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Eastside Inn Bistro

Eastside Inn
38-42 St John Street
EC1M 4AY

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, June 13th, 2009

The Victims: Rutton, Al

The Damage: About £40ish each?

The Background: If you fiddle with a food blog, never Twitter where you're going for dinner. Because before you know it, you might end up Twitter-friends with the chef's brother or something. And the chef's brother might tell the chef that you're coming and the chef might drop by your table to say hi and then the chef's wife might drop by the table to say hi too and then you might just fall in love with them both because they're both so nice and you want their new place to be just as successful as they are nice.

So be careful, you know?

The Entrance: I am the first, as always. Rutton is on a bus on the other side of town. Like Westbourne Grove. (Tube troubles, he tells me at the time. But when arrives, he elaborates about running into our friends Dev & Connie at Baker Street on the way and how he just had to have a beer with them.) While I'm waiting for Al, I joke with one of the servers about the review of Eastside Inn in that week's Time Out. That's my server there in the picture. Or at least, my first server. Because after placing my drink order and asking for some tap water, someone else asks me if I'd like to order a drink. And then a little while later--while I'm still waiting for that drink--a third person asks if I'd like a drink. I feel very looked after. But it is a little like Groundhog's Day. (The movie.)

With the boys running a bit behind (Al wasn't THAT late--maybe 7 minutes), I order some snacks. And this endears me to the Eastside Inn immediately. Proper little snacks. Some radishes, served with butter and sea salt. Some very good olives, and some goats cheese and toast. We end up combining the radishes with the goats cheese. A nice combination.

The Starters: Chef Bjorn tells us about his specials...there's what I keep calling Kalbskopf in my head but I suppose you'd call veal head? Calf's head? I forget what Bjorn calls it. Served cold in a carpaccio-like way. And then there's a roast chicken for two. Rutton confuses our server completely by ordering the veal to start and then placing two orders for the chicken, one for him and one for Al. I clear it all up. For me, it's squid to start and the calf's head as my main.

I like the flavors in the squid, which are mixed up with peppers and a nice zesty vinaigrette. The squid seems a little chewy but maybe I need to eat more squid to figure out how chewy is too chewy for fresh squid. (I do think I've eaten a lot of squid. See my About page.) The only thing is...it just seems a little messy, there in its bowl. Like it should be more organized, more neatly piled. Hmmm.

The Mains: Next up is my calf's head, which is a heartier dish than I had imagined. (I obviously was not paying attention while Rutton was polishing off his as a starter.) This is a pretty generous portion. I like it. The veal is sturdy but soft, and it's a cooling dish on a warm day. Rutton and Al are digging into the chicken and they polish it off so quickly I don't even get to try it. I can only tell you that they like it. A lot.

The Wine List: The bistro wine menu is very abbreviated. There's a Torrontes on it, which I'm familiar with after passing the Wine & Spirits Education Trust Exam. (I'd suggest some tasting notes for the bistro menu, personally. And while CdR might clearly mean Côtes du Rhône to me, it means nothing to the average punter.) After some discussion, we end up asking for the wine list from next door, and then the very patient sommelier talks us through some options. (Now if only I could remember what we selected!) Later I'm thrilled to discover they actually will sell by the carafe, as we're not really ready to polish off a second bottle. (I swear that during our meal, the unsteady and uncommunicative couple next to us polish off two bottles of wine between the two of them, but maybe I am just imagining things.)

The Atmosphere: If I were to go back, I'd grab a space at the counter, which overlooks the kitchen directly. I'm a sucker for show kitchens. Decor-wise, I don't know...something was missing. Or maybe the lights were too bright. Or maybe we were just sitting too far up front. When I think "bistro," I think cozy. There's a modern-y newness to the bistro side of the the Eastside Inn that could use some warming up. 

The Verdict: I thought the bistro side of the Eastside Inn was good. I'd give it another shot, for the warmth and enthusiasm of Bjorn and Justine alone.

£1.50 Old Street Station Breakfast

The Cafe in Old Street Tube
Old Street Tube Station
London, EC1

Date of Last Visit: Many

The Victim: Me and my co-workers. Females, mostly.

The Damage: £1.50, numerous times over.

The Background: After all the controversy the other day, how about something simple? Something cheap. Healthy. Tasty. Yes: Today I bring you Old Street Station's £1.50 yogurt, fruit and nut cup.

Here's how it started...A few weeks ago, all the girls in my office were talking about the "amazing" fruit and yogurt cup at the weird take-away in Old Street tube. For £1.50, they told me, you get a whole lotta yogurt. And a whole lotta fruit. And nuts! Some nuts too. Less money than a Pret Pot, and about three times the size.

I had to experience this yogurt cup of magnificence for myself. So I dropped into Old Street tube one morning before work the other week.

And there they were, lined up across the countertop. The unrefrigerated countertop, but presumably they hadn't been sitting out that long. I paid my £1.50 and off to work I went.

The Verdict: I thought the yogurt was okay. A tad warm, as I expected. It wasn't bad yogurt, but I think I like Pret's better. It was the fruit that got me. This was A LOT of fruit. And good fruit. Not just the cheap stuff. There were mangoes in here. And strawberries and grapes and blueberries and God knows what else. Sometimes it was hard to tell, given how globbed up it all was with yogurt. The nuts were peanuts. Added a nice crunch.

But the value? Can't beat it. Really, £1.50. Next time you're hanging out at Old Street tube in the early hours, get yourself one.

Saki

Saki
4 West Smithfield
EC1A 9JX

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, June 6th, 2009

The Victims: Stacey, Feathers

The Damage: £50ish each

The Background: Stacey and Canadia Boy had a baby last month (yey!) and tonight is Stacey's first night out alone. She feels like sushi--I didn't ask, but I'm guessing it's because she didn't each much raw fish during her pregnancy--and we want to stay in the general neighborhood, so Saki it is.

The Entrance: The ground floor of Saki houses a little shop. That's their sake and beer collection there. I liked this. The restaurant is downstairs, and I didn't like it so much: it's a bit worn around the edges. Maybe that's just because I was eating in a basement. I'm not a big fan of basements. I need to go back and re-review and look more closely.

The Starters: We order the three-course chef's menu. The menu's not online so I can't tell you all the choices, but I went with the pork katsu to start. It was nice, but we couldn't figure out what the pork was rolled around. Our server told us it was celery, but it seemed a lot more gelatinous than that. Maybe they did something weird to it? Not sure. I thought this dish was nice.

The Tempura: This was good tempura. But maybe I just don't know tempura dipping sauces enough because again, I thought it was pretty bland. I expected a bit more saltiness. The batter was good though. Crisp.

 

The Sushi: It looks lovely, doesn't it? It was lovely. But still not as good as what I had at Chisou. Must go back to Chisou and see if I was imagining things.

Dessert: Green tea tiramisu. I thought this tasted pre-prepared and it was overly cold. It didn't do much for me.

The Loos: The Xcelerator! (The other Dyson Airblade.)

The Verdict: I thought this was good. Not great. Just good.

Dose Espresso

Dose Espresso
69 Long Lane
EC1A 9EJ

Date of Last Visit: Friday, February 20th, 2009

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £2

The Background: In the space of 24 hours, two separate people asked me if I had been to Dose yet. I hadn't! And I wasn't sure how I had missed the opening of London's latest and greatest little coffee bar. So I headed over before work one morning a few weeks ago.

The Entrance: Dose is right next to Kipferl, the Austrian coffee and cake shop, which I wonder about. Kipferl did it's own little trade in coffee. Their coffee was okay. Better still was their cake. But it was expensive cake.

Dose is more about the coffee, although they do have nice looking sandwiches too. Which they make on premises as opposed to buying in.

The Coffee: Square Mile. Only my absolute favorite decaf ever.

The Latte: Great.

The Service: Chatty. Friendly. Like it should be.

The Verdict: I like it here. Free wifi too. Small though. So while I'd hang around for 30 minutes or so with my laptop, I'm not quite sure if I'd hang around for longer.

German Dinner at Vinoteca

Vinoteca
7 St. John Street
EC1M 4AA

Date of Last Visit: Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Victims: Many.

The Damage: Unknown.

The Background: Way back in December, the lovely and social-media savvy Caitlin from Vinoteca invited me to pop by on the evening of February 12th for an evening of German food and wine, their first in what will  become a series of themed dinner evenings.

You can--if you've been reading my blog for awhile--imagine my glee: Vinoteca? German food? (Don't laugh. It is very much underappreciated!) German wine? (Again, totally underappreciated.) I'm in.

And so it was just a few months later that this particular London restaurant blogger found myself being shown downstairs to the very lovely private dining room at Vinoteca, which I would imagine would be the most perfect place for me to celebrate the 5th anniversary of my, um, blog's birthday. The room comes with its own separate kitchen and chef and is far away from the bustle of the upstairs space.

The Menu: The menu, slightly blurry as it is, is in the first photo. I had no idea what to expect, but a five course menu was not it! I'm in for a treat, and it starts immediately with the Laugenbrötchen and Bärlauchbutter. The bread is so good--it's like pretzel bread--that Caitlin kindly wraps up two rolls for me at the end of the meal and I stuff them in my purse for breakfast the next morning. In between courses, some of the guests very seriously suggest that Vinoteca adds the bread to their upstairs menu. I would second that suggestion. Heartily!

The Soup: The soup is a rich consommé. Maultaschen are like ravioli, and these are great. If this is only the beginning of the meal, we're in for a treat. Our chef, Jürgen Birks, patiently walks us through each item on the menu, auf Deutsch, ably translated by Thomas, one of the dinner guests. Lucky for me, I didn't need the translation. Which caused some odd moments when I would laugh out loud or clap at something Herr Birks said, while everyone else was patiently waiting for the English version.
Wines: 2007 Weisser Burgunder Kabinett Trocken, Bercher (Baden). And 2006 QBA St Veit Trocken, Hans Wircher (Franken).

The Starter: Our starter is red mullet with savoy cabbage cream and Schupfnudeln. But you know, it's much more like a main. This is my favorite dish of the night, both for the dish and the story behind Schupfnudeln that has us all rolling. (Try Googling it.) The Wines? 2006 Sylvaner Trocken, Villa Wolf (Pfalz) and 2007 Riesling Castle Label, Schloss Vollrads (Rheingau).

The Main: Sauerbraten with Spätzle and apple red cabbage. As soon as I saw Spätzle on the menu, I got excited. Käsespätzle is one of my all time favorite dishes. (Basically, macaroni and cheese. But better.) The Sauerbraten has been marinated for a ridiculously long amount of time and you can tell, from looking at the meat up close, that there is nothing but good love to be found in this food. This portion, however, is so generous that eat only half in order to save room for the Nachtisch (dessert). 2005 Spätburgunder, Q Sonnett, Heger (Baden).

Dessert: I wasn't sure what to expect with this dish, and it blew me away. The dessert of Walnut Parfait with a Hot Rose Hip Sauce was inventive, interesting, and different. Especially in comparison to the very traditional Sauerbraten and Spätzle we had just finished. The Walnut Parfait was deliciously creamy, like ice cream, but not ice-cold like ice cream. Really, this was great. Accompanied by 2001 Riesling Auslese Birkweiler Kastanienbusch, Hansjorg Rebholz (Pfalz).

Cheese: Monk's Head Cheese with Quince and Pepper Relish. Honestly, by this point, I've had so much food and I HAVEN'T EVEN REALLY MENTIONED THE WINES that I'm a bit cross-eyed. The cheese was good. But I didn't do it much justice. I was still thinking about that walnut parfait. Served with 2007 Spätburgunder Auslese, Schloss Affaltrach (Württemberg).

The Verdict: This was really one of the most lovely meals I've ever had. Many thanks to Vinoteca for inviting me to such a wonderful evening and giving me the chance to blog the whole thing. My one regret is not asking for the WLAN key so I could Twitter the whole meal! Not much of a connection in the private dining room, unfortunately.

Have You Been to Old Street's Wa Do?

I'm a little tired of blogging at the moment. So you'll have to humor me.

Wa Do, close to where Old Street and Great Eastern Street come together, fascinates me.

Kebab! Donut! Burger! Chips and Pies!

Has anyone ever had a donut from Wa Do? A pie? Somehow, I think they offer neither. (And apparently, they only had one of everything but the chips and pies anyhow.)

Has anyone ever eaten here? Ever? Is a Chinese kebab possible?  How is it?

Can you read Chinese? What does the sign actually say?

Really, how do they make a living? And why do people go here? Why?

The Dovetail

The Dovetail
9, Jerusalem Passage
EC1V 4JP

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, December 7, 2008

The Victims: Chris, Evelien, Seona, and a guy whose name I really didn't catch

The Damage: Not so much. £12 each or thereabouts?

The Background: I like having a Belgian friend. I use her for her Belgian-ness. Specifically, I'm talking beer. Evelien knows her Belgian beer.

Perhaps all Belgians know beer as well as Evelien does. Maybe it's a national trait. (Or at least, a Flemish trait.) But I don't know many other Belgians besides for Evelien. (And Damien, but I haven't seen him for ages.) Oh, and I suppose I've got at least one Belgian co-worker. OK, and a friend from grad school. So that's four. I know four Belgians.

So after our lunch at Mien Tay, our party disperses and the last of us head over to The Dovetail because it's baby friendly (indeed, there are many babies in The Dovetail while we're there), it's Belgian, and it's relatively close to home.

I'm presented with three different Belgian beers during our sojourn in The Dovetail. The only name I've written down is Leffe Radieuse. I wish I could present you with tasting notes, but we weren't being very serious. We were playing pass-the-baby while giving legal advice. Plus, there was all that MSG to contend with.

The Loos: Odd. Like they're under construction. But they're not. I think they're going for an industrial feel, but it just looks like plywood to me.

The Verdict: I've been here a few times. It's nice. But there's something a bit dirty-feeling about it. Like it's missing a crucial element of the decor. (Maybe it's the candles...with all the kiddies about, there were wisely no candles melting into Duval bottles.) But I like drinking Belgian beer with Evelien, so I'll probably be back.

The Modern Pantry

The Modern Pantry
47-48 St John’s Square
EC1V 4JJ
Tel: 020 7250 0833

Date of Last Visit: 26 October 2008

The Victims: Bernard, Sarah, Arielle, Rafa, Ana, Brian, Chris, Evelien, Seona, Dennis, Anna, Gustavo, Amanda, Michael, and Michael's girlfriend, whose name escapes me.

The Damage: £25 each

The Background: There are a few things I have an aversion to:
1. Halloween. It's my least favorite holiday. I hate wearing costumes.
2. Saving seats for people who are late in crowded trains, planes, restaurants, etc. where you are constantly asked "Are those seats taken?"
3. Organizing lunch or dinner at a restaurant for anything more than 8 people.
4. Paying the lunch or dinner bill when you have more than 8 people in your party and you haven't organized a set menu.
5. Cats.

Brian and I were planning a leisurely lunch for about 10 people. Well, in fairness, his was the idea, mine was the execution. Somewhere within all of this, I took to my deathbed with fever, while Brian invited some other friends to join our lunch. He left me a voicemail while I was comatose, suggesting as much. I e-mailed him back with the number of the restaurant and told him to please go ahead and change the booking.

He never got that message apparently.

So we're 6 more people than we thought they'd be. Mostly everyone is late. We've got a baby buggy. And The Modern Pantry is not happy with us. At all.

I won't bore you with the rest of the details. It all eventually worked out. But it was all so much more painful that it should have been.

The Food: I had the pancakes with proper American-style crispy bacon and I haven't stopped thinking of them since. Really. They weren't regular pancakes--I believe they were made with semolina. I thought the rocket on the side could use some dressing up, but with a little maple syrup, it all came together. Oddly, but together.

The Loo: Cleaner than a lot of what I've seen. But could still use a regular power-washing.

The Ambiance: Very light and Swedish. Despite Anna Hansen being a Canuckian Kiwi.

The Verdict: I'm going to go back. Alone. You should too. They really could have made a mess out of 16 meals, but they didn't. They got everyone's order right and it all arrived hot and at the same time. (Yes, you would think one should just generally expect this. But you can't now, can you?) 

Brill

Brill
27 Exmouth Market
EC1R 4QL
Tel: 020 7833 9757

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, October 18, 2008

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £1.80

The Background: I decided to go for a walk around the neighbo(u)rhood. I feel like I haven't been around town in ages. By the time I got to Exmouth Market, I was ready to stop for a bit. So I checked out Brill, which a reader had recommended to me ages ago. (Reader, if you're out there, we still need to do that coffee.)

The Entrance: Brill is a CD shop and immediately, I'm sad for them. Because me, me who has more CDs than anyone I know except for my friend Alex, has stopped buying CDs. I'm totally digital now. But they have coffee and bagels too, plus free wireless. So I'm kinda intrigued.

The Drink: I order my second decaf latte of the day and it's served with a smile. And it's a VERY GOOD decaf latte. I think they must use Monmouth. It is so noticeably better than the decaf latte I just had at Comptoir Gascon. I leave, and keep walking.

The Verdict: Support the guy.

P.S. Don't forget...blog about Your Perfect Day in London by October 24th. I'll summarize all the blog posts for all to publish on their blogs as a traffic-building exercise...

Comptoir Gascon

 

Comptoir Gascon
63 Charterhouse Street
EC1M 6HA
Tel: 020 7608 0851

Date of Last Visit: Saturday 18 October 2008

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £11 because I bought some stuff.

The Background: I have no food in the house. Why I do this to myself, I just don't know. So I wake up, starving. Despite last night's excess. And debate my options. I don't want to go to anywhere I've ever been before. So I go to Time Out, which still has one of the best search features around, I think. (Although their Area/Post Code List leaves something to be desired. How about letting me search by Tube Station? I swear they used to have this functionality.) I run this search. And Le Comptoir Gascon it is.

The Entrance: I hate the blue chairs. (Sorry, should have taken a photo.) Really, I hate them. And I don't hate things that often. But I like the big farmhouse table. So I ponder their selections and order a croissant and a decaf latte and catch up on Time Out.

The Food: The croissant is really nice. No idea if they make it themselves. Should have asked. The decaf latte is good too. Really, I'm fine.

I order a loaf of bread, a quiche, and a lemon tart on my way out. Nice.

The Verdict: Nice. But still hate the chairs.

P.S. Don't forget...blog about Your Perfect Day in London by October 24th. I'll summarize all the blog posts for all to publish on their blogs as a traffic-building exercise...