Night Tales - Wigwambam - Cafe Pistou - Jerusalem Tavern

On the blog today - Mezzanine whisky, hot cocktails & street food at Night Tales, marshmallow roasting in a rooftop wigwam, comforting provençale food at the new Café Pistou, and a classic London boozer in Clerkenwell.

 

Friday 7th November - Street Feast rule the evening street food scene, but last Winter, Night Tales gave them a run for their money with a stunning pop-up in Dalston.  They are back again, but this time slightly more central in the Red Gallery space where Old Street, Rivington Street & Great Eastern Street all come together.

Pop-up dates: 

Fri-Sat - Nov 14th, Nov 15th
Fri-Sat - Nov 21st, Nov 22nd 
Thu-Sat - Nov 27th, Nov 28th, Nov 29th
Thu-Sat - Dec 4th, Dec 5th, Dec 6th
Thu-Sat - Dec 11th, Dec 12th, Dec 13th
Thu-Sat - Dec 18th, Dec 19th, Dec 20th

Night Tales is always open for food, booze and beats from 6pm-midnight (£4 entry), and running every Saturday in December from 12 – 5pm is a carefully curated Christmas Arts and Craft Market. You can expect to find unique gifts, street art installations and performances.

We rocked up at around 6.45pm when the queue was already heaving - go early before they reach capacity.  They have done wonders with the space - beautiful lighting welcomes you in before your eyes are drawn to the street food traders, the buzzing bars and the cosy corners with hanging gardens. Cast your eyes up to spot the raised mezzanine whisky bar which affords great views of the fun at ground level.

On our visit, we could choose from Voodoo Ray's, Patty & Bun, The Rum Kitchen, Yum Bun, Morty & Bob, Popdogs and Randy's Wing Bar on the food front.

It had to be Patty & Bun to start, and we stuffed ourselves with an Ari Gold (a superb cheeseburger enhanced by special smokey P&B mayo) and some Shrimp Poppaz (Fried Shrimp with Black Tomato & Urfa salsa, topped with chilli, tomato and spring onions).  They also have The Pig Dipper (a messy pork belly creation) and Skinny Chips (with roast chicken mayo and chicken skin salt).  We followed this up with the reliably delicious Yum Bun, and I suggest you do the same.  

Voodoo Ray's Pizza - based in Dalston

Shots of Patty & Bun

Morty & Bob's Grilled Cheese

Yum Bun

There are three bars to get involved with, and we headed straight for Tales of Whiskey up the stairs. It's a dedicated whisky bar with a strong cocktail offering too, including Boulevardiers (a Negroni for whisky fans), Bacon Old Fashioneds, and Rose Sours (Bourbon, lemon, sugar and a Rose Champagne syrup reduction).

Boulevardier

Rose Sour and Boulevardier

Back on the ground level, there's also the Hot (and Cold) Cocktail Hut where you can pick up Five Spiced Mulled Negronis, Night Espresso Martinis and Almond White Russians, and a more standard bar with wine and beers to get you through the evening.

Night Espresso Martinis

Ella keeping warm

With no winter version of Street Feast in sight, Night Tales is most definitely the place to be at the moment.  Take a bunch of friends, get in early and grab a garden booth for the evening - you won't want to leave!

Matt The Tip - for a similar experience in Hackney Wick, try out Turntables, a new food, drink & DJ venture opening up in the old Smokey Tails spot on the waterfront.  Bill or Beak, The Cheese Truck, Popdogs and White Men Can't Jerk are already confirmed for street food.  The launch night is tomorrow (Thursday 13th November - 5-11pm) and they will be open every Friday-Sunday until 20th December.

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Whilst in East London, we couldn't resist a quick trip to the Wigwambam, one of my favourite annual pop-ups.  For the winter months, the roof of Queen of Hoxton is transformed in to a wigwam & bonfire retreat with a real festival vibe.  This year, the theme (which isn't strictly necessary) is Woodlandia.

It's open from 4pm Monday-Saturday, with rotating daily food options on the central BBQ, and heart-warming drinks options to match.  Feeling pretty full already, we stuck to marshmallows and committed to smelling of smoke for a few days by huddling around one of their bonfires outside the atmospheric wigwam.

Unorthodox Marshmallow Technique - don't try this at home.

Here are some more details on the food, drink and events on offer at Wigwambam this time around:

Hot Drinks:

- Hot Buttered Rum £6
- Egg Snog £7 (A modern take on a winter classic: egg nog with Monkey Shoulder)
- Warm & Toasty Toddy £6 (A homemade infusion served with Monkey Shoulder / Zubrowka)

Wigwambam's Woodlandia BBQ: - cooked in front of you the  central ‘schwenkgrill’ 

Daily menu: 

 -Five-Bean Flame Finished Jacket Potato­ (option to add Burnt Ends)
- Wild Salmon and Herb ‘En Papillote’ (cooked in paper)

Rotating menu: 

- Monday & Tuesday – Venison Burger / Wild Boar Spiral Sausages
- Wednesday – Slow Gin Pulled Lamb Shoulder
- Thursday – Tender Bourbon Smoked BBQ Beef Brisket
- Friday & Saturday – Apricot & Herb Stuffed Pork Loin / Garlic & Rosemary Spiked Lamb Leg

- Served with Garlic Pot Roasted Root Veg // Wild Slaw with Beetroot, Radish & Carrot

Rooftop Events:

This season, Woodlandia WigWamBam will host ‘Drink & Do’ workshop events that include origami workshops starting on 11th November (National Origami Day) and ‘Republic of Somerset’, a traditional cider tasting with a specially curated BBQ menu hosted by The Cider Box on 15th November. They've also teamed up with Lottie the Cocktail Gardener (from Midnight Apothecary in Rotherhithe) to host a cocktail master class in January, teaching you how to use herbs and flowers to infuse, garnish and flavour cocktails.

 

Wednesday 5th November - Watch as I neatly segue from Wigwambam to Cafe Pistou where their Shepherd's Pie is presented in a bizarre wigwam style - scroll down for that to work...

Café Pistou is a charming, all day provençale brasserie that has just opened on the fringes of Exmouth Market where Strada used to be.  It's a good looking place with the old stripped-back décor and some pretty funky lighting.  It's also bigger than it first appears with a few more covers tucked away in a quirky little extension at the back.  

Café Pistou should come into its own in the summer when the doors and windows can be opened up on to the streets, but it's a perfectly cosy candlelit dining spot for now.

I kept it French with a bottle of 6.8% Meteor Wendelinus (Crate & Redchurch beers are also available), whilst Natalie started strong with an excellent Provençal Martini (£8.50) which involved vermouth infused with provençal herbs.  

Some other cocktails of interest:

- Spicy Fig & Watermelon Martini - Finlandia, fig liqueur, watermelon juice & chilli syrup.

- French Negroni - Grey Goose L’Orange, suze, Noilly Prat rouge & pink grapefruit 

- Pear Thyme Sour - Grey Goose La Poire, thyme liqueur, lemon juice, egg white & Peychaud bitters

Meteor Wendelinus - 6.8%

"Light bites" and "Small Plates" all arrived at once.  

- Fougasse - Traditional Provençal bread with a pistou dip - £4

- Pissaladiere - Puff pastry tart with caramelised onions, Chorizo and goat’s cheese - £4

- Salt Cod Croquettes in crispy breadcrumbs with a sweet pepper & tomato mayonnaise dip - £6

All three were simple, light, delicious and easy to share, and there are plenty of reserve choices on the menu if those don't take your fancy including Courgette Flowers and Barbajuan's (Deep-fried Provençal ‘wontons’ with a goat’s cheese & honey pepper dip).

Pissaladiere with caramalised onions, chorizo & goat's cheese

Salt Cod Croquettes

No more than 5 minutes later, our "large plates" also arrived.  I have never had such rapid service in my life!  It suited me fine, but if they keep this up they won't make a lot of money on drinks, and someone aiming for a long & romantic French dinner might find themselves back at home in front of Take Me Out sooner than they had hoped.

- Chargrilled lamb cutlets, pistou and sunblush tomatoes - £18

- Provencal Shepherd's Pie with ratatouille, feta cheese, Puy lentils, chickpea purée and spiced feuille de brique - £9

The lamb cutlets were unsurprisingly full of flavour - eat with your hands if you want to get your money's worth.  The big surprise though was the twist on a Shepherd's Pie, with a flaky and tasty wigwam outer shell that Natalie enjoyed destroying once photos had been taken.  The reward was a comforting dish that I could eat all day, perfect for this time of year.

Chargrilled Lamb Cutlets

Shepherd's Pie, apparently!

And to finish:

- Vanilla Creme Brulee - £5.50
- The Pistou -  Charcoal roast plums with blackcurrant, plum & olive oil sauce, vanilla mascarpone and blackcurrant sorbet. Served with a caramel & pine nut crisp and basil sugar - £6

Having seen an epic Creme Brulee on a neighbouring table, we knew that was a safe bet.  Meanwhile, The Pistou was a generous bowl of sweet treats though it was a little busy and confused - we would have liked more of the caramel & pine nut crisp and basil sugar, and slightly less of the overpowering blackcurrant sorbet. We enjoyed cutely presented coffees at the same time.

Creme Brulee

The Pistou

Café Pistou is a lovely addition to the delightful Exmouth Market food & drink scene.  Pair it with a trip to the Exmouth Arms and Café Kick to make a night of it.

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Three courses and cocktails in record time meant the night was young, so we wandered over to The Jerusalem Tavern (named after the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem) for one (or two) more drinks.  

Matt The Fact - "The Jerusalem Tavern is both fabulously historic and a complete fabrication. Although the premises date from the early 18th century, the current shopfront wasn’t added until 1810 and the place didn't open as a pub until the 1990s."

But who cares how old it is? It's still a London institution, with St.Peter's Brewery beers from Suffolk the main attraction, and ludicrously cheap whiskies on the back bar.  After some IPA and Red Ale, we switched over to Ardbeg 10 and Auchentoshan 12 (both around £3.50 per dram).  You can also buy mini-kegs and gift packs of St.Peter's beer to take home - I bet they make a killing on Christmas Eve when all their punters realise they forgot to get any presents...

And that's pretty much all you need to know.  They've got hot food, cosy corners, friendly bar staff, affordable booze, and a great atmosphere.  A true London gem.

N.B. The Jerusalem Tavern is open 11am-11pm on weekdays - it is closed at the weekends.

Upstairs at Nancy's - Sager + Wilde - Hawker House - Night Tales

Saturday 9th November - 2013 may well be remembered as the year that Street Food really started to take over the London food scene.  Billed by some as "The Summer of Grub", we were spoiled with markets, popups and events all over the city.  But what happens when it gets cold outside? Surely the restaurants, bars and pubs will come into their own again? Not if Street Feast, Night Tales and Kerb have got anything to do with it.  Both Street Feast and Night Tales launched their Winter popups two weeks ago, so I got on the trusty Orange Line to the far East.  To break up the journey to Broadway Market, I made a couple of stops along the way, starting with a new bar on Shoreditch High Street.

Upstairs at Nancy's is a cosy little bar, tucked away above the excellent Crown & Shuttle pub near Shoreditch High Street. There are only a few tables so don't leave it too late.  It has been smartly done up with fake shop fronts to give the impression of sitting outside on a Victorian street.  I met List Leader Natalie and Team List debutant for a quick drink after their disappointing trip to the overhyped Experimental Food Society Spectacular at The Old Truman Brewery.

The drinks menu is short but interesting.  There are bottled beers from London breweries such as Five Points, Partizan, Redchurch and Weird Beard.  Red and white wine are both served directly from barrels.  For £8.00 you can have one of their two barrel aged cocktails, The London Negroni (Kamm & Sons Ginseng Spirit, Vermouth and Gin) or Nancy (Kamm & Sons, Vermouth and Mezcal).  Food comes from the Crown & Shuttle downstairs.

They are now taking bookings for Christmas at Nancy's, a festive banquet for £40 which includes a great deal of food, and spiced mulled wine or mead on arrival.  It would be a unique place to have a Christmas dinner - book now!

Our next stop was Sager + Wilde on Hackney Road, halfway to Broadway Market from Hoxton Overground.  I tried to pop in to this lovely wine bar on my last crawl around the area, but they shut rather early at 11pm to appease their new neighbours.  Hopefully they will be able to extend this in the New Year once they have settled in.

Sager + Wilde are Michael and Charlotte Sager-Wilde who ran a very popular wine bar popup at the end of 2012.  They have now found a permanent home, and they haven't skimped on the design. We were very taken with the pavement light bar top.  There is a Daily Menu with affordable wines and fizz, available by the glass and bottle, and a slightly more pricey Market List with the likes of Clos de Vougeot Grand Cru Domaine Henri Boillot 2005 Burgundy at £148. Takeaway is £10 off the list price. There are some interesting bottled beers, as well as a few cognac, sherry and vermouth options.  To eat, there are grilled cheese sandwiches, tartines, charcuterie, cheese, snacks and even ice cream.

We were well looked after at the bar by Michael on our brief visit, who started by pouring us some free sparkling water which he struggles to give away as most people think they have to pay for it.  Cassie went for a glass of the Prosecco Di Valdobbiadene 'Bottle Fermented' Zuchetto 2012 Veneto and I greatly enjoyed my white Macon Uchizy Talmard 2011 Burgundy. I highly recommend paying these guys a visit, and staying longer than we did! I will be back.

Our 3rd stop of the evening was Street Feast's latest popup, Hawker House - an indoor night market with street food, hot cocktails, a whisky bar, beer, wine, DJs and, as they would say, good vibes. It is open every weekend until the 14th of December (when they will hopefully have a Christmas party of some kind).  It is open from 5pm-2am (hooray for the late license!) every Friday & Saturday - £3 entry between 7pm and midnight and free otherwise.  We were joined by Team List regular Lauren and Broadway Market locals Olly & James who bizarrely decided to cycle 30 seconds down the road from their flat.

After a short queue in the cold, we made our way indoors to the toasty Hawker House, inspired by the hawker centres of Singapore and decorated in the familiar Street Feast style with attractive multi-coloured bulbs strung up all over the place.  The traders are mostly familiar faces (Spit & Roast, Smokestak, Breddos Tacos, Yum Bun, Rola Wala, B.O.B's Lobster, Sorbitium and more), and it is good to see Morito tapas & mezze bar from Exmouth Market getting involved.  I won't go into all the details about everything that we ate, though I greatly enjoyed by Baba G's Biryani Burrito from the Bhangra Burger team. Here are some photos to whet your appetite: 

On the bar front, they have the reliable Rotary Bar for giant cocktails, craft beers and wine, but the Summer Gin Store has been replaced by the Winter Whisky Bar complete with over 50 bottles to choose from and a random whisky generator for the indecisive.  For more exciting wine, there is the excellent Street Vin stall with a restaurant quality list including a Magnum of the week.  Finally, there is the Hot Bar which offers several warming drinks such as Hot Buttered Rum, Hawker Hot Chocolate (laced with Cognac and green Chartreuse) and Hot Applegrass (with Zubrowka, lemon, ginger and apple juice).  This seems like a great idea as soon as you walk in, but not so clever 15 minutes later when you are down to your t-shirt and after a cold beer as it is pretty hot inside! I do feel that they possibly haven't made the right call making it indoors.  Whilst they have done wonders with the site, it isn't quite as magical as their Dalston Yard effort, and I personally am a big fan of layering up and braving the winter winds with a mulled wine in one hand and an oversized German sausage in the other. However, the 2am late license is a huge improvement from previous installments and something that most outdoor Christmas markets can only dream of.

Our locals disappeared to some terrifying sounding club night, leaving Lauren and I far from home, so we decided to get the bus over to the new players on the night market scene, Night Tales, before hopping back on the Overground.  They have set themselves up in a car park in Dalston Junction, a stone's throw away from the last Street Feast site (whose signs are still up), and are open every Thursday-Saturday in the run up to Christmas. Opening times are Thursday 6pm-11pm, Friday 6pm-midnight are Saturday 4pm-midnight, and there is again £3 entry though I'm not sure when it applies. Up to date information is available on their Facebook page - click here.

Unlike Street Feast, they have decided to stay outdoors, and the atmosphere is all the better for it. Crammed under a large canopy are several bars, including a Negroni station and a raised Mezcal mezzanine (changing to a Shake, Rattle & Stir Gin Bar next week), and some fantastic street food traders.  They have done well to secure the services of BAO, Rainbo, Le Petit Paris, Patty & Bun and Pizza Pilgrims.  They also have the Smokey Tails boys fresh from their summer popup in Hackney Wick, who come with the added bonus of DJ Seth Troxler.  As well as top DJs, they will also have live music including an African funk band tomorrow (Saturday 23rd November) which sounds right up my street.  We grabbed some BAO, a couple of deadly Mezcal concoctions and some hot cider and soaked up the buzzing atmosphere.

Which one you prefer out of Hawker House and Night Tales will be down to personal taste.  They are both wonderful places to spend an evening, though Night Tales just edges it for me by staying outdoors. There is plenty of room for both of them in London - who knows how many there will be this time next year. Let me know what you think!