You might think that something as modest as a cafe on the side of a towpath, used by neighbouring residents as a jogging and cycling route, would always remain hidden and truly a gem. That can no longer the case in the internet age. This sort of concept that oozes on-the-fringe appeal is exactly the kind of thing that would – and has – inspire tens if not hundreds to blog about it online, and then tell their friends the old fashioned way, offline.

Towpath Cafe sprang up sometime in the 1st quarter of this year (my,my how the year has flown by) , and since, it has won many a fan, from nearby Shoreditch and further afield. The quirky little caff was started by food writer Lori de Mori and her award winning food photoging hubby
Jason Lowe (great portfolio!) and in the last nine months or so, have garnered the love of the internet. I have a feeling this project is here to stay for the long run.

I’ve been planning to visit Towpath a few months now, but given its remote (to me anyway) locale and my other commitments, it’s taken me until now to finally get there. If you follow my photoblog, you’ll know how much I love Leicas, for their compactness and high image quality. I’ve always thought Leicas could never do food photography since it doesn’t get close enough (0.7m focusing limit), but last week, I found a way around it… and so I thought I’d try an M9. Hence the protracted picture essay (more on the flickr set.).

Derelict buidlings, large heaps of rubble, which ordinarily may be beauty undone, becomes a strangely fascinating backdrop for this towpath side cafe. Especially with a bevy of ducks gently paddling up and down the canal (which never turned into a badelynge). On a chilly Sunday afternoon, I met with Markus Aurelius (made in China), and walked down the tranquil canal, taking in the murky waters. Upon arrival, we noted how popular this place seemingly was, during lunch hour, and also how modest things were. Tables, benches, heating lamps, cushions, blankets, dogs and people who looked much more fashionable than me.

It must be the strange serene quality the murky waters of the canal exudes, it must make people feel calm. You could hear pins drop, a little too cold to be outdoors during this time of year, but I’d imagine the caff would be rammed on sunnier days.

Note the tilting tumbler of red wine. It opens at 8am on weekdays and for elevenses on weekends serving breakfast, lunch and snacks into dusk on a seasonal, and all too brief menu – and I assume – , cash only, and food does run out.

Behind the counter, toasters, a grilling machine George Foreman might endorse and a coffee machine. I sniff out the wonderful grilled cheese sandwich melting in the background. Sadly, they ran out.

Quiche, approx £5.

Homely buttery and crispy pastry, with rich custard-like egg mixture over it. I won’t hype it up, it was merely a quiche, but it a delicious one.

Polenta, Parmesan and New Season Olive Oil, approx £4.

We needed this. It was served piping hot, thick, soupy, porridge-like in texture. But it was beautiful, so warming, and so tender as it went down. The parmesan was genius, the sharpness teased out the sweetness of corn, but it was the olive oil that had stimulated the palate. Again, not to hype things up, as this was just hot polenta with abit of cheese and oil, and it was tasty.

Lemon curd and Chocolate Brownie, approx £6 for both.

I’m not really a fan of puddings made with lemon, though I enjoyed the melting gelatin-like texture of this particular pud.

A nice getaway from reality, and it was especially delightful just to reflect on the year that has past us by. We probably spent £15 between us for the food, wine and coffee. Needless to say, it’s cheap. It is difficult to write something definitive about this type of caff, for one, the menu is ephemeral, but then again, this is also the sort of caff, where it isn’t about conventions nor comprehension or exposition, but rather it is about its incalculable qualities. There is something about Towpath that makes it special. Something about the combination of location, the concept and the modest, homely style cooking. Ultimately, I think that the reason why Towpath is loved, is because it feels, human.

More photos on my flickr set.

The Gist.

Towpath Cafe
Cafe, Lunch, easy.. £10pp (cash only)
Regent’s Canal Towpath
42 De Beauvoir Crescent N1 5SB
Tel: 020 7254 7606
Bus: 149 from Liverpool St Station to Haggerston rail.

The Path : Yelp! ; Time Out London ; Crockery, cakes and caffs; Daily Vitamin D ; ST CLAIRE AND THE NOTES FROM THE DREGS ; The London Review of Breakfasts ; Tired of London, Tired of Life ; London Expat ; Urban Junkies ; Greedy Diva ; How to project manage your life

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One can do no wrong dining in Phởmile, even though I think it is established that arguably the best London Phở is found outside of it. Arguably. After a fantastic experience at Cafe East, the better half was craving yet more soupy noodles, and so we decided to head toward Shoreditch. Mien Tay is one of the better published brethren amongst Vietnamese restaurants, though many (if not all) are reputed anyway. Success has since led to the opening of a second Mien Tay in Battersea (which AA Gill loved) , and most recently, they launched a strong PR campaign which saw the Vietnamese restaurant collabing with Bibendum to tailor a wine list to match the spicy menu. No doubt you would have heard about this in one form or the other.

Meanwhile at the Dalston Kingsland branch, we arrived at a modest little eatery. The room is rectagular shaped, long and narrow, lit by nefarious bulbs with wattage that bordered the limboland of being bright enough to see, but underpowered that it felt suspiciously dim. Decor is whimsical, clad in polished rattan, especially the tables – Rattan foundation holding up a glass surface that gave the illusion of eating atop violet coloured flowers (artificial I gather). It all looks so flimsy that this may as well be a film set. Then again, what is one to expect from such a modest restaurant right?

Fresh Coconut and Three Coloured drink.

Ahh… refreshing, a young coconut which tastes surprisingly ‘old’, which is to say that the juice wasn’t sweet. There was alot of water content in anycase, and of course, we couldn’t resist the multicoloured, multi textured sweet drink. Maybe it is just psychological, but of all the places I’ve been to, I like Cafe East’s version the best – the green tapioca jelly was chewy and addictive.

Crispy Chicken with Fish Sauce.

The sauce was syrupy, sticky and mildly fishy. The chicken was indeed extremely crispy, similar to crispy sliced beef and alot like deep-fried chicken skin. Note the flowers, underneath the glass table top.

Pho with Sliced Beef

Expectedly cheap at £5.50…. but we didn’t like it. It was underwhelming. The broth tasted of fat and it was so mild that it may as well be just hot water. Too bland, at least for me. Most disappointing however, were the noodles. The ho fun carried a tinge of bounce, but at the same time, it was soggy like a rainsoaked, muddy football pitch, and like soggy chips, it lacked vibrancy. To be fair though, it was perfectly edible, but it just paled in comparison to contemporaries, in my opinion. Out of all the pho we had tried up till now, this was the least exciting. All relative.

Stir-Fried Goat with Galangal

A strong flavour, a distinct sweetness too, like plums, but I felt there was too much spring onion and shallots in this sizzler. The goat meat was about as chewable as latex. I didn’t enjoy it at all.

I do feel bad having to write about this rather forgettable meal, since staff were such sweet little angels, and I can’t remember how much we paid because I forgot to take the receipt with me (but I did pay), pretty sure it was no more than £30 (for two). So at least the damage was limited. In the end, I’m slightly miffed as to why Mien Tay has received its praises as it has done, as regretfully, Mien Tay didn’t do it for me. Food was average. I guess you could possibly do worse in Phởmile, but truthfully I wouldn’t know.

But I do think you can do a lot better. Look for the bright green signage…

The Gist.

Mien Tay
Vietnamese, £12pp
122 Kingsland Road, E2 8DP
Tel: 0207 729 3074
Overground: Hoxton

Steamy: Metro ; Hungry in London ; Krista ; The next R.W..

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The idea behind Viet Grill and Cay Tre – sister restaurants both owned by Hieu Trung Bui – is simply to bring delicious (and authentic) Vietnamese cuisine to London. They’re not the only ones in the Shoreditch area hoping to do so, of course, with much of ‘Phở Mile’¹, the term coined by Bellaphon, vying for the same. Affectionately or otherwise, many have come to recognise the brillance of this wonderful strip of Vietnamese restaurants along Kingsland road. Personally I have limited knowledge of Vietnamese cuisine, being Chinese, I grapple on to equivalents when ‘translating’ the cuisine whenever I visit a Vietnamese restaurant, for better or worse. They eat rice, we eat rice. They share dishes, we share dishes. They have noodle soup, we have noodle soup. Chopsticks apply. I have colleagues who hail from Vietnam and their first choice is Song Que, the crowd favourite really,I loved it too on my visit. Unfathomable affordability and food was delish.

With Vietnamese cuisine being so accessible, it was only natural for people to be fascinated with it. Twitter is always alive with praise (and debate) of Vietnamese restaurants in London, not limited to Kingsland road of course, as the bloggerati claim phởveyors further afield such as Cafe East² in Surrey Quays.

Generally speaking, Londoners and especially bloggers like Viet Grill. Its popularity is also partly attributed to Mark Hix’s very public affirmations toward this restaurant. If a superstar chef regularly raves about it in his national food column, it can’t be half bad. Styled with a ‘French Colonial look’ of patterns of trees across the beige walls. It feels like a vacation inside, even more so with the sun beaming down on us right now.

Let’s cut to the chase then, Cha Ca La Vong, for two £10.

‘Cha ca’ means grilled fish, and this dish has its roots in Hanoi. The original place said to have popularised ‘Cha Ca La Vong’ is also the name of a restaurant in Hanoi³. I’m not sure how they serve it originally in Cha Ca La Vong in Hanoi (or Saigon for that matter), but at Viet Grill, I was pleasantly surprised when the waitress fired up a moveable gas cooker on our table.

“Slices of Monkfish marinated in galingale and saffron, grilled at your table and served with rice vermicelli, pimento, ground nuts, fennel and shrimp sauce.” …. yeah exciting fine print. Watching the gold coloured monk fish fillets sizzle away in front of us was hugely gratifying. As it heated up, a bevy of herby and grassy aromas accompanied, it was a great way to start a meal, with our senses fully engaged.

Such a visually arresting dish could taste as good as it looked. The range of ingredients was like a field of blooming roses (well…) on the palate. There was zestiness, not unlike mango, there were grass-like flavours, dare I say which reminded me of dill, nutty, saffron and pimento for a perfumed kick. I read elsewhere that a fresh water fish known as hemibagrus⁴ is the primary choice for this dish. For purists, a fish only available in Vietnam called Anh Vu⁵. Can’t say I’ve ever been to Vietnam, for what it’s worth however, I thought monkfish was a good substitute, necessarily flaky and all.

Saigon Sate Phở, £8.

We ordered the mandatory bowl of phở, this one in particular made “with tender beef poached in a full bodied chilli broth, smothered in Viet basil and smashed nuts”.

It was bloody full bodied alright, a big whack of chilli, like pouring a volcano down the throat. Also present were rich flavours of tomatoes. The soup was cloudy, so I assumed it was coconut cream that I was tasting, along with slices of mango. The better half thought it was great, especially the soup. About the the only thing I found wanting were the noodles, I thought they were a little too mushy.

Beef Vinh, £7.

This one was from the ‘Dishes we like most’ part of the menu, with a smiley face next to it. Rolled beef fillets, seared over charcoal and stuffed with what appears to be it’s own fat. I really liked this. It came with a nectarous ginger paste on the side, not unlike a ginger beer, perfect as a dipping. The beef itself was smoky, juicy and plump, I suppose with it being marinated with a number of spices unknown to me, the seasoning helped to add depth to savoury and beefy flavours.

Vietnamese durian and Tapioca Cake, £5.

Pudding was lovely, I didn’t detect the fragrance (or stink) of durian in the tapioca cake, rather it carried a sugarcane starchiness, a gluey textured. It was served super hot which provided a lively contrast to the icy coconut ice cream which began to melt from the moment it was served. Simple, enjoyable.

Condensed milk is such a revelation isn’t it? We finished with two Vietnamese coffees, one hot, the other with ice, both with condensed milk. Along with a bowl of steamed rice and a glass of soya milk (freshly made), the bill was £47 for two. Hmm, a little more expensive than I expected, considering we only had four dishes. All in all however, we enjoyed Viet Grill, the cooking seemed able enough and food was delicious. Of course, the beauty of such a restaurant is hidden in the sheer depth of the menu. Campfire beef, sitting duck curry, slow-cooked Mekong catfish… the next time I go to Viet Grill, I’m bringing my extended family and ordering one of everything. All to share.

The Gist of It

Viet Grill
Vietnamese, £25pp
58 Kingsland Road E2 8DP
Tel: 020 7739 6686
Tube: Hoxton

Distilled from the digital ether Chris at Cheese and Biscuits ; Fay says ; Cara at Gourmet Chick ; Luiz at The London Foodie ; Mathilde at Mathilde’s Cuisine ; Tom at TomEatsJenCooks and Mark Hix’s passion...

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I discovered Turkish food in Belgium, where a mutual friend introduced me to this diverse cuisine. I recall quite vividly having parsley and cheese filled pastry – ‘Su Boregi’ – for breakfast and then washing it down it with strong Turkish coffee (or was it tea?). In the evening, we were whisked to what looked like Little Turkey in Brussels. Turkish restaurants lined both sides of this street, and for the curious gastronome in me, my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree.

The restaurant we stopped in was neon-lit, had a singing fiddler and pianist to entertain as we ate. After the meal, I was intrigued with Turkish food, and consequently made it priority on my to-eat list when I got back to London. I know next to nothing about Turkish restaurants in London (or in general), out of my depth I turned to the wisdom of my trusted source, Timeout. Having relied on TO’s succinct reviews since about 2004 and having also once tried to hit all the red stars in their annual guidebooks; I believe most of what Guy recommends. I think with critics, it’s about following someone’s palate who is similar to your own, even when no two sets of tastebuds are really the same. In spite of the rise of many a brilliant foodblogs, I still respect the word of proper food critics, and besides, Guy does have twenty years of restaurant reviewing experience.

Enter 19 Numara Bos Cirrik I in Dalston Kingsland. The ‘I’ denotes the original branch, there are three in total, and I suppose a testament to its popularity. It’s a green star. In addition to being home to the ‘Pho Mile’, it appears that Dalston is also home to a vast array of Turkish restaurants. Numara is small, the counter displays the uncooked kebabs and next to it is a charcoal grill. There isn’t much to shout about with regards to the rest of the decor – shaky tables and shaky chairs. The menu is filled with abundant choices and I spotted a selection of Pide – the Turkish ‘equivalent’ of Pizza – which I’ve been itching to try since Belgium. Unfortunately, I was informed that the special oven that they use to make the pide wasn’t switched on during my friday lunch visit, my first Pide experience would have to wait. We settled for a couple of kebabs instead. A spicy chicken one, and the ‘Adana’ kebab – a spicy lamb recipe.

Each kebab is about £10, and I was surprised when they brought out all the dishes to accompany the kebabs. Sides included two types of onions; One in pomegranate sauce, the other in chilli. A large plate of raw salad and a large bowl of turkish flat bread with rice and a thin pita complimenting two huge sticks of kebab. I was expecting a quick lunch, but this was a right feast!

Woah – the kebabs were really delish. Toasty, spicy and chocolatey. A buttery texture and ginormous portions which left us bursting at the seams. I thought the spicy lamb was better than the chicken one, it had more muscular flavours in comparison, though I suspect that those who like more subtle flavours might be better off with the latter. I didn’t really enjoy the salad, the citrusy pomegranate onions were mildly interesting, the flat bread was great with the kebab.

I spotted Turkish peperoni and egg as one of the toppings and am still a little torn that I didn’t get to try a Pide. Plus a can of Perrier and a bottle of wheaty Efes (Turkish beer), our bill came to just under £23. Would I go back? Oh heck yeah, the kebabs exuded a distinct smokey quality, the portions were large for the price we paid, so much so we hardly had room for dinner on the same day. And so my introduction to London based Turkish cuisine was a positive – if subdued – affair. The next Turkish conquest on the cards is the highly rated Kazan in Victoria, and if you have a few suggestions for yours truly, do let me know and I will add it to the list.

The Gist of It

19 Numara Bos Cirrik £15pp
34 Stoke Newington Road N16 7XJ
Tel: 020 7249 0400
Nearest Rail: Dalston Kingsland

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