Where should I eat in London?

[hmg]

I suppose if you're a meth cook then it's fair enough.

Edit: fuck, I usually keep my stash of poppy pods in my kitchen cupboard, hahaha. I'll shut up now.

Oh god, I did that once too. I had a chance to stay in a mate of a mate's flat in Ladbroke Grove over NYE 1994 and among the other filthy rich banker paraphenalia scattered about the place were ornamental vases full of silvered poppy heads. So I rinsed, mashed and boiled them up with some sort of acid to get the morphine out (I'd been reading in the British Pharmocopoeia how a few asian shopkeepers in Birmingham sometimes did this for kicks), necked about half a pint of simmered juice and took the tube into town... That worked better than the galangal. In retrospect the silvering on the poppy heads may have contained some lead.

The galangal was nice - nothing spectacular, a nice buzz, crystal clear loquacity, conversational stamina and mental energy. Not a waste of time but not remarkable enough to bother repeating when there was so much else on hand.

I also tried making DMT out of phalaris arundinacea (Smith, T.A. 1977. Review: Tryptamine and Related Compounds in Plants. Phytochemistry 16 171-175.) using a few hundred grammes of the grass, petrol and caustic soda. Yield was too low with that small amount and the risks and vapours weren't popular with the other people using the kitchen. That was molecular gastronomy, Heston Blumenthal is a pussy.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Haha, quality! Had no idea any other Dissensus heads were into home-made potions. Should have guessed really. Poppy tea is a fairly regular thing for me, I always get uncoated pods though, fuck knows what's in those metallic paints.

Made a mescaline extract once, that worked quite well.

Hmm, off topic a bit.

 

[hmg]

Haha, quality! Had no idea any other Dissensus heads were into home-made potions. Poppy tea is a fairly regular thing for me, I always get uncoated pods though, fuck knows what's in those metallic paints.

Made a mescaline extract once, that worked quite well.

Hmm, off topic a bit.

Only just though, if there was a restaurant serving up this kind of thing in London, I'd go. It might have to be pirate cuisine though, 12 miles offshore or on somewhere like Sealand. I'll cost it out...

 

[luka]

Yasar Food Market caledonian road

 

[viktorvaughn]

The Tramshed, the newest Mark Hix place in Shoreditch, has a pretty reasonable weektime lunch menu if you work in the area. I had chicken and mushroom soup (nothing to write home about) and a very nice minute steak with perfect fries and nice bearnaise - £12.75 for two course. You can have pudding instead of starter.

http://www.chickenandsteak.co.uk/menus/52/

 

[hmg]

The Tramshed, the newest Mark Hix place in Shoreditch, has a pretty reasonable weektime lunch menu if you work in the area. I had chicken and mushroom soup (nothing to write home about) and a very nice minute steak with perfect fries and nice bearnaise - £12.75 for two course. You can have pudding instead of starter.

http://www.chickenandsteak.co.uk/menus/52/

Ended up in the Tramshed a fortnight ago after failing to get a table at Duck & Waffle in Heron Tower (I had the idea to go the night before but they only take bookings at least 48 hours before, as far as I can tell). We were told by the receptionist at Tramshed to come back at 23:30 , which we did after a couple of hours in Paper Dress (fashion students wearing galleons on their pretty heads, leotards, vintage hip flasks, Belgian beer and London's friendliest doorman), only to be told they were closed by a different receptionist. Luckily the receptionist I'd spoken to earlier came apologetically to our rescue and found us a table. It was well worth it, the roast chicken shared between two of the three of us was enormous and very tasty. The other fella had a steak salad and felt a bit left out. Food and service were really good but the blue liquid (formaldehyde, I presume) in the Damien Hirst cow and cockerel tank gives the whole scene a bog cleaner vibe.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I'm gonna regret this but how on earth does one get high on galangal?
Ollie, that's the thing, to me it doesn't taste anything like ginger but apparently it is related. I've got to stop talking about it or I'll need to pop down for another goat in a minute...

After cooking tom kha gai again the other day, I take it back about galangal tasting like ginger. I bit into a piece thinking it was chicken and I've decided the flavour is almost - but not completely - un-ginger-like. Milder than ginger and almost minty, in a funny sort of way. Very clean-tasting, I can imaging galangal-flavoured toothpaste working quite well.

 

[Leo]

The Tramshed, the newest Mark Hix place in Shoreditch, has a pretty reasonable weektime lunch menu if you work in the area. I had chicken and mushroom soup (nothing to write home about) and a very nice minute steak with perfect fries and nice bearnaise - £12.75 for two course. You can have pudding instead of starter.

http://www.chickenandsteak.co.uk/menus/52/

is 12.75 considered a reasonable price for lunch over there? that's almost US$20 before drink and tip, sounds ok for a special occasion but a bit steep for frequent lunch stop, no?

 

[IdleRich]

You can eat cheaper but if it's a top end restaurant which is gonna cost you a ton in the evening then it's a decent price I guess.

 

[viktorvaughn]

is 12.75 considered a reasonable price for lunch over there? that's almost US$20 before drink and tip, sounds ok for a special occasion but a bit steep for frequent lunch stop, no?

Well yes and no. I tend to take lunch to work 4 days a week and then have a bit of a treat one day, I certainly wouldn't go out and spend 12 quid 5 days a week no! I was using reasonable partly in relation to the quality and the fact it was a steak i guess.

You can get lots of stuff like a nice Turkish grilled meat, salad and bread or a curry and rice for about 8 pounds which would be quite filling. For a hot lunch you can't really find anything nice for under 5 pounds really I've found..

 

[Mr. Tea]

For a hot lunch you can't really find anything nice for under 5 pounds really I've found..

There are those Chinese or Thai takeaway buffet places where you can stuff a good-sized takeaway container with various things for £3-4 - there's usually at least some decent things to choose from although it tends to be hella greasy. I don't object to grease per se, fortunately for me (possibly less fortunately for my arteries).

 

[Leo]

Well yes and no. I tend to take lunch to work 4 days a week and then have a bit of a treat one day, I certainly wouldn't go out and spend 12 quid 5 days a week no! I was using reasonable partly in relation to the quality and the fact it was a steak i guess.

You can get lots of stuff like a nice Turkish grilled meat, salad and bread or a curry and rice for about 8 pounds which would be quite filling. For a hot lunch you can't really find anything nice for under 5 pounds really I've found..

that makes sense, similar situation in nyc. sandwiches to go (takeaway, as you'd say) from a deli here are typically in the $5-8 range, can get some hot food at a diner for under $10 but lunch at a decent restaurant is in the range you mention.

the other options for office worker lunch are some pretty great street vendors (there are also some pretty bad/unsanitary ones as well).

 

[viktorvaughn]

The Tramshed, the newest Mark Hix place in Shoreditch, has a pretty reasonable weektime lunch menu if you work in the area. I had chicken and mushroom soup (nothing to write home about) and a very nice minute steak with perfect fries and nice bearnaise - £12.75 for two course. You can have pudding instead of starter.

http://www.chickenandsteak.co.uk/menus/52/

This has now been revised down to 9.95 for two courses. The steak is only one once a week instead of 3 times, but still sounds good for under a tenner. Might go today, will report back. Same link works.

I suppose places that are open all day are loosing money on having empty seats in the week so they do fairly good deals. Obviously one is limited by where one works in terms of accessing them however. I haven't found any others in Shoreditch really.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Good steak plus a starter or a pud for a tenner, in central London, is absolute steal. I want to try this place but no idea when I'll get a chance.

 

[baboon2004]

Sounds like a good deal - thing with steak though, is that it's rarely as good as if you buy it from a decent butcher and do it yourself (except in Paris, I've found, where it's better).

For lunchtime deals, the one Viktor flagged up at Trullo - I'd say that would take some beating. http://www.trullorestaurant.com/ Their pappardelle with beef shin ragu is a lot better than mine.....

 

[Mr. Tea]

(except in Paris, I've found, where it's better).

That's weird if true, as I heard a lot of French chefs prefer British beef for steak - something to do with the cooler, damper climate being better for beef cattle. I had a pretty good (though obviously pricey, not for me as it was a birthday treat) steak in Gaucho a year or so ago. But yeah, usually just cook it for myself at home, either flambeed with brandy and doused in cream, or coated with sea salt, coarse pepper and chilli flakes and served with a big wedge of Stilton or Roquefort on top. And cooked just long enough for it to be warm all the way through.

Might have to have this tonight, now that I have the culinary equivalent of an erection.

 

[viktorvaughn]

Yeah that Trullo is still a fave. It's slightly too far for a workday lunch sadly.

I know what you mean about steaks, but the one i had at Tramshed was really good - plus it came with proper fries which you can't do at home

 

[mistersloane]

I ate at the Tramshed, it was really nice, I really liked it. Did exactly what it said on the tin. Chicken was wicked and the steak was really nice too, def worth a pop for the lunch I reckon

 

[viktorvaughn]

So I had the set lunch at tramshed 'red sea prawn cocktail and chicken pie'.

Generous amount of food as the pie came with fries too. Funny going at lunch in the week, lots of people in suits, some old chaps in pinstripes next to me eating massive steaks, drinking red wine.

Pie was pretty good, although pastry not fully puffed up, and almost too buttery. Starter was so-so. Excellent fries.

 

[Mr. Tea]

All this talk of fries/chips reminds me of something I've been meaning to get off my chest for some time:

Potato wedges.

Can Britain please get over its collective hard-on for potato wedges? Are they meant to be "chips for grown-ups" or something? They have their place but let's face it, they're not a patch on proper, ordinary chips. (Or, if you're having steak, really good, thin, proper French fries.)