Bishopsgate Kitchen - Rustic, casual and modern European restaurant

Bishopsgate Kitchen (BK)

Summary

Snapshot
Cuisine:	Modern European
Price:	Small dishes /Nibbles from £5.50 Main dishes from £10 Drinks from £2 Average lunch spend with service charge and a soft drink: £16
Healthy:	Varied but fresh and seasonal ingredients.
Tasty:	3/5
Address:	4 Brushfield Street,   Spitalfields,   London    E1 6AN
Opening times	Monday to Friday 7.30am - 10pm  Saturday and Sunday 10am - 6pm
Eat in/Takeaway:	Eat-in
Recommended dishes	It is seasonal so there should be a range of choices to suit everyone.  This will be changing according to the chef’s choice of seasonal flavours.
Vegetarian dishes	Yes but only two vegetarian options available from the main dishes    of  the lunch menu.
Loyalty card	No loyalty card scheme but Benugo coffees are served here. From memory, there is a loyalty card for Benugo coffees.
Website	www.bishopsgatekitchen.com/
Note	A no booking table policy is in operation.  Breakfast and brunch looks appetising.

Lunch Analysis

I work around the City of London and I was really intrigued about trying BK. Recently, there have been many restaurants trying to source local ingredients and to use seasonal ingredients to keep their menu fresh and simple. I am a fan of this and wanted to see what the menu and ambiance of this place would be like.

My colleague and I decided to try out BK and headed here for lunch. The menu has a few choices that reflects simplicity but there should be something for everyone.

I was tempted with the burger as our neighbours at the table had ordered it and it looked amazing but a bit devilish for a Wednesday lunch and with a heavy afternoon ahead, I opted for the lighter option, Salmon and sweet potato fishcakes and a side salad. (£12.50)

Salmon and sweet potato fishcakes

I enjoyed it very much, as it was very fresh and nothing was over cooked in this dish. However, I thought the price is higher than what I would have expected, as the split of the bill came to £16 including service which is at a rate of 12.5%. However, I would come back again as I felt the ingredients were fresh and the dish was cooked well. There were certainly other dishes that I wouldn’t mind trying like the burger with the brioche bun.

My colleague tried the “Winter Cobb salad” (£12.50) which consisted of bacon, free range leg of black chicken in a blue cheese dressing. For a man who never chooses salad as an option, he was very happy. There were chunks of crispy bacon chicken enough to keep him going till the end of the day. I also checked with him by 4pm and he was still very full. Not bad for a salad.

Winter Cobb Salad

There are smaller dishes and sharing boards to nibble on for those wanting the lighter option.

The fact the menu is seasonal and reflecting on fresh local ingredients means that the menu should be changing with interesting and hearty dishes.

 I wasn’t sure if we were able to get a table but we were lucky that we could get one amongst the already busy diners tucking into their lunch. Most were city diners as some were discussing business and or on their lunch break.

Although, not a very a large restaurant, it has a nice warm ambiance. It was great the service was efficient and we managed to finish around 50 minutes which meant we were just in time for our meeting back at the office.

This is also a place to catch up with friends for a cup of coffee and I can see this place being popular for those wanting a casual bite to eat after work but also with the weekend crowd in Spitalfields.

Poncho No 8 - Mexican cuisine

Summary

At St Paul's Poncho No 8

Snapshot
Cuisine:	Mexican – Burritos, tacos, nachos, salad.
Price:	Ranges from £5.90 - £6.50 Drinks from £1
Healthy:	Yes. Full of beans, rice and salad.
Tasty:	3.5/5
Address:	St Paul’s  11 Queens Head Passage, Paternoster Square, EC4M 7DZ  Spitalfield’s  5 Stewart Street,  E16AJ  Soho  32 Old Compton Street,  London  W1D 4TP
Opening times	St Paul’s Mon-Fri: 11am-9pm Spitalfield’s Mon-Fri:11am-8pm Soho Mon-Sat: TBC as this has opened recently.
Eat in/Takeaway:	Eat-in and take-away. Delivery available in Spitalfields now for orders over £15!
Recommended dishes	The focus is on the burritos. City Pig recommends trying all the fillings unless you are a vegetarian.
Vegetarian dishes	Yes but only one vegetarian option available.
Loyalty card	No loyalty card scheme.
Website	www.poncho8.com/

Lunch analysis

Poncho No 8 is a Mexican quick eat and it appears from the long stretches of people queuing from inside the shop that this is very popular with the city boys and girls. I anticipated this would be the case and was anxious to get a seat with my colleague.

We arrived at about 12:15pm on a Friday, and luckily we weren’t too far behind in the queue. At that stage, I was very eager to understand what was so good about Poncho No 8.

You can select from choosing burritos, tacos, nachos or a skinny box being just salad and then fill this up with one of the filling choices being chicken, pork, braised beef, steak, vegetarian option (chargrilled vegetables), followed by toppings that range from guacamole, jalapenos, sour cream spicy sauce or non-spicy sauce and rice and beans. Not to forget, the option of tomatoes and lettuce as well.

There was quite a lot in my burrito wrap, while I watch it being rolled up without the contents spilling out. I was worried how I would eat this in the most presentable way but was equally delighted that so much filling was jammed in.

I went for the pork burrito while my colleague tried the chicken burrito.

Poncho's Pork Burrito and guava drink

Poncho Pork Burrito

Chicken Burrito

Burritos are presented in foil and in a boat shaped container

Bowl of lime and hand gel to remove germs

The burritos were delicious, it was not oily or too salty, and it felt very fresh and homemade.  Each bite of my wrap, was filled with pork, salad, beans and rice and sauce which meant not much chatting got done as I was too busy munching away.

I tried the guava juice which was a small bottle but because it was only £1 I gave it a go. It was not too sweet and was a refreshing juice to go with the burrito. I have had guava juice and it is one of my favourite drinks but often find in London we are overcharged when paying for exotic fruit drinks.

The price for the drink is good compared to other eateries but maybe too small for the city boys and girls although, in particularly for the city boys! I think it is a new drink brought out and they are trialling the guava drink and size.

I am impressed by:

a)      A very hygienic eatery that has hand gel for consumers to wash their hands before eating.

b)     Clever marketing –all light green, the poncho no 8 bag, the hygienic spray and the bowl of limes!

c)      The staff are engaging – asking me if I would pay £1.50 for a bigger bottle of guava or happy with the small size.

d)      Most of all the food is fresh, tasty and healthy, lots of vegetables in my burrito. Helping my five a day!

Overall, this was a key winner for me.

Please send in your thoughts to City Pig when you get a chance.

Mugen - Traditional Japanese Cuisine

Summary

Snapshot
Cuisine:	Japanese – sushi, sashimi, bento boxes, noodles, hot dishes.
Price:	£15-20 (Average price for eat-in) £ 6 (Average price for take-away)
Healthy:	Yes. (Without all the science.)
Tasty:	4.5/5
Address:	26 King William Street, London, EC4R 9AW
Opening times	Mon-Fri: Lunch, 12pm-3pm (last orders are at 2:30pm);   Dinner, 6pm -11pm (last orders are at 10pm).
Eat in/Takeaway:	Restaurant eat-in and some dishes can be take-away
Recommended dishes	Sushi nigiri, tempura and sushi rolls.

Lunch analysis

Mugen, is a traditional Japanese restaurant in the City of London. Here you will find a lot of Japanese business men and women tucking in to sushi, noodles and bento boxes. For me this is a good sign to see many Japanese choosing to lunch here.

When you enter the restaurant, there is nothing commercial about this place. It is often very hard to get a seat here and often a booking is required.

I have been here a few times for lunch and dinner and have noticed the consistency in food quality.

A lunch menu is on offer as well as the al la carte menu. The lunch menu offers a combination of salad, miso soup, your chosen main course and fruit as dessert.  The main courses are hot dishes ranging from grilled teriyaki salmon rice to sashimi on a bed of rice, or even noodles in a soup broth etc.

This time I chose the chicken teriyaki lunch set and another friend chose the grilled black cod with miso paste.

 I also ordered the prawn tempura which was delicious as the batter was light and not too thick. Perhaps, the only criticism is that the prawns weren’t very large and the dipping sauce could have been more flavoursome.  

The Salmon and avocado roll was very good as the salmon was fresh and the rice was the right amount of stickiness.

Sushi here is probably better than the cooked dishes and I would recommend sampling some of this. The sushi is fresh and the menu is large enough to accommodate the fussiest. Mugen is not cheap but reasonable compared to other city restaurants.

As with most Japanese restaurants and culture, service is often very polite and welcoming which was evidenced here.

However, I asked  if we could have  a teapot as the cups were very small and I felt bad having to keep asking for refills after a few sips but they were unable to accommodate which I was surprised. 

This is a place to come if you have can spare a leisurely lunch or dinner although you can still have lunch here within your  1 hour lunch break providing you have a booking.  It is more of a Friday lunch place where you can go have a nice lunch break with colleagues and old friends rather than having to clock watch and rush back to the office as it is very busy at lunchtimes.

I believe you can order take away but you will need to call up in advance to pick up your orders.

Although, it tends to be busy at lunchtimes, especially Fridays, it is still a great place to go and have lunch without feeling rushed. The large number of people eating here shows how good the food is.

La Bottega Del Caffe - Italian Style Cafe

Summary

Snapshot
Cuisine:	Stylish Italian Café offering coffees, pastries, light meals like foccacias, pizzas and cakes.
Price:	Average eat in price based on pizza, coffee and cake: £8.50 Take-away price based on pizza, coffee and cake: TBC
Healthy:	Not oily and light. However, not the most healthy meal for lunch. 2.5/5
Tasty:	3/5
Address:	22 Eastcheap, London, EC3M
Opening times	Mon-Fri: TBC
Eat in/Takeaway:	Both Eat-in and Takeaway available. Seats are available if you arrive early, aiming for 12pm. At 1pm it is getting quite full.
Recommended dishes	Pizzas, coffees and cakes. Pretty much everything.

I took my colleagues to La Bottega Del Caffé yesterday for lunch as I wanted to surprise them with something different. La Bottega Del Caffé is a an Italian Café serving slices of pizzas, focaccias, Italian style rolls, cakes and a variety of coffees.

It is pleasant place to visit and catch up with friends and work colleagues as it brings about a nice clean, bright and cosy feeling.

You will notice everything is Italian and even the chocolates/biscuits while you are waiting to be served is Italian too.

I decided to try the slice of the Cotto pizza with ham and mushroom and was surprised how light and non-oily this was. Also, it is a fairly large slice draping over my small plate.

It is not that filling but is nice if you fancy something light which won’t send you straight to sleep if you have lots of meetings after lunch!

Then I was very enticed by the cakes they had available. I was attracted to both the New York style looking cheesecake and the berry cheesecake. The berry cheesecake won me over in the end as it looked beautiful.

Cheesecakes can tend be very heavy but this one was very light and moreish! I made a good choice with this one.

Followed by the cake, I decided I had to sample an Italian coffee. There were many to choose from but opted for a standard cappuccino which was very nice, not bitter and very smooth.

This felt very Italian and I enjoyed my meal very much. A note to all though, if you are after a filling meal to last all day you may struggle. As I did get peckish in the afternoon but that might be just me!

My bill came to £8.50 and we ate in the café. Some may claim this is pricey for lunch but the quality was there. I had a great meal and my colleagues enjoyed this.  La Bottega Del Caffé  is originally from Italy and there are only 3 in London, one in the City of London on Eastcheap, Regent Street and King’s Road in Chelsea.

It is also a place to visit and drop by for a coffee or takeaway as they do many different flavours, like almond, hazelnut flavoured cappuccinos. I probably don’t need to tell you how much Italians like their coffees so it is worth trying the coffees if you are not eating here. Also, the pastries looked very appealing as well. So next time I am back, I will update you on the focaccias and pastries.

Cotto Pizza

Vegetarian Pizza

Berry Cheesecake

Cappuccino

I would like to see more cafes like this rather the standard chains dominating our streets. Creativity in the type of cuisines and innovative menus and seasonal changes to menus is something we hopefully should be seeing more in the City of London. City Pig hopes to continue exploring and sharing her experiences while lunching in the City.

Pilpel - Middle Eastern Cuisine

Summary

Pilpel is a falafel and hummus eatery. Fresh falafels are served with plentiful of salad and warm pita bread. The portion size is large and very filling.

10% discount is offered for those that order by phone before 11am.

Snapshot
Cuisine	Middle Eastern (Falafel and Hummus)
Price	£4.25-£6 (Average).
Healthy	Yes. (Without all the science.)
Tasty	4/5
Address and Opening times Telephone No	Spitalfields: 38 Brushfield Street, E1 6EU  Mon-Thu, Sun : 10:00-20.00  Fri: 10:00-16:00  020 7247 0146
Address and Opening times Telephone No	St Paul’s: Unit 5 Queens Head Passage, Paternoster Square,   EC4M 7DZ  TBC 020 7248 9281
Eat in/Takeaway	Both but mainly take-away as limited seats.
Recommended dishes	“Pilpel Falafel” in a container with pita and salad

Lunch analysis

I tried this for the first time as I often spotted the large queues forming outside Pilpel at Brushfield Street. I chose the Pilpel falafel in a container with pita, hummus and fresh salad.

There is a wide selection from the salad that you get to pick from being carrots, chickpeas, green salad, jalapenos, onions, tabbouleh, pickled cucumbers, red and white cabbage.

Pilpel falafel

At first, I thought I would not be filled up from eating this for lunch but was surprised how filling it was.

The falafels are really tasty and were very fresh. It is rather reasonably priced for such a large portion that fills you up as well.

Check out: www.pilpel.co.uk/