Everything I ate in March
Jambon gildas, chicken satay and a serious sarnie
March is like the Tuesday of the year. Boring. There aren’t any notable events to use as an excuse to have fun (I can’t comfortably celebrate Pancake Day at age 26 and I’m not Irish) and it’s not quite warm enough to confidently leave the house without a coat. But over in the world of hospitality, things are much more exciting. Shoreditch is having a Renaissance, there’s a glimmer of hope for late-night venues and I’m seeing a lot of sausage rolls in pubs. This month I consumed an undignified amount of garlic at Bubala, some seriously decadent gildas at Cav and unfortunately, no sausage rolls (which I will rectify in April). Here’s the roundup of everything I ate in March!
For me, Cav is the most exciting new opening of the month. Edwin Methu and Chris Tanner (aka the brains behind Half Cut Market, Oranj and Dram) have introduced a new wine bar to the shadows of Bethnal Green’s railway arches. Unsurprisingly, it feels like the pair have ticked all the right boxes from the get-go; the kitchen will host rotating residencies for emerging chefs, with Tasca being first up, and the wine is 80% female-founded. Tasca’s indulgent Spanish snacks are small but mighty; baguette is slathered in wigmore cheese and scallops are covered in spicy chilli oil. With Cav still in its infancy, the flow of service feels like it could use a little ironing out, but, with time, I think this boundless space will only get more and more exciting. London is seeing a new wave of this type of hybrid venue - where a listening bar meets a pub or a pop-up takes over a brewery - and Cav is showing us how it’s done.
While I often spend my money on food, I don’t often spend it on sandwiches. With each new viral sandwich trend (have we finally moved on from chopping ingredients within an inch of their life into some sort of sandwich mix?) I become less inclined to pay £12 for something I could make at home. But I broke my sandwich sobriety for Rogue Sarnies. These guys wood-fire bread in a conservatory out the back of their restaurant, using fresh produce from New Covent Garden Market to create seasonal combinations. The firing gives the bread a charred, chewiness and crucially, it’s not overwhelmed by excessive filling; the ratio of spicy salami to smoky mortadella to lemony aioli was spot on. It’s worth noting that this place is more of an order online, takeaway service but the food itself echoed Melbourne’s sandwich supremacy - Hector’s, Nico’s and Morning Market. Rogue Sarnies is a healthy reminder that there are good sandwiches and then there are seriously great ones, and the ones I make at home, are just good.
It is only when coming to write this, that I realise I have spent a birthday and NYE at Tay Do Cafe, which makes total sense; Tay Do has all the ingredients for a celebration - relaxed, reliable, delicious food, great value and BYOB. Having opened in 2000, Tay Do is a part of East London’s furniture and the first Vietnamese on the, now famous, “Pho Mile.” Their two, family-run restaurants opposite one another are instantly recognisable on Kingsland Road, well-known for their speed of light service and Southern Vietnamese specials, like Hu Tieu Noodle soup. Over the years, their offering has evolved to include a broader range of Asian cuisines, including Thai and Chinese dishes, while remaining predominantly Vietnamese. Whatever you fancy, there’s something for everyone at Tay Do but this chicken satay alone is a cause for celebration.
I am not vegetarian, but if I could hire the team at Bubala to cater for me everyday, I think I could give it a good go. At Bubala, meat is not missing from the plate, or substituted for a meat-free alternative, meat is simply irrelevant. Instead, bright, colourful vegetables are smacked, whipped and fried into a vibrant array of Middle Eastern dishes. If, like us, you’re after a bit of everything, their sample menu (choose veggie or vegan) is a beautifully balanced feast. It feels like Bubala knows what you want before you do - just as you’re starting to panic (yes, panic) that there’s not enough laffa bread to mop up the labneh, the waiter swings by to offer you another, and right when a hearty bit of halloumi threatens to send you into a food coma, a zingy daikon salad is dropped on the table to cut through it all. PSA: Bubala is for the garlic-lovers so don’t bring a first date, and do bring a pack of gum.
