Sasa Sushi

422 Saint John Street

London 

EC1V 4NJ

I've passed by this place hundreds of times but never stopped in even though I love sushi. After finding out that an event we were going to go to was actually in the diary by mistake (bad A!) we had to quickly come up with an alternative plan, so I seized the opportunity to try it out. We had a sushi set - salmon roll, shrimp tempura roll, and then five pieces of assorted nigiri. Sadly the tempura was quite mushy - as if it had sat out too long - and while everything else was okay, it didn't really inspire me to order anything else. I should note that a few weeks later I went to a birthday party and there was a large tray of sushi from Sasa Sushi that was very good - so not sure if we just got a slightly off meal there or not, but I'm not in a big hurry to return.

The Grain Store

Granary Square
1-3 Stable St
London 
N1C 4AB

J and I hadn't seen each other in a while, and Kings Cross tends to be a good place for us to meet as it's on both of our ways home from work, so we agreed to meet at The Grain Store, a restaurant I had heard mixed reviews about but was still curious to try. One of the big draws is the cocktail list brought to you from the genius behind 69 Colebrooke Row, but as we were both avoiding alcohol for various reasons, we didn't get stuck in (but not to worry, I'll be back to try it). I loved my starter, listed as asparagus, minted mushy peas, parmesan mousse - each component was full of flavor and it felt light and perfectly in season. J had the cauliflower 'couscous' & spelt salad, vegetable merguez, yoghurt & pistachio - I have no idea how they formed a sausage out of vegetables but it was excellent, and a very generous portion indeed. For my main, I saw the word kimchi and could go no further, so I selected the homemade kimchi cabbage broth, udon noodles & squid, which was again exactly what I wanted - a broth full of deep kimchi notes, with springy noodles and tender squid. I believe J had some kind of lamb and aubergine dish which she really enjoyed as well - clean plates at the end of the night for both of us, and what was even nicer is that we walked out full but not overly so - the emphasis on the vegetables really shines through at The Grain Store and I'd love to go back for more.

The De Beauvoir Arms

 

113 Southgate Rd

London 

N1 3JS

The De Beauvoir Arms is one of our many incredible local pubs - it was something else when we moved to this neighborhood but I love the new incarnation. Sunny and bright inside, with plenty of outdoor picnic tables for good weather, it serves really satisfying pub grub and some small tapas style dishes as well, so I can always find something I want to eat. Great for vegetarians and pescetarians as well, which means we visit quite often with A's mum. The menu changes every day, so sometimes when you have something really nice it's sad to not be able to just order it again, but some things do repeat regularly. This picture is from a Sunday lunch with a group of eight adults, one baby. I had the spring chicken roast, while A went for the lamb - both were fabulous (I stole a bit of the cauliflower cheese that came with the lamb) and if you know me, you know how much I adore deconstructing small birds. It was perfectly cooked, full of chickeny juices and plenty of veg. I usually don't have the patience to make Sunday roasts myself as there are a few too many components for a meal just for me and A - so it is great to know that aside from the Drapers, this pub around the corner can also satisfy all Sunday roast needs.

Smokehouse

 

63-69 Canonbury Rd

London

N1 2DG

Smokehouse has replaced an Islington pub called The House, and I am grateful – for some reason I never really liked The House and found their food overpriced for the quality. Smokehouse, on the other hand, is certainly not cheap, but at least a lot of effort goes into the food and they’re serving dishes I would never dream of making at home. Plus the beer selection is broad and varied, which makes it easy to convince A to visit. We started with the chopped brisket roll & gochujang – shredded brisket meat is shaped into a cylinder and then breaded and deep fried and served alongside a kicky Korean-inspired dipping sauce. I could have happily eaten an entire one on my own but A and I are getting better at sharing. He had the peppered ox-cheek with cauliflower cheese & gravy, while I was so overwhelmed by choices I opted for three sides for my dinner - Smokehouse salad, which consisted of a garden’s worth of vegetables smoked and grilled to impart some extra flavour, the lamb stovies which was quite a hearty dish of lamb stewed with potatoes, and the Korean pulled pork, which is exactly as fall-apart-tender as it needs to be. I think we had a dessert too – the krun chee nut – but I’d skip it next time as I think their strengths are really in the savouries.

Little Georgia

14 Barnsbury RoadLondon 
N1 0HB

P and I went to the Estorick Collection, an museum that specialises in modern Italian art, and I was surprised by how much I liked some of the etchings of Giorgio Morandi. But looking at art always makes me hungry, so luckily we had planned to go to Little Georgia for dinner afterwards. A met us there so we were able to share more food - and we proceeded to get a small meze platter (consisting of those amazingly colorful piles of salad above) which comes with the most amazing cheese-stuffed bread (khachapuri?), and some blini stuffed with pork and cheese to start. Other people have raved about the unusual flavors of Georgian food and the freshness of all the herbs used in the cooking, and I will just say that I concur. I could have just the meze and blini for dinner, I think, and skip all the mains. Of course, when P and A and I eat together, we never skip mains, so there was also a beef stew, a garlic chicken stew and some lamb kebabs, all of which were nice, but just not as nice as the starters. P's already been back, and I'm sure I will be there again soon, stuffing my face full of the loveliest salads ever.

Workshop Coffee Co

27 Clerkenwell Rd.

London

EC1M 5RN

I always hear rumors that restaurant workers hate brunch. I mean, I get it. A bunch of hungover people, who probably don't care that much about what they're eating, asking for eggs eight different ways, bugging you for coffee refills over and over and over and over again... I would probably come out of that thinking the brunch shift sucks too. As a customer though, I love brunch. I want someone to make me something so much more wonderful than I can make at home. It's hard to find in the UK - often brunch is done only passably well, or terribly - I can make nice eggs, thank you very much, and I am good at frying bacon and whipping up a batch of fluffy American pancakes. So for me to think brunch is special, it needs to be special. Thank goodness we found Workshop Coffee Co - look at my grilled asparagus, smoked salmon, poached egg, truffled mascarpone, corn bread dish up top! I would never have all of those ingredients lying around the house on a weekend morning. And there are enough components to the dish that to get it all done at the same time is way too much hassle. So WCC, you have won me over with that dish alone. A had something normal - scrambled egg, sourdough toast and tomato kasundi, with dry cured smoked bacon (actually now that I'm writing this I realize tomato kasundi is not normal at all, I don't even know what it is, so I guess that dish is ok in my books too). Now if only I could get it to move to a spot at the end of my road.

The North Pole

188-190 New North Road  
London
N1 7BJ

So continuing on my earlier musings about places I go to repeatedly now that I'm in my old age (KIDDING, seriously) - I'm just now getting around to writing about The North Pole which is what A and I would like our local to be. It's just far enough away not to be our local, though we have both expressed gratitude for this, because otherwise I would probably be dead in a year from eating their ribs every day and drinking myself into an early grave. Over a series of visits, I have sampled most of their bar snack menu (love the BBQ chicken wings and chicken tenders in particular, and I will always have a strange soft spot for a pint of prawns) and had a really awesome platter of sliders (beef and pulled pork, which seem to have sadly disappeared from the menu) but what is really outstanding is their BBQ ribs. I will caveat by saying I think Duke's Brew & Que does even better ribs, but I think the beer selection at The North Pole is better, it is slightly cheaper, and most importantly - you can walk in and eat, unlike the must-book-well-in-advance Duke's. But when I think of the two places, all I can do is sigh in happiness that I live within walking distance of two BBQ places that almost, almost, make me miss Texas a little less. Still waiting for brisket though.

Yipin

70-72 Liverpool Road  London N1 0QD I've already been back to Yipin, which given the number of restaurants on my must-try list, is quite a feat. There are good reasons for this though - 1) the food is fabulous, 2) they're very nice and never empty but never too full, and 3) it's in my neighborhood. Above you can see dry-fried green beans and braised pork belly. Not pictured is the deep fried beef with cumin, which I liked but A had objections to as he's not a huge fan of cumin. On a different visit with my adventurous friend Paul, we went for some more off-piste items that definitely included quite a lot of offal, and we scarfed down every morsel. One thing to note - Yipin is technically a Hunanese restaurant, though they also include Szechuan dishes and some more "regular" dishes that you would typically see in a Chinese restaurant. I'm enjoying the trend in London of more specialised Chinese restaurants, as each region really does have very different flavors. I think it's just a level of care that people are taking with their food now - they want to see and eat things that they might not have had before, and especially amongst food-lovers there's a whole new vocabulary around ethnic food. Anyway - if you're curious as to what Hunanese food tastes like, go check out Yipin - you'll at least get an accurate idea (and hopefully you'll get addicted!)

Tierra Peru

164 Essex Road  

London 

N1 8LY

I am late to the party, but there has been a sudden appearance of Peruvian restaurants in London. One opened up just down the street from where I live, so J and I arranged to meet up there to give it a try. She has a Taste Card which entitled us to 50% off, making the meal a bargain. Of course we had to start with Pisco Sours - one traditional and one with the addition of algarrobina syrup (apparently made from some kind of desert fruit). They were refreshing but quite sweet - I'll need to try some more before I determine whether or not a Pisco Sour is better for after dinner rather than before.

Onwards to the starters - Anticuchos de Corazon de res (beef heart skewers) and Cebiche de pescado (marinated fish). While I love all weird cuts of meat, I have to say I preferred the cebiche as it was lighter and easier to eat more of. J went for additional seafood in her main - the Picante de mariscos which is described as fresh seafood cooked in a sauce of aji panca, aji Amarillo & fish stock served with steamed white rice and fried potato medallions. It was tangy and fresh and a good counterpoint to my very rich main, the Chicharrones de cerdo con chifles de camote frito y salsa criolla, which was basically deep fried slices of pork belly. Thankfully I adore pork belly, and managed to finish the plate which is pretty amazing given that the pieces of pork were enormous. We were stuffed but couldn't resist a traditional Peruvian dessert, Suspiro a la limeña, which is made of sweet milk and caramel topped with soft meringue. I'm not much of a sweets person and this was way too sugary for me, though of course as we sat there chatting, we found ourselves dipping our spoons in, even though each bite made me grimace a bit with the tooth-shocking sweetness.

Atmosphere is not the strong point here, but the food was tasty enough (and interesting enough) for me to go back - I'd say, based on what we had, that the seafood dishes are their strengths, and I'd skip dessert next time.

The Albion

10 Thornhill Road
London
N1 1HW

A and I have suddenly been on a Sunday lunch kick after meeting A & D at The Drapers Arms a few weeks ago. The Drapers was so good we went back for lunch the week after, and then out of guilt I thought we should also try The Albion since it's around the corner and also renowned for its Sunday lunches. The roast chicken for two came very quickly, which made us think that there were probably just a bunch of them sitting around, waiting to be ordered. Drinks were incredibly slow to arrive, so it was only 10 minutes after we had food that we got the pints of ale to go with it. The carrots and kale came in copious amounts of butter, which of course made them taste great but they were slightly cloying by the end. I would say the chicken would easily feed four - so we packed up the rest and I turned it into stock and risotto for another meal. Overall, it's a good Sunday lunch, but The Drapers Arms spoiled us so much that it paled in comparison. I think on a beautiful day, if you could sit in the garden of The Albion, it would even out the competition - but if we're just going on food (and roast potatoes in particular), The Drapers Arms wins hands down.

Sea Fish

205 Upper Street
London
N1 1RQ

Due to the lack of fish and chips in Paris, T requested some for dinner while he was in London. We decided to get them takeaway and eat them at home. A ordered some scampi, I had some cod, and chips were had by all. (I made the peas myself at home.) The fish and scampi were both pretty well fried - not too greasy and still retaining some crunchiness despite the travel back to ours in a bag. However, the chips were quite flabby and sad - I very rarely enjoy the chips from fish and chip shops (A agrees) - I'd so much rather have chips at burger chains such as Byron. Has anyone found a fish and chip shop that actually does justice to the chips?

The Islington Barn

 

133B Upper Street
London
N1 1QP

Delightfully, one of my favorite food providers, Farm Direct, have created a pop up on Upper Street called The Islington Barn. It's full of hay bales and checkered tablecloths, and you can buy fantastic farm produce from the shop or sit down and have a hearty meal made from those same farm ingredients. When J and I went, the special dish of the day was beef stew. The bowl above was massive - generous chunks of beef with potatoes and carrots and fresh parsley. The beef fell apart with the mere prod of a spoon and the bread soaked up the rich gravy well. There were other things on the menu, including cakes, but sadly we were so full after the stew that we couldn't fit in anything else. I'm hoping to pop in again before they have to close up.

Delhi Grill

21 Chapel Market
London
N1 9EZ

P had raved about this place a while back, and I had also heard wonderful things about it, so it was an easy choice when we were thinking about places to go for dinner. I do love Tayyab's but the wait and the atmosphere can leave much to be desired - and now that I have found a place that is polite, clean, and also serves a fantastic mixed grill, there is no need to drag myself out to Whitechapel anymore! We enjoyed gnawing on the bones of that giant pile of meat and also treated ourselves to dhal and aloo gobi - all of this with pilau rice and a couple of beers came to just a little over a tenner a head, which is also just as much of a bargain as Tayyab's - so long live Delhi Grill, you've taken over as my go-to place whenever I need some tandoori lamb chops.

The Big Chill House

257-259 Pentonville Road
London
N1 9NL

King's Cross is becoming a better area for eating and drinking, as The Big Chill House has set up almost across from the station, providing a nice space to have a meal or snack or stiff drink before boarding trains to destinations galore. I was kindly invited to try out their new breakfast offerings, and not just once, but 5 times, so I could make sure that the experience was consistent. Each and every time, I was incredibly pleased with the food. The atmosphere was certainly a bit still on my first visit, as I don't think the breakfast option was common knowledge yet, but by the last visit I felt like it was starting to pick up, especially for weekend brunch.

The pictures show a Breakfast Muffin, two Full English Breakfasts (thumbs up from both me and the Brit), and the Creamy Scrambled Eggs with smoked salmon (a real bargain at 3.75!) Another early morning train meant that I grabbed a Breakfast Muffin to go, which was packaged nicely in a cardboard box with napkins. A Homemade Rosti was the weakest link, but it was still nicer than many breakfast offerings I've had elsewhere (and for a much more reasonable price to boot). So all in all, I would recommend The Big Chill House to anyone looking for a good breakfast place around King's Cross - there's no one else in the area doing such nice breakfasts at such good prices.

Akari

196 Essex Rd
London
N1 8LZ

Akari is a local Japanese restaurant inside a space that still looks like it could be a nice pub. What I love most is that they have a very interesting menu - it's not just the generic Japanese food you find at all the chains that have sprung up around town. For example, they sell the bellies of various fish. Above is our grilled yellowtail belly, which is fatty and absolutely wonderful (at least to me). With A and A's mum, we also had an assorted nigiri set, salmon teriyaki, tuna fry (enormous portion of large cubes of tuna, breaded and fried, with a superb tartare sauce and salad), salmon and avocado inside out roll, and cold sake. Prices add up quickly here, as in most Japanese places, but I could happily just have a portion of tuna fry for dinner and make this a place I visit more often.

Morito

32 Exmouth Market
London
EC1R 0

More fun with A's mum! Since the sun was shining and we were thinking about a little snack before a late dinner, A and I brought her to Morito for a few tapas and an afternoon drink. We selected four dishes: salt cod croquetas, mussel empanadilla, crispy aubergine with miel honey and potatos with chilli and cilantro sauce. All of it was lovely but the potatoes were a real revelation. I don't know what they do to those things, but they were perfectly cooked and the verdant green sauce on top made me wish for a basket of bread to mop up every last drop. I will be back and I am always choosing Morito over Moro, no matter what anyone else says!

Moro

34-36 Exmouth Market
London
EC1R 4QE

With J&A in town, we decided to try out Moro which several friends had raved about. Perhaps our expectations were raised too high, but I found it mildly disappointing. Our favorite part of the meal were the tapas that we ordered to start -grilled chorizo, piquillo peppers, fried chickpeas (especially nice!) and tortilla (also an exemplary dish). Things all fell down a bit when we got to mains - A and I shared the wood roasted chicken with chermoula and cooked Moroccan salads and the charcoal grilled lamb chops with garlic purée and slow cooked green beans, while J&A had wood roasted pork with turnips cooked with sherry vinegar, lentils and slow cooked piquillo peppers and pan fried bream with clams, scapes and salsa verde with new potatoes. A left quite a lot of her bream, saying it tasted extremely fishy, and it was also swimming in an oily pool of liquid. J thought the pork was pretty fatty, and while the chicken and lamb were decently cooked, there was nothing special enough about them to justify the high prices. 

Drinks were slightly better - a Manzanilla sherry - La Goya Delgado Zuleta- went down quite well to start, and we had a chilled Borsao (Garnacha/Syrah/Tempranillo) Joven Seleccion Campo de Borja, Spain '09 to go with our mains. Service was polite, but somehow the whole meal was underwhelming and I doubt I'll be back, considering how much it cost. A much better option, I think, is to go next door to Morito for the tapas - which we did a few weeks later.

The Drapers Arms

44 Barnsbury Street
London
N1 1ER

After hearing wonderful things about The Drapers Arms from various blogs and Twitter, I finally managed to go there for dinner with J, who had been before but was happy to revisit. The menu was full of things I love, which made it difficult to choose what to have, but I ended up with a grilled quail on lentils. I am drawn to quail whenever I see it, and it was an excellent choice here - tender, juicy and savory. By the time the waitress came by to clear our table, all that was left was a small pile of bones, which pretty much says everything you need to know about this dish. The chips that J ordered to share were also demolished quickly. Seeing as how it's kind of in my neighborhood, I expect to be back sooner rather than later.

Ottolenghi

287 Upper St
London 

N1 2TZ

Embarassingly, A and I had been given a gift certificate to use at Ottolenghi as part of a wedding gift. Fast forward over two years later, and we finally used it with A's mom. Despite not going until 3.30pm in an attempt to avoid the queues, there was still a queue. This place is ridiculously popular! While you're standing in the queue, you can look at all the bright and vibrant salads that are piled up high on plates and start thinking about what you want. Alas, our late timing meant that by the time we ordered, the restaurant had run out of one of the salads that we really wanted. Still, we managed to try almost every type of salad left, and some very good seared tuna as well. Ottolenghi is not cheap, but the variety of ingredients, some of which are difficult to source, that are in every dish, make it a deal when you think about how much you would have to spend at the grocery store just to recreate one of the salads. I tried to remake a rice salad at home (recipe to come soon) which was nice, but nowhere near as complex as what we had. Plus, the white room full of chattering, happy people is a nice place to have a meal, so on the whole, I would recommend it. Not sure how you beat the queues though - only you can decide if the wait is worth it.

Zigni House

330 Essex Road
London
N1 3PB

J joined me at Zigni House for a nice catch up over dinner. A Keynoir pass had given us £32 to spend at the restaurant, so we dived into the Combo Special for 2 people for £30 and then added a bottle of wine to go with it. Service was friendly but the food was very slow to come out - we probably waited about 45 minutes before it came out. Thankfully, it was good enough to be worth the wait. Using the soft, slightly sour injera bread to scoop up different meat and veggie dishes is one of my favorite ways to eat - then when you finish the little piles of food, you can attack the injera bread underneath which has soaked up all the remaining sauces and flavors. I've snapped up another Keynoir pass and will definitely be back.