Highbury & Islington

[jackal10]

Fishcakes are tough when the proteins bind to each other. Think chinese fish balls. This happens if you process the raw fish/egg white too much, then cook them too much.

You can avoid this by cooking the fish first, then just gently folding in the big chunks to the potato/onion.parley mix (or whatever), before breadig and frying.

Alternatively make quenelle, softly poaching a raw fish/egg white/cream mix. The cream softens, and the poaching ensures not overcooking.

[dallardice]

The obvious place for Fishworks would be the new retail/restaurant development across the road from Lola's.

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Not to be. Fishworks plc have a planning application in for new signs and a new shopfront at 134 Upper St, which means that probably the Rotisserie, and possibly also Casale Franco, will be the site for the new branch. I'm looking forward to Fishworks coming to town since the Fish Shop on St John St has never quite done it for me since the Upper St Fish Shop closed, although I will be sorry to lose the Rotisserie - never fabulous, but a good staple for a quick steak on those nights when only a hunk of meat will do.

In other news, the owners of the ghastly convenience store opposite Sainsburys Local have applied for planning permission to convert to a restaurant, and the site that is currently Santa Fe may be becoming a shop - for Millets.

Edited May 16, 2005 by dallardice (log)

[circeplum]

Fig is just horrible, horrible, horrible

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i had a terrific meal the only time i went there? what happened?

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[Suzi Edwards]

I've blanked it from my memory, but I might go back if you liked it. When were you there last Circe?

This may be news to brighten the day- looks like Seraphim has closed. Can anyone else confirm this?

Great review of Isarn in Time Out this week BTW. Turns out it's owned by Allan Yau's sister. I've been a couple of times and it's really very good. The soft shell crab is still my favourite.

[circeplum]

I've blanked it from my memory, but I might go back if you liked it. When were you there last Circe?

This may be news to brighten the day- looks like Seraphim has closed. Can anyone else confirm this?

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sorry suzi - have just seen this. it was about a year ago admittedly, but since the two women cooking/front of house were also the owners, i can't imagine what could have caused such a decline...

and as to seraphim, i think that's a shame. the chef was a loony, ahem, eccentric - crocodile with chocolate sauce, pancetta ice cream - but he could really cook.

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[Suzi Edwards]

Pizza Express on Exmouth Market has closed so there's a HUGE space there just waiting for a new restaurant....

[emsny]

Let me revive this thread to ask for recommendations for an after-theater supper: we're seeing a play at the Almeida one Saturday night in mid-January. We were thinking of La Trouvaille, where we once had the most delicious duck-fat-fried potatoes, but I'm told that it has closed. We'd prefer someplace not noisy - could be any cuisine, pretty much any price range. The key is that it would take a reservation for around 10:30 or 10:45 (don't have a running time for the play yet).

Thanks.

Edited December 22, 2006 by emsny (log)

[dallardice]

The obvious place is the Almeida Restaurant - directly across the road from the theatre and they have a very efficient operation to seat all the post-theatre diners, and the tables are nicely spaced so it's buzzy without being noisy. Since this thread was last active they've revamped the menu to make it more accessible - think it's £22 for two courses, £28 for three. This has come at the expense of some of the more innovative dishes, but the charcuterie trolley and trolley of tarts are still there. £28 for some great charcuterie, a solid main and a range of tasty tarts strikes me as one of Islington's better bargains.

Otherwise, post-theatre you are limited, Ottolenghi would probably take you but fails the noisy test. Zaffrani is a new upmarket Indian on Cross St (diagonally across Upper St from Almeida St) where we've had some good meals, but 10.45 might be a bit late for them. Quite refined, hasn't been discovered by the post-pub curry crowd yet. Emni is where La Trouvaille used to be and is doing the same sort of thing with more pretention.

[emsny]

Thanks for that, dallardice. We'd been thinking not to go to Almeida - our one visit there a couple of years ago was disappointing, largely thanks to boneheaded service, but also because of blah cooking. But it might make sense to give it another try. I'll give them a buzz, if London ever emerges from Christmas and starts answering the phone again.

[dallardice]

Islington visitors ought to note that Angel Mangal, which was rated highly in a number of posts on this site, closed a couple of weeks ago. There's a note in the menu box saying that it is re-opening soon under new management as "Angel Mangal Dips & Skewers" which doesn't fill me with optimism...