Beagle

I first heard about Beagle on twitter a few months ago and was straight away intrigued due to the location... Revamping railway arches seems to be the new East London thing (see Hackney Downs Studios). I then got to try a sample of their food in March at Feast in Tobacco Docks. Their buttermilk fried rabbit being our favourite dish of the night. I reserved a table at the first chance I got.

Fast forward nearly 2 months and after debating whether or not my mother's dress showed too much cleavage, we wondered up to Hoxton station to search out the restaurant. The design is very good - clearly a lot of planning has gone into the place. The outside area makes me think that Beagle will really come into its own in the Summer (you know.. that time of year which is meant to come around this time of year).

Once seated we chose some cocktails. I had heard great things about the cocktails. My sister went for the rhubarb bellini - a success. I went for the Tisane. Now I don't like really sweet cocktails and prefer them to be too sour rather than too sweet. On the other hand, I wish I had taken a picture of my mother's face when she took a sip. The grapefruit juice was just too acidic, making it hard to really taste anything else.

We went for 3 different starters to share. The pigeon and prune terrine, octopus with potatoes and grilled courgette salad with Ticklemore. Surprisingly for us carnivores, the real winner was the courgettes. The dressing was perfect and the cheese added a feta like saltiness which worked perfectly with the slightly bitter courgettes.

For main, I had a sole with Monk's beard and braised cucumber. The fish was nicely grilled and I discovered I'm a huge fan of Monk's beard - you learn something new everyday. The other two opted for the onglet steak with horseradish and duck fat chips. On my way to the bathroom, I quickly noticed that the majority of the rest of the customers went for the same choice. The steak was cooked rare as ordered and the chips were amazing. The fresh horseradish added a nice kick though some might find it a bit overpowering. 

Overall the food was near faultless - as you might expect from the ex Rochelle Canteen chef who has taken over the kitchen. The place has obviously had some serious money and thought put into it - the design of the place is impressive and I often judge a place by the loos - and at Beagle they are as smart as they come. However, maybe I'm just too used to smaller cosier places these days which made the slightly higher end dining at Beagle a little too polished for me. Having said this I think I'm going to pop back on a sunny day (if we ever have one) and enjoy another tasty meal in the sun. 


Beagle 
397-400 Geffrye Street
London
E2 8HZ

Huong Viet - Englefield Road

I have a confession to make. Yesterday evening I committed adultery. No not to anyone of the male description (this isn't Made in Chelsea) - in fact I cheated on my favourite Vietnamese restaurant on the Viet mile in Shoreditch. I have for the past 18 months stayed completely loyal to Mien Tay - but since they have stopped being BYOB my eyes have wondered. I was told about a Vietnamese place in Dalston on Englefield Road which was apparently not only delicious and cheap, but still BYOB - I had  to try it. 

Initial online research seemed to generally agree that the food is authentic but the service can be slightly abrupt (that is me politely brushing over some of the stronger language used). I warned my dinner partner of these reviews and we made our way down towards Haggerston, picked up a couple of cold ciders on the way and began our search. Had I not read reviews warning me that the outside was easily missed I kept my eyes peeled and eventually found what can only be described as a derelict old gentleman's club (again being polite). 

At 7.30 we were the only people there but the place quickly filled up. After perusing the lengthy menu I went for some Vietnamese clear spring rolls with spicy pork (£4). They were nice and refreshing if too filled with noodles and not enough veg for some crunchy texture. 

For my main I went for my usual favourite - a spicy Pho with prawns. Now call me childish but one of my favourite bits of a pho is adding the bits of foliage/ herbs and chillies and lime juice myself. I think that maybe had I ordered the normal pho they would have provided this but instead I entertained myself with adding chilli flakes in oil... and then quickly choking. Having said all this the broth was nice and flavoursome and a big old generous hug in a bowl for only £7. 

I was assured by Jenny that her Singapore noodles with chicken, pork and prawns was good but I was too full from the 10 or so king prawns in my pho. 

All in all the food was really good and you can't complain at £14 each for a main, a starter, corkage (£1.50pp) and service charge. And to be fair - the service wasn't as bad as I had read about... Sure there were some slightly short and snappy moments - but we were given glasses of water without asking for them and they took our drinks away to open them for us with now complaint. No worse than some other places I've been. Now the main question... Am I dumping Mien Tay? The answer is no. I may stray from time to time back to Huong Viet due to proximity and BYOB but when I want the best Vietnamese, I will still be travelling down the Kingsland road. 

Huong Viet

12-14 Englefield Rd

London 

N1 4LS

Shanghai Dalston

My sister and I have a slightly bizarre hangover cure. When one of us is feeling rough on a Sunday morning, we call the other one for sympathy and eventually if able to get out of bed, we make our way from our respective flats to Shanghai in Dalston for some Dim Sum. Now I completely understand why some people would not associate dim sum with a hangover - the usually glutinous and slimy textures, the often unidentifiable meat content of the dumplings – but for some reason, it just works for us.

The small entry to Shanghai on Kingsland Road makes it easy to miss despite the bright yellow exterior. Once inside there are a few booths at the front or you can go into the back room which is much more spacious and if busy feels slightly buzzier. The décor isn’t glam and to be fair neither is the service, though having lived in Shanghai (the city not the restaurant) I can say that in a way it’s relatively authentic.

We usually order a pot of jasmine tea straight away whilst we pointlessly look at the dim sum menu before always ordering the usual culprits anyway. These include siu mai (prawn andpork dumplings), har gao (crystal prawn dumplins), king prawn cheung fan (the most slimy of all), lotus leaf rice parcels (the epitome of unidentifiable fillings involving meat, shrimp, egg yolk), xiao long bao (Shanghai special dumplings with sort of burst in your mouth)… and a few others. We once decided to be adventurous and ordered the yam dumpling. Don’t.

Now having been here a few times the quality of the food varies. When it’s good, it’s really good but on occasion it can be a bit disappointing. The service also varies – sometimes you get sauces, sometimes you don’t and quite frankly don’t bother to ask for tap water or if you really do want some then be prepared to ask a few different waiters a few times.

But to be honest I always leave slightly less hungover, full of dumplings and feeling like I might just be able to go on. Also value wise you couldn’t complain – I usually leave absolutely stuffed and it tends to be between £10 and £15 each.  If you live near Dalston and fancy a dimsum fix then this is the place for you (and if you are seated near 2 blonde girls looking sorry for themselves - I can only apologise). 

Shanghai 

41 Kingsland High Street London E8 2JS

Rita's Bar and Dining

Well call me late off the mark but on Tuesday night I visited Rita’s Bar and Dining who are doing a current residency at Birthdays on Stoke Newington Road. OK, I will be honest – I was actually driven there by a sense of panic after seeing that they plan to move location in April so I dashed to try it out whilst they are still on my doorstep. Apologies in advance for the photos - the place is pretty dark/ not iphone photo friendly! 

I took with me my old school friend Vanessa (a Dalston virgin). Rita’s opens at 7 so we arrived at 7.15. Thank god we weren't any later as by 7.30 all the tables were full with a nice mixed east end crowd who were all there for one reason – fried food. Whilst sipping on a pretty darn good Margarita – nicely named ‘Rita’s, we tackled the menu. 

The menu is pretty small, a good thing because as it was I wanted everything. We went for the Sichuan Sticky Squid to start. I then decided to try the Friend Chicken Roll as I had read rave reviews and V opted for the Pulled Pork Sandwich special. We also decided that we obviously needed some Mac’ and Cheese to wash it down.

The squid was a big bowl full of sweet sticky squid strips, and after a few seconds I felt the familiar mouth numbing tingling brought on by Sichuan pepper. Then the pulled pork arrived… the sandwich was a full on 12 inch sub type number. I tried some and the pork was melt in the mouth good – this has been my second pulled pork experience in less than a week after StreetKitchen’s pulled pork burger last Thursday and I think it’s safe to say I’m a pulled pork fan (I’m not quite sure how many more times I can write pulled pork in this sentence). 

The Mac’ and Cheese was just what you would want it to be – cheesy and addictive. To be honest though, if you put guacamole and jalapenos on anything, I’m happy. Then my Chicken Roll arrived in a paper brown bag with the Rita’s logo – a nice original touch though possibly a bit of a waste of paper if I’m going to be picky. The fried chicken was the crunchiest I've had and the garlic mayo added a nice kick. My only complaint was that it fell apart a bit and let’s just says I was quickly a mayonnaise monster face (but it was worth it). 

The meal came to £38 (without service) for cocktails and the food and we were both stuffed - pretty good value if you ask me! As I said, Rita’s have recently announced that they are leaving Birthday’s in Dalston soon and have yet to announce their next location (the waiter pretended not to know despite my pretty desperate questioning). I hope they stay East but wherever they go, I will be close behind begging for more. 

Rita's Bar and Dining
Birthdays, 33-35 Stoke Newington Road, 
London N16 8BJ 

White Rabbit

Last night I finally got a chance to try out White Rabbit. We took my mum who despite having two daughters living in Dalston and only living in Spitalfields, has rarely made it out further than Shoreditch (apart from one incident when I bumped into her at 10pm on a Saturday night at The Haggerston... which I don't want to talk about).

Anyway White Rabbit is tucked down Bradbury Street just opposite Dalston Jazz Bar. I started with a very yummy Elderflower Tom Collins whilst we looked through the menu. The main problem was the fact that we wanted to try everything. The very helpful waitress suggested 2 dishes per person with a couple of sides.

We started with a HamHock Terrine which was served with warm bread and chutney - delish. Then the sharing plates started to trickle in. The sardines were prettily presented and perfectly cooked. The mussels and cockles were in a really tasty broth which I would have drunk with a ladle if one had been there. 

The surprising star of the show was the Jerusalem Artichokes with puree and a parsley dust. It was pretty much everyone's favourite despite all 3 of us being the least vegetarian people you will ever meet. It got devoured before I even had a chance to take a snap which says it all. 

Even though we were all stuffed my mum's sweet tooth got the better of her and she ordered a desert. It was a type of deconstructed rhubarb panacotta and it was polished off quicker than I would like to admit. 

Overall I cannot recommend this place enough. I would maybe say 2 plates each with extras is a bit much - we were full by the time the potato waffles and duck arrived (I struggled through). Apart from that the only criticism I can come up with is possible some bread would have helped to mop up the sauce in the mussels. All in all it was one of the best meals I've had in a very long time and all of us hopped home happy little bunnies.