We decided to visit this so called pop-up restaurant after we'd been to 'The Shed' where they were having a curry night. The Shed was as you'd expect a shed, but a very nice shed in a back garden close to Newington Green. The highlight was the homemade chapattis and really sociable side to sharing intimate tables.
The Moveable Kitchen is run by a couple of chefs from the River Cafe, they do mainly various food themed nights and the night we visited was a Mexican evening. The Dock Kitchen is bright and airy, kind of like an art gallery but does work as a restaurant. The seating was long benches so quite a communal thing and the people there were a real mixed bunch.
This cold soup was fantastic, the cool lime mingled with the spicy chilli to superb effect. The small dices of octopus were like little bits of cheese, only slightly fishy with a lovely texture. It was served with black tortilla that were crispy and likely coloured by squid ink - together with the watery aguachile they both contrasted each other well.
Crab fideus with sour cream and chipotle salsa
This was a noodle based dish where the noodles were smothered in the chipotle salsa with the delicate pieces of crab meat and sour cream on top. I did really like the smokey barbecue flavour of the chipotle sauce but it totally drowned out any resemblance of the crab taste, I suppose it wasn't too much of a problem and it was nice to eat.
Slow cooked pork with anchiote and wild greens with cheese
The main course was very generous with big chunks of slow cooked pork which fell apart on your fork and melted in your mouth. The greens were a vibrant green colour contrasting with light cheese but lacked in any outstanding taste. A habanero sauce was brought round which we were warned was extremely hot... it wasn't - After everybody reservedly spooned on a tiny bit to start with they were all (me included) pouring it on trying to get real heat kick. After we'd nearly finished our pork, a plate was brought over with some soft tortillas in a cloth napkin, you were obviously supposed to put the pork and everything else in these to eat - we'd seemed to totally miss the point but the tortillas were just a bit spongy and dull anyway so didn't feel I'd missed out at all.
Clementine granita with aged tequila
Like the aguachile this sung of fresh thoughtful flavours yet was simple in design. The smooth tequila was a perfect balance to the sweet clementine and cleansed your palate with the freshness and icy coldness. With the granita finished a plate of chili chocolate truffles were handed round, I'm not a massive chocolate fan but I have never had any that compared to the delightfully richness of these, a slight background chili heat was such a bonus that I could have eaten a load of them right there.
I feel like I've moaned a bit much about the starter and main dishes but I think it was because the aguachile, granita and truffles were so exciting that the other dishes seemed half as good. At the end of the meal I spotted Thomasina Miers who won masterchef a few years ago and now owns Wahaca in Covent Garden, having been to Wahaca and loved it a few months ago I feel the Moveable Kitchen tonight didn't quite do it. All the Wahaca dishes jump out with the freshest flavours and the two dishes in the middle tonight missed the point for me, I also left really wanting more chilli bang and wonder maybe they were edging on the cautious side too much - after all mexican food should have a bite to it, but maybe that's just me - I have been known to have hot sauce for breakfast! In a way a similarity I can see between the evenings at the Shed and the moveable kitchen is the way they both cooked good food well but the food they cooked wasn't there expertise. Saying that all, it was an interesting evening and I will definitely keep an eye out for other evenings they are putting on.
After we left we decided to finish the night off in typical mexican style with a bottle of aged tequila, it was superb to drink but not so good for the head the next day!
(NOTE: Found out Thomasina Miers was actually sharing the chef duties for the evening - even more confused why not up to Wahaca standard now!)
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I ate at Wacaha the other day after leaving your flat, I reet enjoyed it.
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