Mishkins Smishkins...

E.Mishkins "A kind-of Jewish deli with cocktails"...

Okay so there's several things that attracted me to eat here, one being that i enjoy Jewish and american food and two GIN! As i turned up for a lonesome lunch for one at half 12 on a Monday, i read on their front window's divided into 3: SALT BEEF / GIN / MEAT LOAF.
Those are the kind-of words that light my young New Zealand fire, but sadly E.Mishkin's slowly extinguished that fire...

GIN

Cheese schmear. I lol'd. I'm sorry.

The menu.

Gin Ricky. Made with soda water, should of had a G&T.

Chicken Liver with Schmaltzed radish. 

Okay so when this arrived i thought okay cool, rustic, smells good, warm toast and enough of it. This should be okay, but there was a huge piece of onion skin poking out of the pate as soon as i dipped into it. Now i know it's clearly meant to be rustic, but that's not what i wanna be chewing on. It was a bit too rich and i got kind-of bored. The bread was nice. 

Meatloaf, soft egg & mash.

Let's start with the mash, first of all too much butter not enough cream or seasoning and secondly, no gravy? this better be the juiciest meatloaf in London then if no sauce/gravy is needed (no sauce at all was offered). It wasn't that bad but a few mouthfuls into it and i really did need some gravy or something wet to moisten this dish up and add another flavour to it all.

The plate was chipped like this in two other places on the same plate. During my experience as a chef, this would have been sent back. To some this may seem like nothing, but to a chef who would never serve someone food on a chipped plate, this means a lot. I think they're taking this rustic thing too far...

The egg centre. This was actually quite yummy.

"Rustic" I felt like i should empty the can and leave my change in there at the end...

Totally wasn't worth it. I'd rather go to The Diner instead for meatloaf, they might be a big chain but it's better (Ambience, style, music) and as for a place to eat salt beef in London?... Brick Lane, and no where else. A man ordered the salt beef beside me and was telling his friend how it wasn't very good, and for a tener i'd expect it to be RAD.

Meh.

http://mishkins.co.uk/

Viajante

A michelin star restaurant serving ultra modern cuisine in Bethnal Green!? Yep, I'd assume you're more likely to pick up heroin or pay cheaper rent rather than stumble across a restaurant of this calibre, but this is where they've chosen the location for Nuno Mendes' amazing Viajante. A team of dedicated chefs from all over the globe working with Portuguese born Nuno and his modern molecular gastronomy menu.

Viajante means traveller in Portuguese and they like to show this in the array of ingredients, styles and cuisine used in their menu. The restaurant is situated in Town Hall Hotel, within walking distance from Bethnal Green station. I walked through the hotel entrance to see what the place was about about saw some interesting items...

The bar, the first place i'll go if they've got one. Had to kill some time whilst i waited for my mother, today was my birthday and what better present than a 9 course tasting menu.

Me being the geezer i am, ordered a Rosie Posie. Anything with gin in it and im happy. Very nice cocktail & very friendly barman.

The best seat in the house. The guy on the left was possibly the hippest waiter i've ever met. The man with the beard is Nuno the head chef. This kitchen is the place where they put it all together, the actual cooking is done in another kitchen. Plating kitchen, if you like.

'Shiso lovely' we had several of these. Amazing, refreshing & a little sweet.

Thai Explosion. A canapé of crab, egg & chicken skin. So yummy, great start. 

Amaranth with sorrel. Kinda like a breakfast bar with a sorrel puree. The white stuff is popcorn powder. Really needed the popcorn powder. It was strange to say none the least but i did enjoy it. It all went together and was interesting.

Cuttlefish with leek and almond.

We had a tiny green olive soup now but i forgot to take a photo, it was really delicious. Tiny portion at the bottom of an iced glass. Was cute. This here is 'Potato & yeast' which was really tasty, with a black olive powder. The yeast spread tasted of a strong cheese and the layer of what i think is fat tasted like ham.

Bread and butter. Smoked butter and burnt butter with bacon bits. 

Turnips with dill granita and mussel valve ju. Fresh, palet cleansing and tasty.

Squid with pear caramel & sunflower.

Squid and pear work. I've had this dish stuck in my mind since eating it, i think that's saying something.

Brown crab. My mums favourite dish of the day.

Asian flavours.

Confit halibut, seaweed sofrito & seafood and rice broth. 

Again Asian flavours. Only just found out what a sofrito is and it was nice. 

Langoustine & pork tendons. Again Asian inspired and lovely. The pork tendons are an odd choice and very very sticky. Tasted great though.

Cod tripe and onions. Only one i couldn't finish, because of the onions being so rich and intense. Not an onion fan im afraid. 

This knife is fucking slick.

Charred presa, tomatos and adobo.

Nuno served this to us himself explaining that it was inspired by a popular Filipino dish he ate on his travels. A deconstructed version. 

The tomatos where cooked in calcium, creating a crunchy crust around the outside and leaving it juicy and full of flavour on the inside. Great technique.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobo_(Filipino_cuisine)

  

First dessert.

Cucumber with reduced milk sorbet.

Cucumber jelly, lemon & lime granita and reduced milk sorbet. Beautiful dessert.

Walnut and goats curd.

Goats curd ice cream (possibly) with a chocolate & walnut crumb. Very yummy.

A signature dish.

'Milk'

A technique using milk and calcium powder to create a thick skin on the top (usually frowned upon and thrown in the bin). They then use a dehydrator to turn the skin into crisps.

Amazing experience. And that's what is was, an experience, a tasty experience.

Friendly staff, all dishes are explained at the table and most of all amazing food.

www.viajante.co.uk

Pollen Street Social

Jason Atherton's Pollen Street Social just off Regent St has been on the cards for a while so i was really excited to finally come here. It was my mothers birthday and we'd come for lunch, my expectations where pretty high and i was unsure as to what it'd be like. It's only the second restaurant i've eaten in with a michelin star and im always excited to see why they've got one.

The cocktail menu is incredibly important.

East Side Julep

'Rum & Coke' (Literally all rum, nearly killed me.)

My mum had the Cornish crab vinaigrette, nashi pear, cauliflower sweet 'n' sour dressing & frozen peanut powder. She said is really resembled a thai dish, with the baby coriander being such a strong flavour, but absolutely loved it. All the flavours complemented each other but it was a rich strong flavoured dish.

I had the parsley soup, potato & leek, smoked eel & truffled hen's egg. It was the first time i'd ever had eel and i think having it smoked was a good introduction. The smokiness of the eel was so strong that when it arrived the scent wafted straight to my nose, very powerful! The egg cracked open with a good crusty outer shell and a soft runny yolk inside. It was sat on a potato and leek puree which went slightly unnoticed but it's something pleasant to hold the egg in place. The Eel tasted great and along with the horseradish cream and little bits of the crusted egg where just incredible, actually worth going back for. The parsley soup was intense but i left half of it there, it accompanied everything well and moistened up the dish. Amazing dish.

Rack of salt march lamb, braised shoulder, creamed spiced aubergine, savory & black olive reduction.

I had the roasted wild cornish sea bass, charcoal peppers, native crab & coriander with crab vinaigrette.

Perfectly cooked seabass with a crispy skin, bold flavours from the pepper with beautifully dressed crab inside it. The asparagus was cooked perfectly with a good bite to it. The main's were a very decent size and were just incredible.

I totally forgot to take a picture of the amuse bouche before dessert so i downloaded paint for mac's and did my interpretation of it as best i could. 

It was a pineapple granita at the bottom with a lychee foam on the top. It was about twice the size of an average shot glass. The granita was lovely, im a huge fan of pineapple and lychee so this was instantly something i'd adore. The lychee foam was egg white based and made with an espuma gun i believe, from the texture and constancy. Lovely little thing, im definitely going to work with lychee's next.

My mother went for the strawberry & beetroot sorbet, basil ash meringue and wild strawberries. At the bottom was a pool of basil gel i believe was agar based. The way the beetroot and strawberry sorbet was tart and earthy, along with the sweetness of the basil ash meringue it worked great. Basil and strawberries are a great combination and im looking forward to using those flavours on my own creations. Lovely dish.

I had one of the signature dishes at Pollen St Social and the was there 'PBJ'.

It consisted of peanut butter parfait, textures of cherry and creamed rice puffs. Im not really one for sweet desserts but peanut butter and jelly is a love of mine. The flavours were fantastic, the different textures of cherry worked great and the little bits of creamed rice puffs were delightful. I think the parfait could have been colder, but it wasn't described as 'iced' so maybe they wanted it like that. I was hoping more for an ice cream texture. But it was a lovely dessert and it looked great.

I think my napkin would look great in the tate.

These little babes where mini almond cakes with a bitter lemon curd in the center and served hot. Amazing! very tasty & soft. The lemon curd being so tart really took the edge off the sweetness of the little cakes and it was just great.

All in all Pollen St Social was the best food i have ever eaten. The service in impeccable, offering us bread throughout the meal (two choices of mine hard baguette and sour dough), and being attentive and organised to a t. The cliental are business types, general lunchers & tourists. The decor is very minimal, arty and pretty. The waitress spent the day whispering to us but apart from that it's just an amazing restaurant and i cannot wait to go back.


I enjoyed it so much i bought these boots.

http://www.pollenstreetsocial.com/