Coffee Enquiry L: Two birds down in Spitalfields (Department of Coffee & Social Affairs, and Rapha)

You present an interesting dilemma. Each of you seemingly has a legitimate claim to the bicycle, and yet the bicycle can have only one rightful owner. Quite the conundrum. As a federal employee, I believe the law is all we have. It's all that separates us from the savages who don't deserve even the privilege of the daily mail. Stuffing parcels into mailboxes where they don't belong!

Newman (Seinfeld episode “The Seven”)

I love coffee as you know, so the other day while in Spitalfields market couldn’t resist getting a couple macchiatos.

 First stop: Department of Coffee & SocialAffairs

A nice place in one of the corners of the new market. Quite simple and neat place, plenty of seating outside to watch the action in the market.

The place

Beans: Department of Coffee & Social Affairs

Espresso Machine: La Marzocco

Score: 4/5

Lovely coffee, nice acidity, some fruity notes, good balance with mild bitterness, medium body, and short aftertaste. Latte art top marks.

Small cup

Department of Coffee & Social Affairs

Coffee Shop

Approx Damage: £5pp

Area: Spitalfields

Borough: Tower Hamlets

Twitter: DeptOfCoffee

Second stop: Rapha

My second coffee was in the cyclist shop Rapha, you can get yours while watching a video of the latest tour de France.

Rapha

Beans: Alchemy

Espresso Machine: La Marzocco

Score: 5/5

Great balance with long aftertaste, sweet notes coming from chocolate, and decent latte art.

Coffee or treats?

Coffee time

Rapha

T: 020 7426 2000

Cycling Shop

Approx Damage: £5pp

Area: Spitalfields

Borough: Tower Hamlets

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St John of Spitalfield

Somebody double parked, we couldn't help it. It might have been Saddam Hussein,

we're not really sure. He had a British accent though. 

George Costanza (Seinfeld episode “The Dinner Party”) 

Recently I completed the trilogy of Trevor & Fergus visiting St John Bread & Wine. I had been before in the iconic Smithfield restaurant, the only saturday's bakery in Druid St, and also in the now closed Hotel in Chinatown. The placed is in front of the old market, operating since 2003 seven days a week from breakfast to supper. The original intention was to open just a bakery but soon the project became a full restaurant. Same formula as the other places, great British cuisine, offal dishes, same atmosphere, and same great British cuisine. 

The place

Welcome

Inside

We got a couple starters to share, first a blood cake with duck egg. Brilliant, simple but just perfect. The blood cake was rich, and the perfectly cooked egg with the running yolk a marriage from heaven. 

Blood cake

Then we got Foie Gras and duck liver toast, again out of this world, great flavours, beautiful. 

Foie & liver toast

Finally we took advantage of the bakery and ended buying brownies and madeleines to takeaway, but ate half of the madeleines over a lovely coffee. 

Coffe & Madeleine

Great flavours, amazing restaurant, sadly no bone marrow in the menu, but the beautiful baked treats make for it. STJBW is my kind of place.

St John Bread & Wine

T: 020 7251 0848

British Cuisine

Approx Damage: £25pp

Area: Spitalfield

Borough: Tower Hamlets

Twitter: STJBW

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The Bells are Upstairs Jack

I read a review of a pop up place upstairs the iconic Ten Bells pub, and couldn't resist to give them a visit. The pop up was in charge of the Young Turks and The Clove Club, after three successful months one of the Turks Isaac McHale with two of the Cloves Daniel Willis and Johnny Smith, decided to keep the place running. Modern British cuisine, Giorgio Ravelli as head chef, great reviews, iconic location, yes I know everybody is aware of the Ten Bells pub affiliation with Jack the Ripper, what can I say I couldn't miss Upstairs at the Ten Bells. 

The Bells

Upstairs

I started the diner with buttermilk chicken, it was absolutely fantastic, I love battered chicken, but this one is one of the best I have had, soft and moist, perfectly cooked, the battered crispy, nice seasoning. Then some brisket, beetroot, bone marrow, & blackberries, the 4Bs were nice, some grilled leeks, samphire, and pickle girolles, nice again good warming up. 

Chicken time

Brisket

Finally the main pork chop, sugar snaps, sweet corn, and peaches, really nice flavour, sweet touch from the peaches, the veggies a bit bland just needed a punch, the pork crackling skin was lovely and played well. 

Pork chop

Finally to end a nice diner, Caravan coffee with Laphroaig truffles. 

Wine

Truffles

French press

If you haven’t been yet don’t miss it, enjoy the food, the art, and just be careful with Jack. 

Art time

More Art

Bells remind me the Seinfeld episode “The Airport” 

George: Well, You're not going to believe it 

Kramer: What? 

George: The plane has been re-routed back to Kennedy, we've got 45 minutes Kramer: Let's go, Listen to the bell Grossbard, it tolls for thee

Upstairs at the Ten Bells

T: 075 3049 2986

Modern British

Approx Damage: £30pp

Area: Spitalfields

Borough: Tower Hamlets

Twitter: upstairs_at

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Sunday Roast at Hawksmoor

It was the last day of Maraca’s et all visit, and I wanted to get them to a nice Sunday roast, so after a bit of hesitation, trying to position ourselves in a place that might worked for a different kind of sightseeing and for a great roast I took them to Hawksmoor in Spitalfields. 

The bar

Basically a meat paradise, the menu with a central focus on steaks, T Bones, Ribeyes, Porterhouse, Fillets, Sirloins, my kind of place, and actually Maraca and her committee as well, let’s be honest four South Americans, 2 Brazilians and 2 Venezuelans, we grow up meeting meat since we were little. 

Meaty sins?

Got to the place, looked the menu, all of them went for the Sunday Roast, I couldn’t resist the Ribeye, grilled bone marrow, and the half lobster with Hazelnut butter. As side to share some triple cooked chips, and creamed spinach. 

Ribeye

Lobster

Marrow

If the king was having and banquet that was it, the Roast traditional roast beef, roasted on a spit over open fire, giving a charcoal smokey flavour, duck fat potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, carrots, greens, and lashings of bone marrow and onion gravy. 

Roast

The food was delicious, one of the best steaks I have eaten in London, my ribeye was perfectly cooked, juicy, great flavour, the bone marrow, what can I say, I just loved it, and the lobster, was fresh, with subtle touches of the hazelnut butter, just perfect. I tried the roast beef and was pretty nice, all of them were delighted, and even Maraca commented that for her the best roast beef she has had was her mothers until that day now it’s Hawksmoor. 

Chips

Perfect ending: aperitif Venezuelan Rum

Roast reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Strongbox” 

Jerry: Check these out. These are Jerry Lewis' old cufflinks that he actually wore in the movie Cinderfella, I got them at an auction

George: I got some cufflinks I could've loaned you

Jerry: No, Jerry Lewis is going to be at this Friar's Club roast I'm going to next week, now I have an in to strike up a conversation with him

George: You already have an in. You have the same first name! Jerry!

Jerry: Oh, that'll intrigue him

George: Well, it worked when I met George Peppard last week

Jerry: George Peppard has been dead for years

George: Well, whoever he was, he knew a lot about The A-Team!

Hawksmoor

T: 020 7426 4856

Steakhouse

Approx Damage: £45pp

Area: Spitalfields

Borough: Tower Hamlets

Twitter: HawksmoorLondon

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Poppies has a chippie joint

One of the favourite take away options in Britain is definitely fish and chips. Churchill referred to them as the good companions. Thanks to the steady supply of the north sea and the British love for deep fried battered fish chippers are all around, the first chippy to open in London was thanks to Joseph Malin in 1860 located in the East End. Nowadays there are approximately 10k shops a third of the 1929 high of 35k shops. 

Traditional fish & chips

A place that caught my eye and wanted to try was Poppies Fish & Chips, located in Shoreditch near Spitalfields market. Restaurant / take away, big counter at the front but if you preferred you can sit, relax, and order inside. The newspaper chips are a big seller, every time I passed by I have seen people enjoying their chips served in a newspaper cone. 

The place

Poppies

Take away

I got there after a night out in Brick Lane and ordered a cod and the newspaper chips. Loved the presentation, from the bag, the box, to the absorbent paper to catch the excess oil of the fried goods. The cod was surprisingly excellent, nice seasoning, good flavour, perfectly battered, on the other side the chips were not good, completely saggy, some sort of disappointment with that. 

Bag

Sneak peak

Fish and chips are definitely a national institution, plenty of options around town. Poppies is giving a nice battered fish, yet there is still room for improvement with the chips.

Cod time

Fish reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Watch” 

Jerry: I can't believe I'm doing this. I never do stuff like this 

Naomi: Really? I give out my number to just about every customer who comes in here 

Jerry: Oh really? You don't seem that desperate 

Naomi: Oh yeah. Actually, I'm a little disappointed. I kind of had my eye on uncle Leo 

Jerry: Uh huh. Well uh, I'll give you a call, and thanks for the fish. By the way, you know why fish are so thin? 

Naomi: Why? 

Jerry: They eat fish

Poppies Fish and Chips

T: 020 7247 0892

Fish & Chips

Approx Damage: £10pp

Area: Spitalfields

Borough: Tower Hamlets

Twitter: popsfishnchips

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Don’t You Forget About Spitalfields

The other day I went out with my Irish friends for dinner and drinks in Spitalfields area. We ended in The Breakfast Club. 2 Irish, 1 English, and 1 Venezuelan in detention just like in the movie behind Simple Mind’s song Don’ You (Forget About Me). 

Club Special

The Crowded Dim Diner

5 locations in London, big breakfast would you expect with that name, the place opened in 2005 in Soho the decoration plenty of old memorabilia, probably you and even them call it junk, dim lights, and distinctive atmosphere. But the best part is the “Secret Bar” actually not so secret as everybody knows about it, but in Spitalfields you cross a fridge and after taking the stairs down you end in a more relax underground bar, a fairy tale or a chapter taken from Harry Potter or perhaps Narnia, crossing the magic 3 7/8 fridge but definitely not in King’s Cross. 

Some of the Old Stuff

Welcome to Narnia

Bar Drinks Menu, The Secret Key?

Do you need reading in your toilet?

I went for an easy one chicken wings, which weren’t bad, nothing breath-taking, the place was packed with people, loud 80’s music, and a bunch of beers and cocktails coming and going. The underground bar more relax, not so loudly music, we went from jugs of sangria to a couple bottles of prosecco. 

Sangria

Wings

A nice night out with the lads, will definitely back for the bar. 

The Secret Bar

This private underground club reminds me the Seinfeld episode “The Friar's Club” 

Jerry: Hi. I was in the audience earlier. You threw my jacket down. I just wanted to pick it up. 

Sandos Brother: Jacket? What jacket? 

Jerry: I had a jacket with a crest on it. You came into the audience, you threw it away. Agrabah. 

Sandos Brother: Are you sure it was me? 

Jerry: Well, it was either you or one of your brothers. 

Sandos Brother: Well, two of them have left already. No. 

Jerry: It doesn't even belong to me. It belongs to the Friars Club. 

Sandos Brother: Sorry.

The Breakfast Club

T: 020 707 89633

American Cuisine

Area: Spitalfields

Borough: Tower Hamlets

Twitter: TheBrekkyClub

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