Food For Think

When I lived in East London a few years ago, Shoreditch was the go to place for fun. I have lived in North West London for the last five years but I know that over the years the area has become a playground for City workers. The young creatives who used to frequent the area have since departed to the surrounding areas – Dalston and Hackney.

One young creative that I have known since I first moved to London is currently doing something that my nearest and dearest know I dream of – running an independent cafe and restaurant with her boyfriend. I had heard good things about The Hackney Bureau on Mare Street – the most delicious homemade cakes, a perfectly executed flat white and laid back surroundings in which to enjoy. I had also read about the varied and very good value dinner menu, including a specialty of theirs, braised beef cheeks – yes please!

Despite the cafe having been open for a while, I had never visited as I don’t tend to visit Hackney very often anymore. I knew this had to change so we found a free weekend in January and visited not once, but twice. The first time was on Friday evening. Jack and I joined my friend and her boyfriend plus a couple of other friends for dinner. Had we not known what the restaurant looked like before we arrived, we could well have missed it for it is purposefully shabby with no signage, save for a small sign that lay in the window. The interior is not much different. Mismatched furniture is dotted around the bare room, an open kitchen shows chefs hard at work and ply wood boxes hold speakers on the wall. The bareness is intentional and it lends itself well to the concept of the restaurant – simple and good quality ingredients cooked well.

We consumed a range of delicious dishes during the course of the evening – Sourdough with extra virgin olive oil and dukkah (£3) and rollmop herrings with ratte potatoes, horseradish and watercress (£4) to start, followed by oven roasted buttermilk chicken with creamed leeks (£10) and braised beef cheeks with market cabbage and vichy carrots (£12) for main. The rollmop herrings were fresh and absolutely the best I have ever eaten. We all agreed that the buttermilk chicken was like ‘posh KFC’ – in fact, our friends revealed that they had wanted to call it this on the menu. We think they should! But it was the braised beef cheeks that stole the show. Wobbly, tender, juicy chunks of beef cheek were covered in a rich gravy and served with buttery cabbage and carrots. My mouth waters just thinking about it.

Not many of us could face pudding but I knew I might have to save a little room when I saw crème caramel on the menu. I don’t recall ever seeing creme caramel on a restaurant menu and I can’t fathom why. It was a staple dessert in my household as a child and I wanted to see whether The Hackney Bureau’s could rival it… and it totally could. A small, pert vanilla specked creamy blob arrived on a beautiful plate, surrounded by a caramel juice. I didn’t want to share with Jack but he stole a spoon and then went back for a second one, despite claiming that he ‘couldn’t possibly it anymore in.’

We left The Hackney Bureau on Friday evening and returned to try the coffee on Sunday afternoon. Did it live up to the high standards that I had read about? It certainly did. I’m very proud (if not slightly envious) of my friend. Along with her boyfriend they have created a laid back haven with excellent food and good service.

The Hackney Bureau
3 Mare Street
London

HACKNEY BUREAU is open from 7am on weekdays and from 9am at the weekends.
Open till 11pm Thursday – Saturday and till 6pm every other day.
Cash only // Service not included

When I started Food for Think almost four years ago, my vision for the blog was to document my foodie experiences, whether that was recipes or reviews. It didn’t take me long to wobble off track and I started to dabble in the world of travel, beauty and more recently, hair.

Food is my main passion in life and I suspect it always will be but as I get older, there are more and more things that I find I want to write about. I have also spent the last four years working within the food PR world but as of 28th January I will embark on a new career path, taking up a post as PR and Social Media Manager at Gorkana. I am very excited about the change but it got me thinking that perhaps it is time to branch out and write about more than just food. The only problem is, the title of the blog has sometimes limited what I can write about. I imagine a few people have already been a little shocked when they saw pictures of my hair, all freshly preened, pop up on their screen.

So I wanted to ask your opinion. Should I carry on with Food for Think and incorporate non food related posts, or should I set up a new blog for everything un-food related? I have already bought a URL and have a good (I think) name for it. I don’t want to upset any food loving readers by posting about my latest hair do, or a theatre production that I particularly liked, or a pair of shoes that I just couldn’t put down.
It’s over to you – I’d love to hear from you.

Sarah x

Since I moved to London six and a half years ago, my Sunday activities have changed somewhat. My first two years, when I was a young and spritely student, I spent my Sundays wallowing in self-pity after a heavy night on the tiles. The years since have pretty much been spent in the kitchen baking or cooking a Sunday feast. But despite being from the north (well, Nottingham), I rarely cook a Sunday roast. Don’t get me wrong, I have attempted a few but after five hours slogging away in the kitchen, not to forget the piles of washing up that come after, I have never really enjoyed the fruits of my own labour. I much prefer to go out and let someone else do the hard work for me.

We took a trip to Victoria Park Village a few weeks ago to The Empress to indulge in a Sunday feast. The weather outside was miserable and as usual not making its mind up. We encountered a few showers before entering the restaurant but once we were seated, we were pleasantly surprised how bright and airy the restaurant was. If it wasn’t Sunday we would most likely have wanted to crack open a bottle of rose.

First we were served with a plate of E5 bakery sour dough and butter. We learned quickly that if you order a plate of bread, you are entitled to free refills. A cleaver marketing ploy.

We also ordered a plate of creamy green olives (£3) and deep fried polenta & salsa verde (£4.50) to start, followed by roast pork belly, roast potatoes & red cabbage (£13.50), cecina (£8.50) and a small portion of pearl barley, pea, feta & pine nut risotto (£6) for main.

The deep fried polenta had a great crispy exterior and the salsa verde was a perfect addition to the creamy polenta inteior. My only criticism was that there was not enough of it and we were left with three plain pieces of polenta.

The pork belly arrived and I was happy to see a generous portion with a golden crispy topping. I tried to cut into it and despite having been given a sharp knife, it took a while to tear through the crackling. When I did, I took a bite of the fatty flesh, which was slightly dry but tasty nonetheless. The accompanying roast potatoes were fluffy and rich, the cabbage delicious with a hint of spice.

Our cecina was fantastic quality beef and was delicious with the E5 Bakery sour dough bread that we kept on ordering!

One of the highlights of our lunch was the pearl barley risotto. Nutty and al dente pearl barley with crunchy pine nuts, creamy feta and sweet peas was just heaven.

I couldn’t go without dessert, particularly as the waiter walked past and recommended the baked cheesecake & orange (£5.50) when I was looking at the menu. I had to have it. Sadly (or not, which ever way you look at it), Jack doesn’t like orange so I had to eat it all by myself.

It arrived and I tried to tell myself that I was not disappointed by the size of it. You see, it was quite small and I am quite greedy. It turned out to be the perfect size and was quite possibly one of the best cheese cakes that I have ordered in a restaurant, that and the unforgettable cherry baked cheesecake that I had at Pizza East a while back.

The atmosphere in The Empress is perfect for a lazy Sunday lunch time. Customers were a mixture of families, big groups of friends and couples. After our laid back lunch, we were off to have a quick walk around the village before jumping back on the train to reality.

Food For Think was a guest at The Empress.