Sicknote

I've put off writing this entry for quite a long time because of what happened that night or to be exact what happened in the middle of the following night...

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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Pop-up restaurant in Portobello Dock

Moveable Kitchen, Dock Kitchen, Ladbroke Grove, W10 5BU

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.

Aguachile with octopus, lime and coriander

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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