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...