500: Archway's neighbourhood Italian restaurant

I love going back to my old neighbourhoods. Before I moved Hackney way four years ago I did most of my grown up London living around Tufnell Park, Kentish Town and Holloway. It was a very different London then, and most my eating out was done in long-standing neighbourhood restaurants serving up authentic, affordable food from around the world, brought to North London via successive waves of immigration. We were particularly well served by Ethiopian restaurants, old school Italian joints, north African cous cous, and Greek tavernas. Even the mid-range chains hadn't sprawled in.

When 500 opened on Holloway Road in 2008, right by the Archway gyratory, it was the first of its kind in this part of London. An upscale Italian neighbourhood bistro on a grimy patch of the A1. By now that's pretty much a formula for success, but it was a bold move that paid off.  Six years it opened, it was still jam-packed on a cold Monday evening with all those nice older middle class public sector worker types you get around there.

I went a couple of times back then and had lovely meals, and went again this week to take a friend who'd recently moved into the area. 

We had their signature deep fried ravioli filled with pecorino and mint, which could have had a bit more filling, but were bursting with intense flavours. A selection of breads were thrown in gratis, including an excellent black olive focaccia and moreish crisp bread. We also had some burrata (tasty) which came with thinly cut and dressed raw artichoke (not too exciting).

We both had another old favourite for mains: a portion of fresh gnocchi with sausage ragout. The gnocchi was so light and fluffy, and each piece just melted in your mouth. The ragout was good too, although for £11.50 the portion felt a little on the small side. There are bigger mains - marsala stewed rabbit, big rich meat dishes, that clock in at around £15.

The tiramisu was one of the best I've had, and I've had more than most. It was a gigantic slab, could have easily fed two, but happily it was all for me. Light and fluffy on the top and simple coffee soaked base.

Service was friendly and efficient, and despite being completely full, there was no hurrying, no upselling to maximise our value. The menu has changed little in the six years its been open, save for a few seasonal specials, and the décor is beginning to look a little worn, but the food is still mostly super, and so the punters keep coming back.

With a fancy-looking neighbourhood Italian restaurant just opened in Clapton (not even selling pizza!), E5 may also have that special kind of neighbourhood Italian too. I certainly hope it is, and hope it stays steady like 500. It's nice to have some classics amidst all the ephemeral and novel.

An old favourite: Kokeb Ethiopian restaurant

This is my 100th post, would you believe. And for it I return to an old neighbourhood, Holloway, in the backstreets of which lies a fantastic Ethiopian restaurant called Kokeb. It's on a sleepy little stretch of Roman Way, which curves round from Caledonian Road tube behind Pentonville Prison. There's not much else there - it's what you'd call a neighbourhood secret. I only found out about it because a very foodie friend from the area told me about it.

It shouldn't be a secret though - it's one of the warmest, loveliest and tastiest restaurants I know. It's one lady who owns it, cooks the food, welcomes you in, coaches you through the menu (especially if it's your first time eating Ethiopian food) and serves it to you. Extra help at weekends though, I'm told!

Ethiopian eating often involves eating from a big round injera bread - like a big pancake, made from fermented flour, with a spongy texture and served cold.



It is served with a selection of meat and vegetable dishes. These are served separately and diners spoon them in piles onto the injera, which soaks up all the aromatic juices. You use additional injera pieces to pick up the food, and then, when that's gone, you gradually pick away at the injera bread with the remaining food on it.



The dishes it comes with are really delicious. There are a good number of vegetable dishes - some pulses based (we had a particularly yummy split pea one), more substantial vegetable dishes with green beans, peppers, etc. Particularly delicious are the beef and lamb stews - minced or in pieces, these are full of interesting spices - cardamom, ginger, things you've never heard of.



We had a lamb and rosemary dish, an aromatic mince beef and cardamon stew, green beans, and a medley of pulse stews. Four dishes and two injera breads between two was perfect for three people.

All this, and two Ethiopian beers, came to £38. Very affordable when divided by three. It's worth making the trip if you don't live in the area - you will be well rewarded. Interestingly, Camden, Kings Cross, Caledonian Road and Kentish Town has a bit of a concentration of Ethiopian restaurants - you won't find many elsewhere. I was hoping that the new Ethiopian church opening on Lower Clapton Road would bring some food with it - but until then I'll keep going back to Kokeb for my fix.

A little something Caucasian...

In 2007 I spent a month in New York following the end of my finals. I spent every day exploring different neighbourhoods and their unique culture and culinary offerings. One day I went to Coney Island and ate the famous hotdogs from Nathan's on the boardwalk. I walked along the other side of the Atlantic a few blocks and ended up at the other Brighton Beach, a Russian enclave known as Little Odessa. All the street and shop signs were written in Cyrillic characters and when I went into a CD shop I was greeted in Russian. My trusty Time Out guide recommended a Georgian restaurant.

It was the most surreal meal of my life. The restaurant was cavernous and plush, like an empty Las Vegas casino. We were the only people in the restaurant, though the waiters were loading up a massive banqueting table behind us for a diaspora feast.



We started with a kind of Georgian mezze and it was then that I fell in love with Georgian cuisine. Positioned between Russia and Turkey, the influences of both cuisines were beautifully present in the dishes. Copious amounts of dill, parsley and coriander were in the spinach salad, pureed beetroot, potato salad and med veg salad, with ground walnuts adding a earthy richness to the former and dotted with gem-like pomegranate seeds. It really was a flavour explosion.



We drunk traditional Georgian semi-sweet red wine - the vineyards are supposedly the oldest in the world and the wine is just so beautiful, rich, complex, ancient. Fairly typical in Georgian cuisine is to serve food at room temperature - for my main I had spring chicken in a walnut sauce, one of the most exquisite and satisfying thing I've ever tasted. All the while a singer sang hi-NRG Slavic ballads to the almost empty room, adding to the otherworldliness of this periphery of New York City.

London has a couple of Georgian restaurants. For a traditional meal, go to Tbilisi on Holloway Road; a restaurant I love so much that I will blog about it in its own right some point soon. Little Georgia near Broadway Market is also good, though a little bit lighter during the day. My mum gave me a Georgian recipe book for Christmas last year and I try and cook a mini feast every now and then.



Recently, with the aide my lovely Magimix, I was able to re-create the chicken satsivi (walnut sauce). I served it with rice and a salad of roasted med veg, dressed in red wine vinegar, fenugreek, ground coriander and lots of fresh herbs. Delicious. Recipe here.