The Condiment Queen

Saf

Set atop the clubbing end of Curtain Road, this little gem of a restaurant seems an unlikely match for the area.
Yet on a Tuesday night it hummed and buzzed pleasantly full while the lovely staff flittered about making vegan magic.
It was honestly the niceset welcome I've ever had in a restaurant - perhaps my enthusiastic waving to my friend at the bar behind the host helped but the 'hello, welcome' that I received was really quite bombastic, but in a friendly and helpful way. Sitting at the bar trying to decide on a cocktail, I asked what the pink martini with a cape goosberry garnish was - 'here, try some, its not on the menu' said the barman fishing out a straw to grab me a taste from the cocktail shaker - a non alcoholic and botanical treat of organic passionfruit & pear juices shaken with a hint of grenadine. Gorgeous! I ordered one straight away. My friends Lacey Langton - an organic cava topped cocktail was also spot on, things were still going strong.
The long room had huge ceilings and pale walls decorated with slightly abstract paintings of flowers and some very warm and well considered lighting, quite modern and hip without being austere. We were grateful that our table on a corner banquette was opposite the open kitchen because it afforded us the opportunity to spy on the food while we waited for the edamame suggested for nibbling when we sat down.
I should point out here that my dining companion took a lot of persuading on this one - very suspicious of me trying to turn her either healthy or vegetarian (she loves meat so much she once went on the atkins diet, ew!) I knew that good booze wouldnt be enough to keep her happy the food had to deliver on the promise of the pretty website pictures.
After finishing our seared (not raw) edamame with a little too much fleur de sel we ordered two starters and two mains to share. Beetroot 'ravioli' was thinly sliced raw beetroot gently covering a dollop of cashew herb ricotta with shaved asparagus. Fresh, slightly crunchy the dish gave a full cheese mouthfeel and very little acidity. We both liked it from the careful presentation to the layers of flavour and texture.
The 'Caviar' of chive pearls, sweet potato latke & sour cream was a total rework of a classic - small bites of tiny latke (which I assume were slightly dehydrated) with a quenelle of non-dairy cream topped with molecular gastro pearls of chive on a smear of tangy apple emulsion were outstanding. We fought over the fifth bite.
Hmmm....was my friends response, its not bad - neither was her glass of organic Chilean Savignon Blanc.
I was feeling quite smug at this point.
For mains we shared the 'lasagne' and the mushrooms and a ceaser salad.
The lasagne was a tian of vegetables - layers of marinated chopped tomatoes, olives and pesto interspersed with fresh tomato and zucchini slices - this was properly gorgeous and oddly authenticly Italian.
The mushroom was at £11 the most expensive dish on the menu looked a little drab compared to the bright greens and reds of the lasagne. But the earthy oval of pate was very, very rich and complemented perfectly by the most incredible marinated mushroom and a truffly 'alfredo' cream sauce. It was so rich though that it meant the only slight negative of the meal was the ceasar I chose wound up little too strongly flavoured and salty as a counterpoint and the waitresses recommendation of dandelion greens would have complimented better.
Unable to agree on a dessert to share and quite satisfied by our repast we had to leave it there.
Next time, I'll know better. In the end a total result - we left full, happy and with every intention of returning.
The knowledgeable and enthusiastic waitstaff round out a polished operation and I will certainly be taking all my other friends - carni, omni and herbivore alike - not just to get their take on it, but to try dessert and all the other lovely sounding things on the menu.

Saf Restaurant & Bar
152-154 Curtain Road
London EC2A 3AT
+44.20.76130007
Map

Bacchus

Boil-in-a-bag is hotter than hot right now. Or to be accurate its sous-vide which is setting

East London

alight. Sous-vide is basically a very technical way of cooking at low temperatures over long periods of time (in bags) to extract maximum flavour. Once only used in hospital ‘restaurants’ and nursing homes, its escaped from its current perch in the super high end kitchens of Heston Blumenthal and Gordo the magnificent, to land at Bacchus, an unpretentious former pub somewhere in the wilds north of Hoxton square.

You’ll find that the food isn’t as scary and weird as the menu might suggest - they also take it out of the bags before serving - but the area is still pre-gentrified East-end-tastic (the London equivalent of the Lower East Side in 2002).

The tasting menus come with matching wines for a reasonable £25 but we weren’t quite up to the challenge sticking to the a la carte.

We began unpromisingly with a forgettable amuse bouche of rhubarb & Greek yoghurt foam but thankfully this was an aberration.

Starters were gorgeous – scallops with dashi broth and wild mushrooms was earthy and warming. My pork jowl, langoustine, nashi & soy paint was a modern take on pigs in blankets with the juicy langoustine wrapped in thin slices of tasty succulent pork jowl and fruity and salty accompaniments making for a dish as lively in presentation as on the palate.

Mains were also great – belly of pork and a vegetarian dish of root vegetables, wild mushrooms, sprouts & leaves were hearty but not enormous.

So we came to dessert. The only place where the tastebuds were places truly unexpected. Some very tough decisions to make here resulted in two fine selections – the signature black olive financier was salty and a little sweet topped by a rich roasted pear ice-cream and pine nut compote and a warm, dense, bitter chocolate cake with a clean and icy rose sorbet came with an unnecessary line of air-dried and flaked wasabi. We accompanied these by a spectacular, recommended “Passito di Pantelleria” and an alright Sauternes.

There were inevitably a few minuses notably they have what might be the coldest bathroom in the entire world, and its only November also, one of our recommended wines – a Pinot Grigio – was almost undrinkable. But these are minor quibbles in a very pleasant evening.

The service, particularly from sommelier Elouis was friendly and enthusiastic. Even the requirement for multiple waiters to serve dishes to larger tables could have been a little out of place somewhere so casual but like the food, it worked a treat.

It opens for breakfast pretty soon as well, so it would be a great pit stop pre or post Sunday market.

It’s a testament to the changing landscape of British dining that Bacchus exists and shall hopefully thrive in its out post deep up the end of

Hoxton   street

.

Around £100 for two with three courses, wine & cocktails

177 Hoxton Street

London

N1 6PJ
0207 613 0477
bookings@bacchus-restaurant.co.uk

Great Eastern Dining Room

The Great Eastern used to be the best restaurant in Shoreditch. My, my how times have changed. There is nothing negative in this towards GEDR but a really a positive observation about the nature of dining in this most fashionable part of London.

Apart from totally changing cuisine about 3 years ago, GEDR has led a sort of unremarkable life as a bastion of good food in a hip and vibrant environment - not really evolving but not letting the standards slip either, which in itself is a huge achievement. We went there for the first time in many years last night and were treated to two feasts - one vegetarian and one very emphatically not so. The decor remains brightly chic with the chandeliers undiminished & wood polished, perhaps reupholster might be due for the banquettes soon though.

Service was professional but the only slight niggle  was partly our fault - we asked for everything to come when it was ready. So, a curry arrived without its rice and was left to get cold until it turned up 10 minutes later.

The veggie highlight was a salt crusted tofu and asian herb salad, for the carnivores it was thin slices of beef with nasu dengaku which is aubergine with sweet miso paste. I (of course) knew this but the menu decoder is a nice touch to help people with less pan-asian know how not have to ask lots of silly quesions. Perhaps thats why the service was so friendly - mitigating the idiot factor of customers upfront!

The desserts were surprisingly good - passionfruit pavlova and tamarind ice cream was fresh, tangy and creamy while a coconut & pandan panacotta was unusual but lovely and soft. Wines were well priced and very nice but no match for the cocktails we had beforehand in the bar from a creative standpoint.

A good choice for a group night out or a fun, safe first date.

Great Eastern Dining Room
54 - 56 GREAT EASTERN STREET
LONDON EC2A 3QR
Ph:020 7613 4545

Green & Red

I thought I had died and gone to heaven the first time I had a Bloody Mary margarita in New York I was of course exaggerating, since I don’t live in New York but now that I have found Green & Red I have access to them full time.

A delightful cocktail menu jammed with Tequila tasters and margarita’s was the first thing I leapt on when we walked in the door so I felt sure that the rest of Green & Red couldn’t disappoint.

And I was sort of right.

There are lovely, knowledgable staff dishing out the food of the Mexican province of Jalisco. If Mexico is the home of Tequila to us, in Mexico it is Jalisco that takes that claim. Regionality in cuisine usually spells quality and Green & Red definitely is the best Mexican restaurant I have been to in London. I can almost feel a collective pause, because there is a big "but".

An absolutely tiny portion of ceviche certainly hit the right note of zing with fresh lime, onion and corriander, but at £6.50 made us feel quite cheated and wanting more.

The ginger ninja had Carne Asada – small strips of tender meat with a lovely achiote chilli sauce (this burnt type of chilli giving the ‘bbq’ flavour’) I had a vegetarian main of roasted pumpkin with lentils, sweet potato and chayote which was again tasty but I thought could have done with one less orange vegetable and a few more lentils. The mains came with corn tortillas, refried beans, a shredded cabbage salad and a salsas to share. This made an enjoyable game of the meal – partly because its so easy to share this way. The mains were well priced at between £9.50 - £12.50.

The girl at the table next to us had the whole fish wrapped in banana leaf both looked and apparently tasted fabulous.

As usual I didn’t make it to dessert, but the churros and chocolate smelt amazing when wafting past our table.

So overall –  Its not quite street food, not quite good enough enough for the prices at least on the starters. Ill definitely be coming back though particularly to the bar, but as far as the food goes until we get some amazing Yucatan or Mexico City specialists like the ones I have been to in the states and in Mexico itself I am going to feel a slight disappointment that while its all good, its not perfect.

Green & Red
51 Bethnal Green Rd
London
E1 6LA
020 7749 9670
Map