Hackney Bureau, 5th May

Many’s the time I have walked past Hackney Bureau after a trip to Broadway Market and have been struck by its popularity. On a weekend, you’d have to be quick off the mark to get in there and get a space for brunch.

My friend and decided to meet there for a late lunch on the last bank holiday afternoon to check it out. Lunch specials are written on the blackboard inside and we were both attracted to the two dishes featuring avocado. In the end, Alison got the smashed avocado with feta and poached eggs on sourdough, and I had the harissa chicken and avocado sandwich. Other options included truffled mushrooms on toast, butternut squash, and a variety of cooked breakfasts.

We also had a cheeky spritz to go with it – Campari for her, Aperol for me.

The food arrived and we were both more than happy with our choices, although I admit, after having a forkful of Alison’s combination, I felt I'd chosen the slightly inferior dish. Her poached eggs were perfect – oozing thick yolk over the creamy avocado, and the feta gave it all a salty tang to it that was very agreeable.

I did enjoy my sandwich as well though. Delicious sourdough held together the strips of chicken and avocado, of which there was a generous amount. The chicken was soft and the harissa was more than just a token description.

Our spritzes were a little on the small side but were a perfect choice if I do say so myself for a spring day.

With appetites sated, we enjoyed a wander around Spitalfields with a glass of prosecco (for only £3.50!) from Bedales before dropping into the Hawksmoor bar for their Cinco de Mayo festivities, courtesy of the many-years-closed Green and Red Bar where Brewdog sits now. They had five different tequila based cocktails, all for £5, or you could have a tequila sangrita or verdita. This was a double shot of tequila to be followed by a concoction of coriander, pineapple and chilli. This was so good we decided to sip them instead of shooting them.

Finally, our wanderings took us up Hackney Road, where popping into Sager and Wilde for ‘one’ turned into a whole bottle plus a couple of their new small plates. We had a generous plate of manchego cheese (with a rather mean portion of quince) plus some gorgeous bread with oil, and a plate of speck with piquillo pepper. It confirmed how right I was to fall in love with the bar the first time, and Mr and Mrs Sager and Wilde were excellent hosts as before.

Hawksmoor Bar, 29th June

Well, no surprises here really - Hawksmoor was AWESOME with a side of awesome. I loved it. I loved it even more that we managed to get in before the 50% off deal came to an end (yesterday) but I would happily go back and pay full price for what we ate, and there are some of the bar snacks/starters that I would like to try.

We had tried to get in last Sunday but there was an hour and a half wait (and you weren't allowed to put your name down and come back close to when tables might be ready - that constituted booking somehow) so we ended up at MeatMission instead. But I was determined not to miss out so we went back on Saturday, making sure to get there as close to its opening as possible - 12pm. This worked a treat as we got there and were seated straight away, watching smugly as the rest of the seats filled up and people started having to wait.

We made perhaps a slight mistake. We're not early morning people so what we were eating at Hawksmoor was actually our breakfast. And I normally like to breakfast light. So, whereas I had planned a starter each, a main and then at least sharing a side and then a dessert each, we just weren't up to eating that much food. But we managed to try all the dishes that I'd heard about and considered the must-haves.

So, we ordered the ox cheek nuggets, the ox cheek french dip and the pig's head poutine. For dessert we had a sticky toffee pudding and some of their famed salted caramel rolos.

The food all comes at once (it's meant for eating while drinking, not as a sit down meal) which was fine by us. All the dishes that the food was served on were perfectly sized to fit the food on it, but left no room for drippage. And there were a lot of juices to contend with.

Stephen had expressed doubt about the ox-cheek nuggets, worrying that they might turn out to be dry. I assured him they wouldn't be, but I didn't realise that they ensured extra moistness by having melted cheese in the middle. In fact, everything we ordered ended up having cheese in it. A fortunate happenstance. The ox cheek nuggets came with a sambal dip which was delicious, but overpowered the flavour of the nuggets themselves. They were so tender and gooey with the cheese, they didn't really need a dip. Which lead to the dilemma - enjoy the nugget on its own, or make the most of the sambal by eating it with the nuggets. Oh these tough, tough decisions!

The French Dip was my favourite of all three and was an amazing sandwich in its own right, never mind with the rich, savoury jus that it came with. I would take a bite and decide I didn't want to 'sully' it with the accompanied gravy, but the gravy was so moreish that I would end up dipping the sandwich in it time and again. A similar conundrum to the aforementioned. The bread itself was very soft and inside was the shredded flavoursome cheek meat topped with, yeah, you guessed it - melted cheese. It put the steak and cheese sandwich I had at MeatLiquor to shame. I'm going to have to let my face get at that again some time soon.

The poutine also came with gravy, but a much lighter, sweeter gravy which was also pretty addictive. Towards the end the chips that it had been covering had been completely soaked in it and were a little soggy, which normally I don't really like (and Stephen moaned a bit about it) but it did mean you got a bit more of the gravy flavour as I spooned up the last sodden scraps of chips, cheese and meat. I've never had poutine before, the idea of gravy with cheese and chips didn't appeal but I'm happy to say I was a fool to think this way. And with pork's head scattered all over it, this dish is a main event in its own right, don't be fooled by it being listed alongside the chips and coleslaw.

I had to get the rolos for 'dessert'. I put that bit in inverted commas because what they really are, are three chocolates, as you would get from Paul A Young or something - they're not a proper 'pudding' as the English say. They were lovely, and the caramel was indeed very salty, but if Stephen hadn't ordered the sticky toffee pudding that I was then able to have some of, I would have been annoyed at myself for ending my meal with them. I could easily have had a real dessert and then ordered these as well.

The toffee pudding was magnificent, the caramel sauce was a light cinder toffee in flavour, leaving a pleasant slightly burned aftertaste. The pudding itself was warm and just like a pudding should be - dense and sticky. And it was topped with a completely unnecessary quenelle of clotted cream, which nevertheless was appreciated as an extra touch of decadence.

Just as anticipated, for me anyway, were the drinks (well, it is a bar!). As it was our breakfast and we were heading to a festival straight after, we didn't want to drink loads while we were in there but I just had to try the full fat old fashioned (rather dear at £12.50 - good job the food was so cheap!). This was butter-infused bourbon with  sugar and I could have drank that all day. It mostly just tasted of whisky of course with just enough sweetness to take away any harshness or burning you might get from drinking hard liquor neat. Is it wrong of me to be proud that was the first thing to pass my lips that day? Gorgeous. Stephen had a Kernel Pale Ale which, at 7% and only costing £5 was quite a good deal.

The bar itself has apparently been redone a bit and is all dark wood and low lighting, meaning we could easily forget it was midday outside and that we shouldn't be drinking whisky cocktails at that hour. And our waitress was incredibly friendly and smiley. I'm so, so happy I went.

Flat Iron, 27th July

Flat Iron is a new pop-up restaurant above the absolutely lovely Owl and the Pussycat pub. Ever since I had heard about it on Twitter, I had been dying to go. It is only in residence for six weeks (but this could be extended if it proves popular) and I was pleased to be able to go in the first two weeks and feel like I was slightly ahead of the pack.

It’s another place specialising in only one thing, and another place that doesn’t take reservations. We decided to go on Friday, when hopefully everyone would be elsewhere getting ready to watch the Opening Ceremony, and we went straight from work to be doubly sure we would avoid queuing for ages. We were, in fact, the very first two people in there and we didn’t have to queue at all! An excellent start. I don’t know if we were just lucky, or if it is always so easy so early in the night. Quite a few people had trickled in by half an hour later, but it wasn’t packed to the rafters, and, while we decided to leave after we’d eaten and finished our drinks, we could easily have stayed for another one or two drinks without feeling like we we were taking up valuable space.

So what is Flat Iron’s handle? Well, it’s aim is to make steak affordable for the masses, and they have done this by serving one type of steak – the Flat Iron – which rarely gets used and is thus cheaper. After the first night of opening, the next day I waited with baited breath for the reviews – but almost more importantly – the prices. I wanted to know what they considered ‘affordable’ considering steaks in the good places (Hawksmoor for example) can go for around £30, sometimes more depending on the cut. Good reviews were flooding in but no one was mentioning the price. Why? I was suspicious. Someone reviewed it on their blog, again without mentioning the price, so I asked. I could scarcely believe her when she said that steak and a salad was £10. That was unbelievably good value. And it doesn’t stop there. Sides come in at a mere £2.50, and cocktails are also very reasonably priced at between £5.50 and £7 (most places start at £7.00).

The restaurant space is also delightful. It has a bit of a rustic, slightly Wild West feel to it. As we went in fresh horseradish was being pounded in a pestle and mortar. There’s a lot of dark wood. The place feels relaxed and comfortable. But it is clear that great attention to detail has been given – from the mini-cleavers that take the place of steak knives, to the little jars of ketchup and mustard, to the way your bill is presented at the end of the meal – on small but heavy letter presses. This sort of thing might not be strictly necessary but for me added to the enjoyment of the experience.

Flat Iron asks, please don't steal the cleavers!

But what of the food? Well, I enjoyed it. The chips were tasty, though not mindblowing, and we were also persuaded by our very lovely and knowledgeable waitress to split a side of roasted aubergine (at these prices, why on earth not?) which was absolutely delicious. This may be verging on blasphemy to say so, especially coming from a meat lover such as myself, but I think it might have been my favourite thing of the night!  Seriously, seriously good. I wish I’d had a whole one to myself. For vegetarians, this is what you get as a main dish so you shouldn’t feel at all short-shrifted. 

The steak itself is also good, I think. Stephen wasn’t too enamoured with it. It has a ... how shall I say this? ... distinct... smell to it which is not overly pleasant, and Stephen thought it leaked into the taste, which he didn’t like. To be honest, for me it wasn’t exactly STEAK. I think people who go out for a STEAK will know what I mean. It’s not a thick, juicy porterhouse, with chewy, bitter char on the outside giving way to melt in the mouth meat in the middle. The steak at Flat Iron is altogether more delicate, laid out on the board almost like a charcuterie delicacy. I liked the taste – it did taste different to other beef, a little bit gamey. And I thought it was cooked beautifully (medium rare as standard though they will cook it to your liking if you request otherwise). But I couldn’t help but feel that if I was in the mood to go out for a STEAK, this wouldn’t have satisfied and I would still probably head to Buen Ayre, or Hawksmoor and pay the extra. I want to feel like a man when I eat STEAK.

But if what you want is expertly cooked meat (or steak with a lower case ‘s’) at a truly affordable price in a completely charming restaurant, then head over to Flat Iron. The cocktails were tasty (and created especially to complement the steak) - I had a smoked thyme bramble which was lovely and yes, very smoky and thymey, and the wait staff are incredibly friendly. I think it would make a lovely addition as a casual place you can drop in with a group of friends before a night out or a few jars downstairs. Even the presentation is geared towards a convivial group sitting as you can fit several portions of steak on each board, to then pass between you. 

Meat for two with bloody mary sauce and bearnaise

They are also currently serving for dessert (again at only £2.50) a scrumptious chocolate caramel ‘mousse’. Nevermind that the consistency of it was completely different to any mousse I’ve ever had (it was thicker and more solid, heading towards ice cream territory – maybe like semifreddo), the taste was amazing. Our waitress put them down before us and took a pinch of sea salt and crumbled it over the top. It went perfectly, which will come to no surprise to anyone who has tapped into the current salted caramel craze. We really do need to put more salt into sweet stuff.

Flat Iron is only around for another four weeks as it stands. I really like what they’re trying to do and the amount of effort that has gone into the place. They're not just making steak affordable, they're making eating out in general affordable. Everyone go and ensure it makes the transition from pop-up to permanent. 

Press presenting your bill