The Piano Works, 25th September

A friend of mine told me all about the lovely evening he’d had at this newly opened Piano Bar in Farringdon which I’d never heard of, and as soon as he’d mentioned it, for the next week or so I couldn’t move for seeing this place talked about.

So I got straight on it and booked an area for my Meetup. I knew there were two pianos and throughout the night the band was built up around them. They work strictly on a request basis so anything can be played, from Dean Martin to Weezer depending on what the crowd is asking for.

By the time we got there the band were in full activation and it was clear there were quite a few after-work parties there that were well oiled. My group settled down right next to the bandstand and had a jolly time. Given the fact that anyone could request, some of the music was a little too crowdpleasing and cheesy for me, but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and was tempted on more than one occasion to get up and dance. The two pianists take turn singing the songs, and at one point one of them swapped out with a girl pianist who had a better voice than both of them by miles.

The other downside to the music being purely on a request basis is that everyone wants to request songs, and they hint that for yours to stand a chance of being played you need to include a tip. But even so, there’s no way they are going to get to everyone’s and I’m sure they must gauge the audience in deciding which songs make the cut. Our waitress did say that if our songs weren’t played we would get our money back but we didn’t really expect them to follow through on this and when the place was shutting at the end of the night we were proved correct. Did we mind? Not really – we’d had such a good time we stayed right until the end and 2 quid wasn’t something we minded losing out on for the evening’s entertainment.

Entry is free before 9 pm, £5 before 10 pm and £10 after but if you make a group booking of 10 or more you can save the entrance fee. With Christmas coming up this is the ideal work night out. 

Comptoir Gascon, 13th February

There is nothing like rich, moist, fatty duck with which to celebrate, even a minor occasion such as Valentine’s Day. And duck happens to be a speciality for Comptoir Gascon so of course we availed ourselves of it, twice over for me!

Comptoir Gascon is a French bistro in Clerkenwell, the more casual, much cheaper sibling to Club Gascon over the road. Stephen and I wanted to do our usual of going out for a nice meal pre-Valentine’s but we didn’t want to go overboard on the spending this year. Comptoir Gascon perfectly fit the bill, and we had a really delicious, hearty meal. 

We started with a glass of bubbly, and then rather greedily ordered a whole bottle of juicy red wine as well. We weren’t sure we would be able to finish it all in the time it took to eat our meal but we needn’t have worried – it was so easy to drink we polished it off without much effort.

To start, I had the duck rilletes which came with sourdough toasts. This was gloriously fatty, shredded duck which I was happy to plough into on its own, as well as piling it upon the bread. More bread would have been nice but eating it on its own was no chore, especially with some crunchy cornichons to lighten it a little. 

Stephen had the ‘piggy treats', which I warned him didn’t come with any bread. He said he wouldn’t need any but then regretted he had none for his pates. Still, it was quite filling so from that point of view bread was probably unnecessary. There was so much there I can't quite remember it all - charcuterie, pancetta, terrine, black pudding - even pigs' ears. A treat indeed (maybe not so much the ears, still find them weird). 

Stephen had the cassoulet and I had the confit duck with garbure. My vibrant sauce was very garlicky and salty and I very much enjoyed swishing my melt-in-the-mouth duck with its crispy skin in it. The veg was a waste of space and not particularly nice – they could have been canned potatoes and carrots for all they added, slightly too mushy to be pleasant.I know garbure is traditionally a veg stew but I say ditch them and just keep the soup!

Stephen’s cassoulet was a thing of stodgy, meaty, juicy beauty. The duck was every bit as good as mine, and the sausage added some earthiness to it. Beans were perfectly cooked. Food coma was induced.

Almost literally – after waddling out of here I went straight home and slept the meal off before I went out for the night – we didn't even have dessert! of course, we had also shared a portion of chips - these regularly appear on 'best chips' lists and it's easy to see why. They were obviously freshly made in-house, with duck fat (more duck!) and 'crazy salt' which just seemed to be salt with a bit of spice to it. Anyway, they were delicious and moreish, though I let stephen eat the majority as I was so stuffed from my food. What a meal!

Harrild and Sons, 23rd May

Harrild and Sons is the newest bar/pub from the people behind the Well and Bucket in Bethnal Green, and, like the pub in Bethnal Green, downstairs it has one of the 5CC cocktail bars. This is actually where we spent our evening as upstairs was pretty rammed, but no one seemed to have discovered the hidden haven downstairs.

Upstairs bears a strong family resemblance to the Well and Bucket with its slightly macabre, Victorian gothic décor. We grabbed a bottle of wine from the bar before going to 5CC where we would have room to get some food. For no real reason we decided it was a lobster kind of day, so I had the lobster roll and Alison had the surf and turf, after the waitress was very frank and told us the lobster on its own wasn’t that big. Alison opted for chunky chips, I had skinny fries.

The lighting down here is what you might call ‘mood lighting’ if you’re being charitable. If not, you’d just say it is dark. But then, they are going for the whole clandestine feel. It’s just a shame because if you’re eating, you actually quite like to see your food! But, sight aside, what we had was pretty good. It wasn’t the best lobster roll I’ve ever had, and the claw was a tad dry and chalky, but I enjoyed it. I had a morsel of Alison’s steak which had a great charred flavor and was very tender. I didn’t get any of her lobster but she literally licked that sucker clean and the chunks of it I saw looked succulent and glistening so I think it was pretty good! And those chips! The memory of the chunky ones in particular has lingered pleasingly in my mind ever since. They were basically like perfectly cooked roast potatoes, in chip shape. The skinny fries were also very good in their own way.

We had another bottle …. And maybe another cheeky glass for the road.

The girl who was serving us was utterly delightful, making the whole evening rather charming. And it also happens to be my office’s neighbor so I’m sure a return visit for those chips will be on the cards before long.

Lazybones and Trapeze Bar, 6th May

Lazybones

Lazybones suffered a bit from the same syndrome as Caboose – my food was nice enough but couldn’t quite reach the giddy heights of some of the other places cooking low and slow meats. I had a pulled pork bun which came with coleslaw mainly because the beef one came with yoghurt, which I thought was a weird accompaniment to guacamole. The meat was juicy, and had a good flavour, the coleslaw added a bit of crunch and it even came with a pickled pepper (which actually was rather bland, I ate it without even remembering it was there). A similar verdict was given to the beef version - tasty but not particularly memorable. If we really wanted food of this kind while you were in the area, on a whim, we'd come back, but we'd be more likely to travel to somewhere else for a superior version.

Especially as Stephen had a burger and even as a non-burger eater, I could tell when it was placed that it looked pretty poor. A boring bun encased an overcooked burger. A disappointing eating experience for him. 

From the outside the place looks like a City wine bar, which is at odds with the food it serves and its interior. While we were there, sitting outside, two girls actually walked in and then left again abruptly when they realized it wasn’t what it looked like.

Inside the place looks lively and I like the yellow and black combination. Unfortunately the atmosphere doesn’t live up to this – when we went there was barely another soul in there. Tucked away behind the main drag, I can’t imagine it gets much passing traffic at all, and, while there isn’t really anything else in this area doing this thing, it’s not quite worth seeking out especially. 

Trapeze

The decor is faded circus glamour and it looks great. However, as much as on paper it sounds like the kind of place I would frequent, I can't see myself coming here on a regular basis, which is a shame. Service is a little strange. I went in on a Saturday evening to see it at its peak, and it wasn't full, yet it took me an age to get served. The bar staff seemed pretty blase about making sure people at the bar were actually able to order.

On the Tuesday, service was much better, and friendlier, than on the weekend. But we ordered a bottle of wine and were then left to the whims of the bar staff to keep our glasses topped up. For some reason we weren't allowed to keep the bottle of wine with us at our table, and instead they came round and topped us up when they noticed our glasses were nearing empty. They weren't too bad about it, but I didn't like them controlling the pace at which I drank. I don't know if this is a normal policy, or if it's because we were there for an event (Sounds Familiar, just as fun as the first time I went).

We'd already eaten at Lazybones so I wasn't hungry when complimentary food of a similar ilk was placed before us. We duly gave it a try though and it was nice enough (and uninspiringly on trend - wings and Korean-style pulled pork) but I don't think you'd come here for the food especially, unless you wanted a burger from Burger Bear on a lunchtime. 

On top of our wine we had a house cocktail and this was really nice actually - vodka and berries, it was light and fruity and the dusting of cinnamon on the top was pretty clever.

I did like Trapeze, but it's main downfall is that there's just no getting away from how expensive it is! The house white is £5 a glass, but that's for a 175ml serving, it then jumps to £7.50 for the non-house alternative. Beer is sold in cans for the same price as pints in most places: £4.50 to £4.90.

Morito, 1st December

Stephen has been to Morito so often that I almost felt like I'd been myself. He always speaks highly of it and I have been pestering him to go with me for a while. That day finally came when we decided to celebrate our anniversary with a lunch there.

Morito does little plates with a Moorish feel to them. Prices range from 2.50 for an assortment of breads up to about 8.50 for some lamb chops. The place is very fond of cumin.

Because Stephen has been there so often and done the hard work for me, by trying most of the dishes on the menu, I turned to him to lead on the choices and I was pretty much guaranteed that each one was going to be a winner. And they were all good.

I had a carafe of full bodied, syrupy syrah with my meal, although Stephen had a few glasses of this as well as his medium beer. We ordered the bread basket to start - a dense, chewy roll each, a large cumin dusted flatbread to share and some breadstick nibs. The breadstick nibs seemed a bit pointless, not really having anything to dip them in, although I did discover you could roll them in some oil and then roll them in the spices you get on the table, which made them quite nice. The other two breads were delicious and I should have saved more of mine to soak up the extraneous oils, juices and aioli from our little dishes.

You can order as many as you like at a time and they all sort of come out haphazardly. The first to come was the scallop dish with sherry vinegar and butter sauce. One plump scallop which had been sliced neatly in three. 

We then had the jamon croquetas - perfectly crispy on the outside while being soft and creamy inside. And no scrimping on the jamon either.

The lamb chops with cumin and paprika were tasty and once again had me bemoaning that you get so little meat on them. They weren't quite as good as the ones I had in The Painted Heron, and were maybe a tad underdone near the bone. Which was funny in a way, as Stephen had said that the last time he had them, they'd been a little overdone. So I guess consistency on the lamb chops isn't their strong point.

The butifarra sausae with white beans and alioli was a lovely salty, meaty, and slightly stodgy dish. Both the sausage and the lamb chops provided plenty of extra oil, and a bit of alioli to get that bread out and make sure none of it went to waste.

 I think I spot some cumin!

We knew we wanted to end with the grilled tetilla cheese with walnuts and membrillo but we also splurged and ordered one other dish as well with that - the chicharrones. I am so glad we got these - I think they were my favourite dish. Cubes of pork belly in cumin (again!) and lemon. The pork was crispy around the edges but soft and tender in the middle, and I loved the lemony tang.

As we were finishing off with the cheese - the sweet quince bringing out the slightly sweet flavour in the cheese, we had a couple of 'digestifs' to end the meal with. I ordered an amontillado sherry, my first ever sherry, and Stephen had a negroni. That slightly melted tetilla cheese was wonderful, another highlight. I loved the sort of crust on the edge where it had been grilled and then the oozy middle to scoop out and sprinkle with walnuts.

Squidgy, cheesy goodness

I enjoyed my sherry more than I had actually expected. It was much more like a strong wine, quite dry - I think I might now be a sherry drinker! But then I knew that Morito/Moro was a good place to start.

Cheers!

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

The Eagle's Steak Sandwich, 5th July

The ‘eagle-eyed’ amongst you (geddit) may have noticed that the Eagle pub features on my Food List and not my Drink List. It is on my Food List for one reason alone – the Bife Ana, or steak sandwich, as recommended by Time Out’s 1000 Things to Do in London. It was on my List when I read it, and then I went to the Eagle and saw someone order it and knew it belonged on my List.

So yes, I had actually been to the Eagle once before, but was either a) trying to save money, b) trying to lose weight or c) going to the gym which has the added benefit of achieving both a and b. This meant I only had one drink and no food. But I had seen the steak sandwich, couldn’t get it out of my mind in fact, and was glad when we needed to kill some time last night before the Shard laser show as it gave me the chance to finally try it.

The Eagle itself is a rather shabby looking pub on Farringdon Road. It is credited with being the first ‘gastropub’ in that it started serving decent food, but was also a pub. By today’s definition of gastropub (all big fireplaces, kitchen and restaurant in the back, brass fittings) it wouldn’t really deserve such a title. It’s affiliated with Great Queen Street and the Anchor and Hope, which I hear are very good (and may need to go on the List) and their ex-cook has gone on to work at the Canton Arms which I know first-hand is fabulous. So it has a high food pedigree.

When you go in, you see that half the bar is converted into a cooking area. Fresh bread is cut on the bar, and vegetables to be used in the dishes sit on top of it. The menu is chalked onto boards above this area, and you order and pay for the food at the adjacent part of the bar where you also get your drinks served. Normally when I eat somewhere, I try to have something different to everyone else so that we all try as much as possible. Not this time. Two steak sandwiches were ordered and I handed over my £20 (they’re £10 each). We already had a couple of drinks on the go which we finished off while waiting for the food. Very, very reasonable prices in here. My wine was actually less expensive than Stephen’s lager, which is almost unheard of in pubs these days. Granted, it was a medium (175 ml) glass but I think my point still stands.

As Stephen was waiting at the bar to order another round, the waiter came over and plonked our behemoth sandwiches down. He then noticed Stephen waiting and told him he would bring our drinks over as the food was served and clearly it wouldn’t do to let it get cold. I thought that was very thoughtful of him. Because there’s really only half a bar in this pub, any more than a few people waiting and it takes quite a long time to get served. Stephen asked about mustard but we were firmly told that we didn’t need any of that.

I think they were right. This is the best steak sandwich I’ve had in a long time. I can’t really think of a better one. I’m not saying it’s the best steak I’ve ever had, don’t get me wrong. But it’s the best way steak can be served in this form. It is sliced and cooked probably medium well. It comes in a crusty Portuguese-style (or so I think) roll and sits on a few large, robust lettuce leaves and is all doused in chimichurri sauce (again, I think), which gave it a very Latin American taste. It also made it quite slippery and difficult to eat, and you can tell that a firmer bread is necessary, as even with this one, by the end, the upper half was getting soggy.

It was actually bigger than I remembered. I took the approach of cutting it into three and then picking it up with my hands. Stephen’s method was a little more avant garde, deconstructing it and building it again in smaller pieces to eat his. I enjoyed every bite of mine. Before attempting my last third I asked Stephen if he would like some of it, but my greed got the better of me and I finished the whole thing. The only downside was that the crusty bread did cut my mouth a little. Maybe I have supersoft gums.

I’m not sure how crazy I am about the pub in general. There’s a wide range of people there – people having a drink after work, young girls sharing bottles of wine and bread and olives, and even families. It was all a bit chaotic and incredibly noisy. Not the place to go for a romantic drink, and I think if a drink is all I want I’d probably go to other places in the area. But it wasn’t a drink I was after, it was a steak sandwich and I was very much more than pleased with mine.

NB. The Shard laser show was a bit crap, but what did you expect? It was only the completion of a building, not the Queen's Jubilee or anything.

J & A Cafe, 30th November

So far my unemployment hadn't been as relaxing as I had hoped - I spent the first two days applying for jobs, preparing for interviews, and getting stressed out about whether or not I was making the correct decision regarding a job offer. But Wednesday - ahhh Wednesday - my first proper day of respite. I had a lie in and then met my boyfriend for lunch. I consulted my List (not physically but mentally, actually it may well have been physically) and suggested J & A. This place had in turn been suggested to me by one of my friends from work. I particularly liked the sound of their brunches on the weekend but the sound of their sandwiches also appealed - nothing fancy, but I quite like the simple touch when it comes to sandwiches.

We met early, at noon. This was a good thing. People clearly know about this place and by 1 pm  the place was full and people were having to 'bunk up' on tables - a practice my boyfriend detests. I'm not too hot on it either considering I hate hearing other people eat. I find it even difficult to hear the mastication of my nearest and dearest, let alone strangers.  Anyway, so the place gets busy and it isn't even right in the middle of the thoroughfare - you have to go down a little alley to get to it. I almost thought I was in the wrong place. 

I had pretty much decided to have a sandwich but then at the last minute changed my mind to a baked potato. They have several sandwiches that they always serve and then they also have a soup or stew special, a pie special and several jacket potato specials on the day, written up on the board on the wall. I ordered the smoked cheddar, bacon, sundried tomato and apple potato. Stephen had the chicken roast chicken sandwich. 

I also had some orange juice with my meal which Stephen proclaimed 'lovely'. It had bits in it which was a plus for him, though I prefer my juice sans pulp. 

Our food arrived and I think I had food envy. Probably why I took two pictures of Stephen's dish and only one of mine. I didn't have any of the sandwich but I have it on good advice that it was an impressive sandwich. It must have been because ordinarily Stephen would moan that it was £5.50 for a sandwich but this time, he not only didn't moan but said he really liked the place and would be coming back soon! Judging from the looks of the 'wich, I could understand it - just look at those plump slices of bread. And they haven't skimped with the chicken - look at it all juicy and glistening. And they included some skin. Oh yes, they know what they're doing. It's like a proper sandwichy treat you'd make for yourself at home if you could be bothered to roast a whole chicken.

I'm really not great at this photography thing

Oh yeah - that's the good stuff

My baked potato was also pleasing. I worried when it came out that there wouldn't be enough topping for the size of the potato. But I managed to eke it out perfectly. I could taste the smokiness of the cheese and they hadn't gone over the top with the amount so it wasn't a greasy, claggy mess on the potato. and there was more bacon than it looks like there was from the picture. The only weird thing was the apple - I don't think it fit all that well with the rest of it, but I like apple so it was no biggie. I was more than happy to eat it. Even the token bit of salad on the side was pretty good. 

The food wasn't groundbreaking - it's what you'd expect from a place calling itself a cafe - but it was done really well. I can't wait to go back for the pancakes!

Vinoteca, 23rd November

This entry is actually found in the 'Drink' List but I ended up going for lunch here in order to celebrate the launch of an app I had been working on. We were dining on our company's dime and one of my colleagues suggested Vinoteca. I immediately seconded that suggestion as it was somewhere on my List and my other half had said the steak looked good every time he walked past and spied on the diners. 

We also happened to be going on my last week of work and so it was sort of a goodbye meal as well. Which made it feel even more apt that we take the chance to have a glass of wine - I mean, the place is called Vinoteca, clearly wine is something they should do well.

A couple of my co-diners had been there before and one of them recommended the steak. How could I refuse? So I had the bavette (served medium rare only) with amusingly named black trumpet butter, chips and smoked ketchup. For each meal they recommend a wine to accompany it, and, placing my faith in their wisdom, I went with their suggestion. Most of us in fact had the bavette, or the pork belly. One eschewed the meat peer pressure and went for langoustine. She asked if she could have some chips with it as it only came with a salad and was informed that 'they don't do that'. Tsk tsk, how dare she ask for some extra food! So that was a bit of a black mark for them.

But then the steak came and blotted out all memories of any slight lack in service. How can I describe it? I think this sums it up nicely: Mmmmmm mmm hhhhmmmmmmmhhhh. *gurgle*. Sooo good. The chips were amazing. The ketchup was indeed smoky and the butter I can only assume was properly trumpety considering they got everything else right.

Mmmm close up

I swapped with my friend a piece of my meat for a bit of pork belly and that was pretty amazing too. And they weren't shy in the portion size, nor did they serve up a bit of belly that was mostly fat. 

I think the only meal that was a little disappointing was the langoustines. They certainly looked impressive on the plate, with their long claws stretched across it, but there were only four or five of them and though they took as long to eat as our slabs of meat, they weren't anywhere near as filling for my colleague. I pitied her for her lack of chips. This is why I tend not to order shellfish - too much work for too little reward. Plus I find de-shelling them a bit gross.

I got a glimpse of Vinoteca's Christmas menu which was pretty mouthwatering. Especially the desserts. Something we didn't try when we were there. 

I'm no wine expert so I can't wax too lyrical about my glass other than to say it was eminently quaffable and put me in a wine drinking state of mind, which sadly I had to extinguish as we were going back to the office. 

I'm sure I will be back at some point when I can spend longer sampling some more vino varieties.