East London Liquor Co, 6th October

Once again London Cocktail Week was badly timed for me. Last year I was on holiday, this year I was in the middle of a month of ‘not drinking’. Of course, I had to make an exception for London Cocktail Week but not so much of an exception that I took full advantage of everything LCW had to offer. I didn’t attend any masterclasses or tours, I didn’t go to a different bar every night and I didn’t even get to Monkey Shoulder’s Cowbell Bar. But I DID manage to go out a couple of times in the week for a few drinks at discount prices.

My first stop was meant to be the Craft Cocktail Co. After much checking of Google, the LCW booklet and more I was assured the places I’d planned to go would be open on a Monday. Not so. We rocked up to the arch and found nothing but a shutter, forcing us to revisit Satan’s Whiskers up the road instead. On a Monday, getting in was easy peasy and we enjoyed their LCW offering of their Silver Pineapple (like a pina colada but without the horrible coconut) before ordering one each off their menu – a classic champagne cocktail for me, a New York Flip for Stephen. Mine was as expected, but Stephen’s was absolutely delicious, like a mini, liquid dessert, perfect for the cold weather outside.

From there we headed on to the East London Liquor Co, which is a fairly new addition to Mile End, and thus of much interest to me. It is closer to Victoria Park than Mile End so may get a little footfall, even though the area doesn’t get many visitors beyond those who live there. This place is also set back from the road, and it was a Monday, so I wasn’t surprised to find it bereft of clientele. It literally was empty when we walked in, making us feel guilty at putting the bartenders to work. They took it in good spirits though and we had a little chat with them about whether and how busy the place gets. Stephen recognised the male bartender and it turns out he was working at Hoxley andPorter when we went.

We stuck to the LCW cocktails here - the Darjeeling Sour, made with the East London Liquor company’s own Batch No. 1 Premium gin distilled on site. This was a light, frothy concoction, which would make pleasant sipping on a summer’s evening. The exact opposite of this evening in fact, but it was nice enough to warrant a cheeky second as a nightcap before heading home. I feel the place didn't have its best side on show as it was so very empty. I can imagine it doesn't ever feel exactly homely as it does have a warehouse feel to it, especially with the grand machinery of the distillery peering from the back of the bar. But, with the calibre of bartender, and based on our drink, a second visit is very much warranted. I"m feeling positively spoiled - this place and The Victoria right up the road from me!

Lovebox, 18th-19th July

For the first time (I’ve only lived in East London 7 years, and literally down the road form Vicky Park for 4) I went to Lovebox. And I was gonna do it right – that meant both days back to back. Previously it has been a Friday to Sunday event, but they decided to condense this year and concentrate the quality into two days. By going both days we noticed a marked difference in crowds and vibe.

Friday was the young, dancey, druggy day. The place was awash with gurning students, all doing that weird shuffle dance, like it was some big musical and everyone had spontaneously broken into a choreographed dance. It was actually rather eerie to watch sometimes. Everyone dancing in exactly the same way like robots. It was also one of the hottest days of the year – merely standing still caused an obscene amount of sweating. So there was a LOT of demand for the free water taps. Which were a great idea, but: 

a lot of people chewing their faces off 

+

the hottest day of the year 

=

queues for water that were half an hour in duration. 

Not pleasant. By the time you got to the front to fill your water bottle, you were thirsty enough to empty it again. We noticed later in the day that on top of the number of bars (of which there seemed to be a plentiful amount) they had some guys with portable tanks of beer and cider, filling up pints on the go. Oh, if they had only done that with water as well!

There were a lot of artists I wanted to see, but I also just wanted to soak up the festival atmosphere so we got there early and wandered around the whole site before getting into dance mode. My favourite tent in terms of aesthetics had to be the Red Bull tent – it was like a tiki beach hut in there!

There were also cocktail tents, a pirate ship and a dance off stage where we learned and then watched some belly dancing, and then a dance troupe killing it to African beats and Drums of Death. And there were some tents that weren’t tents at all, but areas for dancing cordoned off by a wall of music. Such was one of my favourite sets of the day – Shy FX at the Bearded Kittens manor, treating us to some jungle, drum n bass, reggae and hip hop. And the headliners Chase n Status were phenomenal. By this point a few drops of rain had started to fall but it was welcome relief after the immense sun of the day, and made Chase n Status cool in more ways than one.

Saturday had a completely different feel – more a bands festival than a rave. On the Friday I think we only heard two live voices all day, Saturday was awash with live acts and bands. And a much different crowd – the drinker crowd. Suddenly the bars we thought were plentiful and easy to get to the day before seemed far less bountiful and all completely rammed. And everyone was being asked for ID, even though half the crowd were in their 30s. Same as the day before, there were a few random things happening as well as the main areas – we caught the burlesque parade (above) as we made our way to the main stage, and Little Gay Brother were once more set up at the Cider Tent. Saturday’s highlights had to be watching Soul II Soul in the sunshine – a perfect afternoon activity and they were just brilliant. Caron Wheeler looks like she hasn’t aged, and her voice was as soulful and mellow as ever. Nas wiped the floor with his set and M.I.A turned the whole place into a party with her amazing lightshow – both on stage and created by handing out glowsticks to the crowd. We unfortunately didn’t see all of her set though as we wanted to leave to go out partying at the Queen of Hoxton… among others (see below).

Food

I don’t know what the food has been like previously but this year there were some serious eats to be had. There was a whole BBQ area where you could choose from Miss P’s, Smokestak, Smokey Tails and Kurobuta, and I noticed Spit and Roast, Bonnie Gull and Mama’s Jerk elsewhere. I had decided on my list were Kurobuta and Miss P’s but in the end I didn’t get Miss P’s – I had a Popdog instead, which was great – you choose your frank: pork or beef, and then it’s up to you to load it up with toppings. I smothered mine with jalapenos and sauerkraut as well as some ketchup and mustard.

But on the first day I made a beeline to Kurobuta to try some of their buns. Big, crispy on the edges slabs of pork belly came with pickles and this amazingly, fiery, nutty sauce on the side. Plus onions and cucumbers in the buns. Fabulous food.

We also had a Crosstown Doughnut as we chilled out listening to the pumping tunes from the Roller Disco, curated by It’s Supa Dupa Fly. Kind of a shame they didn’t have a proper tent to dance in!

Afterparty

What’s a festival without an afterparty? Well, in this case we eschewed the official ones and went to Queen of Hoxton for Artwork, Logo etc. But it shut at 2 and we never go home that early. Instead we found ourselves in the Joiners Arms, a gay pub recently threatened with licencing issues and saved with a loving campaign. This place did remind me a little of Ye Olde Axe – it’s just a large pub, but it was a lot of fun, and friendly, and not at all full of men just on the prowl, which is what I’d heard before. We made friends and when that place shut we went where everyone else apparently goes after – East Bloc by Old Street roundabout. Don’t ask me what that was like – by the time we got there my brain cells were just about functioning enough to keep me upright, never mind retain information!

Hot Breath Karaoke, 17th November

Oh lordy, how can I ever go to normal karaoke again? Well, I probably will but it will be with a heavy heart when there is no prize-bestowing wheel to spin afterwards, or jingles, yes, there is no other word for them, to be played once I have spun the wheel and been awarded my prize.

This is another one from my personal bible – Time Out’s 1000 Things to Do. I’ve been trying to keep an eye out on when these irregular nights happen but always seem to just miss it. I almost did last weekend as well. You may recall that I said I was going to The Blitz party. Alas, it was not to be as I had no one to accompany me and perhaps, just perhaps, fate was dealing me a kind hand in order for me to make Hot Breath Karaoke instead.

Oh-so-fortuitously it was also being held in a pub just up the road from me which I thought looked nice but had never been in, The Lauriston. It said it kicked off at 9 so we got there for about half eight. I expected the pub to be packed but for the karaoke to be happening in a different room so that we might get a seat in there. I was wrong on both counts. The pub was actually only maybe half full and I went to grab a spare table with glee until I noticed some savvy people had reserved them. I know for next time. Also, the karaoke was taking place in the main pub area – there was in fact no other pub area for it to take place in. Just a little stage, with the wheel and Mike (I think that's his name) with his controls beside it.

The prizes this night were all the same – some of Mike's homemade maple syrup pumpkin pie. I’m not normally a fan of pumpkin pie but the addition of maple syrup piqued my interest and the baker also runs Coins Junkyard Snacks, a cart specialising in American type junk food at Netil Market. Having sampled the frosted flakes chicken nuggets from him before, I thought the pie would be worth a try, if only I could win it.

The premise is simple. You put your name down to sing. If you sing, you get the chance to spin the wheel and if you’re lucky it will land on ‘Winner’. Or ‘Free Booze’ (a shot). If you’re not so lucky it may land on ‘True or False’ and you will have to answer a simple question before you get a prize (the pie). If you’re unlucky you’ll land on ‘Loser’ and have to resume your seat empty-handed.

It’s surprising how much fun this addition makes karaoke, on top, of course, of all the silly songs and cringey singers. I probably graced the stage far too much, as I got progressively more drunk. I think my highlight, or perhaps low point, was singing Barbie Girl by Aqua with my friend. Not something I will be repeating, however. But I’m happy to say I did win a slice of pie, complete with whipped cream and it was delicious. I would love to get my hands on some more.

bad photo of good pie

In between songs our esteemed host plays filler music which is more ‘killer’ than ‘filler’ and which got people dancing in their seats, or standing up depending on where in the pub they were, and the pub certainly got pretty busy by the time the karaoke was in full swing. If you didn’t get your name down early, you might have ended up without even a chance at winning some of that pie.

I would love to come back to Hot Breath Karaoke. It’s really good fun – as long as you bring some people who are up for having a laugh and don’t mind making slight fools of themselves in public.

The people behind HBK do other nights as well and I think I’m going to head to the next one that is coming up – the VHS video pub quiz! 

Pavilion, 4th June

In the endless requests for good places for brunch/eggs benedict/breakfast that get sent into Secret London on twitter (seriously, does no one ever bother to see what people have said previously?), Pavilion gets mentioned often. It’s just up the road from me in Victoria Park, but for some reason I hadn’t yet really wanted to bother trying it. Until we went up there for a picnic and I saw the menu, the dishes coming out and the freshly baked bread sitting on the side.

Two weeks later and the weather had gone decidedly downhill but we thought this would work in our favour for getting a seat at this small but popular place. It turned out they were doing a roaring trade (and we overheard that they were much busier than even they were expecting) but luckily we still managed to nab a bit of table inside. Pavilion’s name gives you a clue as to what it is – it is a little Pavilion in the park and isn’t much to look at. There are a few outside tables, and of course, the entire park to take your meal to, and inside are a few bench-type tables with basic chairs, and probably some remnants from the last person’s meal on or around your seat.

But the quality of the food is top notch. They serve breakfast type dishes like three all kinds of eggs (benedict, florentine, scrambled etc), various brekkie-type sandwiches and a choice of two full breakfasts – one with black pudding and two eggs, one with mushrooms, tomato and one egg (or something like that, Stephen had the non-black pudding one by mistake). They also have a pancake option which sounded delicious. Then they do some lunch options such as a few different salads and the irresistible-to-me chorizo, aioli, roasted red peppers and rocket focaccia sandwich.

Both our choices were delicious and it was obvious from the taste that Pavilion use top quality, organic or free range ingredients. They even tell you on one of their big boards who is producing the food you’re eating. One slight complaint was that the sausage in Stephen’s breakfast was a little dry (which I’ve noticed seems to be a sign of sausages made from good quality meat, maybe not enough of the fatty bad stuff is in them!). The beans I think were worth a special mention, and you can tell from the colour of that yolk that it was a good'un. 

That looks a bit like black pudding on the plate, but I'm pretty sure it's mushroom.

My only complaint of my sandwich was that it was huge and difficult to eat. I could probably have been happy with just half of it. The chorizo was full of flavour, as was the roasted pepper - one of the best roasted peppers I've had in a good long while. The rocket did what it was supposed to do - but through the fat of the sausage and all topped off with lovely garlickiness, which I can never get enough of.

There is chorizo in there somewhere - lots of it!

There were also some cakes and coffee for sale but after eating our brunch we had no room for any of that. We had hoped to get a loaf of bread to take back with us but they didn’t seem to have any so we had to take a walk up to E5 Bakehouse instead (certainly no hardship).

This is definitely going to become a regular haunt for us. It's great value for money (eggs on various things around £6.00) and I can't not try their pancakes. 

Regent's Canal, 26th May

I believe the word to describe the weather this weekend is ‘glorious’. And I, like the rest of London, wanted to make the most of it. We decided to walk Regent’s Canal, both because it is on my List, and because Stephen and I live opposite it and wondered if it would make a feasible cycle route for getting to work in Angel and King’s Cross respectively, knowing that it takes you all the way there.

In actual fact, it doesn’t exactly take you all the way there, as you get booted off at Angel and would have to go via real roads for a bit to get to King’s Cross. Not viable for me as I have sworn to myself never to risk life and limb on London’s roads, but potential for Stephen, especially during the Olympics.

But I digress. We joined Regent’s Canal from Victoria Park and walked along it until we could literally walk no more. I didn’t really know the route it took other than it ended up at King’s Cross somehow and of course went past Regent’s Park. The most popular stretch according to Time Out is the bit between Camden and Little Venice, which we strolled along at the end of the day at around 5:30. 

Random Chinese looking building at the start or the Camden leg

It was very serene, with hardly any people going in our direction or coming the other way. It was actually the quietest part of the canal for the part that is supposed to be the most popular but the time of day probably had something to do with that. This stretch takes you along Regent’s Park and past London Zoo, which is pretty cool. You go past the bird enclosure on one side and, I think, the giraffe pen on the other. We didn’t see any giraffes but there was a stork(?)-like bird close to us on our near side.

This section also takes you past some formidably grand houses. We came up to the first one and wondered what the special-looking building was. When we passed it and realised they were all like this, we knew we were in rich person territory and that these were actual houses, the likes of which I wouldn’t even bother dreaming about owning, knowing how unrealistic that dream would be. We weren’t the only ones awestruck enough to take pictures. 

The walk to Little Venice is about 2 miles from where we rejoined the path at Regent’s Park. I thought that once we got to Little Venice there would be ... I don’t know... More, to warrant having a name for the area. Regent’s Canal ends here and turns into Paddington Branch so there is more than one canal, and that must be the only (slightly poor) reason behind the moniker. There was a little park and an area with Zizzi’s and Starbucks etc but that was all.I had no idea where Little Venice was in the grand scheme of things, so Paddington being the nearest tube was a bit of a surprise. I felt quite proud to have walked from East London to West and to be able to compare practically the entire path. I personally preferred the earlier part of our walk through East London. There were varying degrees of busyness and you could get a feel for where you were by the buildings and people that populated the path. For instance, when being deluged by one speed bikes and all manner of bicycle ‘bells’ (including people saying ‘ring ring’) you knew you were in hipsterville. It was busier here, as you veered through areas such as London Fields and Hackney. We passed a couple of food outlets that opened up onto the canal and looked very tempting though we didn’t stop. We saw some fish swimming in the canal and enjoyed the plethora of houseboats lining the canal, some of which were toting their wares.

I love walking around London and have walked so much of it I sometimes feel I’ve run out of areas to explore. It was nice to find a different way to walk through London, and on such a hot day, it was a good way to spend some time outdoors. Definitely recommend East for people watching, West for romance and calm.