I can be super grumpy when the market is filled with you lot. It’s difficult enough to move my lazy butt to Tescos from my flat side of the Piazza without having to say “pardon me” a million times to the likes of slow-moving Midwestern women in shorts. But, this next bit is good for you ’cause the food will be awesome, and good for me ’cause, well, I have bad feelings about Tescos in Central London (see previous rants) and will do anything to avoid it.

It’s the Night Market, and it is truly awesome. Live performances, alcohol and 35 different food stalls ranging from Ginger Pig (well, I never…) to The Sporeboys famous mushroom sarneys.

Hope to see you there. I’ll be the one stuffing my face with chutney.

August 16th, 23rd and 30th from 17:00 to 22:00 in the Covent Garden Piazza
Official Site Here

London has gone organic food mad. I spent yesterday at the Marylebone Fair – a yearly event featuring a fantastic selection of stalls selling specialist cheeses, bread, fruit & veg plus lots of exquisite jewellery and clothing. Since I was last on Marylebone High Street a few months ago, the place seems to have been transformed. Now it’s impossible to walk more than a few feet without seeing a new organic food grocery or pricey bakery. I’m still on the fence whether I’m prepared to pay £21/k for a sirloin steak or £2.50 for a loaf of bread especially since I’ve been going to the best butcher in London called Bifulcos for almost a decade. It’s rare these days to find a butcher that not only knows their customers all by name but, in my case, even tries to set them up on dates. A few years ago I had to dissuade them from introducing me to a ‘very nice man’ when they heard I was single. Bifulcos in Cricklewood sells fantastic Scottish beef, Osso Bucco, salt beef and their own fantastic sausages. Sure, it’s a little more expensive than the supermarkets but doesn’t seem half as expensive as the organic shops I’ve been to lately.

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Lately the supermarket seems to have been over run with groovy biscuits but in my office we have a soft spot for the custard cream. Actually, it’s more than a soft spot. We get through a pack of custard creams a day. OK, I admit it. We’re addicted to custard creams. For those unfamiliar with the custard cream, it is basically a sweet, milky tasting cookie with a wedge of custard flavoured cream on the inside. Think the English equivalent of an Oreo, only vanilla flavoured. It’s truly yummy. We’ve tried other biscuits – shortbreads, bourbons, even those flavourless tea biscuits but we always come back to Custard Creams.

I’m already unimpressed as PJ has told me Hamburger Union is “just OK.” Why I agree to go, I cannot say, but go I do.
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OK, I have been struggling with this one all weekend. I want to keep it for myself. But then I think: no one really takes our advice anyway, so what does it matter?

You may have seen the West Cornwall Pasty Co. around your posh neighborhoods and in stations. We’ve got one in the Piazza, and I often grab a pasty for lunch and then go to St. Paul’s chruchyard to chow down. They are only three quid, and they will keep you filled for the day.
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Having a home office can sometimes be a drag. Been working from home all day. I haven’t actually left the house. I’m not sure if that’s only a tad bit insane. In any case, what can I write about if I haven’t left the house?
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I’ve lived here for 30 years and been going for Dim Sum on Sunday afternoons at New World in Chinatown for the past decade. I always thought Dim Sum was a weekend thing. Then on Tuesday a friend suggested we meet up for lunch in the West End so I said, ‘What about a Chinese?’ She saids, ‘Sounds good,’ and I suggested New World because it’s good and it’s cheap and the staff aren’t nearly as unfriendly as they are at the nearby Wong Kei. Expecting to order a Peking Duck and some greens with oyster sauce, imagine my surprise when I got to the restaurant to find waitresses pushing around trolleys stuffed with Dim Sum. ‘What’s going on?’ I said to the hostess at the door. ‘I thought Dim Sum was a weekend thing.’

‘Oh no,’ she said. ‘We do Dim Sum every day.’

I felt really sad. I used to look forward to my Dim Sum Sunday. It just doesn’t feel the same knowing that it’s available every single day. It’s like the day the shops started opening on Sunday and suddenly we realised that shopping was no longer a Monday-Friday activity. Some days should be sacred.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Earl’s on Endel St. has the best sandwich in Covent Garden. Not only are they good, but they are cheap. The problem with Earl’s, however, is that it closes at 4 p.m., and it’s closed full stop on Sundays. So, in my ever desperate search for a good sandwich when Earl’s is not an option, I have opted for Harry Brown on New Row. The London Guide to Food has given them their Sandwich of the Year award. You might find these a bit more expensive (£4.95 for most sandwiches), but they are big proper sandwiches, which, eaten at the right time of day, can suffice for two meals. And, that’s all I have to say about sandwiches.

Has anybody visited The Reindeer, a temporary Christmas-themed restaurant and theatre in the Truman Brewery in Brick Lane? The restaurant is all booked up until its closing on December 23 but I want to know if it’s as good as it looks!

Coolhunting sez:

[The Reindeer is] a kind of grotto for grown-ups from the people behind East London’s Bistrotheque. Amongst pine trees and fake snow, diners can enjoy camp and kitsch cabaret from the likes of Pam Ann and Kiki & Herb or book one of two log cabins for their own Alpine private party.

Indian restaurants here generally annoy me. When my colleagues go ‘ooh I would love to go for a curry!’, my first reaction is always ‘blech!’ Okay, I confess, I get a tad toffee-nosed about it, being a desi and all but believe me when I say this: it ain’t authentic.

The joints that serve authentic grub are usually packed to the rafters with true-blue South Indians who know their idli from their vada and as a result, service is normally pathetic. On one memorable occasion, the waiter-type bloke almost took my plate away when I was just a little over half-way through stuffing my face!

So imagine my surprise when I walked into a restaurant 1. that looked real decent – proper decor and all 2. served real decent grub 3. this takes the cake, is in East Ham!! So, if you want to eat proper Indian, then I have no qualms in suggesting Sathiyams – great food, fantastic value for money.