Best for...a potentially bad date

Picture it. You’ve been set up – stitched up like a kipper – by that friend who insists on playing matchmaker. “I know someone you’d just love,” they say, about a different eligible singleton each week: a rotating menu where nothing is appetizing and you’d rather just eat takeaway alone.

Metaphors aside, you’re going out to dinner and you’d rather not be. My advice – go to Inamo, in Soho. It’s built on talking points.

The lighting
It’s dark and sort of mysterious of an evening.

The food
Friends had been telling me for ages to try the pork neck, which comes with a spicy chocolate sauce, and the black cod main. I'm glad I listened to them. 

The menu
At Inamo you don’t get a menu handed to you. It’s projected on to the table. And you get to frantically click away at it and see pictures of all the dishes appear on a plate in front of you. (The plate is also projected.) That in itself can provide a whole evening’s worth of chatter. If it doesn’t, well you can play Battleships on the table. And if the date is a complete dud, you can even order a taxi.

But all in all, you should have enough entertainment to make every moment of silence more golden than awkward.

5 places to make up with gin

Gin and I have a fraught relationship. The on-again-off-again sort. But when we make up, oh what a sweet reunion.  

London itself has had some tempestuous times with gin. From the rabid push at temperance shown in Hogarth’s Gin Lane lithographs to the glory-days of London’s gin palaces — their closure, and now their second coming.

What better place to reconcile? What better time than now?

My five spots for a make-up session:

1. You’ll forget yourself, the time, the year even, when you walk into Marylebone’s Purl. It’s modelled on a Victorian gin palace, and slings an unmissably odd, eponymous cocktail.

2. you prefer your old-world-charm served with a touch of class? (A touch that don’t come cheap.) Soak up the Hendrick’s Gin Cocktail Afternoon Tea at Green Park’s Berry Bar.

3. For a more modern take, head to Graphic, in the heart of Soho ad-land, with its enormous and colourful selection of brands.

4.  214 Bermondsey wields mystery well, and a cocktail shaker better. Enough to help you make nice with your old frenemy, gin? Perhaps.

5. Like 214 Bermondsey, 69 Colebrooke Row is too cool for a name. An address is all they need. Well, that and the damn fine gin. Their master classes also look worth a shot. 

By James McKnight

50 Shades of Cake

One in four people will suffer from a mental health problem at some point in their lives. That’s a serious statistic for our otherwise chirpy little blog, and one well worth talking about.

The Depressed Cake Shop, is this year’s charity project by Cakehead Loves. Opening soon in London, then travelling cross-country, The Depressed Cake Shop is a pop-up bake sale with a great concept.

The symptoms of depression are complex and can vary widely. Most commonly though, people who suffer from depression can feel sad and hopeless — you lose interest in what you once enjoyed: the world can fade to grey.

So the cakes on sale will vary hugely, but each will be grey in its own way – inside or out – as a reminder of how dangerous and draining depression’s effects can be.

Interested in getting involved? Join the Depressed Cake group on Facebook, or email emma@misscakehead.com.

Otherwise, come to Suzzle at 47 Brick Lane in E1 on the 2^nd – 4^th of August, and visit Miss Cakehead for more details and dates in other cities.

By James McKnight

The conundrum of cooking shows: tasting the fourth wall

Lately, Rick Stein’s been asking the big questions. Like, 'what makes a curry so curry-y'? And I've enjoyed finding out the answers on his show, India: In Search of the Perfect Curry.

But I’ve always had a slight problem with cookery shows. It’s that dastardly fourth wall between you and the lovely lush eats onscreen. If the show’s any good you can almost taste them, but that ‘almost’ is the real issue — you’re tantalised to the point where you’d do anything to get at the goodies…except leave your sofa.

But this time round you can actually get a piece of the action. To celebrate the TV show, Sam’s Brasserie in Chiswick, and Harrison’s in Balham, are hosting Stein-inspired Indian feasts — menus concocted by co-owners Sam Harrison and Rick himself.

I for one look forward to getting my curried squid on. I want to face down stacks of cumin spiced flatbreads, karahis of kofta curry, and generally stuff my gills with wholesome colourful yums.

The menu is running throughout July. Perhaps longer if it meets with the approval it deserves.

By James McKnight

What happens to a pop-up once it’s…‘popped’?

That’s what BBQWhiskeyBeer have got me pondering, as they squat at the Wargrave Arms. It’s a Marylebone pub with an award-winning array of low-‘n’-slow cooked Americana. They’ve run the pop-up gauntlet and come out on top. With a heavyweight Ribstock title to prove it.

Here’s what they do.

BBQ — from classic burgers on brioche buns, to the same again topped with the kind of pulled pork that deserves its 24 hour cooking time as it much as it deserves the praise it gets. Southern fried chicken livers, or three-day smoked beef ribs, finished over charcoal: that thing of ludicrous beauty known only as ‘The Jacob’.

As for drinks, the name simply won’t let you sell them short. They take up two thirds of it after all. BBQWhiskeyBeer boast one of the biggest selections of single malts in London. If a Scottish distillery is producing still, you can guarantee they’ll have a bottle. They’ve even got some from dearly departed distilleries to round out the collection.

Add to that a ragtag crew of quality London cask ales, craft bottles, and special under-the-counter somethings for the discerning customer, and you have a bar to be reckoned with.

I think they deserve a permanent home at the Wargrave Arms. BBQWhiskeyBeer certainly hasn’t lost its fizz, post-pop. 

By James McKnight

London is the place to be: sing it with me

I love London and started these food tours because I wanted visitors to love it too. I love being able to share the history of the city. Particularly the history of the east end and how many different communities have been through the area. It gives the place character and the streets a brilliant mash-up of foods from all over the world.

My friend introduced me to this song yesterday. If these tours had a theme tune, this would be it. It’s a calypso track from the 50s. The guy is singing about how marvellous London is, coming to it from Trinidad. 

We Londoners can be a cynical bunch. We moan about the tubes and the weather and how busy and expensive it is. (I’m certainly guilty of that and London Grumblr is one of my favourite sites.) But take a listen to that song and tell me you don’t fall in love with the capital a little bit.  Go on.

By Charli

Stay classy Bermondsey Street

I lived in Whitechapel for six years. I loved it. But chicken bones and broken bottles on the floor were the norm, and sirens were the background track. When I went to Bermondsey Street recently, I was struck by how clean and lovely the place was. And how quiet. It’s a beautiful little haven in the city.

If you want to have a drink in a beer garden, go to The Woolpack.

If you’re on a date, go to The Garrison.

Boys, if you’re in the dog house and need to make amends, go to Cave. It sells wine, chocolate and flowers. And the people in there will take you by the hand and make sure you get something great.

And if you’re in SE1 at the weekend, make sure you get to Maltby Street Market (and go well before 3, because the stalls sell out). I’d say go hungry and get a Rueben from Monty’s Deli and some excellent smoked-in-Stoke-Newington salmon to take home from Hansen Lydersen. Then try to choose between the custard doughnuts from St John’s and the waffles from Waffle On. And round it all off with a sherry at Bar Tozino. 

By Charli

Best drink for summer’s day and where to drink it

Aperol. I’ve just discovered it. More specifically I’ve just discovered Aperol Spritz. It’s Aperol (like a less bitter cousin of Campari), prosecco and soda water. It’s bright orange. And it’s perfect for sitting in the sun with.

I got my first taste at Madison, at the top of One New Change. Now it pains me a bit to share that place because it’s one of the few rooftop bars/restaurants in London that isn’t swamped with people. Even on the hottest day of the year I was able to get a sofa outside. There are views over the city – you can see Battersea Power Station, The Eye, The Tate, and if you turn round, a corner of the Gherkin. 

On the tours I take people to Bea’s of Bloomsbury to get a cupcake, then we eat them on the roof. At Madison, I now always opt for an Aperol Spritz and some of their tapas.

I recommend the salt and pepper squid. The dipping sauce is all kinds of smoky and husky and sweet. The charcuterie plate is good and the jamon croquettas too (but like a McDonalds apple pie, they're hotter than the sun on the inside.)

So, go and visit. Make sure you take in the view as you go up in the lift. You’ll rise up to be eye-to-eye with St Paul’s Cathedral. Great spot for a photo and a spot of food.

By Charli

Lunch on a pontoon: pies and craft beer to make you swoon

Counter Café is a gem. It sits on the side of the Hertford Union Canal in Hackney and is great for eating outdoors on a nice day. They make brilliant pies and stock Crate beer from the brewery just around the corner. There’s an art gallery attached which is worth a look too.

It’s a nice walk if you go to Pudding Mill Lane DLR station, and walk down the Greenway and the canal to it. It’s worth stopping in at Moka East en route. Moka East is at View Tube, which gave people views out over the velodrome and park during the Olympics. Right now, it’s a bit of a building site because there’s a lot of work going on in the park. But it’s still cool to visit. 

Last time I went was with a great little group of bloggers (London On The Inside, The Arburturian, Lady Loves Cake) and East Village. We had a coffee and Moka East’s homemade mini doughnuts. Warm and fluffy, they’re super-moreish. The fresh lemon zest in there gives them a zingy kick. And who’ll ever tire of the childhood challenge of trying to eat one without licking your sugary lips? Not this sugary-lipped tour guide that’s for certain. 

By Charli

Why doesn’t all chutney come in a wheelbarrow?

I’ve been in Leeds this week. It was great. Here are three things I learnt:

1.       People ARE friendlier up north

2.      Everywhere has good hand-driers

3.      A little surprise goes a long way when it comes to dinner.

I went to The Botanist in the city centre. The décor is really sweet – like a slightly ramshackle French farmhouse decided to start a new life in the north of England. The service was really good. But the thing that we really liked, in fact were genuinely delighted by, was how they presented the food.

We’d opted for ‘some bits’. A deli board of meats, salads and whatnot. We’d also plumped for the duck pate. The pate came out in a little plant pot complete with breadcrumb soil and edible flowers. The chutney came in a teeny wheelbarrow.  I know it sounds girlie. But the table next to us got a starter that came out on a trowel, and the boys oohd and ahhd as much as the girls.

The thing we really liked was that the menu didn’t make any mention of how the starters are served. None at all. If they had, I’m sure we would have thought the presentation was twee and try-hard. But because they kept it quiet, we thought it was fun and sweet and showed that they cared about their food and what their diners think. 

The moral of the story? A) go to The Botanist B) if you’re writing a menu, don’t give it all away then and there.   

By Charli