Islington Pub Crawl

On Saturday night, we went on a pub/bar crawl around our Kings Cross/Islington hood. We stopped at the following places:

1. The Canal
2. The Draper's Arms
3. The Albion
4. Ethiopian restaurant for din din
5. Back to the Canal
6. The Driver
7. Be @ One

We also enjoyed the last few days of summer. The weather was pretty dang beautiful this weekend!

I stuck with wine/cocktails for the night. Occasionally, I snuck in a few sips of beer (shhh!!)

Dinner was at Merkato restaurant. We've been here a couple times and its always been a pleasant dining experience. Unfortunately, we had a few minor hiccups this time around.

We ordered a bottle of their in house honey wine. It's usually sweet with a touch honey but this bottle seemed to have gone bad; it had a vinegar taste to it :(

at least their beer was decent!

The food service at Merkato was unbelievably sloooooooow. I think we had to wait 45 minutes for our food!! They apologized for the slow service but didn't really acknowledge it til we grew impatient. I don't like it when restaurants ignore the fact that their food should have come out 30 minutes ago!!

Thankfully everything was as delicious as I last remembered it. Btw- most injera's are gluten free since they are made from teff flour. I didn't ask if any other flour was added to it because I just didn't want to know! Ignorance is bliss (this time around) :-)

We all inhaled our food, stopping every now and then to remark how tasty it was. I must have gotten lazy after this because I didn't take any more pictures throughout the night. Somehow, our group of 6 grew to 10+.. We ended our night at Be @ One, and this time, I had a better experience and kept my new Iphone close to me!

Side note- the bartenders at Be@1 are super friendly but the free shot of Jose Cuervo tequila at the end of the night was definitely unnecessary! Needless to say, my Sunday was completely ruined.. My bum was glued to the couch for most of the day.

Somehow I was able to peel myself off the couch to make myself a GF lunch. I added in some sauteed onions, chopped up cucumbers and spring onions to Tiger Tiger's gluten free noodles.
http://www.tigertiger.info/gluten-free

Tarek totally spoiled me and brought back bbq from Pitt Cue. It was the last day they were serving bbq from their truck since summer is almost over.
http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/venue/2%3A30101/pitt-cue-co

juicy pulled pork on a bed of coleslaw

I also had some beef ribs- DELISH!

with some eggplant on the side

gluten free macaroons! I think I died and went to macaroon heaven :) Someone please tell me how I only discovered macaroons 2 years ago when I moved here to London- they are so good!

the green tea one was my favorite! I couldn't tell the difference between GF and regular ones.. In fact, I'm not even sure if the regular ones are made with any type of flour. Maybe they're just naturally gluten free?? hehe.. Either way, I'm not complaining!

the sesame one was decent..

hot sauced/ketchup scrambled eggs w. GF toast and it's time for the gym yo!

The Draper's Arms

Tarek and I had a date night Friday at the Draper's Arm's, a bib gourmand gastro pub within walking distance from our flat.
Here is what Wikipedia has to say about Bib Gourmands:
Since 1955, the guide has also highlighted restaurants offering "good food at moderate prices", a feature now called "Bib Gourmand". They must offer menu items priced below a maximum determined by local economic standards. Bib (Bibendum) is the company's nickname for the Michelin Man, its corporate logo for over a century.

oh wheaty, textural bread.. how I miss you!!

After getting yelled at by Club Gascon (okay, they didn't exactly yell  at me, but I'm overly sensitive!), I'm trying not to take flash pictures out of respect to other diners who might find the bright light to be annoying. Thankfully, I was able to get somewhat decent pictures on my SLR.

We ordered the salt pollack brandade,which was realllllly good! It had the texture of mash potatoes and was perfectly salty, creamy, and delicious. The brandade was also complemented by a perfectly soft boiled egg- YUM!

pint of prawns with garlic aioli for a dipping sauce. The prawns were small compared to the ones we order at my all time favorite pub Cadogan Arms but they were still pretty tasty with the aioli.

T and I both ordered the braised ox cheek with black mustard mash, watercress, & crispy shallots. I guess we were both craving something hearty, which this dish met perfectly. We both agreed it would be a great dish to have in the wintertime.

We also had a side of triple cooked chips. They were REALLY fantastic. To have a perfect chip, it must be

• crispy on the outside
• warm and soft on the inside
• taste like a true potato (none of that oily aftertaste)

I was a bit disappointed by our other side of kale. They were very vibrant in their green color but tasted bland; I guess nothing that a little salt and pepper wouldn't fix! Overall, I really enjoyed our meal and would definitely go back.