required to do everyday tasks, on top of the constant decision-making, has just sapped so much of my energy for anything fun, like writing about food.<br />
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But I'm coming out of my slumber to write about <a href="http://www.tabernamercado.co.uk/" target="_blank">Taberna do Mercado</a>, Nuno Mendes' new restaurant. Yes, he of Chiltern Firehouse fame. Chiltern Firehouse may be what he's now best known for, but its prices and glitz seem out of character for Mendes, whose building block gigs at Viajante and the Loft Project were more low key and allowed the food to do the talking.<br />
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Ironically perhaps, Mendes' new joint Taberna do Mercado is his most down to earth yet. It's a Portuguese market canteen, on the edge of Spitalfields Market. Simple little restaurants in produce markets are the real deal in Portugal (where I'm half from) - it's where you'll see local nanas having a snack of seafood, or a friendly business meeting over a sandwich (prego), along with a crisp white wine or small glass of beer. The situation and menu of Taberna do Mercado are a big nod to that tradition.<br />
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The menu has cheese and cured meats, "tinned" fish, snacks, a couple of sandwiches, a reasonable selection of small plates, and a handful of eggy desserts. It's a whistlestop tour of Portuguese cuisine, which is warm and familiar to me, but not to many in London. Every dish has an extra twist of cheffy sophistication, an extra complexity or layer of flavour, than you'd expect from a classic Lisbon restaurant.<br />
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We ordered our food bit by bit, as it can come relatively quickly after you order. We started with lightly battered green beans (a dish my mum loves to make), which were perfectly crisp and came on top of a little bowl of a cool broth, which tasted of toasted onions. The rissois - crisp triangles stuffed with prawn and prawn flavoured roux - are another Portuguese classic, and the darker, crisper coating, the juicy prawns and richer seafoody roux inside made these the best I'd had.<br />
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The "tinned" fish menu has a number of delicious sounding options, but we went for cod cheeks with a sweet, paprika sauce. The fish is cooked, marinaded and served in a tin - in homage to the tinned seafood shacks of Portugal. Served with crunchy thins of cauliflower and toasted thick Portuguese bread, we devoured every last speck of this dish, spooning the sweet flavoured oil onto the bread when it would not soak up any more.<br />
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A fennel and asparagus migas had a great contrast between the crunchy textures and zingy, fresh flavours of the vegetables, and the rich, lardy, moist migas - breadcrumbs fried up with any number of ingredients and flavours with stock and oil, ending up tasting somewhere between dumplings and a hash.<br />
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A pig trotter and cuttlefish coentrada is a rich broth is creamy and full of porky flavour - almost like a ramen. The pig trotter meat is pungent, and the cuttle fish is perfectly cooked - just chewy enough, but till fresh tasting and not the least bit rubbery. Generous scatterings of micro coriander make this taste very Portuguese - that delicious mixture of pork, seafood and the fragrant aromas of fresh greens. The sauce is so perfect we order more bread to soak it up.<br />
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We finish our savoury voyage with a prego roll, with steak, watercress-like crunchy greens and a spicy, fragrant peppery sauce. The roll is incredibly authentic, slightly sour, crispy and lathered in butter. The steak is perfectly cooked, and the red peppery sauce mixes with the butter and echoes the taste of the classic bifana sandwich.<br />
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Portion are not too big, and the prices are just on the pricey side of keen. Ordering an extra bread was key to keeping my other half assured that he wasn't going to spend all that money and leave hungry.<br />
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On the plus side it means you certainly have time for dessert. Sweets are a big deal in Portugal, especially when they're made of egg yolk and dusted with cinnamon. As with everything else, the desserts at Taberna do Mercado manage to be both convincingly homely and next level. We shared a warm olive oil and egg cake, half cooked in parchment paper, so that it's crisp on top, gooey in the middle, wallowing with grade A olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. The fruitiness and the acidity of the olive oil stand out, and are gently balanced by the sugar in the cake. It's impeccable.<br />
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However, we're still not full and our waitress informs us that there's a dish that's proving a hit on instagram. We order it and 'gram it, naturally. Egg yolk is mixed with pork fat to make a particularly rich congealed custard slabs. It holds solidly, cuts easily, and is complemented with a thin, lightly sweet Port sauce with drops of fruity olive oil and flecks of sea salt.<br />
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The winelist is entirely Portuguese, and it's well priced with bottles starting in the early twenties. There's a good spread of regions covered, and with much available by the glass, so it offers a great chance to sample lots of interesting wines from across this not yet fully appreciated country.<br />
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The waiting staff are well briefed on the dishes and wines and were incredibly friendly, if not fully attentive - there were a few too many times where we all but disappeared from their consciousness, and it took minutes of craning and embarrassing signally. On the plus side, their 'no reservations' policy works well in practice - we waltzed to an outside table at 6.30 on a Tuesday, and were brought inside when a table became available. For later arrivals, punters' numbers were taken and they were called back when it was free.<br />
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Taberna do Mercado works well. The dishes are homely and unpretentious, while being painstakingly conceived and refined. The feel is informal and welcoming, and yet this is a chef who's best known for a restaurant in a flash hotel that has paparazzi stationed outside every evening. The cost may ratchet up (we ate and drank well and it came to just shy of £50 a head including service), but this is all top provenance cooking where every detail counts. The five star reviews are rolling in, so make sure you're early if you want to snap up a table without a wait.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-996498207098915852015-05-14T08:55:00.000+01:002015-05-14T08:55:00.631+01:00Chick'n'Sours Kingsland Road, Dalston, Hackney Fancy fried chicken is now a *thing*. Since the opening of fancy fried chicken joint <a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/chickenliquor" target="_blank">Wishbone</a> a few years ago, the techniques for brining, marinating and coating chicken wings, thighs, drumsticks and breasts have become legitimate subjects for geeky discussion. I love the buttermilk brined chicken in a bun with Korean hot sauce at <a href="https://twitter.com/spitandroast" target="_blank">Spit and Roast</a>, or the schmaltzed chicken with gravy at Rita's, but my all time favourite is <a href="http://dantefriedchicken.com/" target="_blank">Dante Fried Chicken in Los Angeles</a>, who blows my mind with his approach to brining and crunch. His book is well worth hunting down.<br />
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For all the wonderful fried chicken, I've had some pretty bland stuff too and some claggy coatings that soak up all the oil. <a href="http://www.jacksonrye.com/" target="_blank">Jackson and Rye</a> was one of the worst I've ever had, but even <a href="http://www.foxlow.co.uk/" target="_blank">Foxlow's</a> left me a little underwhelmed. </div>
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When I heard about <a href="http://chicknsours.co.uk/" target="_blank">Chick'n'Sours </a>opening on Kingsland Road, and that <a href="https://twitter.com/ccdiscobistro" target="_blank">Carl Clarke</a> was behind it, I knew to expect interesting things. I once made it to <a href="http://www.thelondoner.me/2013/01/disco-bistro-ec4.html" target="_blank">Disco Bistro</a> and was blown away by the exciting flavours he incorporated into 'luxe' junk food. His reputation meant that Chick'n;Sours' soft launch was booked up in minutes, but I made it along in the restaurant's second week. </div>
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It's a neat little restaurant, with no more than 40 covers, and views out onto Kingsland Road. Inside and outside is low key stylish. The menu is very concise: a selection of sour cocktails, a few beers, a few wines and a nice selection of soft drinks. The food menu consists of a house fry and a guest fry, a fried chicken burger, some interesting sides and starters, and a single dessert.<br />
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We kick off with a sour cocktail. My house sour has raspberry and chilli vinegar in it, giving it an extra aciditc kick. The flavours are complex and it has some interesting notes, but I find that the sweetness overwhelms the sourness, and it's a bit too gluggable. My friend's basil and strawberry is adorned with big, luscious basil leaves and black pepper. It's delicious.<br />
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Getting into the chicken swing of things, we start with a plate of wings, which can come in naked, sweet or hot. We go for hot and get six juicy, meaty wings covered in a red sticky sauce similar to buffalo sauce but with a bit more spicy bitterness. The sauce has real depth and a big kick, and yards above the gloopy sugary buffalo sauce you'll find in many other joints.<br />
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On to the main thing: the chicken. The house fry is a pretty classic take on fried chicken. You get a thigh and a drumstick, both super moist and full of strong meaty flavour, with a crispy, crunchy but not-too-thick coating. It's not oily in the slightest. The signature covering is a "seaweed crack" - a light dust of dehydrated (I guess) seaweed and other umami flavours, which makes this incredibly moreish. There are a number of other dipping sauces for £1.50, but we stuck to the house chilli oil on the table - and it's excellent lightly spread on the chicken. The house fry comes with pickled watermelon, which provides a juicy, tangy balance to the salty, meaty, crunchy chicken.<br />
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My friend orders the guest fry, which, on our visit, is Thai style - topped with crispy shallots, spring onions, fresh chilli, thai basil and mint, and served with a chilli jam dipping sauce. It's great.<br />
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The sides are a big deal. You could even see the fried chicken as merely an excuse to tuck in to some tasty sides. I'd even encourage vegetarian (well, those tolerant of by-products) friends to come and pile up some tasty side and starter dishes. The fries are cooked in a rich beef dripping, and the generous serving is a steal at £2.50. We could eat them endlessly. We also enjoy a yam-bean slaw. Yam beans are a South East Asian member of the yam family, and here it's julienned along with red onion and something green, coated in a light miso mayo and topped with black and white sesame. It's fresh and crunchy and savoury and wonderful.<br />
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We also order a pickled apple and chicken skin salad, which is basically a super pimped caesar salad. Leaves of gem lettuce are loaded with creamy blue cheese dressing, crisp flakes of smoked bacon and the crispy chicken skin. Shards of pickled apple cut through the salty umami, giving a much needed freshness. My dining companion found the dish overwhelming, and I think a little less of the blue cheese dressing and a bit more of the apple might have reached a better balance.<br />
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Another highlight was the pickled water melon, coriander and peanut side. A perfectly balanced fish sauce dressing is sweet and savoury and just delicious with the roasted peanuts. If we'd had the space we'd have tried the Szechuan aubergine, which I've heard is great.<br />
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There is just one dessert: a Weetabix soft service ice cream. The ice cream tastes like malty Weetabix milk, and it's topped with crunchy bits of Weetabix. I like it; my friend does not. It's not very sweet, the maltiness has a slightly bitter edge. It tastes nostalgic, and I like the texture of the crunch with the cold ice cream.<br />
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We have a thoroughly good meal and feel well looked after by the team. I'm already planning trips back to try some of the other sides and also their brunch menu. It's certainly a cut above much of its Dalston competition, where new openings are mostly either contrived and pretentious or generic and half-arsed. It's also refreshing to taste masterful fusions of Asian and Western flavours and techniques - there are too many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Chang" target="_blank">David Chang</a> pretenders who lack the care and know-how to pull it off. Clarke's team at Chick'n'Sours know how to develop stunning and dishes and price them well - you can eat well here for less than £20 per head.<br />
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Chick'n'Sours is likely to be popular - it was buzzing on a Tuesday evening in week two. Thankfully, it takes reservations through the week, but is likely to be walk-ins only on Friday and Saturday evenings. Get there soon, because most other fried chicken is a waste of calories.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-66128572710067732892015-04-19T17:32:00.001+01:002015-04-19T18:05:00.346+01:00Tottenham's best restaurants N17 N15I've spent the last month living in Tottenham, cat-sitting for friends while my flat is a building site. It's been a great opportunity to get in tune with a part of North East London that's often over-looked for its foodie offerings.<br />
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At the start of the year<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/hackneys-best-new-restaurants-2014.html" target="_blank"> I predicted </a>that the foodie scenes in places like Tottenham, Leyton and Forest Gate would hotten up as more people came looking for somewhere reasonably affordable to live. Already small producers are basing themselves in Tottenham - and<a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tottenham-Ploughman/567005726705292?fref=nf" target="_blank"> there's a festival on 3 May showcasing some of their produce</a>.<br />
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It turns out that Tottenham has a lot of interesting options already. That's not surprising, considering it's quite possibly the most diverse place in the country, home to people from all over the world who've come to London in search of work and found Tottenham a welcoming, well-connected place, with affordable accommodation.<br />
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It's also a pretty huge area, which has quite a few different 'centres' with different identities. In the south there are two separate light industrial area with warehouses and studios that have vibes not dissimilar to Hackney Wick a decade ago, the area around Seven Sisters has a <a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/save-tottenhams-pueblito-paisa-1" target="_blank">Latin American market</a>, a road of predominantly West African shops and take-aways; Bruce Grove to the north feels more like a high street with chains and small shops each specialising in food from a different country.<br />
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Gentrification seems likely. With more streets of Victorian housing than you can imagine, and it still being possible (just) to snap up a terraced house for less than £500,000, people priced out of Hackney and Harringay and even Walthamstow are deciding to settle here. There are also huge regeneration plans for White Hart Lane and Tottenham Hale, where large numbers of new flats will be built, along with lots of shops, restaurants and leisure facilities. Its future could well be a mix of more organic hipster-led change, and big shiny corporate top-down regeneration.<br />
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For now there is much to love and try.<br />
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<b>Cafe Marina</b><br />
A small Portuguese cafe-deli-offlicense at 159 Lordship Road N17, just near Bruce Castle Park. I'm half Portuguese and know how the staples are supposed to taste. Everything here is as you'd get in Portugal. Pick up savoury goodies like rissois (crumbed pastries with prawn or beef fillings) or a salt cod croquette. Order a delicious bifana sandwhich, where the thin cut beef is dripping in a moreish paprika butter in soft white bread.<br />
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The pasties de nata were good, and there's decent deli selection of cured meats, olive oils, pulses, grains and bacalhao. The selection of wines and spirits is also impressive and fairly priced. We picked up a really decent bottle of red wine from Alentejo for £10, but most options are £6 - £8.<br />
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Also worth trying <a href="http://www.bompecado.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bom Pecado</a> on West Green Road - a similar set up, but with lots more sweet treats baked in house. Bom Pecado also has a bakery in Leyton, where you'll get pasteis de nata for less than half their hipster price. And fresher too.<br />
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<b>Craving Coffee</b><br />
The first – and possibly only - sign of hipsterfication in Tottenham is <a href="http://www.cravingcoffee.co.uk/" target="_blank">Craving Coffee</a>, located on a light industrial site between Tottenham Hale and Markouse Park. It's a bright open space, with a warehousey DIY interior. The coffee is first rate – expertly brewed espresso based coffees using Climpson & Sons beans, tasty little cakes and loafs bakes locally (absolutely loved the salted caramel brownies).<br />
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Brunch is served all day over the weekend, and it's a cut above – with chorizo and potato hash, top quality bacon with rocket and avocado in a bap, and a decent muesli too.<br />
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It's open at least a couple of evenings a month for special events – including pop up restaurants and film<br />
nights.<br />
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<b>Diyabakir</b><br />
Ok, so it's not really Tottenham, but it's just a few minutes from where the N15 postcode starts. The middle part of Green Lanes where it hits Harringay is The Place for The Best kebabs in London. I say this as an ex-Dalstonite. There are many options to navigate – from the glossy Antepliler (which has now expanded to Upper Street) to its big rival Gökyüzü, and many others inbetween. My favourite is <a href="https://plus.google.com/100639881837962396920/about?gl=uk&hl=en" target="_blank">Diyarbakir</a>, a totally halal, no booze joint, which is heaving on the Sunday evening we visit. Families and groups of friends from more backgrounds than you can imagine are hear, tucking into big heaped plates of grilled meat, generous mezze portions and delicious pide.<br />
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We eat so much, take back tonnes, and share two massive rose-tinged rice puddings between four and the bill comes to less than £15 per person. Complimentary teas seal the deal: this is the best kebab I've had in London.<br />
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<b>San Marco</b><br />
<a href="http://sanmarco.co.uk/" target="_blank">San Marco</a> is a proper neighbourhood Italian. It's been on its prominent corner site on Bruce Grove for almost 45 years, and is brimming with locals most nights. It's a classic Italian menu of pizzas, pastas and secondi dishes, a simple selection of starters, desserts and some specials. Prices are very reasonable, with most mains and pizzas below £8. We had grilled, dressed sardines to start, and shared two pizzas baked as a half metre of pizza (same surface area as two 12" wheels) - half topped with smoked cheese and bacon (ohhh yeah), and half as capricciosa, which had really nice ham and artichokes on it along with the olives and mushroom.<br />
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We had a little space for pudding, which was more than filled by a special of banoffee pie - retro classic, and perfectly made.<br />
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<b>Restaurant Cornelius</b><br />
<a href="http://www.restaurantcornelius.co.uk/" target="_blank">Cornelius </a>is a large Romanian restaurant on an island in the River Lea, just east of Tottenham Hale. Romanian cuisine has some similarities with Turkish, Greek and Hungarian cuisines. Expect judicious use of paprika, stuffed cabbage leaves, and lots of meat.<br />
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The food is not delicate or dainty, and the cured meat certainly ain't hand-reared, hand-cured and fed a diet of organic acorns. But the hearty food is homely and authentic and goes great with the Romanian beers and wines. Cornelius is best enjoyed as a window into a culture – enjoy the loud Romanian dancey pop music, the singer crooning over some of the tracks, and multi-generational family parties having a dance over a big celebration.<br />
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<b>Others...</b><br />
A month isn't long enough to get through Tottenham's eating options. I still intend to try some of the canteen-style<a href="http://www.timeout.com/london/things-to-do/save-tottenhams-pueblito-paisa-1" target="_blank"> Latin American caffs down in the Pueblito Paisa market</a>. There's Kata - a <a href="http://www.kataonline.co.uk/" target="_blank">pub serving Japanese food</a> on West Green Road, <a href="http://elbotello4.wix.com/elbotellon" target="_blank">a tapas restaurant </a>on the High Road, and the<a href="http://beehiven17.com/" target="_blank"> Beehive</a> pub just off the High Road - a CAMRA winning pub with a barbecue menu. and once you start talking Green Lanes and Wood Green, you have so many more kebab joints to try, Polish, Bulgarian, Greek restaurants. Wood Green even has a bistro now. Coming in September to Tottenham is a "healthy" fried chicken restaurant, which will cross-subsidise meals for school kids from the takings of their evening sales. <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/createlondon/chicken-town-tottenham" target="_blank">Back the Kickstarter to make it happen.</a> There's also <a href="https://twitter.com/ChestnutsMarket" target="_blank">Chestnuts Market</a> in South Tottenham, which runs 11 - 3 every Sunday, and has a good range of street food and producer stalls.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-80176014522935810962015-04-13T21:29:00.000+01:002015-04-13T21:40:20.956+01:00Eat 17 restaurant, Brooksbys Walk, Clapton HackneyA whirlwind few months in the run up to an election leaves this political campaigner/food blogger and over-commiter with little time and energy to write about interesting local restaurants.<br />
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There has also been a bit of a lull in new openings in North East London. Cold weather is bad for business, and especially bad for launching a business when cashflow is everything. A couple of recent mid-week, mid-evening cycles up Kingsland Road shows up some pretty empty restaurants. Even a Monday night dinner at <a href="http://www.rotorino.com/" target="_blank">Rotorino</a> sees this popular, well-regarded restaurant near empty.<br />
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I take the lull as an opportunity to finally try <a href="http://www.eat17.co.uk/hackney-upstairs/" target="_blank">Eat 17's Clapton restaurant</a>, above their supermarket-cum-deli-cum-<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/eat17-burger-bar-in-spar-chatsworth.html" target="_blank">burger-bar</a>. I have long been meaning to try it, but also not being quite motivated enough. Its lack of visibility from the street put me off - is it a pig in a poke? How can I know if anyone is in there and enjoying it? A few press shots of its swanky interior make me wince a little too – is it a bit too alien to the Clapton I know?<br />
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It is terribly plush. Tables are spaciously arranged in four rows, with leather banquettes, marble circular tables, Art Deco style lamps for mood lighting and cripplingly nowish decorative palm tree lamps on the bar. It's so plush. I almost feel a bit scruffy and dirty, and more so for the fact that it's relatively quiet on this wintery Thursday evening - the space between the rows of tables left me feeling quite exposed.<br />
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The menu includes a number of dishes from their downstairs burger bar, but served on plates rather than branded greaseproof paper. The maitre'd is wired up to a radio mic, so that he can communicate with both kitchens. The co-ordination is impressive, even if the downside is looking like your in a 90s five-piece.<br />
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We share scallops on celariac puree to start. The scallops are plump and perfectly cooked, the puree adds a lovely creamy earthiness. Crispy pancetta is served with it in a classic combination, and crispy sage lifts it to the next level.<br />
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The mains menu is a crowd-pleasing whistlestop of classic bistro dishes. There's duck and red cabbage with dauphinoise potatoes, a pork and bean stew, a creamy smoked haddock dish, a steak, and a lamb dish. Something for everyone. But each has a bit of a twist to take us into 2015 – pepper ketchup, crispy cabbage, buttermilk, blue cheese in your mac'n'cheese.<br />
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I order lamb rump with cumin spinach, yoghurt sauce, fried aubergine and, yes, pepper ketchup. The lamb is juicy and pink, perfectly cooked and generous in portion size. All the accompaniments are pretty generous too – it's a big, filling plate, and the flavours work well together. My only complaints would be the spinach being slightly over-cooked, and the aubergine slightly under-cooked.<br />
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A rib-eye steak is also large, well-cooked and seasoned. It comes with that blue cheese mac'n'cheese, crispy onion rings (there's quite a lot of tempura frying going on in the downstairs burger bar kitchen) and a handful of chanterelle mushrooms. Like my lamb, there's a strong savouriness to the dish, with no shortage of juices sloshing around to make every mouthful count.<br />
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Sweets continue the crowd-pleasing theme, with more twists on classics that push the boundaries of sweet, gooiness. We enjoyed a bourbon tinged croissant bread and butter pudding, and a banana and toffee pudding served with chocolate ice cream. which were both on the edge of being too sweet.<br />
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The wine list is similarly eclectic and on-trend. There is a selection of English wines, including two Bloomsbury sparkling wines. Vinho Verde also makes it on to the list. Thumbs up.<br />
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I enjoy the meal and would heartily recommend the food to others.<br />
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But I'm left with a niggling feeling: there's something slightly uncomfortable about realising you are a target market, you are focus-groupable, a concept can be designed to attract you (the plush on-trend interiors, all these modern twists on classic bistro fare) and that it bloody works. Pretty much everyone in the room was a white, middle class professional, trendy-ish but monied and stable enough that at least three couples in the room were discussing home renovation plans.<br />
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I'm not naïve enough to doubt the importance of understanding your market and developing your offer accordingly. Too many loving businesses fail at this hurdle. But the magic is in the customer not realising the (legitimately) cynical considerations that any business makes in attracting their custom. I feel that Eat 17 leaves the careful workings, the mechanics, a little too visible; or perhaps there isn't quite enough soul and buzz to distract from them. And it jars a little, even when the food and service is good and generous.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-82018644024376035372015-02-01T08:32:00.001+00:002015-02-01T08:48:27.304+00:00Bad Egg, City Point, MoorgateThe City of London is a bit of a dead spot for decent eating, especially if you do not have a big corporate expense account. <a href="http://badegg.london/" target="_blank">Bad Egg</a>, situated in the semi-mall in the sanitised bowels of City Point, is a bit of an anomaly. With its stripped back industrial look and neon signage, it would be more at home in Soho or Dalston. But it's here, surrounded by Wagamamas and Pitcher and Pianos for the undiscerning City crowd.<br />
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Considering the buzz about it, thanks to its delicious sounding menu and the fact that it's owned by <a href="http://www.smokehouseislington.co.uk/" target="_blank">the Smokehouse's</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/frontlinechef" target="_blank">Neil Rankin</a>, it's surprisingly not heaving on the payday Friday evening we visit. That said, it's only been open a month, it's a freezing cold January night, and they've only just started taking bookings in the evening. That's a good move - I imagine punters prefer the certainty of a table if they're heading to a neighbourhood with few other decent options.<br />
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Bad Egg is well worth the trip. It's a fancy, innovative take on the short order diner, with a menu of American, Mexican and Asian flavoured dishes. It's quite simple: there are eggs, burgers, ribs, fries, tacos and side salads, but every dish is a couple of levels above what you'd expect.<br />
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The ribs were incredible. The meat was slow cooked and full of deep flavours, then deep fried to give it a crunchy coated bite. One big rib is your portion, and there was lots of meat and not much bone. I ordered the buffalo rib, with a spicy peppery sauce and a blue cheese dip. A classic combination and well done. My friend had the Korean rib which was smothered in a sticky soy, ginger and gochujang sauce.<br />
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Korean flavour make a good few appearances on the menu. We order pulled pork and kimchi fries, which have big pulls of moist, smoky, pungent pork, coated in a kimchi dressing rather than discernible bits of kimchi. Very nice.<br />
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The selection of side salads was an impressive counter-balance to the salty, meaty dude food. A Korean slaw was a spicy, zingy kimchi-led salad, with a nice combination of textures thanks to the slimy kimchi and crispy cabbage. A kale and shiitake mushroom salad was our highlight of the plate (any 3 salads for £10), it came in a sweet gingery dressing and topped with toasted hazelnuts.<br />
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Neil Rankin has been keen to quash talk among pundits that this is <a href="http://www.squaremeal.co.uk/news/two-minutes-with-neil-rankin" target="_blank">some gimmicky egg themed restaurant</a>. I've got this far without mentioning them, but the eggs are great and they make some stunning appearances in the dishes. The Bad Oeuf burger is a thick medium rare beef patty in a brioche bun, mustard and pickles. But a soft egg yolk and a cheese fondue on top of the patty elevate this beyond your wildest dreams. I'd become a bit jaded with gourmet burgers, but this was something special.<br />
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The nduja cheese and fried egg fries are a spin on dirty or chilli cheese fries. The yolk was deep orange and runny, and when chopped up and folded into the molten cheese was something special. The cheese was styled like that plastic Kraft cheese, but I suspect the chefs made it themselves from a carefully chosen combination of real cheeses. My only disappointment of the meal was that the nduja - a spicy, spreadable sausage from Calabria - was not more prominent. I love its strong flavour, but I didn't feel there was enough of it in the dish to really taste its unique fiery punch, especially against the strong flavours in other dishes.<br />
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On the Mexican side, my friend's chilaquiles - corn tacos loaded with a fried egg and generous quantities of, salsa, guacamole and goat curd, which was a mild offset to spicy peppers. Another friend's "chicken fried" fish tacos were tasty, but more a snack than a main dish.<br />
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Cocktails combine top quality spirits and offbeat mixers and result in surprising concoctions. My Argy Bhaji combined curried apricots, ginger beer and Kamms & Sons liqueur. The gin cocktail combined clementine and sage, and the fantastically titled Misplaced American Arrogance arrogantly mixed Illegal Mezcal and smoky liqueurs for an out of this world taste.<br />
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Bad Egg didn't plan on doing desserts, but a waiter said they were working on a dessert menu now. Wise, I think, as a salty, meaty gorging is neatly followed by a sweet kick to power you home, and a lack of decent options in the area means you will need to travel a couple of miles for something half decent. We enjoyed their dulce de leche and peanut butter milkshakes. One between two is certainly enough.<br />
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Weekend brunches start in mid February, and it will be worth making the trip. We loved pretty much everything about Bad Egg, and I'll be back to try more from the menu. Now that you can book in the evenings, I suspect more people will venture over for a good filling. We ate well and had a couple of drink each, and it came to £31 a head including tip, which seemed a fair price for the quality, quantity and location.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-75793456186549706202015-01-18T17:20:00.002+00:002015-01-18T17:20:43.670+00:00Fan Tong, Kingsland Road, Dalston<a href="https://twitter.com/FanTongDalston" target="_blank">Fan Tong</a> describes itself as a "mostly Chinese" restaurant. It opened quietly on Kingsland Road in November. I was very intrigued, mostly because the last "mostly Chinese" meal I had was at the astounding <a href="http://missionchinesefood.com/sf/" target="_blank">Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco</a>. It was <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/San%20Francisco" target="_blank">one of the most exciting meals I've had</a> - amazing cuts of good provenance meat, the bolshiest flavours you can imagine, fusions - in the Californian tradition - that just blew me away, like their glutinous rice cakes with thrice fried bacon, sichuan peppers and spring onions. Oh boy.<br />
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With stuff hotting up on the Hackney food scene, and some high-concept restaurants opening in Dalston recently, I had high hopes for Fan Tong - not to be all fancy and exclusive, but to push the boundaries a bit and bring some exciting food to the table.<br />
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Fan Tong was much more understated than I expected - it's a had a nice fit out, with a bit of the ol' weathered wood look, but nice benches and a neat little bar with stools, which, on the quiet Friday night that we are there, was more used by the waiting staff to perch between serving.<br />
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The menu comprises small plates, side dishes and a couple of noodle soup options. Between our group of six we managed to eat most of the menu. Pickled vegetables were fine, and cucumber dressed in sesame was a measly portion for £3.50. The sesame dressing tasted like tahini without much other seasoning, but there wasn't quite enough to go around in the already small portion.<br />
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The sichuan spiced pork with cheong fun was markedly better (and better value) - the pork was deeply flavoured, drizzled in lovely sichuan oils, and over nicely al dente cheong fun - a chewy, thick, boiled glutinous rice the menu describes as like Chinese pasta. Topped with spring onion, coriander and fresh chilli, it was the explosion of fresh, spicy, cold, hot sloppy, hard flavours and textures that I love. We could have, and should have, ordered a couple more of these.<br />
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Also popular among the group were the salt and pepper fried green beans. I mean, who doesn't love battered vegetables, but the crispy coating was full of umami, the beans cooked just right, the dark vinegary, spicy dipping sauce. This dish was great, and a snip at £3.50.<br />
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Pork and prawn wontons were heavy on the ginger (a good thing), nicely chewy, and nicely dressed.<br />
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Bok choy came steamed, and dressed in oyster sauce. Like with the cucumber in sesame, we all felt like the dressings were a bit too 'off the shelf' - a missed opportunity to lift these dishes up to the next level.<br />
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Roast potatoes were a nice addition to the menu - done in classic British style, all crisp and shimmering from an oily roasting. They came artfully squirted with a chilli mayo, which we loved, but like the above dressings, felt could have been a bit more generously applied. We order a second nevertheless.<br />
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We ordered a couple of portions of their prawn buns, which were mini-sliders of nicely seasoned, juicy prawns in sweet little buns. We enjoyed the taste, but again thought the portion size was small for the price (£7). It became the theme of the meal - some dishes felt like great value, others poor value. It is an expensive business running a restaurant, especially in a prime bit of E8, where rents are high and business rates correspondingly so. But as seasoned eaters in this part of town, we found the pricing a bit off - sometimes in our favour, sometimes not. And that had a niggling effect throughout the meal.<br />
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Much more reasonable were the ramen bowls at £8.50 for the porky option. It was generously filled with strong-flavoured 'pulled' (can we just say slow cooked?!) pork and nicely braised belly. The greens were generous too, and though Fan Tong cheekily advertises these as packet noodles, they were perfect for the purpose. Having <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/tonkotsu-mare-street-hackney.html" target="_blank">just eaten at Tonkotsu Mare Street</a>, the broth didn't compare, but the soft boiled, seasoned eggs were a pretty fair match.<br />
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We ended the meal on a high with salted caramel (klaxon!) doughnuts, freshly fried, stuffed with the gorgeous sticky stuff and doused in it too. A big scoop of vanilla was a good antidote to the richness of all that caramel. With five little balls in each portion, this was another steal at £4.<br />
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Service was friendly and helpful, but the place wasn't quite buzzing. It had a feel of people just <i>happening </i>to be there, rather than people purposefully seeking it out or being established locals checking out their new neighbourhood restaurant. We saw passers-by examining the menu in the window, weighing up whether to come in or try somewhere else on the strip - some taking a seat, dwelling a sec, and then leaving again to try their luck elsewhere.<br />
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It struck me that when a road becomes a destination, restaurants pull in a number of different ways - they become over-the-top conceptual experiences, stalwarts that do their thing well and locals and incomers keep coming back, or the kind of place that soaks up the newbie passing trade when people don't know about or can't get a table at the former two types. As it stands, Fan Tong is clearly too good to be a generic tourist trap, but not quite consistently impressive to become a stalwart or a destination. It's still worth a visit if your order wisely, and I hope it finds its potential over the coming months.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-7217939293374874102015-01-16T12:41:00.000+00:002015-01-16T14:03:27.994+00:00Tonkotsu, Mare Street, HackneyThe pace of change in Hackney doesn't fail to astound even the hardiest of observers. And the opening of <a href="http://www.tonkotsu.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tonkotsu</a> on Narrow Way is a case in point.<br />
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Little more than a year ago pretty much every bus in North East London passed through that single lane road with a narrow pavement either side. Sometimes they'd be queued up the length of the road, with cyclists scraping along the sides, shoppers squeezing between the buses to cross the road, everyone inhaling the noxious diesel fumes. </div>
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Hackney Council pedestrianised the road in the face of resistance from business owners, concerned that nobody would come to visit the street without all these buses chugging down it. On a Saturday afternoon, Narrow Way is now bustling - more so than before. It's now a pleasant place to be. The shops down Narrow Way are not fancy by Hackney's standards: there are big chains like Primark, McDonalds, Greggs and a sad Marks and Spencer, alongside betting shops, newsagents, bakeries, gold shops, pawnbrokers. It works just fine without vintage denim boutiques and organic wooden spoon shops.<br />
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Tonkotsu is the first fancy new business to open up on Narrow Way. The shop used to be a dingy, beige Post Office - and before you get your gentrifier-skewering pitchforks out, it's only moved up the road to a shiny new shop. The unit has been opened all the way back, with just an unobtrusive, plain glass front revealing to the passerby its new purpose. At the front is a long bar, which leads you to a loungey section with semi-circular leather banquettes around tables, before you get to a more canteen-y space with a glass boxed noodle-making room and an open kitchen alongside it it. Ropes are strung across the ceiling like noodles being pulled. It's pretty neat actually.<br />
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<img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-IVUKLmGXDpg/VLg32vyZ_BI/AAAAAAAACjk/UuYflHyvdyE/w751-h563-no/IMG_5129.JPG" /><br />
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Ramen is booming in London, and Tonkotsu was one of the first of this spurt. As with most hypey booms, ramen has become aficionado territory, and some people will give you chapter and verse on different restaurants' broths and noodles. I'm no expert, but when I tasted the Tonkotsu broth I knew it was something special. So rich with meatiness that it's almost creamy, Tonkotsu's broth is velvety, luxurious, pungent. The noodles -made on site in the aforementioned glass boxed noodle room - were al dente, which I liked, but my fellow diners would have preferred a slightly softer noodle.<br />
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There is a concise menu of ramen - the Tonkotsu is the classic pork ramen with a pork broth, with generous sheeths of delicious pork belly, with deep flavoured bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and THE MOST INCREDIBLE seasoned slow boiled egg.<br />
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My friends each had the seafood ramen - a special for this branch of Tonkotsu. It had a couple of juicy prawns, a handful of fresh clams, some squid, as well as bean sprouts and bamboo shoots. The broth was a mixture of sea food and chicken, and was less thick and creamy than the pork broth, but delicious nonetheless.<br />
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A further two ramen dishes are available: chilli chicken, and miso and shitake mushroom. Prices range from £9 - £11, and they will pretty much fill you up.<br />
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There are a number of sides on the menu. As we were there during soft launch, a few that we were particularly keen to try were sold out. Namely the okonomiyaki, the Japanese cabbage and kelp pancake, which is a special for the Mare Street restaurant, but has been an E5 delicacy for some time thanks to the ace <a href="https://twitter.com/ShoFooDoh" target="_blank">Sho Foo Doh</a>, who has a Thursday - Saturday okonomiyaki residency 100 metres away at <a href="https://twitter.com/PacificSocial" target="_blank">Pacific Social Club</a>. <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/sho-foo-doh-pacific-social-club-clapton.html" target="_blank">I love it there</a>, so I was keen to see how Tonkotsu's compared.<br />
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Edamame beans were hard to fault, and I enjoyed the Shimeji mushroom korokke - creamy croquette balls, with shitake mushroom inside, on a bed of tart mayo. Yum. We were less impressed by the pork gyoza, which were quite lightly filled and under-seasoned.<br />
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The kara-age chicken - the Japanese spin on fried chicken, whereby the chicken is brined in soy suace, ginger and garlic before getting crisply fried - was perfectly juicy inside, and had a crunchy coating without any clagginess. I thought the kara-age chicken from the Paddy Field stall on Chatsworth Road's Sunday market had the slight edge on flavour, but Tonkotsu's are perfectly good.<br />
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The dessert menu consists of one excellent dish: a selection of mochi-encased ice cream balls. Mochi is a squidgy, slightly aromatic glutinous rice based sweet. Sometimes it's fashioned into fruit shapes, but here it contained salted caramel (natch), vanilla and yuzu - an Asian citrus fruit. My favourite was the yuzu, which was almost champagne-y in taste with a tart citrus-y freshness to it.<br />
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Tonkotsu Mare Street does last orders at 11, so good for a quick supper before going out, a proper meal, and a post pub filler-upper. Prices are reasonable, including for cocktails, where many are around the £7 mark, and the menu is extensive. We particularly enjoyed their twist on a whiskey sour with sake.<br />
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I expect Tonkotsu will be busy if the level of interest generated by the soft launch was anything to go by. Despite okonomiyaki being available up the road, everything else about it is fairly unique for the surrounding area. Whether or not Narrow Way becomes a foodie/boozy destination remains to be seen; I expect many restaurateurs will watch Tonkotsu's trade closely, but of course part of the appeal is being one of a small number of such businesses, rather than a street flooded with generic restaurants. In any case I hope Narrow Way continues to be a street that serves everyone.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-61930789123738333472014-12-30T11:54:00.001+00:002014-12-31T11:14:58.605+00:00Hackney's best new restaurants 2014<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/hackney-201314-and-ritas-bar-and-dining.html" target="_blank">I started off 2014 predicting</a> that the Mare Street and Lower Clapton Road axis in Hackney would flourish with exciting new restaurants, becoming more of a destination for eating and drinking out. And lo it came to pass: the area saw an unprecedented amount of new openings, not just on the main axes, but in the surrounding areas of Homerton, Hackney Downs, and around Dalston Lane.<br />
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Lower Clapton Road has changed the most - and going through the list of new (food) openings in the last year, let alone all the other shops that have opened, makes me feel exhausted. New restaurants have been distinctly classy and grown up, with <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/verden-e5-clarence-road-clapton.html" target="_blank">Verden</a>, <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/little-ivys-lower-clapton-road_16.html" target="_blank">Little Ivy's</a>, <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-bonneville-lower-clapton-road.html" target="_blank">the Bonneville</a>, <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/yardsale-pizza-lower-clapton-road.html" target="_blank">Yard Sale</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/p_francoe5" target="_blank">Pie Franco</a> opening within a few months of each other and attracting praise, custom and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2658883/Hipster-caf-fire-complaining-stabbing-victim-spilling-blood-floor-csiclapton-tweet.html" target="_blank">occasionally controversy</a> from across London, and even in national press. Meanwhile supper clubs upstairs at <a href="http://palm2.co.uk/event-space/" target="_blank">Palm 2 </a>seem to do a roaring trade, and <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/candela-clapton-lower-clapton-road.html" target="_blank">Candela </a>has come and gone. Over on Chatsworth Road, the big news was the opening of the luxury Spar supermarket, with<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/eat17-burger-bar-in-spar-chatsworth.html" target="_blank"> a fancy (and actually very good) burger bar</a> and <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/eat-17--restaurant-review-9564267.html" target="_blank">a luxury restaurant upstairs</a>.<br />
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Down Mare Street way, <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/raw-duck-richmond-road-hackney.html" target="_blank">Raw Duck</a>'s opening at a bigger premises on Richmond Road was met with widespread acclaim, while Broadway Market has seen new openings from sourdough pizza kings<a href="http://www.francomanca.co.uk/restaurants/broadway-market/" target="_blank"> Franco Manca</a>, snazzy butchers <a href="https://twitter.com/hillandszrok" target="_blank">Hill and Szrok</a>, the revamped<a href="http://catandmutton.com/" target="_blank"> Cat and Mutton</a>, and fancy <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/restaurants/fay-maschler-reviews-som-saa-9840616.html" target="_blank">Thai residency Som Saa</a>.<br />
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Further south, Paradise Row in Bethnal Green is newly home to a handful of new restaurants and bars located under its arches, most notably <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/mission-e2-paradise-row-bethnal-green.html" target="_blank">Mission E2</a> - a wine bar and restaurant, with a giant palm tree inside and impressive selection of well-priced Californian wines.<br />
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Towards Hackney Downs, <a href="https://twitter.com/lardobebe" target="_blank">Lardo have opened up a petite pizza restaurant</a> off Amhurst Road, <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/hash-e8-dalston-lane-hackney.html" target="_blank">Hash E8 on Dalston Lane</a> has become my favourite spot for a porky brunch, and <a href="http://handofglorypub.com/" target="_blank">Hand of Glory</a> is a gorgeous pub with great beers on tap and high quality kitchen residencies. You'd never know it was 5 mins from Kingsland High Street.<br />
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Homerton's new openings have been mostly pubs - the <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/the-adam-and-eve-pub-homerton-high.html" target="_blank">Adam and Eve</a> and the Jackdaw and Star joining <a href="http://hackneyplough.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Plough</a> on Homerton High Street, while <a href="http://thegunwellstreet.com/" target="_blank">the Gun</a> on Well Street is a lovely little saloon bar.<br />
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Dalston continues to see lots of new openings, including mid-market chains like <a href="http://www.goodlifediner.com/" target="_blank">The Diner</a>, Premier Inn and Costa Coffee. The more interesting restaurants open off the main drag of Kingsland High Street. Steve Parle's <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/17/rotorino-restaurant-review" target="_blank">Rotorino</a> has brought fancy Italian cooking further down Kingsland Road near the intriguing-sounding <a href="https://twitter.com/FanTongDalston" target="_blank">Fan Tong</a>, <a href="http://www.lucky-chip.co.uk/" target="_blank">Lucky Chip</a> have got a permanent space in a disused car park just off Dalston Lane, and <a href="http://pond-dalston.com/" target="_blank">the Pond </a>has brought the tortuous concept of modern Hawaiian cuisine to a fully decked out warehouse off Gillet Square.<br />
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But with all the hype and excitement comes a new band of generic, half-arsed restaurants ready to ape an aesthetic to blend in to New Hipster Hackney. Chatsworth Road in Clapton now has three such restaurants and cafes, Lower Clapton Road a couple too - with exposed brick, industrial fittings, ramshackle furniture and slightly too loud music all there to distract you from the average quality, average price food you're getting. It's old hat for Stoke Newington and Dalston, which have housed generic 'trendy' restaurants for some time, as investors piggy back on the coattails of more interesting new businesses.<br />
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It's been the year of the backlash too. In 2013 and 2014 house prices in Hackney grew by almost 50%, rents by a similar amount. The number of restaurants and cafes opened could well represent a doubling or tripling of what was there in 2012 in some parts of the borough, as Hackney firmly becomes, and feels like, a more expensive kind of place. In one of the poorest areas in the country, basic living costs are increasing as benefits are cut and low wages stagnant - and the streets and faces are changing dramatically. Combined with <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2871884/What-PR-disaster-Queues-form-outside-hipster-cereal-cafe-excruciating-interview-owner-didn-t-like-questions-poverty.html" target="_blank">suburban disdain for l'hipster</a>, restaurants and cafes in East London quickly feel the heat of the spotlight when they respond insensitively.<br />
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I don't believe that this pace of change can continue. I see the last two years as a mega adjustment, and I expect to see a lower number of new restaurants opening in 2015, but with a few trends...<br />
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<b>The Mare Street axis will continue to gentrify apace.</b> The kind of snazzy restaurants opening in Dalston, Haggerston and Shoreditch will make their way to the arch spaces around London Fields station, such as the fancy-sounding <a href="https://twitter.com/ilcudega" target="_blank">Il Cudega</a>, which will specialise in the cuisine of the Lombardia region. Further up, the fancy ramen joint <a href="http://tonkotsu.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tonkotsu</a> is set to open on Narrow Way in January. It will be the first of its kind to open on this stretch, and could pave the way for other restaurateurs drawn to the road's scruffy, slightly down-at-heal charm. New openings in the Mare Street area will be fuelled by the impending arrival of the <a href="http://hackneyfashionhub.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hackney Fashion Hub</a>, which will seem a lot more tangible as 2015 trucks on.<br />
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<b>Asian and fusion flavours will have a greater influence. </b>You can't move for modern British, pizza, burgers and dude food, and there's plenty of French and Turkish cuisine to be had. Despite a long tradition of Vietnamese restaurants opening on Kingsland Road and Mare Street, we're only starting to see the influence of Asian flavours in a small number of newer openings, such as Rita's and Raw Duck. Dalston newbie Fan Tong appears to be fusing eclectic Asian flavours with British ingredients, and I'd expect to see a bit more of this in some of 2015's more interesting new openings. Bring on the kimchi!<br />
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<b>More interesting openings outside of Hackney</b>. Areas like Walthamstow and Leytonstone have both old and new interesting restaurants, but places like Tottenham, Leyton and Forest Gate have seen less of the new. As more people are priced out of Hackney AND Walthamstow AND Leytonstone, I'd expect a sourdough pizza restaurant or two to open in these parts of town.<br />
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<b>More chains and more generics.</b> As business rents increase, it will be harder for small businesses to afford to offer quality, interesting food at a price people are willing to pay. This means more low quality generic restaurants will open, skimping on ingredient quality to meet demand. Not necessarily overlappingly, mid-market chains will find their model at an advantage in the area. Nando's, Costa and The Diner are already in the area, and I wouldn't be surprised if a Pizza Express or similar opens on Stoke Newington Church Street or on the ground floor of a Dalston new build development.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-92091481872617112442014-12-22T15:17:00.000+00:002014-12-22T15:17:00.241+00:00The Adam and Eve pub, Homerton High StreetIt's easy to overstate how yuppified Clapton and Homerton have become. All you have to do is take a trip down to Angel or Clerkenwell, or even hang around Dalston Junction, and you can see how easy they are for people with little intrigue or wanderlust to discover. It makes me feel at ease about the pace of change in my own neighbourhood, because I know that those most boring professional types <a href="http://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/tonkotsu-east-london?hrid=Et1Pd1IAqBnQaqDygZS-aw" target="_blank">who get freaked out looking for Tonkotsu in Haggerston</a> are going to get freaked out on Lower Clapton Road or Homerton High Street, delaying the Borings for a few more years.<br />
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Homerton High Street is legitimately hard to love: the thick traffic and crumby crossings make it seem impenetrable; a place nobody wants to spend too long giving it a transient feel. But it's home to a couple of great pubs - <a href="http://hackneyplough.co.uk/" target="_blank">the Plough</a> (which does superb Americana-tinged bar food and excellent Sunday roasts, great cocktails and enviable selection of craft beers and ciders on tap), and <a href="http://adamandevepub.com/" target="_blank">the Adam and Eve</a>, which is today's subject.<br />
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The Adam and Eve is an Edwardian pub, grand with double height ceilings, multiple seating areas, stained glass. It got redid this summer after being taken over by the Field Day crew who own <a href="http://www.shacklewellarms.com/" target="_blank">the Shacklewell Arms</a> over in Dalston. There was some nervousness as details emerged - one of the last ungentrified pubs in the area was going to be selling lobsters!<a href="http://www.hot-dinners.com/Gastroblog/Latest-news/homerton-s-adam-and-eve-pub-reopens-with-cornish-project-and-alyn-williams-behind-new-pub-menu" target="_blank"> A 50% off fortnight</a> saw the place rammed, and I steered clear, as people griped on twitter about £10 lobsters not being available. Best to wait until a new opening settles into its form.<br />
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I've been a number of times since, and the Adam and Eve has become one of my favourite pubs in the area.It feels less poncey than some of those up Lower Clapton Road. It attracts a genuinely broad clientèle - on a recent Saturday night there were fashion kids, older couples having a quiet drink, multi-generation Hackney families of wearing their finest garms, old men nursing pints while watching the darts, birthdays, after work doctors and nurses from the Homerton Hospital.<br />
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You get the picture. They've made it work for everyone who like going to pubs. And they've also managed to do high quality gastropub food and make it unpretentious and accessible. The food at the The A&E is provided by The Cornwall Project, which is a partnership between producers and fishermen in Cornwall and chefs up in London. This involves bringing beef, mutton, fish and gorgeous heirloom organic veg up from Cornwall, and cooking much of it over a lovely smoky grill.<br />
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Sometimes mid week you'll find a shorter menu: burgers, fish and chips, and their regular sides and puddings. Simple is good, when the ingredients are good and well put together. The burger is hefty, proper chuck mince, and full of flavour. Frozen pub burger this ain't; nor is it of the dirty variety. It comes with Cornish yarg cheese, a mulling spice flavoured chutney, cured jowl in the place of bacon - a gamier spin on bacon, little bits of cured beetroot. Sounds fancy, and I'm sure it changes seasonally, but there's no pretension or purple prose, just neat combinations of well sourced ingredients.<br />
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On nights with a fuller menu, you'll often find fresh fish, aged mutton, perhaps rib eye or shepherd's pie to share. There's no standard menu, all chalkboard specials on the night, which are sometimes posted on social media. One night I had mutton chop on pearl barley and cracked wheat - the mutton was full of flavour, smoky from the grill and nicely pink inside. Served with a smear of broccoli purée, and some heritage carrots, the dish was an uncomplicated set of flavours that spoke for themselves.<br />
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We enjoyed a chicken liver parfait from the daily special's board - served with eggy, sweet brioche, a great big knob of salty butter and a complex, rich persimmon jam, this is *exactly* what I imagine Henry VIII was eating as his gout set in.<br />
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But when the more interesting dishes don't seem to be on, their regular sides and snacks will keep you satisfied, You would be foolish not to try <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/ailbhemalone/british-scotch-eggs#.dtW5dpm32" target="_blank">their award-winning scotch egg</a> - an oaty crumb on the outside, a soft lightly herby deeply piggy meat layer and a perfectly softly yolked egg inside. Served in a little pool of brown sauce, it's worthy of its prize, and worthy of it's £4.50 price tag.<br />
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I also loved their coleslaw - the crisp vegetables have a gorgeous smoky taste from grilling, the dressing is light and dotted with crispy little capers. Just beautiful; I sometimes dream of it, and it's got my googling home-smoking equipment for the garden. Their chips are good - chunky and perfectly fluffy on the inside.<br />
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The Adam and Eve is not perfect: while the front rooms with the grand ceilings and stained glass carry a convivial atmosphere, the back room feels a bit unloved and dank. On one visit, bits of food and dirty napkins littered the carpet around a number of tables that had been vacant for some time. You might be disappointed to find only the clipped pub menu available, meaning less choice, even if everything you order is tasty. And on one Saturday we tried ordering their signature scotch egg at 7.30 to find that they'd all been sold.<br />
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But when you get a good table and get the full menu, you're in for the best pub food for some miles, and - despite<a href="http://instagram.com/p/wGr9oztotB/" target="_blank"> an edible garden</a>, a <a href="https://twitter.com/HomeBrewDepotUK" target="_blank">'home brew depot' pop-up</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/charcuterEAST" target="_blank">charcuterie-making operation</a> on site ticking all the hipster boxes - it doesn't reek of exclusive pretension when you're in there. Which is just what you want in a pub.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-38093065491234945812014-12-08T22:23:00.000+00:002014-12-08T22:24:56.526+00:00Dotori, Finsbury Park, Stroud Green RoadYou could say Finsbury Park is the gateway to North East London proper: buses, trains, tubes to Harringay, to Tottenham, Stoke Newington, Clapton and Hackney Central. And get into the West End in 15 minutes. Like many gateways, it's grim and transient. The traffic roars past, through a number of one way systems, and the main roads are lined with litter, commercial waste, 99p stores, a Lidl, and "hotels" which only serve local councils providing emergency accommodation for homeless families.<br />
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Stumble off the main drag and you'll find pockets of lovely: Stroud Green Road is experiencing a food-fuelled boom and has some excellent pubs. But eating well on the busy main roads is a challenge.</div>
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That is with the exception of Dotori, right in the middle of a traffic island, but possibly the best spot for Korean and Japanese food in this part of the world. And it's no secret: stumble in at any time, whether weekday evening or Saturday afternoon, and the place is heaving. You're well advised to reserve for any sitting - phone or in person, no online. </div>
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There are two separate menus: Japanese and Korean, although you can order from both at the same time. The menus therefore add up to be quite long: but don't be alarmed, there's a relatively small number of ingredients used to make a huge number of different dishes. We ate mainly from the Korean menu, with a couple of sushi items. I'll be back for a full sushi and sashimi experience another time - what we had was fresh and perfectly executed.</div>
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The Korean menu has a large number of snacky fried items, fermented vegetables, as well as bi bim baps (rice with fried egg, meat and vegetables), barbecued meats, soups and hotpot stews. Between three of us we shared an excessive number of (not so) little fried dishes, which were some of the best renditions of them I've had in London. </div>
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Tteokbokki - glutinous rice sticks - were just perfectly chewy, and the sauce was fully bolshy, overwhelming, sticky, sweet. You could tell they'd not held back on those pungent anchovies or the gochujang - unlike Korean Food For Hipsters On the Bab in Shoreditch, where the tteokbokki was meek and flavourless.</div>
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Dotori know how to use their deep fat fryer - vegetables were still crisp and the batter not too claggy, courgettes, onions, green beans and asparagus making it in to the serving. Squid came crisply fried, though by the uniform patterning I suspect it was from a freezer, but that's what you expect at this price in an Asian restaurant. It was doused in salt and white pepper, and the sweet and sticky sauce was laced with gochujang. </div>
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We enjoyed their signature seafood pancake - the batter was light, filled generously with seafood bits and lots and lots of spring onions. Despite being stuffed full, they held their form well when picked up with chopsticks and smothered in dipping sauce.</div>
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Their kimchi cucumbers, sesame dressed spinach, and lightly pickled bean sprouts are a refreshing antidote to the fried food. Sesame spinach, in particular, I could eat endlessly - it's basically just sesame oil, blanched spinach and a few toasted sesame seeds, but it just tastes like the most velvety luxurious thing in the world..</div>
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With a bi bim bap to share too, and 4 pieces of very nicely presented and impeccably fresh sushi, our ordering had us more than full. And at £17 a head (including soft drinks and tips), it's a very reasonable way of trying a number of different, authentic Korean dishes without leaving North East London.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-57106851302188735082014-11-09T16:56:00.000+00:002014-11-09T18:14:53.926+00:00KERB comes to Hackney WickI haven't made enough noise about street food recently. In some ways, street food is becoming a ubiquitous cliché, like pulled pork or craft beer. A blanket term to tick boxes and bring in the punters. Street food could be any old crap served hot from a stall. Pulled pork could be anything from expertly brined, seasoned and smoked rare breed pork, to abattoir floor scrapings doused in sugary BBQ sauce. Craft beer just needs to say craft beer on the pump and people will buy it.<br />
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As with anything in London, research and recommendations are needed to cut-through the multifarious options. It's not about being a snob - your same £6.50 could get you a very average burrito or a very good one. Why wouldn't you want the best, if you could? When it comes to street food in London, <a href="http://www.kerbfood.com/" target="_blank">KERB </a>does the filtering for you with their - dare I say - *curating* of street food traders operating at their markets.<br />
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KERB have the pick of the crop on their roster, running regular street food markets in London - they have markets catering to lunching workers at Granary Square (Kings Cross, Tues - Fri), Wednesdays at Spitalfields, Thursdays at the Gherkin, and once a month at UCL.<br />
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It's a model which is beginning to emulate<a href="http://offthegridsf.com/" target="_blank"> Off the Grid</a> in San Francisco, which operates at a much larger scale in a much smaller city (but where street food carts are much more culturally engrained), where literally dozens of sites are run by OTG, with anything between 2 and 10 street food carts there for lunch or dinner, all listed and mapped on their site.<br />
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One of the highlights of OTG are their big evening markets where you can spend an evening trying out street food and getting good beer at decent prices - the market at Fort Mason has 32 trucks every Friday night through the warm months. Like London, the scene quietens down through the colder months.<br />
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The exciting news for us East London dwellers is that KERB have secured a permanent home in Hackney Wick. Opening in December, KERB will be running street food markets from a big warehouse INDOORS, and hopefully all year round - what with it opening in December and being indoors and all.<br />
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Hackney Wick is the perfect location - it's off the beaten track enough that it'll hopefully shake off some of the annoying types you get at the pricey Street Feast in more accessible Dalston. This probably does mark the next stage in the Wick's development and commercialisation, though, which I'm sure many Wickster hipster creatives will mourn.<br />
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But I'm pumped, especially living 5 minutes cycle away in Clapton. To whet you're appetite for what you might be able to expect, I'll run through some of my favourites that I guzzle at my once-weekly KERB KX lunch trip.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/kimchinary" target="_blank"><b>Kimchinary</b></a><br />
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Kimchinary is my first street food love, and <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/k-mex-and-kimchinary-hackney.html" target="_blank">I've written in depth</a> about Hanna Soderland's expert fusion of Mexican and Korean flavours with her kickass burritos and tacos. The flavours and colours will blow your mind, especially that bulgogi ox cheek burrito with the kimchi fired rice and Asian slaw. Wow.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/SpitandRoast" target="_blank"><b>Spit and Roast</b></a><br />
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Spit and Roast do fried chicken that makes me weep with joy. Buttermilk brined (natch), its coating has a lovely balance of spice and the perfect crisp. And it's served with a sticky, sweet korean sauce and slaw in a brioche bun. I know this reads like a list of cliches, but each one is Grade A refinement. They sometimes do rotisserie in their van, and their chips are very good.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/BBQ_LAB" target="_blank"><b>BBQ Lab</b></a><br />
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Pulled pork klaxon!!111!!! But this is what I'm talking about with the difference in quality at the same price. These guys know how to do 'technique'. They deploy sous-vide to cook meat to perfection over days and days, with the most melt-in-your-mouth results. But it doesn't stop at the delicately smoked meat - different pickle and topping combinations all the time. The 'lab' in the name gives the game away - they're always experimenting and the results are pretty consistently delicious. Blow torching cheese on top of pickled apple on top of the 53 hour pulled pork just about blew my mind.<br />
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<b><a href="https://twitter.com/motherflipperuk" target="_blank">Mother Flipper</a></b><br />
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I first tried these guys down at Brockley Market, and they're one of a number of excellent burger purveyors on the KERB roster (I love Bleecker Burger - soon to open a restaurant in Spitalfields, and Tongue and Cheek's are <i>offaly </i>good), but for me the simplicity of the MF candied bacon and cheese hits the spot every time. Their house sauce and pickles are classic, and the demi-brioche buns just perfect.<br />
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<a href="http://www.kerbfood.com/traders/yum-bun/" target="_blank"><b>Yum Bun</b></a><br />
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I have a major weakness for steamed buns, but especially when they come filled with an aromatic pork belly and hoisin sauce. It's a rich treat, but given a real freshness by spring onions and cucumber. Yum Bun do these steamed buns with a range of fillings - I recently enjoyed their panko crumbed fish bun, lathered with gochujang spiked mayo. And at Kerb KX they do a good value lunch box, with two buns, two vegetable gyoza and a zingy Asian slaw for £7.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-5945856559641285592014-09-21T18:38:00.000+01:002014-09-21T18:43:46.820+01:00Mission E2, Paradise Row, Bethnal Green<div align="LEFT" style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wine
bars are back with a vengeance. The much derided symbol of 90s
Conran-infused yuppiedom have risen again. Clapton has seen
the <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/verden-e5-clarence-road-clapton.html">Danish-inspired
Verden</a> and wine shop-bar <a href="https://twitter.com/p_francoE5">Pie
Franco</a> open in the last 6 months, hot on the heels of <a href="http://www.sagerandwilde.com/">Sager
and Wilde</a> on Hackney Road. Across town, wine focused bars
are opening, some with a focus on cheese and charcuterie, others with
more comprehensive menus.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.missione2.com/" target="_blank">Mission E2</a> is the latest, opening a fortnight ago in Bethnal Green by Charlotte and Michael Sager-Wilde. Its focus is on the wine and cuisine of California, its name a nod to the exciting Mission district in San Francisco, which is the new beating heart of creative Californian cooking. It was where <a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/eating-mission.html" target="_blank">I was staying exactly a year ago</a> as I ate my way through the Golden State.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Situated in a railway arch on the blossoming Paradise Row, it's a great mix of London and California. A gigantic palm tree fills the arch, with a deep grey polished concrete floor and huge bi fold doors that open up the whole space to the terrace out front. On this balmy September evening you could have easily believed you were in trendy Los Angeles suburb Echo Park.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is a reasonably sized wine list of sensibly priced, exclusively Californian wines by the glass and bottle, and a more extensive and expensive menu for the real connoisseur. The main list did us fine, enjoying a glass of Mission Fizz, which looked totally flat but must have been full of invisible bubbles. A Sonoma County Trousseau Gris was light and minerally, and the Nero d'Avola from Mendocino County was so deep and sultry that it tasted of death, in a good way. Prices started at £4.50 a glass for (presumably great) house wines, up to about £10.50 for more interesting choices. With a standard £20 mark up on all bottles, there's a big incentive to push the boat out a bit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The food menu is impressive, with smaller bites, starters, mains, sharing dishes and desserts. We could have tried everything, but settled on nduja arancini and globe artichoke to start. The arancini were relatively subtle but there was enough nduja to give a bit of fiery warmth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The glove artichoke was just perfectly cooked and served with an anchovy buttery emulsion to tip the leaves in. It's such a nice dish for leisurely nibbling through with a good glass of white, and the heart at the end is the ultimate reward for the perseverance.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Choosing mains was particularly hard, with ox cheek lentils and salsa verde, rabbit with giroles and polenta, and a cuttlefish and mussel stew on the menu. In the end we settled on their platter of lamb chops, priced at £38 but could have easily fed three people with the six generous chops. They were incredible. Beating even Tayyabs on taste, if not price. Garlicky, herby, perfectly charred, brilliantly fatty and charred lemons just added to the stickiness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We shared a dulce de leche cheesecake for dessert, which was nicely pungent and came with chunks of cinder </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At £50 a head, it's not cheap, but it felt totally justified for the quality of food and wine. You'd pay about the same in San Francisco, and boy, what a saving on the airfare. There's a brunch menu and plenty more to try on the evening menu. And if it's true to Californian form, the menus will evolve with the season, so plenty of reason to go back and make my way through the wine list. Low key but warm service ensures that you'll have a relaxed, enjoyable time. And I'm just delighted to have a slice of California so close to home.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-141551824590075758.post-40736239276939284082014-09-04T21:42:00.000+01:002014-09-04T21:56:32.273+01:00Hash E8, Dalston Lane, HackneyThe brunch backlash has started. The weekend-only in-between meal been <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/31/brunch-waste-of-time-money-drunken-pleasure" target="_blank">singled out</a> as a defining feature of the much-derided urban creative class' self-indulgence, and of the international sameness of the gentrification aesthetic. Brunchers are pulled apart for queuing for tables, drinking bottomless mimosas and caring too much about where's hot and not.<br />
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It may not be a real backlash, though; rather, some clickbait from the good folk at the Grauniad to get those much-derided (but desirable for the advertisers!) urban creatives sharing the link all over social media. Because what's not to love about - let's be real - eggs for a late breakfast at the weekend. If you've worked your socks off all week, barely having time to wolf down a piece of toast before going to work each day, why not enjoy the most important meal of the day, slowly, with friends, when you get to the weekend?</div>
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<a href="http://northeasteats.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/hackney-brunch-map.html" target="_blank">Hackney, as I've document, is in the midst of a brunch revolution</a>. There are now so many places to get your fill of eggs at the weekend, that it's very rare to have to wait for a table. There are now high end options, Antipodean twists, classic greasy spoons, Med-influences. But nowhere has really, really specialised in only doing that classic eggy, bacony thing well...until now. </div>
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<a href="http://www.hashe8.com/" target="_blank">Hash E8</a> opened a couple of weeks ago halfway between Dalston and Clapton on Dalston Lane. It's an all day cafe - a 'short order' cafe they say, which is American English for a short menu of diner-style food that can be cooked up quickly, to order. </div>
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So far the the short order menu focuses on all things piggy and breakfasty. These guys source all their pig from a farm in Yorkshire, and you'll find that pig making its way into bacon, sausage, sausage patties, sausages, bacon jam and their signaturee slice of confit pork belly, which appears in many of the dishes and is available on the side. It's a much richer and more punchy option than your standard bacon.</div>
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I've been a couple of times already - it's that good - and made my way through some signature dishes and specials.<br />
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The Piggy Muffin is their spin on the McDonald's breakfast classic. It's epic: between the two muffin halves you'll find a homemade hash brown (more on that in a minute), confit belly slice, crisp bacon, a slice of regulation processed cheese, a mini omelette (one egg, whipped and fried) and their own bacon jam. It comes with a side of their deeply flavoured chutney and is held together with a skewer, which my piggy friend abandoned as he squeezed the whole thing together to eat as a burger. <a href="http://instagram.com/p/sUmIWWSzTA/?modal=true" target="_blank">Bravo, Alistair</a>.<br />
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Another signature is their Belly Benedict, which is your classic poached eggs on top of their confit belly, spinach, topped with a silky hollandaise and then some flakes of their umami dust (bento and black sesame, I think). An American short order influence comes in the shape of their home fries, gorgeously crisp and flavoursome. </div>
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On my second visit the special was a Hash Benedict, which was the aforementioned egg combo but on top of a whopping round hash cake. It tasted German style, like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reibekuchen" target="_blank">reibekuchen</a>, with slithers of potato and a decent amount of sweet onion to give it full flavour. I added confit belly to mine, because it's too good not to have, and it came with a lightly pickled beetroot and cucumber salad, continuing the Mitteleuropaeisch theme.<br />
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We went all out gluttony, and chased our sizeable savoury brunch with their sweet special: a French toast sandwich of peanut butter, Nutella and banana. My arteries may not have thanked me for it, but it was worth the extra clogging. Hash E8 brings out the piggy side of me, and I thought I may as well go the whole hog.<br />
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They keep it diner style on the drinks. No pretending that a kale and flaxseed smoothie will save your soul here: just orange juice (from concentrate), filter coffee (by the Clapton based <a href="http://theroastingshed.com/about/" target="_blank">Roasting Shed</a>) and cups of tea. For breakfast booze fans, there is a small selection of craft beer and a Bloody Mary. </div>
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There are plans to open in the evenings too, but the owners say they are mastering the daytime service first. Based on my two early visits, I'd say they've mastered it already: friendly, efficient service, fair prices for the size and quality, and already doing a very steady trade. I know that Hash E8 is going to be a regular haunt, and I'm already dreaming of my next slice of confit pork belly.</div>
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