Brunch @ Etcetera

Between Dalston Junction and Stoke Newington there are have been an astonishing amount of new cafes, restaurants, bars an hipster hangouts opening up.

Joseph's Cafe

After a quality fry up of egg, bacon, sausage, black pudding, beans, tomato’s and sometime a slice of fried bread only a cheese omelette comes close to this piece of heaven.

Good Food @ Canli Balik

I’m beginning to appreciate much more the different Turkish restaurants down my stretch of Green Lanes than ever before.

Beyti Ockabasi on my Green Lanes

I’ve been living in Stoke Newington for nearly 2 years now, and been eating at the excellent Turkish restaurants on my part of Green Lanes, closest to Newington Park since day 1.

Bad Sunday Roast @ The Cellars

I’ve never been a big fan of the Cellars, sitting on that lovely corner close to Newington Green. Perfect spot to sit outside and sup on a lovely cold pint as the sun slowly sets over another glorious day in Stoke Newington.

Sutton and Sons – A Stokie Fish n Chip Shop

I don’t understand Sutton and Sons. I’m confused. One day I get sublime fish and chips and another time it’s just average and a tad greasy.

It’s the same cooks, same great fish from their fishmongers across the road. So I really don’t know why some days it’s much better than others. Why are you so inconsistent. Why? Tell me!!!!!!!!

I have figured out that the best time to eat there though, are either Friday night or anytime on Saturday when they are ay their most busy and the food is being turned around pretty quickly.

On a wet windy Wednesday night, the fish seems to be left hanging around for a while waiting for someone to eat them. It’s then that the fish is not up to its best.

But I just want to focus on the positive, the way that the batter is so crispy and the fish inside is so moist and when your fork cuts through it flakes apart.

The portion sizes are nice and generous, just as I like them to be. The one thing I hate about fish n chip shops is a meagre portion, just when you are enjoying it, it’s all gone. No I want to be full and still see I have more heaven to eat.

The chips are nice and chunky, and when they are cooked well are some of the best around. Crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Brilliant.

The menu is pretty varied, including some real old favourites like yer battered sausages and some good pies.

But as they are part of the fishmongers across the road, you can also get a good selection of grilled fish, which I haven’t had myself, but from looking at others peoples plates they look pretty damn good.

They even sell bitter as well. Now there isn’t nowt better than fish n chips with a pint of bitter. Heaven sent.

Sutton and Sons when they are on form are a fine modern chippie, but they are nothing as good as the Beach Café in Highbury Barn, which when it is open are the best by far.

But Sutton and Sons is open all the time and more times than not they do serve some bloody good fish n chips. But please guys keep it up.

Sunday Roast and other meals and drinks @ The Jolly Butchers

The Jolly Butchers is a really cool, funky pub on Kingsland High Street. It follows the normal gastro pub rules. Wooden floors, wooden tables, mismatched wooden chairs, menu written on a blackboard. But this is a special place, a special place indeed.

It is really the Londesborough and the Shakespeare all rolled into one. It has the social vibe and the beers of the latter and the food of the former. It’s basically pub heaven.

We’ve been here several times now, and it just gets better and better with each passing.

But the real reason I come is for the mad selection of beers they have. I reckon the selection is worth about 3 normal pubs. A lot of them are London brewed, but there are many that are imported and on draught. A very happy man I am.

The Hell’s Lager made by the Camden Town Brewery seems to be my beer of choice at the mo. It has a slight yellow haze about it, and the flavour comes across as slightly flowery. A perfect summer beer.

The food is bloody good as well. The portions are a little on the generous side, but the taste is great. A recent visit on a Sunday afternoon proved that this is one of the best roasts in Stokie. Damn am I calling it that already. Shit.

Both the beef and pork were both really good. Although it’s not quite in the same league as the Londesborough when it comes to a roast, but the vibe in the place makes up for any shortcomings on the food.

It does seem to be a thing of Stoke Newington that the pubs all seem to serve a burger on a wooden board with a knife stuck in the top or is this a general trend I am missing. I’m not complaining but I’ve only encountered it here, or am I not eating enough burgers in pubs these days. Could be.

The only criticism I have of the place is that on a Friday or Saturday night there are not enough chairs to go around, as everyone wants to sit outside, leaving a lack of chairs inside. That’s it. Nothing more.

If you are in north London and seem to find yourself in Dalston or Stoke Newington and are in need of some liquid refreshment and a bit of grub, or a lot of it as it tends to be. Then head to the Jolly Butchers. You cannot miss it, it’s the crowded place on the corner, with the happy smiley people outside with the tattoos.

The Best Sunday Roast @ The Londesborough

Hold the front pages. If you are still looking for the best Sunday Roast in London, you can stop looking. I’ve think I may well have found it at the Londesborough in Stoke Newington.

We were supposed to goto the Riding House Café and have brunch/roast there, but as it was a crappy morning outside, cold, wet and windy, we decided to stay closer to home. I am so glad we did, although I know the Riding House Café will be visited soon enough.

We’d eaten at the Londesborough a couple of times now, but it’s always been for a mid week evening supper, as it’s the closest food pub to us, as the Shakespeare only does bar snacks.

The food has been good, especially the burger, although the fries were a bit hit and miss, but for some reason we’ve never managed to return for a Sunday roast, especially after finding the Jolly Butcher with its amazing array of independently crafted beers. More on that place in a week or two, or three, possibly four.

Anyhows back to the subject in hand, as we were pretty hungry we pitched up at 12.30 to find the pub completely empty, and I mean empty, apart from the three staff on hand we were the only people in there for almost an hour when people finally starting showing up. We were beginning to wonder if something had happened to the pub that we never knew about. I mean it had been a couple of months since we last ate there. Maybe someone had been poisoned or a health inspector had closed the kitchen down for a while before it reopened. Nothing so dramatic, it just turns out that people in Stokie like a late Sunday roast. Fair enough.

We skipped the starters and headed straight for the main event. One slow roasted pork belly with homemade apple sauce, and one Aberdeen Angus topside. Both came with some awe inspiring extras.

Where to start really, well the piece of slow cook pork belly was cooked to perfection and so bloody tasty. The crackling was as it should be. Crispy as hell. So damn yummy. The homemade apple sauce had a hint of spice that made it a perfect match with the fatty pork belly.

The beef was thinly sliced and was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Most pubs don’t serve topside, you normally get a sirloin or rolled rib, so it made a pleasant change. Very nice it was too. But I have to say the pork was the winner of the two. I did see the herbed chicken when we were walking out and it looked fab. Next time.

The all so necessary accompaniments were some of the best I’ve had outside my own kitchen. The root veg was on the perfect point of al dente, all nicely cubed as well. The greens had a slight crunch to them as well. God I hate overcooked veg. The gravy was thick and beefy. Shame there was just enough, I wanted more, much more.

I’ve saved the best till last. Those tatties were so bloody good, I wanted to go into the kitchen and hug every chef and thank them for giving me perfect roasties. Crispy on the outside and floury on the inside. Man they were good.

I sometimes make a lot of them and just scoff them in sarnies. Pikey I know, but been doing it since I was a kid, so I can’t help it.

We ended the meal by sharing a sticky toffee pudding with ice cream and toffee sauce. A real retro dish that took me straight back to school, although we used to have it with custard not ice cream. But it was rich and heavy but oh so bloody good, and a nice end to a great roast.

All in all this has been the best Sunday roast I’ve had in a long time. I will have to return to the Albion to fully judge them both, but I don’t think anything is going to beat this experience. I shall return, especially as it is just 10 minute stroll from my house. 

Sunday Roast @ The Rose and Crown

After moving into our new flat in the lushness of Stoke Newington. Home to the highest concentration of baby strollers in London. Well, maybe a slight over exaggeration, but not by much.

The Rose and Crown isn’t the closest pub to our new gaff, but it was at the time, before we discovered the Londesborough and the Shakespeare. Which have now become firm favourites for different reasons.

When we want a nice quiet pint and some good nosh then the Londesborough fits the bill. The Shakespeare on the other hand is a good time old boozer with the best selection of bar snax on the planet. Nice juke box as well.

This given Sunday we actually tried to eat at the Three Crowns, but they were jammin’ and with no reservation it was a no go. So after a short stroll back up Church Street, we ended up at the first pub we walked past earlier on.

The Rose and Crown I could see at once was a local favourite. Everyone seemed to know everyone else, and we were made to feel very welcome by the staff and locals alike.

WE were enjoying the buzz of the pub, that we didn’t even mind waiting for a table to become free. So after a half pint wait we managed to get a table amongst a few lively tables, which always adds to the buzz of a place.

We were here for one thing and one thing only. Sunday Roast. Damn I was in need for one, as it had been a good while since my last one, and I couldn’t actually remember when my last one was. So we ordered a lamb and a beef between us. Both reasonable priced at less than a tenner each. Good value.

Both came piping hot and with the same veggies, roasties and yorkies. The green beans, carrots and broccoli were all cooked pretty damn well. Nicely seasoned, and still a tad al dente. Nice. The tatties were nice and crispy on the outside and floury on the inside. Always a good sign for a roast. The yorkies were as I was hoping they would be. Nicely risen with a good taste and texture. The gravy was well made with a nice a slightly thick consistency. Just how I like it.

The only let down was the roast beef. It really didn’t have as much flavour as I like, which was a shame as everything else was so damn good. The lamb was nice and fatty and had a great lamby flavour, that actually made we wish I had ordered it instead of the beef. Normally I do, but I wanted some roastie beef inside me.

I liked the vibe within the pub and it made up for any shortcomings of the beef, which was the only low point of a really good afternoon.

I now know what middle aged single female teachers do on a Sunday afternoon, when they have a batch of papers to mark. They sit in a pub with several glass of white wine and get their head down and tick, tick, tick. Although I wonder how well the marking was after the 3^rd glass of wine. Was she just ploughing through the final few with abandon or was she becoming more and more stricter. Something that most of the pub was wondering as well I am sure.

I enjoyed the afternoon here and I am sure that it will become a firm favourite as it is with a lot of local Stokies. 
Long live the local.

Lydia Cafe

There is something I love about cafes. Going from the down and out real greasy spoon filled with fat builders tucking into large plates of grease with some food added, or to posh cafes serving the same but to a more refined palette to those of you who are too afraid or disgusted to go into a workers café.

I think it is a cultural thing, as I’ve found a few friends from overseas who love a full fry up, but would not set foot in a small café.

Most Saturdays when I was a kid, I had a full fry up. My dad would always cook it, as it reminded him of his youth growing up in the 50’s, when café life first came around. But as the years went on I stopped eating them as often and went less and less to cafes.

It’s a shame, as they are part of our cultural heritage in one form or another. Although I am sure most of the population would disagree, but I’ve found those people deride some foods in public, but secretly you can find them noshing on their £1 burger under those golden arches.

As we are new residences of Stoke Newington, it feels only fair that we should sample the delights of our new hood. Moving is tiring work, especially as we have to clean the old flat up as well. I hate landlords who paint all their walls in light colours, makes cleaning them such a pain. Hey ho.

On Stoke Newington Church Street, is the Lydia Café. A small, pleasant establishment serving the charmed folk of Nappy Valley.

I never asked but I am sure Lydia is from or around the Middle East, as her menu has one or two items form that region.

Her full brekkie contains all what it should. Sausage, bacon, beans, sauté potatoes (instead of chips), fried egg with runny yolk and 2 delicious slices of crispy black pudding, plus toast. All were cooked well, tasted great and the portions were large. What more could a man ask for in life.

The other half opted from the Middle Eastern part of the menu with a combination plate of pitta, falafel, hummus and salad. All very healthy.

I liked it in Lydia’s and I think we shall become very good friends from now on. Especially as posher versions of the good ol’ café do not hit the mark. Yes you know who you are.

Tube Strike Monday @ Mangal 1

During the last tube strike it became apparent that I was lacking some good karma in this world for I chose a real crap place for us to eat.

So I made amends, I helped old ladies across roads, even though they walked back across the road swearing at me, I gave up my seat on the tube to pregnant women one stop before I got off. But it felt like I was making amends.

So when I woke up last Monday and saw again that the Piccadilly line was suspended I knew it was going to be a good day. And yes it was.

The last time we managed to wriggle our way out of babysitting duties, was the day we were shown where Mangal Ocakbasi was. I’m still not sure how much longer we can get out of those duties. But the longer the better if you ask me. We’re not cut out for looking after small living things. Just look at the plants that have died in our care.

The London district of Dalston is Turkish food heaven. If you are not into carbonised grilled meats, lovely warm bread, zingy salads then give Dalston and especially Mangal 1 a big miss.

It’s like any small family restaurant that you would find in a town across Turkey, but thankfully this one is damn close to my house. There is a god in this world and he’s called Ocakbasi.

Mangal 1, in comparison with its posh sister Mangal 2 is simply decorated and set out. Old waiters trundle between the grill and the wooden tables delivering plate after plate of great food.

Lunch was coming to an end when we turned up, so we thought we’d make it easy for the guys and order the mixed meze and the mixed grill. This would showcase everything good the place had to offer. Plus the grill master with his arsenal of skewers was about to show us what he was made of.

The mixed meze had all those great Turkish starters that you’d expect to find on any menu, and probably do. Cacik, hummus, patlican salata and an ezme salata. All were fantastic, although I am not particularly keen on hummus with tahini as it’s the lazy way out. Hummus should be without tahini, as it’s a lesson in seasoning.

The mixed grill was incredible. All the meats were juicy and grilled expertly. Those hot coals of the grill imparted a lovely smoky taste on all the different meats. Those lamb cutlets were the best of show by far.

Oh I forgot to mention that hot Turkish bread we had given to us as we sat down. The waiter knew what I liked and gave it to me instantly. Good guy.

I would return just for the bread, but everything else was perfect and brill to eat, that I’ll be doing it all over again very soon. Next time the quail, this will show me that this grill master is just that. A master of the grill.