Keys to the bank

The Crosse Keys, City of London, EC3V 0DR

Well it's a Wetherspoons so what do you expect, it's cheap with a rather surprisingly large selection of whatever your tipple of choice is. This is not quite like your average Wetherspoons though as it's situated in a vast old bank building in the City and full of suits rather than what I'll just call your 'average Wetherspooner'. I've been in here few times and even though the beer selection is good I honestly don't think I've ever had an above average pint here, but it does a job and that is providing cheap drinks to masses of people and you could get masses in here for sure, the place is enormous and very impressive.

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Another Brick In...

The Wall, City of London, EC2N 1HU

A large group of us decided to head here for a friend's celebratory birthday lunch as it didn't appear as bad as other options we had and we could use somebodies Taste London card to get half price food which brought the food closer to price it probably should have been to start. I actually liked the semi-smart decor and I thought the place had nice relaxed vibe but this could be down to it not seeming as busy as most of the pubs would be round here. Service was laid back and the beer selection was very poor so just had pint of Staropramen which I used to really rate but feel it's been out done by much better Czech style lagers in the last couple of years.

Char-Grilled Chicken Breast Burger in a foccacia bun with cos lettuce, red onion, mayonnaise and chunky chips

I went of this simply because I fancied some chicken for a change, when the dishes came I'd wished I'd gone for the fish and chips which was server wrapped in newspaper or the lamb burger which was served with Tzatziki. The chips were just mr McCain's best oven variety, standard uninspiring pub grub, probably won't go back here any time soon.


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Unruly Britannia

Britannia, City of London, EC3R 8AJ

I think the way to describe the Brit is a basically as a pub which is slightly cheaper than all the pubs which surround it. The beer is flat and uninteresting and alway makes me turn instantly to Guinness because it'd take a total moron to ruin that totally. I've eaten here before but would recommend this is to be avoided unless you like 'Ultimate Burger's' using frozen burgers and bread which makes McDonald's look like a master french boulangerie. But if you stick with Guinness at £3 a pint it's bearable and cheaper than anyway else near here.

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British food with a view of Tate Modern

Northbank, St Pauls, EC4V 3QH

Really wanted to eat some modern British food tonight and to show my foreign friends how good it can be when done right. Unfortunately couldn't get a table at Hix which I've wanted to visit for a while and seemingly every other restaurant I tried was fully booked up but I suppose its the time of year. Settled at visiting here after seeing their website and the menu sounded excellent with not too simple and not too fancy takes of British classics. The building situated by the Millennium Bridge looks across the thames to the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern - pretty impressive really.

Chicken liver and foie gras paté, fig chutney and toast

The pate was served in a ramekin with a butter seal over the meat. Extremely smooth texture and nice chicken liver taste but I couldn't really detect the foie gras at all. The fig chutney was mild and partnered the pate well.

Grilled Hogs Pudding with Apple and Caper

I didn't really get this dish... was basically a un-skinned sausage with a caper sauce and it just tasted like is was; a sausage without skin! The caper sauce neither complimented nor contrasted the hog pudding (sausage).

Pan-fried turbot with braised leeks

I wanted to try the turbot after looking at the menu online but a little disappointed that it didn't come with braised lettuce and foie gras like the online menu said, I decided to give it a go anyway, the turbot had been browned precisely but probably a touch overcooked in the middle, this didn't take away from the flavour though and having a great love of leeks already I liked the strong flavour coming through, but I think it probably was a little too strong for the turbot for most people.

Roasted pigeon with chestnut

I choose this for my friend hoping it would be a good example of the style of food, the pigeon was succulent and the roughly chopped chestnuts added depth to the overall strong flavours. What didn't work was the crushed potato is was served with - just seemed like a badly executed after thought.

Christmas pudding with custard

A quintessential British christmas dish, this had to be tried. A disc of pudding was served swimming in not too sweet custard with a dollop of cream on top. Was surprising absolutely superb and probably the best example of British christmas food my friend could have tried.

West Country Cheese Board with Fig Preserve, Celery and Crackers

Same preserve as my starter, slight annoyance as it wasn't that good any way. The brie style cheese was cold which especially for brie this is total no-no - I'd quite happily eat most English style cheeses straight from the fridge but you can't do that with brie. The cheddar was very good as was the blue (sorry can't remember what it exactly was). I personally don't see the point of celery with cheese, I love pears and apples on a cheeseboard but I'm not going to touch celery unless starvation looms.

Really lovely evening, I like the venue and the booth style seating down the side of the restaurant gives intimate atmosphere, it was only about half full though on our visit and for the Friday before christmas this surprised me, especially considering all the places I'd spoken to without any room at all earlier in the day. I would go back but I'd probably check that the menu had changed first.

Wine details to follow...

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Kosher food in the City

Bevis Marks Restaurant, City of London, Ec3A 5DQ

The only option really in the City when needing to eat kosher food, have been once before and thought overpriced even for the area and unremarkable food. But ended up here again and since I wasn't paying I was little concerned about the price, but knew to try something different than the salt beef I'd had last time. The building the restaurant sits in is attached to the attractive Bevis Marks Synagogue just tucked away from the massive buildings around here like the Gherkin and Lloyds.

Confit of Duck Leg on aubergine risotto with green beans and red wine jus

This was much better than what I ate on my last visit, the duck was tender and the risotto rice was cooked to just retain a little bite like it should, where the aubergine came into it I don't know but I liked the dish on the whole and was good for not too heavy a lunch.

Barkan Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, Israel

An improvement over other Israeli wines I've tried, it was fully bodied and strong. Not a very good depth of flavour but a nice tannin balance and blackcurrent undertones. Not bad at all really.

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Ales by work

The Walrus & Carpenter, City of London, EC3R 8BU

This pub literally on the door step of my work seems to be frequented far too often by us simply because of its proximity. Saying that they do serve a reasonable number of house and guest ales on the pumps. First of all we tried a pint of Shepherd Neame Spitfire but didn't improve over the pint we had last week in the Jamaican Wine House, after that we had a lovely pint of The Caledonian Breweries Deuchars beer, so much smoother than the previous pint this slipped down easily. But it didn't stop us from trying something different so we went for the seasonal Ryedale Winter's Tale ale - slightly dark with bit more bitterness, it was nice but we returned to the Deuchars after this. It's not a bad pub to have right outside work but gonna try move further afield more often.

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Couple in the City

Jamaica Wine House, City of London, EC3V 9DS

Quite hidden and even though both of us had been before; we went down the wrong alleyway until we recognised a couple of corners. This really is a slightly historical place having been the first coffee shop in London and mentioned in Samuel Pepys diary. Obviously vastly different now it's a strangely laid out place with high wooden partitions making separate areas but so outdated now that the place seems far too cramped and busy everywhere. The service is pretty slow but at least they're owned by Shepherds Neame Brewery so their own beers were on tap.

We had a pint of Master Brew to start off, a light bitter rather than ale, it did go down well but poor head retention and unremarkable flavour didn't mean we'd stay on this. After that we tried the supermarket favourite Spitfire, this was very much better although head still sparse. What it did have was a fantastically fresh fruit and slightly citrus flavour which balanced perfectly with the forceful hops. Its not a pub I'll rush back to at this time of evening again.

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Quick post work pint

The Ship, City of London, EC3V 0BP

Talbot Court is tucked away not far from Fenchurch Street, as you expect round here its mainly full of suits going for a couple after work or topping themselves from lunchtime. They do have a good selection of guest ales and I decided to have a pint of Tribute from the Cornish St Austell Brewery, was actually a lot better than I expected with a really creamy mouth feel and medium hopping so very easy drinking. Even my lager drinking mate tried it and regretted his poor choice from the bar, I would have definitely stayed on this if we'd stayed for another. It does get rammed here in the bar and outside later in the week but whenever I've been its been pretty painless getting served.

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A Japanese curry ritual

The Japanese Canteen, City of London, EC3R 5AQ

Its become a bit of an addiction for us to visit here at least once a week usually on a Friday. Unlike when I go to most other places, whenever I visit here I always have the same thing from the donburi menu - Chicken Katsu Curry. Its just one of those things you don't seem to tire of, the breaded chicken on stodgy sticky rice with loads of curry sauce over the top, even the lotus root in the sauce tastes good and adds a needed crunchy alternative texture. For a quick lunch in a box its not the cheapest at £6 but that doesn't seem to deter anybody, the queue usually stretches outside but the food is out of the kitchen so fast you never seem to wait very long.

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