Islington Brewhouse & Kitchen - Wild Game Co. - Talented Mr Fox - Experimental Cocktail Club

Tuesday 21st October - London may well have 70+ breweries operating at the moment, but there is only a handful of good brewpubs.  

To that short list, we can now add Brewhouse & Kitchen, who have just set up shop in Islington following success with their pubs in Portsmouth and Dorchester.  Another branch will also open soon a couple of miles away in Highbury.

My immediate impression was that it looked like a pretty standard pub, but there are some lovely design touches on closer inspection, including cheeky beer quotes, hidden hop drawers and arty beer bottles.  Then of course there's the fully operational brewing equipment rescued from the sadly extinct Lamb & Botanist brewpubs, not hidden behind glass but sitting proudly in the pub right next to the punters. Look out for friendly Head Brewer Pete Hughes patrolling the area.

I tasted 6 of Pete's launch beers on my visit, but here is the full list including some seasonal Autumn & Winter specials 

Arc Angel – ordinary bitter, 3.6% (traditional, caramel, bitter) 

Spandau B – session IPA, 4% (light, bitter, hoppy) 

Myddleton – blonde ale, 4.5% (simple, balanced, refreshing) 

Britton – American brown ale, 5% (dark, complex, hoppy) 

Watchmaker – strong bitter, 5.5% (traditional, balanced, bitter) 

Chaplin – IPA, 6% (intense, bitter, hoppy) 

Autumn & Winter specials: 

Suffragette Ninja – milk stout, 4% (rich, sweet, roast)

Triple A – rye ale, 5% (dry, spicy, floral) 

Vlad – winter warmer, 5.5% (fruity, spicy, malty) 

Raleigh – smoked porter, 5.5% (smoked, roast, chocolate)

The darker beers were particularly successful, and I also went back for a second go at the 6% Chaplin IPA.  There's plenty here to keep beer lovers happy, especially as there are many more draught and bottled options in reserve.  If you really fall for a particular beer, you can take home a 5 litre mini keg of the stuff too.

5 Litre Mini Kegs

I worked my way through some canapés (e.g. lamb koftas, pork belly in cider, mini fish & chips with mushy peas) but a return visit for the eye-catching beer-can chicken might be in order.  Food & beer pairing is strongly encouraged with third pint glasses available and a host of tempting mains from £10 on the menu.

Beer Can Chicken

If you really want to get your hands dirty, sign up for a £99 Brewing Experience Day which gets you 5 hours of learning, brewing, beer banter, a hearty lunch and 5 litre minikeg to take home.  

Also coming soon on Tuesday 25 November will be the first in a series of beer & food matching events at Brewhouse & Kitchen Islington.  This one will be with Don Parkin and Phil Harding who will bring their Honkytonk beer trolley for an expert fun guide through of seven courses of beer & food matches.  Tickets will cost just £25 - Book via phone 0207 837 9421 or email islington@brewhouseandkitchen.com

Islington Brewhouse & Kitchen is a welcome addition to an area that isn't short on top boozers.  Why not make a day of it with the likes of Three Johns, Craft Beer Co, Charles Lamb, Earl of Essex and North Pole round the corner.

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Wednesday 22nd October - Fitzrovia is about to be overrun by lobster restaurants, but street food veterans Wild Game Co. have arrived first on Charlotte Street to keep those crustaceans at bay. There's no need to look it up on Google Maps, just keep walking until you see a giant stag...

All the meat at Wild Game Co. comes from owner Andy Waugh's family business in the Highlands, Ardgay Game.  On the launch menu there are burgers (from £6), salads, bargain steak frites (only £12.50), and heart-warming stovies (£3.50).  Expect the likes of partridge, pigeon and rabbit to make an appearance on a specials board soon too.

We went straight for The Veni-moo (£8.50), a venison burger & a Highland beef burger, with double cheese and beef bacon, and home-made bearnaise sauce, with some beef dripping fries (£2.50) on the side.  It was a joy to eat, and a cut above anything I had at posh burger joint Bobo Social down the road.

"Steak & Chips!" from the new @WildGameCo 65 Charlotte St Fitzrovia (site formally Double J's) http://t.co/Vbs4gNEuZ5 pic.twitter.com/gil2jSXibA
— Wilkes McDermid (@wilkes888) October 21, 2014

The building sadly doesn't allow for an alcohol license, so there's more Irn Bru than Innis & Gunn, but home-made root beer and more will soon make an appearance.  

Wild Game Co. is bound to be very popular as there isn't too much else in this area like it. Pleasantly low prices and speedy service (not to mention delicious food) will appeal to students and the lunch crowd in particular.  Andy, still in street food mode, was chatting away to all the customers, and I can imagine you would feel like a regular here in no time.  A very promising start - I'll check back again soon. 

Keep an eye out for Wild Game Co.'s special events around town such as their 8-course game extravaganza, Struie Road, at Workshop Coffee.  

It's also worth perusing their excellent website - www.wildgameco.co.uk - which has all sorts of enticing recipes and more information on their meat.

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I'm delighted to announce that the Talented Mr Fox pop-up is back in residence at One Leicester Street.  The permanent Peg + Patriot in Bethnal Green helped to fill the temporary void, but it's great to have Matt Whiley, Ally Martin & co. back in business in Central London.

Natalie and I popped in after dinner at Wild Game Co.. I'll keep it brief as you can read my original write-up here.  Unsurprisingly there's a cracking new cocktail menu, plus a subtle TMF paintjob to boot.

Male & Female toilets or Mr.Fox?

Highlights include:

Princess Consuela (Banana, Cognac, Bitters, Absinthe Rinse) - £11

Green House (Chlorophyll Dogs Nose Gin, Kummel, Lemon, Tomato Vine) - £11

Young Cuban (Bacardi, Tio Pepe, Orgeat, Lemon, Dill) - £9

Kummel On My Face (Tequila, Apricot, Lime, Black Salt, Fig Leaf Soda) - £10

French Flip (Croissant Cognac, Egg Yolk, Port) - £10

We also had a sneak peek at an off menu Tunnocks Tea Cake Martini which could become a permanent fixture if it proves to be popular.

Princess Consuela

French Flip from above

French Flip and Tunnocks Tea Cake Martini

Kummel On My Face

Young Cuban

It's hard to order a bad drink at Talented Mr Fox, there is almost always space without reserving ahead, and you get a show when you sit at the bar.  For those reasons and more, TMF comfortably sits on my list of Best Cocktail Bars in London.  Get over there before it disappears again!

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Another contender for that list is Experimental Cocktail Club, just round the corner on Gerrard Street. I'm a huge fan of the original outpost in Paris, but talk of it being difficult to get in has led me to take my business elsewhere thus far.

But it was early-ish on a Wednesday evening, and Natalie was keen to get another point on the leaderboard, so we tidied up our hair, tucked in our shirts, and tied our shoelaces before greeting the bouncer outside ECC Chinatown.  

"How many?"

"Two."

"OK"

Well, that wasn't very hard.  Up the stairs we went...

I feel a fool for not dropping in before.  ECC Chinatown is a stunning candlelit cocktail bar spread over two floors, with a DJ spinning funky takes on 20s swing.  For a Wednesday night, the atmosphere was phenomenal - tables were packed and the bar was buzzing.  We loved the layout that allows you to peer down to tables below through the middle of the stairs, as well as the mirrors above the bar on the first floor.  

All of this fun comes at a cost of course, with drinks around the £12 mark.  There's also a cover charge of £5 after 11pm, but there won't be many better bars that stay open til 3am in London.  If you really want to splash the cash, order one of their Vintage Cocktails that start at £120.

Birds eye view from second floor

Bartenders were working double time trying to keep up with all the orders, and our drinks were worth the wait:

Popeye's Better Half - Plantation Original Dark Rum, spinach syrup, lemon juice, virgin olive oil, egg white and soda - £12.50

La Medicación - Ocho Blanco tequila, Ramazzotti, St Elizabeth Allspice Dram, agave nectar, ginger syrup, lime syrup & Del Maguey Vida Mezcal Mist - £12

And there's plenty more where that came from, if you can afford it.

We were really impressed with our first visit to ECC, and with Talented Mr Fox and Opium a stone's throw away, Chinatown is bizarrely a real destination for cocktail lovers.  It will take all of your willpower not to stop off somewhere for Chinese food afterwards...

Kerbisher & Malt - Arabica Bar & Kitchen - Polpo

It's been a quiet 2 months for Matt The List.  At least, that's what the blog activity suggests.  In fact, a brave select team recently returned from a 24 day food & drink tour to New York. Toronto, Chicago & Minneapolis, fatter, poorer, happier.  This was swiftly followed by a trip to Edinburgh, Inveraray & Islay for haggis, seafood & whisky.

However, we can talk about all that another time (i.e. once all the maps, photos & notes are sorted out).  If you are heading to any of those cities soon and need tips, leave a message - we ate everything.

In the meantime, here is a round-up of three excellent meals that I had all the way back in June in quick succession.  Warning: Photos may cause salivation, especially Arabica's Knafeh.

Wednesday June 25th - One of the rare outings to be made at the same time as a World Cup fixture (remember that?) was a trip to Kerbisher & Malt's latest "modern fish & chips" outpost in Clapham South. Locals would probably rather I kept quiet about the lovely stretch of food & drink on Abbeville Road, but a spate of openings including Comensal & Bottle Apostle suggest that the secret is already out.

The front of K&M doesn't scream chippie so you may well walk past it if you aren't careful.  I suggest getting a pint in The Abbeville opposite beforehand to get your bearings.  Much like The Fish & Chip Shop, K&M has gone for a sleek but slightly too dark interior for my liking - a little more natural light wouldn't hurt in both.

I found my way to a corner table with fellow foodie Leyla (of The Cutlery Chronicles) and we promptly ate our way through the tempting menu.  Battered haddock, breaded plaice, fish finger butties, onion rings, chips, mushy peas and a fennel & dill salad all got washed down with Meantime beers & cups of wine in no time. 

It's all reasonably priced with the options of haddock, cod, plaice, pollock & coley ranging from £5.80-6.90. The fabulous butty and the sides (particularly the onion rings) impressed more than the fish itself which could have done with more seasoning, but it's all definitely a cut above your local chippie.  Calamari & whitebait are left for us to try another time.  Tartare sauce & lemon mayonnaise added some extra flavour, whilst red curry sauce didn't quite do it for us.

Kerbisher & Malt is simple, filling, tasty, family friendly, easy to recommend and it won't break the bank. Most of the time, that's all you need!

Browse the menu and follow Matt The List on Zomato

Friday June 27th - Two days later, I found myself eating out again, this time at the new permanent home for Borough Market regulars, Arabica Bar & Kitchen.  They have got themselves a wonderful, large, airy room right that opens out on to the heart of the market, round the corner from the superb Rake pub (which we may or may not have retired to after the meal).

Where to start? Well, I could talk about every delicious dish but I would soon be out of my foodie adjective depth.  My companion from the previous meal at K&M goes in to more detail on Arabica on her blog here. 

The exciting range of Lebanese 961 beers were sadly not available so we turned to the excellent wine list instead.  A few minutes in, and our table was full of small plates, including a Lebanese Lamb & Beef Tartare (Kibbeh Nayyeh) bursting with flavour, delicious air-dried Hereford beef (Basturma) and some delicious dips.  The Hummus and Smoked Aubergine dips were a little on the stingy side, as was the bread, but there was plenty else to go around.

Kibbeh Nayyeh - Lebanese lamb and beef tartare, olive oil, red mustard leaves, tropea onion and mint - £9

Basturma - Anatolian-style air-dried Hereford beef with baby leaves, flowers, olive oil and lemon - £8.50

Moutabel - Smoked Aubergine, Tahini, Garlic, Olive Oil, Lemon - £5.50

After several good decisions from the Dips and Raw / Cured parts of the menu, many more plates arrived from the Fried, Charcoal, Stove / Grill, Salads and Veg / Rice / Pulses sections.  Healthy portions of semolina-crumbed squid and whitebait didn't last long.  Lamb and Spinach Kibbeh (croquettes) were hard to share for more than one reason.  And Chicken & Pistachio kebabs & Beef Onglet on a smoked barbecue salad managed to impress even when split 5 ways.

Semoline Crumbed Cornish Squid - With Fennel and Sumac - £9.50

Makale Samak with Tarator - Crispy whitebait dusted with roasted cumin - £6

Chicken and Pistachio Taouk - Marinated in cardamom, honey and green chilli - £9

Sugar Cured King Prawns - With smoked garlic oil, urfa chilli and fennel salt - £11

Beef Onglet - With Smoked Barbeque Salad & Watercress - £9.50

Mjederah - Warm lentil and bulgur wheat pilaf with crispy onions and tahini salad - £6

Sayadieh Royale - Pan fried pollack with rice, tahini salsa and toasted pine kernels - £10

Three options from the Clay Oven section of the menu arrived last and nearly finished us off.  The standout was the Armenian-style Lamachun, a beautiful flatbread smothered with spiced lamb, tomato, onion, peppers and pine kernels.

Armenian Style Lamachun - Flatbread with spiced lamb, tomato, onion, peppers and pine kernels - £6

Suzuk Pide - Turkish pizza with smoked red pepper sauce, spicy sausage, haloumi cheese - £7

Three cheese Man'ousheh - Flatbread with haloumi, akawi and Westcombe ricotta - £6

18 plates or so later, we made it to dessert. Make sure you do too, and order the eye-catching Knafeh - warm, melt-in-mouth Levantine cheese pastry with orange blossom honey and crushed pistachio. There was a bit of a spoon scrum for this one, though the Levantine ice cream (Booza) provided a distraction. I have also heard good things about the Arabica Affogato and the Baklawa, but we had run out of space. A Turkish Coffee was the fitting way to finish, with a Pistachio Delight on the side.

Knafeh - Warm Levantine cheese pastry with orange blossom honey and crushed pistachios - £6.50

Booza - A unique Levantine ice cream made with Chios mastica, delicately perfumed with orange blossom water and served with lashings of green pistachios - £5

Turkish Coffee with Pistachio Delight

The menu is packed full of things you will want to eat, so I suggest going with a few friends and getting as much as you can!  As you can see from the multitude of photos, it is a feast for your eyes as well as your stomach.  Portions are small for the price, but the quality is definitely high enough to make one forget.  Highly recommended.

View the photos on Matt The Tumblr - Set 1 / Set 2

Browse the menu and follow Matt The List on Zomato

Saturday June 28th - Last but not least, ahead of my trip to Venice, I squeezed in a lunch time visit to Polpo in Notting Hill to sample Russell Norman's take on a bacaro (Venetian restaurant / bar that mostly serves small plates or cicheti).

After a Negroni & a Cynar Gin Fizz passed the first test, we ordered some food.  The table of 6 split neatly into meat eaters and veggies, and there was plenty on the menu to keep both parties happy.  The mixed Cicheti plate is definitely the way to start, covering fried stuffed olives, arancini (fried rice balls), crostini ("little toast" in Italian) and more.

Be sure to also dip in to the excellent meatball section - I especially recommend the spicy pork & fennel variety.

The veggies' Spinach, Parmesan & Soft Egg Pizzetta made me temporarily jealous but we retaliated with scallops supported by peas and rabbits hidden in endive, not that they cared.  The menu changes so you won't necessarily find all of these dishes if you visit, but I'm sure the replacements will keep you happy.

After just the right amount of savoury snacking, we moved on to dessert.  Feeling indecisive, we decided it was safest to order pretty much everything on the menu.  Small pots of strawberry and basil pannacotta & tiramisú soon made way for flourless orange & almond cake and a stunning nutella pizzette.

There are now four Polpo branches in London, but the quality doesn't seem to be diminishing.  The food was hard to fault, service was exemplary and prices are very competitive.  It doesn't manage to capture the atmosphere of eating out in Venice, but they've certainly nailed the cuisine.  Arabica Bar & Kitchen may have been slightly more thrilling, but you will leave Polpo content with more cash to spare!

View the Polpo photos on Matt The Tumblr

Browse the menu and follow Matt The List on Zomato

Matt The Tumblr latest:

Wapping Market (organised by the clever folk behind Brockley Market) is now open every Sunday from 10am-2pm - Wapping Wall, E1W 3SG - Photo Set 1 / Photo Set 2

First look at cosy new café in Battersea - La Moka Café

New salads & specials at fantastic deli in Battersea - Park Road Kitchen