Draper Arms

The Draper Arms, Islington, London, N1 1ER

Tucked away from the busy Upper Street this is a classical looking upmarket pub with a quite minimally styled interior. The staff were friendly and you got a good mixture of couples and families sharing the space easily. Nursing a bit of a sore head today wasn't a drinking day for me but they had reasonable ale selection with Harvey's Best and Wandle standing out but really more geared up for wines here and I thought it looked like some decent bottles for around twenty quid.

Plaice, Mussels, Baby gem & aioli

A really top salad to start, dressed generously which I always love in a salad the aioli was rich and light so didn't overpower the fish. Both the mussels and the plaice tasted of fresh and were lightly cooked just enough. Nothing amazing just a good simple salad.

Roast Old Spot, beetroot & potato salad

An enormous hunk of pork with an amazing surface of crispy crackling, the flesh was superbly moist and a satisfying dribble down the chin when biting into it was so fulfilling. But serving this great bit of meat with pink potatoes... no that's just not right, they added nothing to the dish except making it look like a thrown together mess, would of worked better with simpler potatoes and something else rather than the beetroot. But the pork was proper good.

Black pudding hash, fried egg

Slight disappointment that this didn't come with duck egg as I'd seen on their website before coming and the egg was a bit over cooked so you couldn't break up the egg and let all the york seep through the hash as the bottom of the egg was crispy. This would have added more moisture to the hash, which it needed. Also for this to cost more than the old spot main course just doesn't add up, this is gonna be a cheap dish to produce so why so expensive - my initial reaction was that it must be bloody good, but it wasn't anything special at all and let rest of lunch down a little bit. Overall I liked what they were trying to do and would go back as they seem to be constantly changing the menu which is always good to see.

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Lazy Saturday in Hackney

Broadway Market, Hackney, E8

Not as many stalls here as usual due to time of year and a lot of people still being away for new year. This is an old market which has come into prominence again in last five years, it has a great selection of quality food from independent producers. I bought some big fat green olives in a tarragon and garlic marinade to eat later but couldn't resist trying a couple of things.

Mushroom sandwich with truffle oil

Two lovely slices of wholemeal bread could barely contain the vast selection of mushrooms in this. The mushrooms had parmesan shaved on top and also drizzled with truffle oil, this was all the accompaniment the fabulous mushrooms needed. Really very good but I was still hungry after finishing it.

Hog roast sandwich

With a couple of bits of pork crackling on top to entice you to the meat crammed into the floury ciabatta this really got you salivating at thought of the taste. As well as the pork the bap contained tart apple sauce and fresh peppery rocket leaves. A lot more filling than the mushroom this really hit the spot

We walked down the canal to the Pavilion Cafe in Victoria park for a quick coffee and then up to the Ginger Pig shop on Lauriston Road, as well as the butchery they have a deli downstairs. I ended up buying some anchovies, a block of parmesan and some vibrant green pesto. I also decided I wanted to make some brownies at some point in the weekend so got three packets of Sumatran 72% chocolate, expensive but will be amazing in squidgy buttery brownies.

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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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