Spelling & Style

It would appear that Mr Gorb has been reading my blog. He feels it's hard to read and full of spelling mistakes.

I've spent today searching for spelling mistakes, I spell check everything before it goes in. Is it really that bad?

A rather depressed gorb, at least if he'd criticised the photography I'd have understood that, now it really is crap.

The West Cornwall Pasty Co

I love pasties I do. There is nothing to eat at Liverpool Street station, well, that’s actually a gross generalisation, there is a Pontis, McDonalds, Burger King, Ixxy’s Bagels, Costa Coffee etc etc and so the list goes on. There is also a rather good sushi joint but that’s the subject of a whole other post sometime in the future. There is nowhere really nice to sit and eat, but that’s really down to it being a transport hub it’s designed to cater for Londoners on the move. My favourite on the move food is definitely the humble pasty.

The pasty is a work of genius, a very simple concept, far superior to the sandwich. If you think about it every culture has independently invented a pasty, consider the samosa, or spring roll, or burek, or calzone even the fajita and so on. These are actually just pasties. In fact everyone bar the Americans who were too busy eating burgers came up with a form of pasty.

Anyone interested in the history of the pasty (including international versions) investigate

here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornish_pasty Pasties have magical suggestive powers, anyone who walks past someone else carrying a pasty instantly goes and buys one for themselves.

There are two pasty chains in Liverpool Street, The West Cornwall Pasty Co based just outside at the Bishopsgate entrance or The Cornish Pasty Co who have an outlet on the main concourse. The West Cornwall Pasties are much better, although it’s best to avoid their one if there is heavy football traffic, the Hamilton Hall Weatherspoons opposite is a bit of a flashpoint. They make pasties fresh everyday and varieties range from traditional steak, steak and stilton, Chicken Balti, roasted veggies and cheese and bacon. They even do a pork and cider version which is my current favourite. Pasties need to be eaten on the move with brown sauce. I would eat one everyday for lunch but that would make me fat, so best on Friday’s after the pub for the train home. The West Cornwall pasty people have just won themselves an award for the fastest growing business so we may expect more pasty stalls in London soon. Ditch the burger, pasties are the way forward.

Browns, 9 Islington Green, London, N1 8DU

I went to Browns in Islington for my birthday dinner (well it was actually my third birthday dinner, I like to sting it out) and was let down badly. The food was distinctly average, most of it was cold, even the coffee. It’s not hugely expensive and it’s a relatively nice place to sit and watch the world go by, but this doesn’t ever make up for bad food. It wasn’t over ambitious, the lamb shank was done well but served with cold potatoes, the ceaser salad was nice with the right balance of salad, chicken and dressing but the chicken was too dry, the hot chocolate with rum was also cold but the worst part was the desert.

I never really go in for deserts, I don’t know what came over me but I ordered a sticky toffee pudding with clotted cream. The pudding was passable enough but the clotted cream was simply margarine, probably something along the lines of I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Browns shall have to be cocktails only from now on.

Sacred Cafe, 13 Ganton Street, Off Carnaby Street, London, W1F 9BL

I’m not a great fan of shopping. I get a bit ratty and flustered and can never go “up-west” on a Saturday afternoon. I can just about cope with a Sunday or a late night Thursday excursion otherwise I suffer queue rage and run the risk of throwing a temper tantrum over something ridiculously trivial (usually not being able to take more than three items in to the changing room or not being allowed to keep the hanger after you’ve just shelled out the best part of a hundred notes on one item.) The problem with central London is that there is a dearth of nice places to temporarily escape. The trouble is that every Starbucks and Costa becomes an equally busy and hectic extension of all the shops.

The Sacred Café on Ganton Street just hidden off Carnaby Street is a peaceful of not slightly disturbing place of respite. It’s arranged cleverly over ground and basement levels and has a supply of plentiful cakes, organic and otherwise, teas, coffees and superb hot chocolates. These can all be enjoyed on big sofas in the basement watched over by Tibetan monk statues… obviously. http://www.sacredcafe.co.uk/

Rodizio Rico, 77 – 78 Upper Street, Islington N1 0NU

This is a novel concept, even for London. For want of a better description it’s a Latin American, all-you-can-eat meat feast. I can only guess what the morning deliveries for this place must look like, it’s probably enough to turn the average customer vegetarian.

The concept is as follows: basically, take a table and peruse very short menu i.e. meat feast or fish feast or meat and fish feast together, await plates and begin. Here it gets a little more complicated, there is a central buffet bar full of salads, pastas, potatoes and other side dishes (not that anyone in their right mind really considered a full blown slab of lasagne a mere side dish). Having been here a fair few times I have learnt the hard way to go easy on this bit - just because it’s there does not mean you have to eat all of it. The trick is to wait for the real show.

A team of waiters circulate armed with four foot skewers dripping with huge sides of meat – beef rare to well done, rump, sirloin and fillet, chicken livers, wing and hearts, pork wursts and lamb chops, the choice is endless. It literally just keeps coming. The staff are equipped with huge knives to slice off as little or as much as you want. People must be regularly rolled out the door at the end of the night.

Best not to eat for three days in advance of a visit to Rodizio Rico! http://www.rodizio.co.uk/index.html

The Pembury Tavern, 90 Amhurst Road, 58 1JH

Way back in early 2005 I used to wander past the derelict building on the Pembury Roundabout where Dalston Lane meets Amhurst and Pembury Road and think, “that’s a fantastic site” or “that would make a great pub”. Indeed it used to be a bar that hosted live bands and was home to local anarchists. Lo and behold slowly hoardings went up and builders moved in. Frantic internet research revealed a licensing application submitted to Hackney council for a bar. Hooray, thought we, and eagerly peered in the windows monitoring progress, (as it happened progress was phenomenally slow).

Nonetheless we somehow missed opening night but turned up the following weekend armed with greasy bank notes ready for the fun…..….and I hated it. Inside something was horribly amiss, there was a huge imposing old wood bar but the rest was an exposed emptiness of All Bar One proportions. There was no music, no smoking, no food, no customers and no atmosphere. We determinedly stayed and had a couple of drinks which were cheap and well chosen, the bar specialises in Real Ales, hundreds of them. I went away feeling as if an opportunity had been missed.

Now, however, through perseverance I am a convert! Slowly, as time went by, changes for the better sneaked in: pictures and maps of historic Hackney and a collection of beer mats from round the world went up on the walls, bigger comfier chairs appeared along with board games, puzzles, a huge pile of newspapers and magazines. And so the customers had also appeared and suddenly the lack of music didn’t seem to matter any more. Now the Pembury Tavern has been well and truly claimed by the white middle classes of Hackney as their own. London’s diversity never seems to quite make it into pub culture which is odd, but the subject of a whole other post.

Best of all was the appearance of menus and a kitchen - and the food is superb. It’s a traditional British style menu: scrambled eggs and salmon for breakfast, sausage and mash for lunch, roast meat and two veg followed by apple pie and ice-cream for dinner, all perfectly executed (although eating that every day would result in extreme fatness).

Go visit once in a while, it’s certainly different; play cluedo, drink ale and eat pie. http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/pembury/

Why does no one want to eat out in Hackney?

I've discovered that two of the best prime lettable sites (with A3 use) in Hackney have gone to ......... wait for it........ another bookies and a parking shop. How depressing can you get?!

Exquisite, 167 Black Stock Road, N4 2JS

Exquisite is a tiny Mexican restaurant hidden away on Blackstock Road near Finsbury Park. I can’t claim to be an expert on Mexican food but judging by this place Mexican’s must have very big appetites. Do not eat all day before visiting Exquisite. Further advice; do not eat for two days if you’re planning on ordering one of their chimichangas, they truly are enormous. Other giant dishes include fajitas, with a choice of king prawn or salmon as well as the ubiquitous chicken.

The burritos are beautifully done with just the right balance of meat, chillies, refried beans and sour cream. Other specialities include the grilled swordfish steaks and mixed seafood with mole sauce. The carafes of house wine are cheap (beware this is for a reason, it’s simply not very nice), nachos and spiced hummus come free and the music is all pop-Mexican madness.