Star of Bethnal Green, Bethnal Green, London, E2 6LG
This was recommended by a friend because it was an old student haunt for him and his future wife, and it had certainly managed to keep that kind of feel even though Bethnal Green is quite a different place now. I liked the scruffy and haphazard feel to the interior because it felt like that was just the way it was and hadn't been designed to look shabby-chic, I doubt you'd get many pubs also with tables quite as big as they are here and it makes for really social environment when there is a few of you. There is no excuse for having such a poor beer selection as this place has and I felt like I had no option but to go for the Westons Stowford Press cider but this wasn't up to much either. Left thinking what a good pub this could be if a little bit more care was taken.
Gourmet San, Bethnal Green, E2 6AH
A big group of us went here and this meant we got a private room upstairs all to ourselves, the building itself was very scruffy and the waiting staff extremely friendly and informative. I can't actually really go into much detail about the food because of what happens to me when I think about it, but here are my brief notes on what we ate; Pigs trotters (very gelatinous), boiled crab, breaded deep fried crab, Duck stew (whole garlic), special fried rise, egg fried soup.
We ate, drank rubbish wine and left.
Casa Blue, Shoreditch, E2 6DG
This is a small bar right at the top of Brick Lane so was only short distance from where we ate. You are served at your table so not tipping would look bad. You have the choice when ordering cocktails to have them served in massive fishbowls and we couldn't resist this and considering the size of the bowls I thought £28 was a reasonable price though not everybody agreed with me. We only tried the caipirinha and the mojito's but these were excellently done and I'm quite fussy with my cocktails after spending years making them at home with my ex, I'd go back here definitely.
But....
The night didn't end there for me, I was abruptly awakened at about 5am with what could be described as acute discomfort. I'm not going to go into any specific details but I when I returned to work a week later after making acquaintance with the local Hackney hospital I was still a little perky to say the least. It seems like it was the crab which did me in but nobody else I was with had any ill effects luckily, anyway I won't be visiting Gourmet San again, ever.
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Poor you! I hope it didn't bring back too many unpleasant memories writing about it. Brilliant, entertaining writing, as usual. Were you really perky on return to work (or peaky)? Mum xxx
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