Where the Pancakes Are, 8th October

Weekends to me mean brunch, and brunch very often means pancakes. The fluffy American kind (even though I’m a lover of the thin, English kind too). When I saw Where the Pancakes Are had opened up I was delighted.

They’ve set up in the newly created area that is Flat Iron Square on Bankside, where you can expect to find more foodie type places and even a new venue called Omeara to make up for the shortfall in London from all the ones we’ve recently lost.

I headed there on a Saturday afternoon at about 1 and we only had to wait all of ten minutes, if that, for a table (of course it is no bookings). I think I was there in its first couple of weeks though so don’t take that as gospel that you’ll always get seated so quickly! Especially now this new area is becoming more widely known. 

Choosing what I wanted was very difficult – the eternal question of whether to go savoury or sweet reared its head. Eventually savoury won out because I cannot resist having something with chilli in it! Rebecca, my dining companion for the meal, had a sweet option. I had a 1,000-baby-greens and added some more greenery in the form of avocado. My fluffy, squidgy pancakes were piled with baby leaves, spring onion, a good dollop of avocado and coriandier-lime butter. Fresh and lively. Could have handled more chilli (as per usual).

Rebecca’s Hummingbird plate looked fabulous – cream, cinnamon pineapple but the pomegranates, almond and coconut put me off stealing any of it. She seemed very pleased with her choice.

Each dish comes with two or three pancakes and that’s enough, although I probably could have squeezed in sharing a dessert version after mine. The savoury dishes are towards the higher end of what I’ve paid for brunch at other places (especially considering they’re pancakes which are normally quite a cheap item), at £10-£12 with extras being another £2 or so. But it doesn’t feel like a cheap brunch spot given the locale, and the types of pancake on offer are a cut above your average lemon and sugar. I’d happily go back.  

Best LDN Walks, 5th March

Best LDN Walks was brought to my attention via Twitter – someone I know had been on one of their walks where they find all the seven noses of Soho and me and Charlotte, the girl who runs it, got chatting and lo and behold, we organized for my meetup group to go along to one of her walks. She has about 11 different routes, but the ones that stood out as most appropriate for my group were the Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls and Haunted Pubs tour. I went with the sex.

We met at London Bridge where the scene was set – North London in days gone by was the posh bit, and South London was where things got interesting – where the drinking and the partying and the fornicating happened. Then we wended our way through Southwark and Borough, with Charlotte telling us the more salubrious history of the places through which we travelled. I have been on a few tours in my time (Duck Tour, Ghost Bus Tour) not to mention being generally interested in London’s history and landmarks so expected that I would know a good chunk of what we covered already. And yes there was quite a lot that I had either visited already myself, or had heard of, but there was more than enough that I hadn’t to make it worth my while. Charlotte seems to be a sponge, continually researching and discovering the hidden histories of London. For example, we stopped off for a drink about halfway through at a lovely pub and she got us all ‘singing’ a Tudor drinking song she’d only just unearthed. We didn’t know the tune but we muddled along anyway.

We heard all about the wicked Bishop of Winchester and his poor Geese (prostitutes), and visited the famous Crossbones Graveyard where they were buried. We went through Borough Market and learned the origins of many a phrase such as ‘umble pie, being dirt poor and pulling your leg (that one particularly gruesome – it comes from when young urchins would be employed to ensure that someone just hanged was actually dead and not faking – by pulling on their leg). We passed the site of the original Globe and paused for thought by the wonderfully gruesome Clink and its ‘mascot’ hanging outside (the inside of the Clink is definitely worth a visit). There was a healthy dose of death as well as the fun stuff – we had started off being shown an old map of London which clearly marked all the decapitated heads put up on London Bridge as warnings.

Fittingly, for such a tour, we ended up near a lovely pub into which we all bundled for a nightcap. I know I speak for the whole group when I say Charlotte was a welcoming and entertaining hostess and we all had a brilliant time exploring the seedy side of London yore. 

Tsuru and Maison Bertaux, 20th July

I was only ever going to order one thing when I went to Tsuru - the kara-age chicken burger. This was inevitable because it was the sole reason I put Tsuru on the List after having read the London Review of Sandwiches post about it. 

I recently won a £100 bar tab at the Refinery, which conveniently enough is opposite Tsuru, so I thought I would make my way over there on Saturday and kill two birds with one stone. Bankside isn't exactly a bustling area on the weekend (or perhaps it is underused in general, hence Yelp's recent treasure hunt to promote the area) and many of the little lunch places are shut. Tsuru, however stays open for Saturdays despite clearly not getting much footfall. There were two guys outside when I arrived, no one inside, apart from me, although a couple more people came by for some take out while I was in there.

I was given a very friendly greeting and told to sit where I liked. The place is quite sleek and clean looking and you can see through the service counter to the chefs at the back. I was offered some tap water which I accepted as soon as I sat down, and there are wasabi peas to nibble on while you make your selection, or wait for your food. Despite being on my own, I felt pretty comfortable in there. Tsuru is a Japanese place, owned (or at least partnered) by the same people who run Tonkotsu, somewhere I can highly recommend. I was tempted at first to order some sushi as well as my burger but then decided to get a red cabbage and sesame side instead. As I ordered it, I had a feeling my server hadn't heard me properly and when it didn't arrive I realised I'd been right. This was my first meal of the day though, and I realised as I started eating my burger that I didn't really want anything extra anyway. I'd only really ordered it to have something extra to write about.

 So, the burger. It is described as kara-age chicken on romaine lettuce with a mustard mayo in a sesame seed brioche bun. I must say, that I didn't detect any mustard in the mayo - it just tasted like the kind of mayonnaise you'd get at McDonald's. A little sweet perhaps. The bun wasn't amazing either. It did a good job holding the burger together, was a little too thick and bready, but the sesame seeds were nice. The chicken was definitely the burger's saving grace, made out of thigh meat, with such a load of crispy batter on it that it actually cut my gums a bit! It was very juicy and had a great flavour - I'm sure I caught a taste or perhaps just aroma of lemon somehow. I enjoyed it and would happily eat it again, but I wasn't completely overawed by it. The chicken burger from Rita's doesn't have to worry about being knocked off my top spot any time soon.

Maison Bertaux

I decided to head into town for some dessert and thought I would give Maison Bertaux a try. I wish I hadn't bothered. Located in Soho, it is one of the city's oldest bakeries and patisseries. It looks charmingly French with its blue and white awnings, and inside – at least in the bit I saw – it is charmingly odd, with a lot of mismatched, eccentric ornaments on display behind the cashier.

I only wanted something to take away not to eat in, so I had a look at the wares on display. To be honest, I've seen more appealing confections at Patisserie Valerie. I actually had almost made up my mind not to bother getting anything when I was asked what I wanted and of course, was too British to be rude enough to say 'nothing'. I opted for a, perhaps coffee, perhaps maple, eclair. What I'd really wanted was a slice of what might have been cheesecake but the last two were taken by the couple before me. Everything else was covered in fruit and berries which I don't like. 

As my eclair was being boxed up I saw a cake on the top shelf where the pastries were which actually looked quite good but by then it was too late. I took my eclair with me and ate it down the road. I have nothing to report really. The pastry was rather dry and not that pleasant to eat. The icing on the top was sweet and it was reasonably well filled. There could have been more cream. I didn't eat it all, which speaks volumes. Very disappointing.