East End Review

Tag: London FIelds

  • Boceto review, Hackney Central: Spanish class

    Boceto review, Hackney Central: Spanish class

    A selection of tapas at Boceto
    Traditional and contemporary tapas at Boceto

    Boceto, a café and brunch place by day and cocktail and tapas bar by night, has opened on Mare Street at the former site of quirky French bistro Bouchon Fourchette.

    A little too far south of Hackney Central and too far east of London Fields to be located in a high density trendy eatery zone, Boceto nevertheless stands in good company next to infamous and hallowed institution The Dolphin (which might explain why the bottomless Prosecco brunch is not loudly advertised at street level).

    A sister venue to two other restaurants in the revamped Brixton market, Boceto, like its siblings, focuses on signature cocktails and small plates.

    The interior invites customers to linger: with the front shutter up, one can sit al fresco at a g-plan coffee table and observe the delights of Well Street junction.

    Further inside the long and narrow space, the decor is simple and intimate, dusky and candlelit after dark: a fitting ambience for perusing a drinks menu.

    Smashed avocado with fresh chillies and sunflower seeds on pan de coca
    Smashed avocado with fresh chillies and sunflower seeds on pan de coca

    Whilst its south-of-the-river counterpart Three Eight Four has an eccentric, almost humorous menu, Boceto sticks to the classics.

    The offerings don’t stray from traditional tapas fare, so chorizo, patatas bravas, gambas, croquetas, padron peppers and calamari are all there.

    But the servings were generous and all the dishes were good. The chuletas (grilled lamb chops) stood out, served pink with pungent herbs and pockets of succulent fat, as did the shiitake and chestnut mushroom croquetas.

    True to the version served in Spanish churrerías, churros were served with a hot chocolate pudding rather than molten chocolate sauce. The service throughout was warm, knowledgeable and helpful.

    What the food menu lacked in range was more than made up for by the kooky cocktail list, where institutional confidence shone through. Helpless to resist any cocktail that has chilli in it, I chose the Abuela, which contained mezcal, chilli, raspberries, chocolate bitters and ginger ale.

    My dining companion wistfully opted for the Bouchon Fourchette, in tribute to the closed restaurant and the steak tartare it took with it.

    This was a fluffy pink concoction made of gin, creme de rose, egg white, lemon cream and lavender, and served with a macaroon.

    With other enticing combinations like the ale-smoked Old Fashioned and the Gunpowder Negroni, I would recommend taking advantage of the £5 special introductory price for cocktails during May and June.

    Boceto
    171 Mare St, E8 3RH
    bocetohackney.com

  • Som Saa – restaurant review: the best Thai food in London?

    Som Saa
    Thai treats. Photograph: Som Saa

    Som Saa, a Thai pop-up off of London Fields, cooks out of a shipping container for 30-odd covers at a time. This simple setup, accompanied by a wood-fired grill, serves a changing menu of ‘street food’ from Northern Thailand, dishes that rarely grace a London menu.

    Since opening in winter word has travelled, and when we showed up for dinner at 6pm on the dot on a Sunday afternoon, a long queue had already formed. “It’s not too bad,” the door manager said apologetically when he took our names, “about an hour and a half or so”.

    London is arguably the most international city in the world, but it remains challenging to find a Thai menu that isn’t an unholy mishmash of pan-Asian hits: green curry, vegetable tempura. Growing up in Southeast Asia, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to authentic Thai cuisine, and I miss the sheer variety of dishes, such as steamed lady fingers dipped into a spicy shrimp paste, deep-fried pomfret and olive fried rice. When the most inventive Thai available locally appears to be Alan Yau’s chain Busaba, there is a gap in the market.

    There are no noodles or green curry on Som Saa’s menu, and the food ranges from good to sublime. The most familiar dish, green papaya salad, is studded with chillis, as it should be. Highlights are the grilled octopus salad, with cubes of meaty, fresh octopus that taste of wood smoke; and smoked aubergine with prawn floss. My dining companion delighted in the comforting pork belly curry as well as the fried whole sea bass covered in fresh herbs, perfect with our sticky rice. We finished off our meal with a palm sugar ice cream that was elegant and decadent. There’s also an interesting variety of bar snacks to see you through the wait for a table.

    With its £7.50 glasses of Riesling, DJ sets, and plastic cups, Som Saa certainly has a whiff of its trendy American counterpart, Pok Pok, where a young Western chef, armed with nothing but a dream, a barbecue and a marketing plan, went on to build a small empire around Thai ‘street food’ and signature chicken wings.

    There’s very little here that is reminiscent of Thailand in the dining room or the clientele and, at £30 a head or so with drinks, I can’t afford to make this a regular haunt. But this is undoubtedly the best Thai food I’ve had in the 10 years I’ve lived in England, and my dining companion solemnly said it was the best he’d ever had. So until something else pops up to compete, Som Saa is certainly a most welcome newcomer.

    Som Saa
    Arch 374 Helmsley Place, E8 3SB
    climpsonarch.com

  • East London Swimmers – for the love of London Fields Lido

    Bracing: a swimmer poses for the camera at London Fields Lido
    Bracing: a swimmer poses for the camera at London Fields Lido. Photograph: Madeleine Walker

    There is something pure and empowering about swimming. It’s no coincidence that most religions have purification rituals involving immersion in water. Is it taking things too far to suggest the redemptive feeling of moving about freely in liquid stems from some deeply lodged memory of being ensconced in the amniotic sac, or the genes we have inherited from our coelacanth-like ancestors? Yes, to be honest, and why intellectualise something that is inherently visceral?

    This book of ‘before and after’ shots of clothed and swimsuited-up devotees of London Fields Lido is pleasingly devoid of psychobabble, or indeed babble of any kind. What it is full of is photographer Madeleine Waller’s excellent portraits, some of which are on show at this much loved outdoor pool. These images, particularly the ones that show steam rising off the water as it does on cold mornings, possess a raw power.

    In his introduction to this book – a typically lovingly produced hardback offering from small publishers Hoxton Mini Press – Robert Crampton highlights the “sheer beauty of the environment that open-air swimming can provide”.

    “Like cyclists,” he writes, “swimmers are, whatever their competence (slow, medium or fast lane), essentially united by the vulnerability of their shared near-nakedness.”

    Sure, lack of clothes equals vulnerability, but I’ve come across pensioners who swim in the lido every day and who look like they have discovered the fount of eternal youth. This book contains photos of swimmers fresh out of the pool and standing in the freezing snow, glaring defiantly in the face of the bitterly cold weather.

    I’m far from a regular at the lido, but I have occasionally swum there in the deep midwinter, and I can confidently proclaim that the combination of swimming and bracingly cold weather leaves one feeling virtually invincible. As you haul yourself out of the water, you hardly feel vulnerable. Rather, you feel capable of conquering the world.

    East London Swimmers is published by Hoxton Mini Press. RRP: £12.95. ISBN: 9780957699823.

  • Platterform’s Sea Adventure Series – review

    Sea fare: Platterform's latest pop-up is a fishy affair
    Sea fare: Platterform’s latest pop-up is decidedly fishy

    Well it looks like the howling gales and driving rain of the past months are showing no sign of letting up, so we’d better find some nice places to hibernate until spring comes.

    And I can’t think of a more suitable way to shelter from the mid-Atlantic storms bashing the city than with a seafood-themed popup from the same team that brought us the fantastic lumberjack bar – Skylodge – before Christmas.

    This time the Platterform collective has magicked the London Fields rooftop into a barnacle-clad ship, decked out with rigging, compasses and salty little sea shacks. Lasting 15 weeks, the Sea Adventure Series will see a series of guest chefs taking up residency to dish up a succession of sensational fish suppers.

    Taking the helm for the Maiden Voyage section of the programme are in-house chefs Michele Sweetman and Leona Williams. The inspiration for their menu is the NorthWest Passage – the Arctic waterways that connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans – playing on Dutch, Scandinavian and British palates.

    We kicked off with a magnificent little bowl of smoked haddock chowder with juicy little nuggets of sweetcorn and some lovely savoury scone-like ships biscuits. It was hot and hearty and fully delicious.

    Next we walked the plank. Or ate the plank. A plank of dark rye bread that is, with fat pink curls of honey-pickled Scottish salmon, crunchy beetroot salad and sweet little gherkins. It looked beautiful, the fish tasted as fresh as if it had just jumped from the water and onto plate and it tasted all kinds of lovely.

    It’s a four-course set menu including drinks and portions are decent without being overbearing – which is lucky, because next comes the Lekkerbek. Or Dutch fish and chips to me and you – with a remoulade sauce made from mayonnaise, sage, tarragon. The little bowl of emerald petit pois with onion and sage was a lovely play on mushy peas. The batter was delicate – not overwhelming the tender flaky fish as it often can. Pudding was a delicious creamy key limey pie.

    If that’s not enough to tickle your kipper, the cocktails coming out of the Shanty Shack will certainly put hairs on your chest. We tried the Zissou Sour – a fiery little concoction of egg whites and mezcal and there are plenty of others to stick your oar in.

    The next chapter in this seafood adventure is Maid in the Mist, with Dave Yorkston of Yorkston Smokehouse setting up his own cold smoking house up on the rooftop. His fare is reportedly so good he sells it to his own fishmonger, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

    If the Sea Adventure Series is anything like as popular as Skylodge you better fix up look sharp and get yourselves some tickets. Walk-ins also welcome to pitch up and hang out at the bar with drink and snacks.

    Book via www.billetto.co.uk