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107A Culford Road
London N1 4HT
This is one of my favorite meals in recent memory, and it's at one of my local pubs! The Scolt Head was a regular haunt last summer because of its fantastic beer garden, and while I knew they served food, I didn't try it until now. Silly, silly me. Sunday lunch options all sounded great but I went with the whole grilled lemon sole with brown shrimp, capers and lemon-butter sauce, served alongside a gratin of fennel. The menu changes daily to reflect what is fresh and seasonal and based on this one dish, I'd say the kitchen really knows what its doing. The fish was cooked perfectly and the gratin was scarfed down even though I would usually avoid fennel. I am definitely coming back to try more dishes here and have some more pints in the sun once it warms up outside...
5 Throgmorton Street
London
EC2N 2AD
So our first visit to this chain of steakhouses was in Manhattan, and we were hooked by the simple concept - everyone gets the same food - a salad with mustardy dressing, and then two plates of steak and chips with a buttery, rich sauce. You can choose your steak rare, medium or well done. And that's the only decision you have to make. Well, aside from what you would like to drink. A and I tried out the branch in the City of London and it was even better than I remembered - the steak was perfectly cooked and tender and beefy, and the chips were outstanding - crispy and plentiful. I even liked the mustardy salad, which is funny because I don't usually like mustard. We had a half bottle of the house red, which went very well with the meal. I'm sure we'll be back - our receipt came with a 20% off voucher for our next meal...
51 Strutton Ground
London
SW1P 2HY
During a rainy lunch break I just wanted somewhere warm to sit down and have some hot food, which ruled out Strutton Ground Street Market. Thankfully there are covered restaurants in the area as well, so I popped in here to see what was on the menu. I opted for their fried cod and chips, and as you can see, this is a breaded filet of fish, rather than battered. That was fine by me since it made it a little lighter and less greasy. Everything was fried to order, so while it took a while for my food to come out, at least it was hot and crisp and fresh when it arrived. I think the fish was probably frozen, but it was still pretty tasty, and the chips were excellent. Nothing amazing about the food, but it hit the spot on a damp and chilly day and service was friendly and quick, so I have no complaints.
Now that I've started working around the corner from this street market, expect a few more posts as I try my way through the stalls! First stop was the Caribbean stall where I got a curry mutton lunch with rice and peas. There were whole scotch bonnets floating around in there so you know it's properly spicy. This was wonderfully savory and spicy, with a heat that built up gently and left my mouth tingling for a good 20 minutes after finishing. It was a bit too much food for lunch (I know, I almost never say that!), so I unfortunately had to throw away some of it. In the contest between this place and Peppers and Spice, I think this curry mutton just edges out the competition - it seemed a bit more complex to me. So I expect I will be back to try their rotating lunch menu - jerk chicken or ackee and saltfish next?
130 Mitcham Road
London
SW17 9NH
After a morning of knocking on doors in Tooting (a friend is running for a councillor seat there in the coming May election), we stopped off to refuel at a pub. I'm starting to understand that when you go to an average pub that you don't know anything about, your best bet is to stick to average pub food (i.e. don't go wild and try fusion/ambitious dishes as you will most likely regret it). Therefore, a tuna melt and a cheeseburger were ordered and split between two of us. The burger was beefy, though it could have been cooked a bit more rare, and the tuna melt was as expected - crispy bread sandwiching melted cheese and lemony, peppery tuna salad. Salad looked like it had dressing on it but tasted completely bland, and the chips were a bit flabby. Prices seemed reasonable - about 7 quid for burger and chips, 5 quid for tuna melt and tortilla chips. I'll classify this as decent, but not memorable, but it's what I expected from an average pub.
19-20 Saint Alban's Place
London
N1 0NX
After a drink at The Compass (which is not so much a pub as a restaurant, weirdly - it looks like a pub but there was only one table at which we could sit and have a drink as every other table was for eating at), a few of us wandered along Upper Street looking for somewhere to eat. P remembered Pizzeria Oregano as being pretty good, so we gave it a try. I am so glad we did - this Four Seasons pizza was absolutely amazing with an unbelievably thin crust. The toppings (ham, mushrooms, olives and artichokes) were well chosen as there were salty hits in every bite without it being overwhelming. I am going here next time a pizza craving hits.
100 Leonard Street
London
EC2A 4RH
C and I met for brunch at The Book Club since it was conveniently located next to a Pilates class. Embarrassingly, neither of us actually made it to Pilates, but we still treated ourselves to some food. The space is light and airy - tables are spaced out nicely so you're not invading anyone else's personal space. A good soundtrack was on at a moderate volume - I saw the bar staff dancing to some Chuck Berry at one point and it was adorable. The food is really reasonably priced - C's french toast was 3.50, and the grilled kippers on buttered toast that I chose was 5 quid. I was completely full afterwards - if anything, I would only complain that kippers get a bit monotonous after you plow through such a giant serving. Service was friendly and since it's a cafe, you can stay at your table for as long as you'd like. Great for catching up with friends - I'll definitely be back to try some more of their menu. There are some interesting events on in the evening as well - check out their website if you're curious.
