Mr. Buckley’s – Small Plates on Hackney Road

Ever since a friend tipped me off about the little cocktail bar/ restaurant that had opened up on Hackney Road and I caught a peek of the unassuming frontage and neon sign as I travelled past on the bus, I've been trying to make it down to Mr. Buckley’s. Six weeks on – yes this is how spontaneous life is post baby – I finally made it there for dinner.

Mr. Buckley’s is half way down Hackney Road, a couple of blocks down (if you’re heading into the city) from the Broadway Market and Hackney City Farm turning.

The raised restaurant is a couple of steps up from street level when you enter. There is a downstairs bar but this was closed when we visited on a Wednesday. Our waitress said it opened on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays when things get a bit busier. Upstairs had just a scattering of tables but most were full.

 
My friend arrived and we started with a couple of Rhubarb Flip cocktails – made up of cognac, rhubarb syrup, egg whites and sugar. These were DELICIOUS. They we’re thick and made largely of fresh rhubarb and had just the right amount of sweet VS booze.  
 

Mr. Buckley’s menu is made up of small plates designed for sharing. We salivated over all the wonderful sounding dishes as we tried to choose the best combination the six things we wanted to try the most. The menu recommended three dishes per person - although in the end we settled on just five. 

First to arrive was ham hock with homemade pickles. This was nicely presented with some greens and pickled carrots and onions scattered around the plate and what really made the dish shine was a wasabi-pea tasting green sauce that cut really well with the ham.

Small sharing-style plates have been in fashion at restaurants for some time now but last night made me wonder if these type of establishments are giving themselves a harder time by offering up a menu and saying ‘eat it all together’ if you want to.

After the ham hock, the dishes went down hill for me and I can’t help but think this was more down to the combination of flavours and dishes we chose rather than a fault with the food itself. 

Next up was Ragstone with almond, broccoli, beetroot and ruby chard (not this florescent in the flesh the image was taken with a flash). I was expecting this dish to be more salad-based but the strong whipped Ragstone really took over and I found it overpowering compared to the rest of the elements on the plate. The broccoli was a little over-cooked and under seasoned for my taste.

We then had blue cheese polenta, sautéed wild mushrooms and truffled oil. The polenta was fabulously cooked and all the flavours married well but this was a bit of a full-on dish to follow the Ragastone and chard.

Our last two dishes to arrive were jerk crusted onglet steak, smoked paprika and mango butter with sweet potato crisps and lobster mac ‘n’ cheese.

I loved the steak dish. The Jerk seasoning was fiery and powerful and the mango butter made for a great combo.

The lobster mac ‘n’ cheese looked impressive, a neat tower of thick pasta topped with shiny bright orange roe. It tasted fine but wasn’t stand out and I couldn’t help but reminisce about the green chilli mac ‘n’ cheese I had at Rita’s in Dalston.

These guys have absolutely nailed it with the environment. The atmosphere was warm, inviting and relaxed. The lighting was just right and interiors were simple with exposed brickwork and a few tea lights dotted around. All the diners were enjoying themselves and our waitress was helpful and not at all intrusive. 

Despite some of the dishes being not 100% spot on, there’s something about Mr. Buckley’s that just makes me want to like it. The menu is varied and the dishes have clearly been imagined and put together with creative flair. I’m keen to go back and do it all again but this time with more cocktails and some lighter menu choices.

Mr Buckley’s

277 Hackney Rd, London E2 8NA

020 3664 0033 

www.mrbuckleys.com

Spice Market Raw Bar at W Hotel, London

Hallelujah. Praise the lord. Big in the scene, etc. etc. After a year and four months at long last I HAVE AN I-PHONE AGAIN.

My last one vanished somewhere between the sofa and the corner shop when I was pregnant and the f**king insurance w**kers, f**ked me over and I have been using an old knackered blackberry ever since – and as you can see I am still not over this.

So obviously on my first evening out in town with my new phone clasped firmly in my hand (you’ve heard about the masked bicycle phone thieves right?), I got snap happy while on my way to the launch of Spice Market’s Raw Bar.

I walked through Trafalgar Square and the fountains were lit up and looked so pretty:

Looking up at the colossal W Hotel on the corner of Leicester Square:

So What Exactly Is The Spice Market?

Spice Market is an Asian-fusion restaurant at the W Hotel, sister to the Spice Market in New York’s Meatpacking district. The menu is inspired by legendary French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s travels around South East Asia and the street food scene he encountered there.

Over here though, it seems executive chef Peter Lloyd is in charge of the kitchen and he has developed a new ‘raw bar’ menu that is made up at the bar in front of diners and is based entirely out of raw ingredients. Shaved rare tuna with chilli tapioca and Asian pear; salmon ceviche with avacado; and beef tartare with pickled cucumber were some of the canapés we sampled. All of the dishes are citrus-filled, fresh and zingy with barely a carbohydrate in site.

Happy raw bar chefs hard at work:

The medley of cocktails on offer as we entered the restaurant:

 

I'm keen to return to the Spice Market and sample the raw bar dishes in their entirety as I must admit after the canape-sized portions my journey home was via a takeaway pork bun from Chinatown. Finally, below, it just goes to show that even with today’s state of the art technology there is still some skill involved in good photography. Apologies to those at the Raw Bar as this photo is not the remnants of my Saturday night kebab but is indeed a Raw Bar salad. Don't worry it tasted better than this looks.

 

More from me on The Spice Market's Raw Bar  

 

Spice Market RawBar on www.julib.com   *Foodie Mom in London was an invited guest to Spice Market Raw Bar launch  

Guest Chef Menu at Benares – Bryn Williams

This week I have been mostly eating….

Anyone with a small child at home will know that long, leisurely meals are a thing of the past. In between pureeing Stanley’s meals from scratch (damn you Annabel Karmel), racing home to defrost his lunches and feeding him whatever choice mush of the day is on the menu – there’s not much time left to make and enjoy my own food.

So I was very excited this week when I was invited to try Bryn William’s guest chef menu at Benares, a chance to hopefully have some decent food, in a setting as far removed from baby bibs and beakers as I could get.

Dining at the Bar in Benares

Benares is a longstanding luxe Indian restaurant in Mayfair headed up by Michelin-starred chef Atul Kochhar.

There’s no doubt that this ‘Chef Season in the Bar’ is a clever PR rouse. Guests of the Benares bar are treated to changing tapas-style menus where Atul has included some dishes, the guest chef has added their own contributions, and a couple of signature cocktails have been dreamt up to match.

Benares Chef Season With Bryn Williams

Sitting at a low bar table lit by a Tom Dixon candleholder, with my first cocktail of the evening in my hand (Bryn’s Penderyn Whiskey Sour), I was already starting to get into the wealthy Mayfair vibe. Baby at home? What baby?

Bryn’s dishes came first and we chomped our way through some delicious snacks. Seared scallops with confit chicken wings and Jerusalem artichoke puree was my favourite by far and braised pork cheeks & ginger carrot was cooked to soft, sweet perfection and swimming in a moreish sticky glaze.

Atul Kochhar’s Dishes – Guest Chef Menu at Benares

Imagining there was some sort of MasterChef battle going on in the kitchen, Atul’s trio of dishes were served up next.

We were informed later as we toured the restaurant and peered into the kitchen through the window of the spectacular chef’s table that Atul had in fact flown to India for a family event so wasn’t in the kitchen at all. All the same, his capable kitchen staff had turned out more great mini meals:

Fennel lamb chop with pickles; stuffed tandoori potatoes; and a beautiful dark green stuffed spinach patty with apricot and yoghurt arrived. The soft hints of spice running through all three dishes were just the right accompaniment to our second cocktail – Benares’ signature Tea Martini (made with black tea, Beefeater gin, lemon juice, egg white, syrup and a spice mix of cardamom, black pepper, star anise, cloves).

It’s unusual for me to rave about desserts but on this occasion it was Bryn’s final punch – a warm rice pudding with prunes and caramelised walnuts – that won the day. It was warming, wintery and filled with sweet spices that mirrored the Indian dishes that had come before. It was the perfect thing to send my on my merry way back home.

* Foodie Mom in London was invited as a complimentary guest to try the Guest Chef Menu at Benares.