London: The 'everything else' post (Part I)

A few nights ago I tried making polish dumplings (pierogi) for the first time. When I stayed in the US with my fiancé late last year, we were fortunate to be given a bucket load of them and as a result they probably made me a little bit fatter. Just talk to my mother – she'll tell you. It's been a bit over two months and I miss them. So I decided to make a batch the other night, which made my parents cringe ("don't eat too much!" and "you're gonna get fat!") and I doubt that I'll make them again. Fortunately I made a huge batch but it was so time consuming and there were just so many dishes to wash! Washing dishes is not my favourite chore. Luckily, yet also to the detriment of my parents, they tasted good!

I really didn't know how to title this because today's post is pretty much an "everything else that I have failed to mention" update. It does not exactly mean that the restaurants aren't great, I just didn't know where to place them in my updates. This will be split into two parts, so hope you enjoy reading it. :-)

Pasta Brown

31/32 Bedford Street, Covent Garden, WC2E 9ED (Closest tube station: Charing Cross)

I had a job interview a few days ago where I was happily discussing my love for stuffing my face with food (with relation to this wonderful blog of course) and one of my interviewers asked me what my favourite cuisines are. I easily replied with Japanese and Vietnamese cuisine, but I also mentioned that I think Italian food is such an easygoing cuisine as well. Which is true....I mean who doesn't enjoy Italian food? I don't even mind non-authentic Italian food. It's average, yet palatable. This is not the case for Thai food (spoken like a true Thai). But that's probably the best way to describe Pasta Brown. Eating here was a bit of an accident as F, another coursemate B, and I found ourselves meeting up for a Friday night dinner in Covent Garden. Friday night without a booking nor a plan wasn't and still isn't the most ideal situation. I suggested Wahaca by default, but by the time we arrived the wait was for over an hour. Somehow we ended up at Pasta Brown and were lucky enough that they had a table available. 

For a starter, the three of us shared the garlic bread mozzarella e pomodoro (cheese and tomato sauce, £4.75) which was okay and nothing too special.

I wasn't in the mood for pizza nor pasta, so I went for the aged rib-eye steak with fries and rocket (£15.55). You must be thinking, what kind of person orders steak at an "Italian" place? When I travelled to Florence for New Years to see a friend of mine, I realised that Italian cuisine didn't just consist of pasta and pizza. They drink tons of vino (wine) too, which is shamefully my favourite part of Italian dining. I also realised that in Florence particularly, they eat a lot of steak. Florentine steak is goddamn huge too. The steak and fries were fine, but I seriously have an issue with restaurants or any chef that do not bother to dress their salad greens on the plate. Even some lemon or olive oil would do! Without dressing it's just simply dry and unappealing. 

The conversation and company was great, but as I mentioned in the beginning, the food was simply average yet palatable. Service was fine but a little bit slow.

La Bodeguita

Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre, London, SE1 6TE (Closest tube station: Elephant & Castle)

La Bodeguita was my first proper foray into Latin cuisine that wasn't Mexican food. I'm not exactly sure how I found out about this Colombian restaurant, though I do recall my ex-flatmate's friend telling me about how he went with his non-Latino friends. He mentioned that he arrived late to the restaurant and his friends ended up ordering the "wrong" dishes. Apparently they had ordered the Latin version of fish and chips. Oops. He also recommended me a dish to order, one that I failed to remember unfortunately. Anything sounding remotely Spanish, apart from Hola escapes my memory. 

I brought F, my favourite Venezuelan and a very curious Z along with me for our first visit. Both decided to come for different reasons. It was only natural that F wanted to know if there was any decent Latin food available in London, whereas Z didn't have any idea what to expect and was simply curious. It also helped that Z and I lived in close proximity to the restaurant (about a 10-12 minute walk).

In all honesty, I find Elephant & Castle Shopping Centre a bit freaky. It's a bit of a ghost town in some aspects of the mall and looks quite rundown. Lots of the tenants had been evicted so there were a lot of empty shops. F told me that as soon as she arrived, all she could hear around her was Spanish. I can imagine that La Bodeguita is much more lively and loud at night, but I never had the chance to go during that time. Then again, I'm not one for late night adventures in Elephant and Castle.

For starters, we shared the Patacon con Carne Desmechada (crispy fried green plantains served with shredded meat) and ordered three Empanadas (which they describe as a "Colombian meat patty", but it's pretty much a stuffed pastry that is fried and crusted with cornmeal). Both were delicious. I highly recommend the empanadas in particular, especially with the sauce that they accompanied it with. It's a crowd pleaser. The plantain dish was unusual but I really enjoyed it as well. I'm pretty sure it had been my first plantain experience too.

Z and I shared the recommended Churrasco Argentino (Argentine beef served with fried potatoes, green plantain and chimichurri) which was even too much for the both of us sharing. Apparently the beef is about half a kilo before it's cooked. I don't think I've ever eaten that much meat in my life. It was pretty good despite the fact that I couldn't move by the end of our meal. Going back to the flat was a bit of a struggle. F ordered another recommended dish, Medallones Bodeguita (Medajon Argentine beef in mushroom sauce, served with rice, yellow plantain and vegetables). I've actually tried this dish during another visit and I still find it a bit odd that the steak and mushroom sauce is eaten with rice. F assured me that it wasn't odd at all; and even though I felt that way, I did enjoy the dish. They do ask how you want your steak cooked and they don't always get it right. Luckily I can eat any kind of cooked steak, bar blue.

During another visit, I also ordered the Croquetas de Pollo (Chicken Croquettes) which I don't have a picture of unfortunately. They were nice but a bit dry on its own, so F asked in Spanish if they could bring a dipping sauce. The sauce was almost like green-aioli like kind of dipping sauce. Probably the most undescriptive description I could give you, but the only way I could describe it.

Overall, the food is very solid and the service is pretty good too (especially when you have an awesome friend that can speak Spanish to the staff). Location is a bit dodgy, but you can kind of block it out once you're in the restaurant and having a good time.

Bankete

3 Bell Lane, London, E1 7LA (Closest tube station: Liverpool Street)

(Brazilian Snacks, Brazilian-cut steak, Chicken Hearts with 

Onions, Chicken Parmegiana, Calpirnha drink, Feijoada)

Following from more Latin food, there was a really nice Brazilian restaurant that was a two minute walk away from my hall during the summertime. My fiancé, M suggested this place actually, long before I moved in to my flat. I remember reading the menu online and seeing chicken hearts! M does not like offal which made me vindictively order it as a starter once we dined in (I don't know why I'm so mean sometimes. Sorry, M). If anything the chicken hearts fried in onions (£5.50) reminded me of tiny sausages. I'm always up for something different and I've really enjoyed it each time I have had it. Him not so much but I'm glad he at least tried it. I probably should have waited until I knew someone that would come and eat them with me as there was quite a lot of chicken hearts on the plate, but I ended up taking the rest home anyway (to eat...for breakfast...).

Considering I was at a brazilian restaurant, I thought I'd go for the feijoada brasileira (£9.95), which is considered the national dish of Brazil. Feijoada is a stew of sorts, a mix of pork and beef cooked in black beans, accompanied with rice, farofa (a cassava flour mix), spring greens and orange slices. Had never heard of farofa until that day. While it was delicious and full of flavour, the stew was rather heavy and filling so I wasn't able to finish it all. The only thing that I didn't really like was the accompaniment of the spring greens. They were just unappealing to the tastebuds.

We also ordered caipirinhas for drinks (£4.50) and whoa, it's a strong drink! Or maybe I'm just  typically weak. But it was really good. My fiancé and I have taken quite a few of our friends here, so there are a few more dishes that we've tried. In terms of the starters, I've tried the brazilian snacks (£4.95) – coxinhas (fried dough filled with chicken), rissole (fried pastry with a cheesy filling), and kibe (beef croquettes/fried meatballs). All of the snacks were pretty nice, the rissole was my favourite one in particular. The cod fish balls (£5.50) were also very good and surprisingly not overwhelmingly fishy, whereas the fried cassava (£4.50) lacked a bit of flavour. The one brazilian dish that I've tried before ever stepping into London was the cheese bread/pao de queijo (£4.95) and they never seem to disappoint.

In terms of mains, the brazilian cut steak with rice, beans and salad (£8.95) was perfectly fine despite not really knowing what makes the steak a brazilian cut and the likely chance that the beans came from a can. They also have some random "house specialities" such as the chicken stroganoff (£7.95) and the parmegiana (£8.25) with both being accompanied with fries and rice. I've tried their stroganoff and it's not too shabby, but then again I've never really had stroganoff. So I have nothing to compare it or no knowledge of what it's supposed to be like. It was really good though! M ordered the parmigiana and let me try a bit of it. I enjoyed it, but then again how hard is it stuff up parmigiana?

If you're looking for something that's small and low-key, then Bankete is a good place to visit. It's certainly nothing fancy, but the prices are affordable, the portions are overly generous, and the service is good too.


Bierschenke
46 Essex Street, London, WC2R 3JF (Closest tube station: Temple)

I don't exactly remember the first time I went to Bierschenke. I first heard of this place due to a friend telling me where he was planning to watch one of the Euro Cup matches here (soccer... or football for the finnicky people). That never happened considering how literally screwed we were for our VAT exam. As soon as I told my fiancé about this German pub, I knew we would eventually visit since they had his favourite beer on tap. I think I went through a period of visiting Bierschenke four times in two weeks to drink, eat, or do all of the above. I don't mind going to pubs even though I don't like beer at all. I'm a wine drinker and normally pubs stock a poor selection of wines, but Bierschenke had such a nice sauvignon blanc (that happened to be from New Zealand) that I didn't mind paying £5.60 for such a small glass of wine. Perhaps that's what gets me into trouble. 

Usually I don't associate good food with pubs, but Bierschenke's German menu was surprisingly tasty, if not brief/limited. Even F, who is skeptical about "pub food" really enjoyed her schnitzel! I've tried two of the schnitzel dishes on the menu (£12.90) – the "hunter style" schnitzel which is served with a creamy mushroom sauce, and the "gipsy style" schnitzel which is served with a tomato paprika sauce. I'm always partial to a creamy mushroom sauce but both are equally delicious and are served with huge portions of chips. I pretty much stick to the schnitzel since I'm not really a sausage fan, but Z who did order one of the sausage platters which came with mash and sauerkraut (£12.90) said it was fine but the schnitzel that I made her try was better.

If anything, I would say that Bierschenke is probably a bit more upmarket than your usual pub. The food wasn't exactly cheap and the German beers are around £5 for a pint, so not exactly the most economical pint of beer you could find in London. Though location wise, some may say that such prices are expected. I wasn't that fussed with the prices really. You can probably tell since I said that I once visited four times in two weeks. Service wasn't exactly memorable but that's not a good nor bad thing.

Moo Grill

4 Cobb Street, London, E1 7LB (Closest tube station: Liverpool Street or Aldgate East)

My fiancé walked past this restaurant on one of our strolls around our neighbourhood. From the menu outside, we were excited about the prospect of eating Argentine food and I couldn't help but be excited once I saw its name. So one night, we went in for dinner and didn't expect such a tiny restaurant inside! It was almost the size of a shoebox with minimal tables. As we grabbed the last table that was available, we were hoping to be wowed.  We ordered two different fillings of Argentine empanadas: beef, eggs and olives (£2.05), and the ham & mozzarella (£1.95). Both were really nice and certainly nicer than the ones I tried at the Brick Lane Food Markets, but were rather small. Maybe I'm just greedy. 

For our mains, my fiancé ordered the milanesa (£7.95) – expecting it be like Uruguayan milanesa he had tried before which had ham on top of the breaded cutlet – but was left disappointed. Little did he (or I) know that the Argentine milanesa is commonly similar to the German schnitzel. They proudly advertise on their website that Argentina is like a spa for cows, so I ordered, perhaps uninspiringly, the churrasco (£9.99) which is a thin-cut of grilled rib-eye. I chose the healthier option of a lettuce and tomato salad to accompany my steak, whereas my fiancé ordered the fries to accompany his dish. My salad really didn't have any dressing and his fries were pretty good, so I chose wrong on that front. The steak didn't come with a sauce, so I ordered a side of chimichurri sauce which was really good. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but I left feeling underwhelmed by my main and perhaps I chose incorrectly as a result. 

We bailed before dessert and after paying for our meal, we both felt underwhelmed despite the really good empanadas. Because Moo Grill is such a small restaurant, it is indeed very intimate. Consequently if the patrons are loud then the noise echoes throughout the restaurant, which was the case when we dined in...to the detriment of my fiancé. Service was excellent nonetheless. I remember our waitress telling us a really nice story about how she got her job at Moo. 

In hindsight, I wish I had ordered one of their signature lomitos (gourmet sandwiches) because that is what they specialise in and what people tend to recommend. This is what happens when I fail to do my research. I'm a stickler for looking up restaurants and researching what to order; and while some may consider it nerd-like, I consider it smart for wanting to eat a good meal. Or perhaps I should have asked the waiter to recommend me a dish. Oh well.

Next week: Part II involving Polish and Turkish food....and a bit of kangaroo! Yum!