Disco Bistro

One of London’s previously unloved and underused gems (and greatest assets) are the dining rooms on the first floor of many pubs. Central London in particular is replete with these, and successes such as Flat Iron, The Young Turks and many more have originated from humble takeovers of such space. It seems win win in this age of crazy rents and start-up costs.

And while Sam Smith's nabbed all of the show-stopping gin palaces long ago, with the right treatment these dining rooms can be incredibly handsome, resplendent with period features and atmosphere.

Disco Bistro in the deepest alleys of the City is one such venture. The ground floor is The Rising Sun pub, still hawking £5 Peronis to yakky, gakky suited boozers but I imagine the dining room was previously sentenced to a servitude of team fish & chips Fridays and not much of note in between.

Bore that I am, I had to try the famous Disco Burger which is conventional enough, with the exception of a mound of beef short rib. However rest assured that the menu at Disco Bistro ranges far beyond wings and burgers, and includes quite grown-up, sophisticated plates, solid fish options and noteworthy creative execution. Doesn’t sound like me though, so wings and burger it was…

My visit was with a group of fellow bloggers, food nuts and SLR shooters, and feedback was unanimously positive across the various dishes ordered. I hasten to add at this stage that we all paid full price for everything.

This merry band enabled me to try a sticky wing as well as my own portion of spicy (both £7). The sticky wings were strongly flavoured with vinegar, yes there was sweetness beneath but the sharp, pickled taste was dominant. This isn’t a criticism for me personally, sour as I am, but it may not be for everyone. I’d say they’d work better as a bar snack.

I did prefer the spicy wings, which weren’t overly hot but had a decent warmth. Flavour was closer to an almost-Asian chilli route than a cayenne pepper/Buffalo recipe, and especially without obligatory blue cheese and crudité support, these more than stood up on their own.

With popularity comes debate, and wing portion size has become a contentious issue on Twitter of late. Not quite Syria or equal marriage, but a crucial topic all the same. At just under £1 per wing, this is up there with MEATliquor for both value and quality..

The burger was excellent too. Value-wise, less so. At £14, this will no doubt send many people running for either the hills or The Hawksmoor (about a 10 min walk, near a Goodman too) but bear with me. The short rib adds a depth of flavour and juice which I don’t think pulled pork experiments have accomplished as well. The patty itself was perfectly cooked to medium rare without any mention prior (plus point) and the practically liquefied cheese oozed everywhere. 

One gripe was the barbecue sauce – not only did it make a mess and derail the architectural integrity of the burger (yes I did just write that) but even worse, it simply wasn’t necessary. The quality of the contents sang through more than confidently without it. Fries were fine, but not remarkable.

On to dessert, and another universal trend of late, the doughnuts. I was a little slow to understand this, much as the whole Krispy Kreme craze baffled me too. They weren’t a step change from supermarket ones at all. And I’m a bit new to the savoury and even meat flavoured versions which Electric Diner among others are now slinging. The oxtail one at Two Nights Only I didn’t enjoy particularly.

Luckily Disco Bistro's hark back to basics in theory, but with contemporary execution. These are gingerbread doughnut balls with a pot of lemon curd for dunking. Fantastic – with the lemon providing freshness and a sharpness to diminish the risk of overt doughiness, and the gingerbread providing a homely warmth to compliment the horrible winter outside. 

Service was friendly and accomplished; our group of 14-odd ‘foodies’ wouldn’t seem the easiest punters on paper, but it all seemed a breeze. One mini gripe was the beer situation. Better bottles please, or deliver pints to upstairs. The service charge should cover that. And another slight disappointment was the vibe itself; perfectly buzzy sure, but not disco enough! I wanted more fun and better music, they could definitely go further with the disco house and the volume. Not thinking Car Wash and wigs here…

I’m not quite sure what the long term plans for Disco Bistro are, as the pub dining room takeover seems to be a springboard rather than a permanent home, so I would implore people to go as soon as they can.

Food – 9/10 

Drink – 6/10 

Service - 8/10 

Value – 7/10 

Tap water tales – 7/10 (jugs provided, not topped up)

Staff Hotness – 8/10 (friendly, pretty waitresses, clued up on the menu)

Dose Espresso

An impending office move means less time in Clerkenwell and more in Soho. Not necessarily a bad thing, but as my legion of readers will know, I spend enough time there anyway. When I say Clerkenwell, I'm including quite big swathes of EC1 with numerous clusters of food, booze and coffee interest: Smithfield, Leather Lane, St John's Square, the Italian strip, Exmouth Market, Whitecross Street... it's a great area with a lot of choice.

But onwards I go, and before that, a brief serenade to my favourite coffee place in the area. Not Workshop (always St Ali to me), or Prufrock, or Caravan - but the humble Dose Espresso.

Dose is a tiny, low key place on Long Lane towards Barbican. It's a typical Melburnian hole-in-the-wall sort of place, with a few chairs but mainly take away. The cute red cups match the huge, vintage La Marzocco but you wouldn't linger for too long.

Coffee is fantastic; Square Mile but some of the lesser seen single origins and blends. They do some snacks and sarnies too but the focus is firmly on the coffee here. For the peckish, I'd go next door to The Old Red Cow for one of the best bar food and craft ale selections for miles.

Soho is obviously littered with great coffee places, so I'm not worried on that front. But Dose has a certain calm and serenity not easily found in W1, and I'll miss it. Their range of Hario gear is excellent too.

 

Hawksmoor (Guildhall)

In theory, a steakhouse (or steak joint I suppose is closer) in the City fills me with dread. Sweaty blokes with napkins down their shirts, sleeves rolled up, entitlement coursing around the room, dropping 2-large on Chateau Something on bonus day…stupid stereotypes of course, but a far cry from W1 indeed. But needs must and finding myself on a Friday evening near St Paul's and hankering for steak, I was suddenly spoilt for choice.

not my usual dining partner

I’m not a huge fan of late dining in malls (in this continent anyway) so Barbecoa was out. And Goodman I thought might be a touch staid in their City location, so it was over to the devil I know, at Hawksmoor Guildhall.

The space is pretty much identical to Seven Dials. A grand sweep downstairs, a sultry moody bar and through to a large dining room with low lighting and wood panelling. The room feels more spacious, and more symmetrical in a way. The industrial aspects of Seven Dials’ brewery heritage are absent here. But it’s ostensibly the same.

yes, it is a negroni, and yes it is 2012

The food is the same too. We had 900g of Porterhouse which came to £76. It was perfectly cooked and wonderfully smoky, and we happily coped without sauces, but there just wasn’t quite enough of it. For £76, I shouldn’t be peckish. At all. You really are paying a lot for a massive bone, as it were…

pricey bone

Wines, cocktails and sides are all fantastic here and have been extensively covered, including by me previously. Service was keen and clued up. And the crowd on a Friday night wasn’t too dissimilar to any other location of theirs – yes some suits, but a real mix with plenty of women and people in civvies. During the week I’m sure it’s different, but I can’t complain really as this is their turf. I just hate feeling underdressed.

In short, this is more of the same, but no worse for it. However I’d stick to the £30 bone-in sirloin which at 600g represents much better value that the shared cuts – where you need to hit a kilo (and spend a ton) to debilitate yourself suitably.

Food – 9/10

Drink – 9/10

Service - 8/10

Value – 7/10

Tap water tales – 9/10

Staff Hotness – 8/10