Sager + Wilde Paradise Row, 1st July

Way back in 2013 I think it was, Stephen and I spent an evening under the Arches in Bethnal Green – firstly having a few small plates at what was then called Mission – Sager + Wilde’s newest place, then a cocktail at the Craft Cocktail Co.

Both have just recently been rebranded, and I was invited along to try the new Sager + Wilde Paradise Row. Being a warm, though rather wet at times, evening, we sat outside and enjoyed several dishes from their bar snack menu along with a few beverages.

Should you want to sit inside and make more of a meal out of it, they do a four course set menu as well for £42.

My eyes honed in on the bread with cultured butter – thick slices of dense and chewy bread with butter to die for, the culture providing a pleasant tang. While deciding what to order, we noticed the couple next to us being brought a huge fried glob of something stuck together. What is that, we wondered. It was the whitebait – fried with seaweed and bean kakiage. All at once, it sticks together and you peel off chunks to eat a bit like you would an onion blossom. I enjoyed the veggie part of this, which was sweet, the batter being light and like tempura, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat the whole whitebait.

Stephen couldn’t resist having the clams with peas and flowers. A little heavy on the pea, perhaps, this was the prettiest dish by far, and Stephen said it was great. I did have one bite and the light flavours of the pea and flora seemed to combine well with the subtly briney clam, but I am still yet to be convinced on clams.

‘My’ dish was the iberico pluma – pork, with broad beans and herbs. It was supremely soft, being served in that new-fangled way of cooking it quite rare. Stephen wasn’t so much of a fan but I thought it was cooked delightfully.

And if there's a sandwich on the menu you know I'll want to try it. This one was mortadella in a roll, slices hanging out of a sweet roll with a nice garlicky butter in it. Difficult not to finish this in two bites. 

We’d had a cocktail each with our dishes, but moved on to wine while we considered whether to have anything else. Our friendly waitress brought us two types to try – Sager + Wilde’s own Syrah, and a French number. I liked the Syrah, Stephen preferred the French one so we had one of each and ordered the two cheeses they had on offer. One was a crumbly yet full of flavour Lancashire, which came with almost equally crumbly oat crackers, the other was a pungent and intoxicatingly strong soft cheese – St Cera, which we spread over chunks of (slightly too) grilled bread.

Even though ‘Mission’ seems to have upgraded itself to more of a restaurant, it still feels like a neighbourhood place that you could drop into for a drink or a few small plates without having to make a big deal of it. Has to be said that the staff were very friendly and there was very little to-do when I split an entire glass of red wine, mainly over Stephen, but also partially over the ground. They were quick to offer lots of reassurances that it *probably* would come out of his nice new jeans... (it did).

Heist Bank, 28th June

I’m not entirely sure who the audience for Heist Bank will be but whoever it is I think will very much enjoy the place. It’s in a bit of a no man’s land next to the Paddington basin, and is the newest bar from the people behind Coin Laundry, who, it turns out, have several other places in London including Ask for Janice and Graphic bar, both of which I like very much.

The place isn’t aiming for haute cuisine – the mainstay of its menu is pizza. There were four different kinds available to try at the launch I was invited to and I tucked into three out of four – I couldn’t bring myself to try the one loaded with mushroom (mushroom – bleugh). And loaded it really was. Same with the crushed pea, goat cheese and radish. These ones were more like having a load of topping with a little bit of pizza, rather than having a pizza with some toppings. For me, it was too much. Much too much. I had to break down the huge block of goat’s cheese and there was so much crushed pea it was falling off everywhere. Luckily, the meat lovers fare better and have a more balanced slice. The Italian sausage was a juicy number, and the lamb, feta and rocket was not a bad appropriation of a lahmacun.

There were plenty of tasters on the menu to try. Others being passed around included an olive and cheese curd pastry which was utter gooey, chewy deliciousness and some spicy nduja croquettes which were pleasant but I wished they’d had a bit of the actual meat inside rather than it being all creamy.

They had two special cocktails to try – a floral take on a French 75 using their own house-infused gin, and an ‘Off the Wagon’ which was a very summery way to enjoy whisky – blending it with orange.

I felt it was my duty to try out some of the other cocktails on the list too. I can confirm the peach bellini, scofflaw and bramble are all great. I also tried the Delicious Sour which was too sweetly peachy for me. It was even more peachy than the peach bellini!

Wines by the glass are all the same price – a policy I commend, and which means you can get a viognier or a malbec for the same price as the pinot or merlot you normally drink cos it’s cheap!

And they have plenty of different beers on offer.

It seems like a great after-work set up, with plenty of space so a whole team could go down for a few together. There’s even a karaoke space perfect for when you’ve all had one too many…

68 and Boston, 14th April

If you cast your mind way, way back you may remember my friend Alison and I used to frequent both the basement and the upstairs of Central & Co. One of the things I really liked about it was its wine pricing policy. Every bottle was £20 which meant I felt completely liberated to try something I might not otherwise because of the price tag. So it is in the downstairs (which is actually the ground floor, a little confusingly) of 68 and Boston.

I met up with a friend for a catch up and we decided to take a punt on a Uruguayan Sauvignon Blanc. Sauv isn’t particularly exotic but the region was a little different and maybe not something I would have gambled on if it were a different price.

The bar is fairly sleek, as you would imagine from Soho, but not too overly designed. The staff were also pretty friendly and very good at keeping both wine and water glasses topped up.

We had one more glass. I thought I had ordered the white zinfandel but what turned up was a very full-bodied red. No matter! It was quite a nice, cosy drink rather like having a port at the end of the evening and we didn’t mind at all.

Upstairs is the cocktail bar but we didn’t venture up there this time around. A good excuse for a return trip…

Pinch, Strange Days, 20th February

Strange Days is the new 60s/indie pop night from the guys behind Star Shaped (which I have yet to get to).

It’s a monthly event at The Garage and we went along to the launch which was free to create a bit of hype. It was pretty much exactly what it says on the tin and if you’re a fan of the indie from yesteryear then you will absolutely love this night. The tunes were strong from the get-go and we danced and pogoed all the night through.

The one thing I would say is that in terms of recent indie music, there was a dearth. Tame Impala somehow snuck in but they were the only recent tune I can recall hearing and I thought it might have been because the song they played (Elephant) sounds very 60s anyway.

The only thing was that it was fairly empty – if you could have taken the crammed and sweaty vibe of Des Was a Bowie and swapped it for the crowd here, it would have made for a perfect night.

Pinch

Before heading over, we stopped in the very lovely, very charming Pinch, tucked on a side street way off the Kingsland Road stretch. It is well worth making the journey though. We arrived not too long before it shuts at 10:30/11ish and were welcomed in by the girl behind the bar who asked us what kind of flavours we fancied and made some perfect suggestions, before chatting to us about where we were going and what good places there were to go in the area. There were a couple of other couples in the place besides us, but it’s small so it didn’t feel empty. I think if this were my local you’d hardly ever get me out of it. It feels very different to Sager + Wilde, which up until now I would have said was my favouite wine bar, but I had an instant affinity with it. Sometimes things just click between you and a place. I can’t wait to bring my fellow wine lovers here.

The Port House, 16th April

I have a tendency to walk past places I think look nice and then put them on my List so I don’t forget to investigate them. When I came across The Port House on the Strand, I made a note of it because port is a favourite drink of Stephen’s. As it happens, when I finally went I didn’t take Stephen and didn’t drink any port.

Instead I went for a (very) light bite with my mum before we watched the five-star show Gypsy.

I walked in and was quite enchanted by the place. It feels like walking into a cellar or cave – in a good way. It is extremely dark and cosy with candlelight. It would make a really good romantic meal. I had expected to waltz in at 6:15 and get a table but it must get a lot of pre-theatre business as the place was pretty much full.

My mum doesn’t eat very much these days so we only ordered three dishes to share between us (and I ate most of those). Luckily I had had a snack beforehand. We got the confitado de pato and patatas bravas con alioli and, because we felt we should have some vegetables, the pisto – diced, slow cooked vegetables with oregano, paprika and olive oil with a fried egg on top instead of manchego. The dishes were a bit hit and miss. The vegetables were really just a slightly watery ratatouille which an egg on top didn’t make particularly interesting.

The duck confit leg was delicious, as duck is wont to be. The membrillo sauce it was served with was a nice, sweet contrast.

The patatas bravas were decent – I didn’t think the ‘fiery’ tomato sauce was particularly hot but the garlic mayo was definitely garlicky and I liked them.

Everything is around the £4 or £5 mark and I think you get a decent portions for this. We also had a glass of very nice red wine.

Sadly, that’s all I had so I don’t know what their pintxos or other, more interesting dishes were like. I would like to go back to give a broader, perhaps fairer review but there are so many places to get to, a repeat visit is low on my priorities. I would definitely say, nip in and if there’s a free table/seat at the bar, stay a while with a nice glass of wine and give it a try. There could be some nice surprises on the menu.

The Wine Library, 23rd December

I wandered past The Wine Library on one of my many strolls around the city and of course I had to investigate what could be going on in there as soon as I got home. A Library of Wine sounded too good to ignore. It turns out it is a wine cellar and shop but it is also a restaurant of sorts during lunch where you can browse its wares, pick out a lovely bottle of wine (or two) and enjoy it with the all you can eat buffet luncheon they provide for only £20.

These are definitely the finer wines so don’t expect to pick up a bottle for the same price you’d get one for in Tesco. You’re still going to pay roughly restaurant-level prices (although I noticed a couple for around the £12 mark). But just imagine how much these would cost if you actually did order them in a restaurant and you can see this is a good-value way of wining while dining.

The food they provide is exactly the sort of thing you want to eat with wine. The table they lay out is festooned with cheeses and meats in charcuterie and ‘pate’ form, as well as plenty of bread and crackers to go with it, chutneys, fruit, dips and even quiche.

I believe they more or less always have the same thing, but when we went we tucked into a deeply flavoured venison terrine, a very fatty and moist pork belly rillete, plus several different cured meats. They also had duck liver pate which I didn’t try and a smoked mackerel mousse which I knew would be too fishy for me. The quiche that day was broccoli and they also had a lovely red pepper hummuslike dip.

Cheeses covered the range from hard to soft and were very, very smelly. In fact when you approach the Wine Library, the smell hits you before you’ve even fully opened the door. One cheese was particularly brutish on the nose, though not quite so strong when you ate it – it had a very intense tang to it, and was one of my favourites. Naturally I have now forgotten what it was. They also include the usual suspects: brie, and a blue cheese and a cheddar as well. We filled our plates and then went back for more! But just the once.

The wine we chose was a Chablis for £18 and making it last long enough to accompany the two plates of food we had was a challenge. Good wine really is such a joy to drink, none of that back of the throat acidity that makes you wince. It is worth splashing out on every now and then. Happily, in this instance, we didn’t have to.

El Vino, 15th January

Strolling down Fleet Street one day, I walked past what looked like a quaint little wine store. On closer inspection I realised there were people inside drinking and that it was actually a wine bar. El Vino have several of these bars in the City, some of which have been going for 128 years in some form or other with the one on Fleet Street being the oldest.

I went to El Vino on Wednesday night with my best friend. I specifically chose this place over the many other bars I want to visit because we're both a little low on funds and, shutting at 10, I thought that would stop us from splashing too much cash. They also serve food including a selection of tapas (even olde wine bars are not immune from the small dish pandemic) but a lot of it wouldn't be recognisable as tapas - as it was a hodge podge of different cuisines like English whitebait and beef burgers, Italian bruschetta or Spanish chorizo and fabadas).

I had called in advance to make a reservation in the bar area - we planned to eat but not eat enough to warrant a table in their dining room. When we got there, they had no record of my booking but fortunately a couple left even as we were debating what to do and we grabbed those seats. 

We plumped for a dry white wine called 'New Gate', a chenin blanc which amused us no end by being labelled an 'easy wine' on the bottle. It was just less than £22 which was pretty good value and it really was an easy to drink wine. We got through it in no time.

Being the responsible drinker I am these days *ahem* I had planned to avail myself of at least one of the small dishes on offer. Sadly, we didn't get the chance as, despite the menu advertising food until 9 pm, at 7:30, one of the girls came round and whisked all the menus from the tables. We had to make do with ordering another bottle of wine instead.

This time we went for a muscadet (my choice) and I must say it wasn't my favourite - it had quite an oaky taste which I normally avoid like the plague and which was not at all hinted at in the wine description. 

The bar was starting to shut by the time we were nearing the end of our second bottle and if we had left then, all would have been well. But we had started talking to these older gentlemen who were pretty merry themselves and invited us to split another bottle with them. Which lead to one last drink in the pub up the road. Which resulted in the worst school day hangover I've had since 2008. I completely and utterly blame El Vino for taking away my opportunity to line my stomach.

El Vino is like an old man's pub but for wine drinkers, rather than what you probably typically envisage a wine bar in the City to be. On a Wednesday night all the seats in the bar were taken, and there were a few people standing at the bar, and it wasn't the kind of place you'd feel comfortable just standing in the middle of the room. Traditionally it was frequented by the Fleet Street journos but that has given way to workers in the legal profession (the more pompous of whom we couldn't help but overhear). I must say, that rather than feeling cosy as I had imagined it would when I put it on the List, it felt a little stuffy and slightly threadbare! If you were to compare it to Sager and Wilde, for example,then... well, there is no comparison. You'd be better off comparing it to Ye Olde Mitre or similar, and even then I think Ye Olde Mitre would win. And I'm not just saying that because of the devil of a hangover the place gave me.

Find the menu & restaurant information on Zomato

Finest wine words, 27th August

Me, my best friend and 100 wines. Carnage right? Well, not quite. For I was at a wine tasting, not just an all-you-can-drink extravaganza and I wanted to take it seriously. The reason for the wine tasting? To forget for a while all the professional bottle descriptions listing fruits you might never have even tasted, let alone discern in the wine you’re drinking, not to mention references to minerality and silt. And instead invite some people to just say whatever popped into their heads when they drank different wines. To get the lay person’s perspective. Having spent hours doing a similar thing in Sampler of my own accord in times past, I was absolutely delighted to be invited to such a wine tasting, on a grander scale, and wanted to make sure I did it properly. And that meant not just necking as many glasses as possible, but being considered with our measures so we could taste a wide variety, and being considered in our drinking so we could really decide what we thought we tasted and felt with each mouthful. We were asked to describe each wine we tried with at least three words and submit them, and we had a notepad to also keep tasting notes for our own reference.

Not that I want to give you the impression I didn’t get drunk. I did. I mean come on, we’re not going to waste all that lovely wine, swilling it about our mouths and spitting it out. We’re going to drink it. But we managed to not get properly drunk until the end, and in the course of doing so we tasted some very wonderful wines. They were all from Tesco’s Finest range, and the majority were in the £6 - £10 bracket so pretty affordable. My favourite was a Chablis. I think Alison was particularly struck by a Muscadet. We definitely drank more whites than reds, and then alighted upon the champagnes and much posher wines at the end of the night. A rioja was a particular celebrity of the night, and there had also been a very lovely rioja blanco. The range was quite overwhelming.

When I was invited to this I hesitated - Tesco? How corporate! But let's be honest, I pop in to a Tesco practically three times a week on my way to work so to turn it down simply for not being an independent's wine tasting was a bit hypocritical. Of course I would much rather buy all my wine from places like Sampler or Bottle Apostle on principle but the truth of the matter is that good wine is good wine and I'm more likely to end up buying it from Tesco (or Sainsbury's) as my local independet isn't all that local to me, in my non-gentrified area. 

I drink enough wine now to know what I like, and this tasting didn’t really change my mind, but it was a good way to know that if that’s what I want, I can get it easily from my local supermarket, and it was a fun way to really think about what I'm tasting when I drink it. I thought the set-up of the event was really good - the opposite of a stuffy, serious tasting, they had divided the wines into different categories such as 'Maverick', 'Outrageous' or 'Classic'. In the end we probably tried 16-18 different types, some of which were very drinkable on their own, others I could imagine pairing well with food. Food for thought. And speaking of food we had some lovely canapes to make sure those of us actually drinking the wine didn't get too tipsy (well, it helped). 

More (and better) photos to follow!

Le Bouchon, 18th June

I have never before ventured to deepest, darkest Blackheath, so when I was invited to a blogger event at Le Bouchon wine bar there, I thought it was a good excuse to visit a part of London that I hadn’t seen before.

It was a lovely sunny day, perfect for sitting outside with a few glasses of wine and some cheese and charcuterie, which is what we did, in a very successful attempt to recreate a holiday feeling.

Blackheath is one of those areas of London that feels like its own little village (and it’s not on the tube line, which helps). Apparently it was dominated by chain places but quite a few independents like Le Bouchon have popped up, giving the place more character.

Le Bouchon was everything I expected a French wine bar to be – small enough to be intimate but big enough to accommodate people dropping by without a problem. Very tastefully decorated with a mix of high tables and stools, and lower tables and chairs, plus big windows that open onto the street and a few tables outside. Chalkboards with the day’s charcuterie and wine specials adorn the walls. We started with a crisp and refreshing champagne rose, and a couple of amuse bouches. I would say this was the weakest area as they were pretty standard offerings – salted mixed nuts, olives, bread and olive oil, sunblushed tomato (not in oil), cheese-stuffed semi-spicy red peppers (in oil), tapenade etc. I had the red peppers and the tapenade which came with a bag of bread and they were very nice but not anything to write home about.

Having said that, the owner’s stated aim for the food is ‘simple but delicious’ with the focus more on the wine (well, it is a wine bar). And so, this he has achieved.

We were then invited to choose three charcuterie and three cheeses. And this is where things got interesting. And also, incredibly filling. I don’t know if we were given more than usual because we were blogging about the place but I have never seen such generous portions of cheese on a plate in a restaurant before! The amount honestly added up to a proper meal and I was stuffed by the end of it!

I chose the venison saucisson, the walnut saucisson and the saucisson with the comte (I can never resist comte) and two other cheeses I hadn’t tried before – Secret and Le Bon Grivois. Well, the cheese stole the show for me. Even now I cannot decide which was my favourite. The creamy, just the right side of gooey Grivois, or the Secret – a tangy cheese that was soft but not runny. The Comte as always was delicious but not the star tonight, for a change. The board came with cornichons, grapes and also dried apricot which I really enjoyed with the comte. And we had plenty of bread to spread our cheese on.

I started off with a beautiful, dry yet slightly creamy Sancerre and then finished my evening with a red I hadn’t had before – Chichon, which I would say was medium-bodied with a bit of acidity to it, which was a welcome accompaniment to the fatty and rich cheeses and meat.

Demolished!

Le Bouchon is everything you would want from a local wine bar – and even on a Tuesday it was buzzy, yet retained a relaxed atmosphere. Blackheath is lucky to have it.

Find restaurant information on Zomato

Hackney Hardware and 184 Hackney Road, 14th June

Hackney Hardware

Let me never be accused of not jumping on a bandwagon as soon as it emerges – the other weekend I got to try the latest craze – orange wine. I have no idea which kind of orange wine I tried (apparently there are a few) but I can tell you it got a big thumbs up from me. It was still dry, and lighter than some of the usual dry wines we have when we go out (Pinot G, Sauv Blanc). A really refreshing summer wine.

I had this wine in the new pop-up bar Hackney Hardware, who have taken over an old hardware store (hence the name) on Hackney Road. It is pure hipster. They have not only taken the name of the store it used to be, they have also pretty much taken the whole décor, fixtures and fittings and just plonked in a very makeshift bar and some barrels and stools to act as tables and chairs. It was actually little too DIY for me, and felt like it could do with a little more of a woman’s touch to make it the sort of place you’d want to while away a few hours in.

But, we were just there for a couple of drinks before moving on to, well, Sager and Wilde. Again. I just can’t resist that place when I’m in the area! This time I finally got to try one of their famed grilled cheese sandwiches and…yeah, it was nice. Maybe a little too much hype for what it was. The Cheese Truck’s was better. But I did like it. We had one or two glasses in there, I now can’t remember how many before going over the road for the latest incarnation of the basement bar below the Golden Grill, simply named 184 Hackney Road.

184 Hackney Road

This is a collaboration between Stagg and Barber who are responsible for the cocktail list and Mezcaleria QuiQuiRiQui who are responsible for the mezcal and mezcal slushies (which I forgot to try). And of course there’s a mezcal cocktail on the list as well. I was last here when it was the Liquor Cabinet but 184 have managed to transform the space even though there’s not much space to transform. The result is better and more comfortable.

My friend Alison had a whiskey, Stephen had a beer but I couldn’t come to a cocktail place and not try a cocktail. Nor could I come to a mescal bar and not try the mescal. So I did both by having their mescal cocktail, though not before a tall, slightly fruity rye drink. I have to say, the shorter, stronger mescal drink was my favourite. So if it were Stagg and Barber vs Quiquiriqui, the mescaleria would have it. Not that I’m trying to stoke up any rivalries or anything.

We then realized what time it was and high-tailed it out of there to try to find a bar showing the England match. Which of course wasn’t a problem – getting into one after kick-off was. We had to cut our losses and go home before we missed any more!

So, glad I was able to drop by 184 to see the original residents taking it back. I hope they stick around long enough for me to try one of those slushies!