Grouse. I had been thinking about a good
piece of grouse for weeks because the hunting season for these game birds is
back in late August. Mister had been trying to get us a table at The Harwood Arms
since we hopped off the plane, but on a Friday evening? Ha. So despite my
reservations of these 'dining rooms' above pubs, Princess of Shoreditch had the
right menu in the right place.
We made our way up the spiral staircase at
9:30 and it was almost a full house.
Free range pork
scotch egg, apple slaw
I was surprised that Mister went with the
scotch egg. Personally it never appealed to me, I didn't know what a good
scotch egg is supposed to taste like.
As the runny yolk slowly poured from the
centre, wedged within a layer of just-cooked (and collapsed) egg whites and
thick rim of moist pork meat, I may start liking scotch eggs. The flavours
reminded me of an English breakfast really, yolk-covered pork sausage seasoned with
sage - nothing complex, just hearty and comforting.
Salmon Ceviche,
pepper puree, gem hearts
Since we had crab on toast for lunch at
Elliot's cafe earlier that day, I went for ceviche, hoping for something
lighter. It was quite a substantial ceviche dish - cubes of salmon marinated in
lime juice just longer enough to 'cook' the surface, leaving the middle raw and
bouncy. Fishiness came from the cooked side while the sashimi retained its
fragrant fish oils. The marinade was quite one-dimensional, however, could do
with more depth or layer to keep the dish interesting.
Nonetheless, the acidity got my palette and
stomach juices going to welcome my much anticipated grouse!
28-day aged Hereford
sirloin, watercress, double dipped chips, red wine jus
Mister had a hard time choosing his mains.
First it was venison, but we had it for lunch; then it was pork belly, but at
the last minute he realised his starter was already pork. In the end he almost
reluctantly settled for the sirloin, and it was partly my fault as I read
somewhere that they serve the smoothest beef in London. Well, they don't.
It was quite disappointing really. The
steak was unmistakably overseasoned, fuelled with the very burnt, not gracefully charred, rind, it was downright
unpleasant in mouth. The quality of meat was okay, however the beefy flavours
were somewhat meek and mild as it lacked meat juice. All I tasted was salt and
pepper.
Why didn't we send it back? We waited for a
good 45mins after we finished our starters for the mains and it was nearing
11pm.
Grouse, black
pudding, chargrilled spring onions, glazed beets, bacon jus
My grouse turned out better; the skin
looked a bit burnt and quite lifeless, bit it was beautifully crimson and rare
nearer the bones. The lean muscles were powerful, packed with bloody gaminess. The black pudding croquette was pungent, slightly dry, and was awkward with the beets. Perhaps not as strong as the one I had at Pollen Street Social or Medlar, as
the composition was thin on finesse, but good enough as a fix for this great
game bird.
It was quite fiddly to eat - Given it was
served as a whole bird, and it's rawness, a serrated blade knife would have
helped breaking into the meat.
It started off well at The Princess of
Shoreditch, but I can't say they kept up with it with our entrees. Perhaps it
was getting late and so the consistency began to dwindle a bit, both for execution
and service. While the food was overall quite good, there is still some mileage
to being great.
I'm still not too sure about these
gastropubs: squeezing fine dining upstairs of a cozy, and decidedly noisy, pub;
shaky wooden tables cramped closely together with flimsy metallic chairs; a
seasonal but very traditional British menu. In my humble opinion, it feels a
bit forced and East-London engineered. I didn't catch on with the Ten Bells
craze 6 months ago, while I liked Princess d Shoreditch better, it still didn't
do it for me. I just have to accept it - these upstairs kitchens aren't for me.
76-78
Paul Street
London
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