All posts filed under: Restaurants

Platterform’s Sea Adventure Series – Maiden Voyage

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The tail end of last week was very manic indeed. I spent Thursday night trying out the newest nightspot in Hackney, Oslo, which was just named as a top London nightspot by Evening Standard. Friday night was spent trying to dance, but failing miserably because of the lack of melody, at Queen of Hoxton; and Saturday was spent eating and drinking bright cocktails at Platterform. You may remember my review of Skylodge at Platterform, a Lumberjack themed bar/restaurant, which catered for Hackneyites in the colder winter months. This time, the same team is back, but with a new concept. Platterform’s Sea Adventures will run or 15 weeks with guest chefs taking up residency every 2-3 weeks. We were there to try Chapter 1, Maiden Voyage, which was a fun filled adventure, playing on the similarities between the British, Dutch and Scandinavian palate when it comes to enjoying seafood. We shared the four course menu, which featured ‘CUPPA SEA & BISCUITS’ – smoked haddock chowder in a mug served with dunkin’ ship’s biscuits, ‘THE PLANK’ – honey pickled …

Coal Vaults, Soho

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I really miss Soho, like, REALLY miss it. Since I started working and living in East London, I have noticed that I am turning into one of the people that used to irritate me. The kind that stays around their neighbourhood day and night and rarely ventures out of their little bubble. Soho is an area that used to be my second home. I worked there, played there and was desperate to live there at one point. Now I probably only visit my old friend one a month, if I’m lucky. Since I ‘moved out’ a year ago, there have been a plethora of new openings, including a new basement bar/restaurant, Coal Vaults, which I headed down to check out last Thursday. Founded by young entrepreneur, Simo (Martyn Simpson) and Andy Kanter, Coal Vaults plays to the strengths of the exciting team behind it. Magnus Read (The Rooftop Café) has consulted on the menu, James KnoxBoothman heads up the kitchen and Jerome Slesinski works the bar. The menu features a range of small plates and everything that can be is made in house – the bread, preserves …

Chinese New Year at Chinese Cricket Club

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Last week on Tuesday night I left work and cycled down to the Chinese Cricket Club in the Crowne Plaza hotel where I met my dad. We were there to try the four course menu, which has been specially created to celebrate Chinese New Year. The menu celebrates the Year of the Horse and consisted of Sichuan specialities. We were greeted with a Chinese Cricket Club fizz cocktail upon arrival, which piqued our interest as it was bright green and apple flavoured and  through the course of the evening tried a range of dim sum and traditional dishes. The four course menu consists of a range of dishes and we had Prawn Har Gao, a steamed Pork bun and vegetable spring rolls to start, which were your typical Chinese dishes. We enjoyed a quarter of crispy aromatic Duck with lettuce wrap and trimmings for the middle course, although some bits of meat were a bit dry – there also wasn’t quite enough sauce for the amount of meat and lettuce wraps we were provided. It …

Rooster Booster Superfood Salad, Clockjack Oven

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January is the perfect month for dieting. Not that I do it, of course. But I know plenty of people that do. Despite not denying myself anything I want to eat, I have naturally felt like eating a bit healthier after the Christmas gorge. I was intrigued when I heard that Clockjack Oven in Soho has just released a Rooster Booster chicken superfood salad, specially designed by Alyn Williams. I visited Clockjack a few months ago and loved it, so I was excited to go back to try the salad and a couple of other dishes. The Rooster Booster contains a generous helping of the signature rotisserie roasted chicken, blanched broccoli, baby spinach and pumpkin seeds. It is dusted with paprika and served with a light yoghurt and mint dressing. We also enjoyed a chicken burger and the most delicious buttermilk-marinated fried chicken bites. The salad was not as seasoned as I would have liked but the best part was the succulent rotisserie chicken. My mouth waters now just thinking about it. Clockjack Oven14 Denman …

Bunnychow, Boxpark

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A few months ago, my South African friend Abi told me about an amazing food truck she had seen. The food truck in question was selling the food of her nation – bunny chow. So when I heard that Bunnychow was opening at Boxpark, I thought we should take a trip down one lunchtime to try it out. All I knew was that it was a stew in a hollowed out loaf of bread. What’s not to like, I thought. So we jumped on a Borris bike and cycled down to Boxpark. Abi couldn’t contain her excitement as we walked in and saw the menu, which consisted of three variations of ‘The Originals’ and two warm flats. I wanted to try both so we opted for the Monkey Gland Bunny (meatballs smothered in a South Afircan monkey gland sauce) and the Bobotie Burger (South African bobotie spiced burger with all the trimmings). We also tried one of the grab and go salads that were in the fridge – a delicious Asian style salad that complimented …