Rekorderlig Midsummer House and The Lauriston

When I booked tickets to the Rekorderlig Midummser House in Victoria Park about a month ago I had visions of cider sipping in the sunshine... Instead last night I got rain. And wind. And cold rainy wind. I wasn't impressed to say the least. Hannah and myself pottered down to Vicky Park, brollies out bitterly moaning about the British Unsummer. 

The £10 gets you entry to the event, a Rekordelig of choice and a snack. We started with the new passionfruit flavour with a slice of lime. 

In the garden a few individuals were braving the cold on the sheltered decking. We took refuge with our ciders on the chairs. These chairs were amazing. If I had a massive garden I would definitely be getting some. Sadly not even my yellow bag could brighten the weather and eventually the chill won and we peeled ourselves off the chairs with difficulty and a lack of dignity (celeb experts at not flashing pants we are not). 

Next we decided it was time to try one of the cocktails - a cider cocktail! I hear you cry... Well the Rekorderlini with pear cider, champers and chocolate syrup was a winner. Plus who doesn't like a retro glace cherry?

I wrongly assumed that the ticket included a cider and a hotdog. In was in fact a 'snack' which was a sample of 3 of their mini hotdog wrap type things. Disappointingly small but the snacks were pretty tasty and had it not been so bloody cold I would have gone back and just paid the £5 to get a full one afterwards. However it was cold. And raining. And after another cider it was decided that there is only so much sweet cider in the cold/ rain one can cope with and we left in the direction of Victoria Park Village in search of shelter and more food. 

After a skip, hop and jump through the park we decided to take refuge in The Lauriston, which had been on my to try list. The pub itself is all kinds of miss matched furniture, but with a projector showing Wimbledon - what a treat. They do pizzas here and bloody good ones. Prices range from about £7.95 and £10.95 depending on the toppings. 

We went for the smoky pancetta, mushroom and chilli pizza and it was just how a pizza should be. They are freshly prepared at the front with a pizza oven so you know they are going to be good. I am definitely going to be coming back and making my way through the menu pizza by pizza!

All in all the Rekorderlig Midsummer experience was let down by the weather. Had it been a glorious sunny evening (one can dream) then the £10 entry would have seemed fine as you would have stayed all night. However it wasn't that busy as people had obviously thought better of facing the rain and as a result the atmosphere wasn't great. A bit of music probably would have helped at this point... Maybe next year?

Rekorderlig Midsummer House

Until Friday 5th of July

Victoria Park

London

The Lauriston

162 Victoria Park Road

E9 7JN

0208 985 5404

Babblejar

One of the things about living where I live is its sort of between Dalston, Clapton and Stoke Newington... For some reason though Stokey doesn't often get a look in. A couple of months ago Groupon had an offer for a 2 course meal and cocktail for 2 people for only £20 at Babble Jar which opened up at the end of last year, so Hannah snapped it us for us. This week we ventured up and Hannah had kindly already ordered us 2 very nice expresso martinis. Babble Jar do a bloody great Happy Hour anyway so if you're in the area definitely order a cocktail or 6. The expresso martinis were delicious and lethal. 

The inside is pretty nice with mismatched shabby chic furniture. 

Now as the deal was bought about 4 months ago, I think they;ve actually changed their food menu so that they don't actually do starters anymore. There is a pudding which is a brownie but I had made brownies the night before so didn't really fancy another one. We decided to share a nachos to start and then we both had the chicken caeser salad. The bartender warned us that the nachos were enormous.... he wasn't wrong!

Deep fried tortilla with melted cheese, guac, salsa, sour cream and big chunks of chicken. It was to be honest amazing. We were pretty stuffed after sharing one of those!

We were pretty glad we had gone for salads after the nachos though even the salads were a struggle. Again perfectly nice salads. Though I think next time I go it will just be cocktails galore and some bargain nachos to share. 

We somehow got roped into the pub quiz and despite coming up with the classic 'Quizee Rascal' as a team name, we bowed out before the end as it was a Monday and we were knackered - even after 2 expresso martinis each. I'm definitely going to be going back there... a good Happy Hour is hard to find these days and these cocktails definitely made me happy! 

Babble Jar

176 Stoke Newington High Street

N16 7JL

0207 254 7666

*Edit - Babble Jar has since closed. 

Gin Stock and Psychic Burger

Last weekend was my friend Mo’s leaving party as she goes off to travel for a few months. The shin-dig was held at the Book Club in Shoreditch on Friday night and what a shin-dig it was... 

Now Saturday – after a long needed lie in, I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself/ my head and go off to meet my old uni friend Kat, who has recently moved to London from Newcastle. Sadly the weather wasn’t ideal but it did manage to stop raining long enough for us to venture down to Gin Stock at Street Feast.

We arrived at about 5pm so I think a lot of the major gin cocktail action had already occurred. However despite the rain and the slight chill people seemed in fine (gin) spirits.

I headed straight for the Rotary Bar to sample their £10 pint sized cocktails which I have been reading so much about. I went for the orange Marguerita - a pleasant twist I've never tried and Kat had some kind of fizz thing with artichoke liquor. The bartender was a hoot though and next thing we knew we were shaking our own cocktails. Sadly he didn't let us have them half price seeing as we basically made them ourselves. 

Street Feast is only at it's current location for another 2 weeks. I haven't managed to get down there on a Friday night but its meant to be great fun so definitely try to get yourselves down their. 

After finishing off our cocktails we decided to wander up back towards Dalston and find something to snack on indoors due to the rain rearing its ugly head again. I decided on trying out Psychic Burger - the new residency in Birthdays which was the previous location of Rita's Bar and Dining. I loved Rita's and was pretty bummed when it left but apparently they are meant to be popping up somewhere soon... so now onto the successor - Psychic Burger. 

I'm actually ashamed to say that despite being somewhere called 'Psychic Burger'... we didn't actually have one. Neither of us were hungry enough (I had had a fry up a mere 3 hours before to recover from my Friday), so we went for some picky bits. I had the chilli cheese fries, Kat had plain fries and we shared a coleslaw and some of the pork skin popcorn.  

Now this pork skin popcorn I ordered simply to see what the hecky peck it was. I'm not going to lie... I am a fan of the off bit of guilty pork scratching. An ex boyfriend of mine used to always bring me pork scratchings when I was hungover much to the revulsion of others around me. These though were much lighter and airy - though I think I actually missed the cruch of a proper scratching or crackling. The texture was a bit.... meh. But still perfectly tasty. 

The chilli cheese fries which is under their sides section of the menu is a feast in itself. Cheesy chilli goodness is exactly what I needed. I would definitely not recommend getting this as a side if you are having a burger too!

Now I'm a coleslaw fan - and this one did not disappoint. The veg was supper crunchy and the added extra of toasted hazelnuts was a really nice texture adding touch. 

The space itself has completely changed since it was Rita's. They've added high booths on the sides and a few middle tables - slightly more diner style in fitting with the burger menu. They could possibly do with adding a few things on the walls to brighten the place up a bit but I'm not sure how strict Birthday's are being about these things. Either way I will definitely be revisiting and giving the actual burgers a try soon!

Street Feast

Merchant Yard

317-319 Kingsland Road

E8 4DL

Psychic Burger

Birthdays

33-35 Stoke Newington Road

N16 8BJ

Que Viet

Last week it was time for another Vietnamese. As I have mentioned my old favourite Mien Tay stopped being BYOB and raised their prices during the Olympics. Error. So it was time to move onto pastures new. My dinner and myself date decided to go for Que Viet, after doing some constructive day time googling. Now although not BYOB, we did get a very nice bottle of Prosecco for £20. Not bad really!

The menu is pretty extensive as seems to be standard for Vietnamese places. I went for the prawn summer rolls to start. I always feel pretty virtuous when I order these – must be the herbs. For £3.50 though, a pretty cheap and tasty way to start the meal. 

Alex went for the salt and pepper squid. Now she is a squid pro. This being her favourite – Que Viet had a lot to live up to. Luckily for them it was great. A huge portion of well seasoned and not even the slightest bit chewy squid. The only thing I will say is that it could have done with some kind of dipping sauce with it. 

Onto the mains – I tried to move away from my usual spicy pho… and went for one of their ‘speciality dishes’…which was basically a pho which a range of slightly unidentifiable meats including one which looked and tasted suspiciously like german sausage. Dubious meat aside the broth itself was well seasoned and not at all greasy. 

The other main was their Red Duck curry – now maybe its because you expect a Thai Red curry which is all coconut and spices but this one seemed slightly bland. On the other hand you can’t fault their portion size and they were kind enough to pack most of it up for her to take into work for lunch the next day as we had filled ourselves up on starters.

All in all Que Viet is decent. The starters are great and the mains average but not unpleasant. All in all the bill was about 25 each and given the fact that this including the bottle of prosecco, I would say pretty good value.

The search for my new favourite Kingsland Road Vietnamese continues… 

Que Viet

102 Kingsland Road

London

E2 8DP

0207 033 0588

Dalston Roof Park

Dalston Roof Park had seemed like a far off dreamland with the summer we've been having. It was introduced to me a few summers ago by my sister but this year I've noticed they've really upped their publicity. Finally, last week the weather brightened up and I decided it was time to declare summer officially open with a climb up the stairs. The entrance to the park is at the bottom of Ashwin Street (which is basically opposite Dalston Junction Station), next to Cafe Oto. They charge a £3 charity donation which gives you entrance for the whole summer - pretty reasonable really!

After the walk up the stairs it was time to reward ourselves with a cocktail. Faith and I went for the Dalston Old Sage - a perfect refreshing treat, it was similar to a Mojito but with a hint of sage due to the leave shoved in there. The other cocktails looked pretty yummy too - I might make it my aim to try every single one over the summer (manageable I'm sure). 

Thank you to the creepy shadow man. 

I love it on the roof garden - everyone is always just so cheery whilst they try and soak up any rays London gives us. If nothing else its always good people watching. 

This year they have also opened a cafe called 'Merci Marie' on the floor below. They also put on  a load of events throughout the summer - take a look at the website to double check whether the park is closed for a private function on the night you are looking to go. 

Since the weekend the weather has gone back to being - well let's face it crap. Lets hope it brightens up again soon so I can get myself back up there to work on my tan/ cocktail menu challenge. 


Dalston Roof Park
Print House
18 Ashwin St
London
E8 3DL
0207 275 0825

Engine Hotdogs at Hackney House

Yesterday evening I had booked my first professional haircut in over a decade. I had been scarred by French hairdressers using basically clippers to form what I can only call a whi-fro. So after years of just trimming it myself or asking friends to hack at it once in a blue moon, I decided it was time to hand the curls over to the pros. I had planned for Hannah to meet me post hair appointment at Luke Jacob on Commercial Street in case I needed to immediately cry over a bottle of wine. I shouldn't have worried. I was in very capable hands and will tell you more about the lovely place in a future post. 

Once Hannah had assured me the hair was fine, we went in search of drink and food. We wanted to eat outside to make the most of not being absolutely freezing but most places were rammed or had no outside place. We were thinking of heading back towards Dalston way but walked by Hackney House. It's the place opposite the Tea Building with the amazing fencing and red plastic front. I had been meaning to pop in for ages to visit Street Kitchen but unfortunately they weren't there. Instead there was Yalla Yalla and Engine Hotdogs. 

We both decided we fancied a hot dog and plus the little red engine is really cute - how could we resist?

Hannah was loving her Cheese and Bacon Dog. They even gave her some dill pickles as we asked very nicely. Just look at her happy Hot Dog face!

I went for the Hose "A" as I like anything spicy and you know A for Alice. It was bloody tasty but could have probably done with a bit more of a kick - I am a bit of a chilli fiend. Also the beef hot dog had a bit more of a firmer skin which made it a little hard to bite without it all getting a bit messy! The taste more than made up for this though. Plus at £5.00, they were massive so really good value. 

We sat in the Yalla Yalla area though as we ordered a bottle of Prosecco - at £20 it would have been rude not to! The food at Yalla Yalla looked pretty good, especially the houmous and pitta breads - I will definitely be popping in again to eat (order more Prosecco). 

Prosecco and hotdogs... we basically made our very our Bubble Dogs! Do I think the 2 go together particularly? No. Do I like Prosecco? Yes. Do I like hotdogs? Yes. Worked for me. 


Engine
186 Shoreditch High Street
London
E1 6HU

Yalla Yalla
Shoreditch Pop-Up
186 Shoreditch High Street
London
E1 6HU
07725841372