Eat Like Ushi

After trying a few of the local pubs with mixed results, I found another one this time on the western side of Mile End/Bow border. Actually I didn't realise it was a pub from my brief look online but it's pretty apparent when you see the outside. I went on a Wednesday and they had just started a burger + drink £10 deal.

This is great considering the burgers are normally £12 alone and add £2-3 for a cider/wine. Unfortunately teething issues with the computer systems meant there was a 75min wait even though I checked after 50mins (and it took them another 15mins to realise). The burgers were served with some alright fries and tiny amount of token baby gem lettuce salad.

- Old spot pork & chorizo burger, picked fennel - a nice juicy porky patty of medium thickness;
- Courgette & halloumi burger, tzatziki - a decent vegetarian patty that was heavily spiced with cumin.

It's an excellent deal for £10. The menu has a little more creativity than the standard pub fare and it's cheaper than Morgan Arms. I'll go back and try it again.

After taking the Eurostar back to St. Pancras, a heavily flavoured Chinese meal was beckoning. Szechuan is probably my favourite Chinese sub-cuisine and so it was time I tried one in London.

It's a dingy looking place very typical of Chinese cheap diners. Funnily enough there was a non-Chinese speaking English waitress too. She did seem a little left out whilst the others were gossiping.

- Mapo tofu with minced pork £7.5 - a thick hearty warming gelatinous (and probably MSG) version. Still good;
- Stirfried lamb with chilli & cumin £9.8 - lots of chillies but not too much heat. The salt flavouring was strong in this one with some cumin coming through;
- Aubergine with fresh chopped chilli £7.2 - braised in a vinegar sauce.

It's reasonably priced and a short walk from St. Pancras making it convenient for trips based around the area. Why not?

There's only so long you can go without Vietnamese food after living in multiple areas that serve it so easily, cheaply and tastily. The trio of Cay Tre, Mien Tay and Song Que are well known here and so it sounds like I'd eventually eat at them all anyway.

The menu is extensive of the staples and describes each dish well. They don't have che ba mau, so if you're reading this, add it to the menu!

- Shrimp & Jellyfish Green Mango Salad (with Vietnamese mint, perilla, garlic chips, vinaigrette, prawn crackers) £8.5 - a small serve but a delicious array of flavours and textures bound together by a mild nuoc mam dressing;
- Original Pho (with steak & brisket) £11 - this is my standard aka Pho Bo Tai Nam. Rare fillet slices are added to the hot broth to slightly cook and not-too-fatty brisket is a bit firmer and meatier. The broth has a nice spiced flavour, without being too strong and MSG. It's strange that despite the menu saying so, they don't give any sawtooth herb or Thai basil unless you ask for it. Maybe because it's expensive. So only the people that know will ask and get it;
- Bun Bo Hue (with beef & pork hock) £12 - a nice broth with good shrimp paste and lemongrass tones. Usually it needs to be a bit more fiery red (from either annatto seeds or chilli sate) but this simpler one allowed the flavours to come through nicely. It usually comes with lettuce and laksa leaves, but not so here.

Once I accept the prices, I'll probably enjoy it more and eat Vietnamese more frequently. Until then, it's an occasional necessity. I wonder how the others in the area compare?

There's a good number of old ye English pubs around this area of Bow. Morgan Arms, Coborn Arms and The Victoria. Someone at work mentioned their favourite was The Lord Tredegar so on a Tuesday night we ventured on down. It seemed to also be coincidentally pub quic night and you could hear the loudspeaker mentioning things in the main dining room. I was quite content in the front bar section where everyone queues up to order their food and drinks but otherwise is quieter.

The food is very standard pub style.

- Fish & Chips (beer battered line caught haddock with tartar, mushy peas, chunky chips) £13 - a thin fillet of fish that wasn't that juicy in a soft fried crumb with light seasoning. The mushy peas were a tiny serve that resembled wasabi on a sushi plate;
- Steak, Ale & Caramelised Onion Pie (Malcolm's secret recipe) with creamy mashed potato & greens £13.95 - the pastry was crisp but quite thin and so didn't have any of the chewy thick buttery texture I prefer. The filling was nice without being significant.

This is standard pub food to me. It took 50mins to arrive also. I think the only other pub I've tried in the area so far (Morgan Arms) is more expensive but better cooking and more modern dishes. The atmosphere is very pleasant but with the decor and available card and board games, even with Morgan Arms similar wait (30-40mins last time), I'd have to give that the nod from now on.

No it isn't the Cafe East that is reputed for Vietnamese food in London. This is the local Cafe East along the up and coming (or nearly there) Roman Road in Bow. Even though there are quite a few cafes in the area, I've yet to really experience many. This was an unusual Sunday brunch on a warm day, and it was surprising that not more people weren't out here. Maybe they were off in the park instead.

Their forte is probably pancakes as there is a dedicated menu for them. Even though the other dishes don't sound overly exciting, the do them damn well. This may well be my favourite standard breakfast in London so far. And the prices are cheaper than anything other than fried chicken and kebabs in this town.

- Eastern Pan £6.5 - an egg, a juicy portobello mushroom, a slightly old looking cumberland sausage, lovely grilled cherry tomatoes, really excellent really strong flavoured (not smoked though) bacon and some standard baked beans. The presentation in a frypan is just right;
- Potato Pancake £6.9 - 2 nicely salted potato cakes with squeaky grilled halloumi, excellent delicious spicy beef sausage, sliced avocado and 2 poached eggs (I prefer slightly runnier but it's fine). Perhaps a little salty overall but just plain tasty.

They unfortunately don't have much in the way of smoothies but there is some fresh house OJ at least.

I'll definitely be back for breakfast again.

I've always thought Sushisamba to be the poor cousin (but more expensive one) to Duck & Waffle. After all, D&W has a higher floor, a better view from the inside (I think so anyway) and is open 24hours. On the other hand, Sushisamba offers a Japanese-Peruvian mix culminating in Kobe beef at up to £1000 and sushi rolls with gold and caviar. Whatever it is you're going for I suppose. I'd heard similar stories from friends which had thus dissuaded me to go until recently for a friend's 30th birthday.

The excitement of getting stopped and denied entry by the overly important security staff downstairs is the same. The exhilarating glass lift up is also the same. Both venues have nice drinking areas and it seems SS has a better outdoor one complete with an ornate orange tree. There's also blankets to keep you warm on the outside whilst the alcohol does on the inside. The drinks are definitely on the more expensive side with cocktails at £13-14 to cover the cost of the view.

Pistachio & Avocado Batida (fresh avocado puree, Velho Barreiro cachaca, pistachio orgeat & cacao) served with cone of maize cancha £14 was nice and refreshing without a strong alcohol taste but with only very mild flavours of pistachio and avocado. Extra avocado to make the texture thicker would have been very welcome.

The food hall itself is also interestingly decorated with masses of dangling light globes. I'm not sure what motif it is but I approve.

- Edamame (soybean, volcanic salt, lime) £5 - simple and plain topped with strong black salt;
- Wagyu gyoza, kabocha puree, sesame snow £15 - simple without any benefit from wagyu or any real sesame flavour from the snow;
- Nikkei salmon ceviche, tamarind, sesame, seaweed, macadamia £14 - thick salmon coated by an even thicker tangy and savoury sauce. Really good;
- El Topo samba roll (salmon, jalapeño, shiso leaf, crispy onion, spicy mayo, fresh melted mozzarella) £12 - mozzarella went well with this roll adding extra umami to the layers of ingredients. Good textural contrasts also;
- Tiger Maki samba roll (takuwan, wasabi tobiko, crab meat, tempura prawn, tiger prawn, wasabi mayo, beetroot yogurt, soy reduction) £16 - a good read of ingredients that seemed to blend in together;
- Sea Bass Tempura (heritage tomatoes, beetroot ceviche, aji verde, lime) £29 - a beautifully presented dish with otherwise mild flavours;
- Corazon de Pollo (aji panca) served with Peruvian corn £12 - my choice of dish was my favourite. Chicken hearts excellently grilled with big kernels of corn. Simply excellent method of using an otherwise maligned cut of meat;
- Chocolate Banana Cake (maple butter, plantain chip, vanilla rum icecream) £10 - moist textured cake that was overpowered by the strong syrup sauce.

The food tastes quite good. The ingredients are probably of high quality. But I can't help feeling I'm spending way too much for the view and to be with the cool crowd of people continuously taking selfies. I can see what they are going for and I don't think it is for me.

To celebrate Mr. Hyde's National Burger Day on August 24 (I'm sure it's made up just for self promotion, but I suppose I was suckered in), there was a widespread discount of 20% on burgers throughout London. It made it difficult to choose between so many, but for a year I had my eye on the Mac Daddy at Dirty Bones. Considering I had to be at Liverpool Street Station in the late afternoon, there was no better reason to make it there.

It's an unexpectedly nice pub which contains many soul references including the music to go with it. The food is NYC inspired and nearly everything reads delicious and unhealthy.

The Mac Daddy (brisket & dry aged steak burger topped with pulled beef short rib, mac & cheese, cayenne & coffee-spiked BBQ sauce) £11 was actually smaller than I anticipated but still an impressive sight to behold. The oozing mac & cheeze and BBQ sauce laid contrast to the two textures of beef. The beef was flavoursome and quite seasoned (but not to the typical overly-salted American style) and cooked to medium without request. The rib added a different texture but not much extra flavour. The mac & cheese was similarly so and without any strong umami cheese as you get from the best part of the cheese crust.

I was still a little hungry so opted to finish with the Crispy Lamb Fries (with sweet miso, red chilli & jalapeño) £6.5. The lamb was surprisingly sweet as I expected it to be more savoury as I've never had an overwhelmingly sweet miso before. It has soft texture but was not crisp/charred as I had hoped. The chilli added a very nice touch and the fries were delicious even alone.

Overall it was a decent burger at the upper end of cost and some good fries to accompany it. I will definitely try to return in an evening to take advantage of the excellent sounding cocktails, the old school music and supplement with The Burger (normal one) or Crispy Fried Chicken.

10-2017

On a Tuesday evening at 915pm it was good to see Dirty Bones open, playing soul music and serving good food.

The lamb fries were ordered again and even though they had the same sweet and soft texture, the fries were very good and I enjoyed them more overall than last time.

Buffalo hot wings £10 with Frank's hot sauce and extremely mild blue cheese sauce were tasty and nicely cooked. Beef short rib £16 was extremely tender and flavoured with cayenne & coffee BBQ sauce. Chicken & waffles £11 were exactly as you'd expect, although the chicken wasn't too strongly seasoned. The crisp coating and waffle was complemented by the sweet maple.

It was a good (large) meal for two. I'd happily go back. The Grown-Ups Jaffa (El Jimador Reposado tequila, Mozart dark chocolate liquer, orange syrup, chocolate bitters & marmalade ice cube) £10 was excellent, sweet and not too strongly alcoholic. Next time the Spiked Iced Coffee would be good to start the night (or the day).

Hidden by an unmarked entrance on an otherwise quiet East London backstreet was Bistrotheque. I discovered it's a French cafe/restaurant (I suppose the name is suggestive) and coincidentally or not the wait staff were mostly seemingly French too. There's a piano in the corner and on this morning, a lunchtime musician started playing his melodic version of classics such as Britney "Baby one more time".

The menu reads quite nicely. There's a bit of chaos within the structure and the ingredients belie French upon other influences - souffle, black truffle, foie gras, tartare with labneh, cornbread and chorizo. Suffice to say many of the items sound excellent. The eggs and pancakes seem to be the best value, as the mains do tend to be quite highly priced.

- Bistrotheque Breakfast (sausage, bacon, Boston baked beans, layered potato, eggs, toast) £13.5 - remarkably good layered potato (as a modern version of hash brown), strongly flavoured crisp bacon, some nice beans, and a poached slightly vinegared egg was served with toast. The sausage looked rather wrinkled but was adequate.
- Black pudding £4 - I had this as a side to my breakfast but unfortunately it was below par. The flavour was too minimal and had none of the rich pork meat, fat & blood that it is supposed to;
- French toast, berries, almonds, Chantilly cream £9 - a beautiful dish decadent in sweetness and colour. Not overly sweet with unnecessary syrups but using berries instead for the breakfast treat.

Other than the black pudding and the lack of smoothies/juices (I suppose they aren't typical French brunch items), the other two were very fine starts to the day. I think the only other options I'd consider as breakfasts would be the cauliflower, mojo verde, smoked almonds £17 or tomato tarte tatin, goats curd, crispy shallots £17, whereas heavier lunch options would be more suited to later in the day.

Given the general cost of restaurant food in London these days as well as the quite inconvenient 12.5% service charge, it's nice to find some discount offers online. This one came as 50% off food from Hot Dinners. It's a good way of eating well, eating cheaper and trying places I otherwise would not have heard of or chosen to go to.

It's a nice venue that looks like a beautiful moodlit bar and entrance to a hotel. There's a free pool table to bide time also.

To balance a little of the cheaper food, the drinks are definitely at the higher end of the spectrum. Smoke & Fire (San Cosme mezcal with mixed vermouth, St. George pear & habanero shrub) £13 was a well presented smooth drink with a light smoky touch of mezcal. I was keen to see how much heat the habanero would add but disappointed to find none at all.

Teasers
- Red curry & herb sticky rice balls £5 - similar to arancini with some mild curry but nicely hot sliced fresh chilli added a boost;
- Buttermilk fried chicken, sriracha dip £9 - expected with pieces and ended up with sliced tenders. Quite nice and enhanced with the sriracha and fresh chilli;
- Scallop seared green salsa, lime & wakame dust £10 - a very large scallop wonderfully cooked and with some added salsa. £10 for one scallop is a bit excessive though... (justifiable for half price).

Mains
- Branzino Al forno, leeks, lemon confit, green tapenade £18 - nicely cooked seabass but a bit too heavy on the salt;
- Merguez, homemade harissa beans, poached egg £12 - a breakfast-type dish of crunchy beans, egg and some sausage pieces. The flvaour was quite meaty. Would have been great with some bread;
- Pumpkin & piquillo pepper casserole £5 - minimally seasoned but better for it. The pumpkin taste was the most prevalent.

Dessert
- Lemon, hazelnut & polenta cake, clotted cream £7 - not too sweet and very tasty. It was a bit firmer in texture than I'm used to but fine. A good way to finish.

The food overall was of pretty good standard and I enjoyed the teasers more than the mains. The prices are quite typical for London but I'd probably opt for somewhere else if paying full price. The higher cost of drinks also influences that too.

Every neighbourhood has its local pub. In Mile End/Bow, the Morgan Arms is the one. Sure, there's a few others (which honestly I haven't tried yet) but this one has it all. Reasonable drink prices, nice cosy interior design, English pub meals and games to play (eg. Cards Against Humanity) just in case you get bored of conversation.

The one annoyance is the people who stand in the doorway and smoke. Get away.

It also isn't a building equipped for heat and so on a 35C day in June (or even the 25C day a week later) the inside is quite stuffy. So sit near the door however the point above...

- Smoked ham hock scotch egg, Bramley apple sauce £5 - a nice slightly runny scotch egg with a smokey ham coating;
- Marmite glazed aubergines, baba ganoush, crispy tomato corn bread, tempura fried sage £7.5 - the corn bread is very hard and not very tasty (tastes like salt). There are 2 aubergine halves and 2 fried sage leaves which are fine but a small dish. The pinenuts are a nice touch;
- IPA battered haddock, thick-cut chips, mushy peas, chunky tartare sauce £13.5 - a nicely cooked, crisp coated fish with some decent chips and sauce. Mushy peas were blended to a largely smooth paste;
- Ginger curried cod, coconut & cumin sauce, toasted cashew nuts, coriander, green beans, red quinoa "rice" £16 - a very good dish with an excellent fish sitting on top crunchy beans, slightly toasted quinoa and a mild curry with a good ginger hit.

It's not the best pub food I've had but there's plenty to like, although it does reach pretty high in terms of some of the pricing. I wonder how the others in the area compare...