Review: The Larder in Bethnal Green. (Yes. Bethnal Green.)

Wansteadium’s food blogger Suki Orange writes:

The first McDonalds opened in San Bernardino, California. The first Starbucks opened in  Western Avenue, Seattle. The first Larder opened in Wanstead High Street, London. All three – worlds apart in their styles – are now known the world over.

Well… a humble Wanstead loyalist can dream can’t she?  But all big chains start somewhere, then expand in due course to a second shop. The second Larder opened yesterday, Sunday, in Globe Road, Bethnal Green, in much larger, more ambitious premises than Wanstead allows. It’s near to the Museum of Childhood, and is in more grungy, even artistic quarters than E11. But the style, decor and atmosphere will be familiar to Wansteadium regulars.

Proprietor James and co have taken the opportunity not simply to give the capital another coffee shop, but are instead using the larger kitchen facilities to experiment with providing something more creative for lunch or for weekend grazing.

The menu offers ten options, all vegetarian and even vegan.  Ordering is easy and done at the counter with waitress service to your table.  Us grown-ups had pesto paneer with a squash and feta salad – yummy pesto and fresh herby flavoured salad; polenta chips with smokey beans and a fried duck egg – perfectly crispy polenta and beans (not just the haricot variety), tho tasty could handle a bit more smoke.  Children had a veggie fry up with mushrooms, potato cake, tomatoes and egg and the ubiquitous pizza (same as those available in Wanstead).  Food, overall was good but I think we all agreed they could be a bit more adventurous on the seasoning.  And to drink, cafe latte (perfect temperature and strength) and fresh Cherwell Valley apple juice.

For those not dining, there is a visual feast in the form of cakes and pastries.  From cup cakes with large slivers of chocolate stabbing the sugary icing to rich dark chocolate brownies dusted lightly with icing sugar.  There is even Lemon and Poppy seed Polenta cake for the less sugar-hungry.

And then to the offerings more associated with the name, The Larder offers some storecupboard essentials such as olive oil, granola, museli, chutneys and jams and a variety of teas, even some tomato sauce, none of which are high street brands making the invitation to buy more seductive.

So in many ways it’s the same Larder but its target market is very different.  The layout feels it could offer different things to the 20-something trendy designer/artist/writer crowd – a bar and stool area which offers a quick stop for espresso and croissant; a table and chairs area for a more dedicated eating occasion and a breakout area for a relaxing peppermint tea with slice of Calfoutis.

The extra space, including a secluded sunbaked patio and herb garden, takes away one of the biggest frustrations with the Wanstead shop – that you never know if you’ll be able to get a seat. (As for the other – that it’s so busy, the service is rarely snappy – it’s too soon to say since the waiting staff seemed to be getting to grips with which table was which number.)

I hope it’s a success. Bbut at the back of my mind I’ll be hoping it’s not SO successful that the original becomes the dispensable.

 

Who shall have a fishy?

Wansteadium’s food blogger Suki Orange writes:

Independent food shops bring that much sought after air of distinction to high streets, and Wanstead is lucky to have a real life butcher, a proper greengrocer, and two bakers. No candlestick maker, of course, but time and again foodies rue the absence of a fishmonger.

So Noel McRea, the fella who parks his white van in the Corner House car park every Wednesday lunchtime, is something  of a godsend. A couple of Wansteadium readers have asked for some details of his operation, so Suki is pleased to step up to the halibut.

Noel is a softly spoken diffident man, a Grimsby native, who has been selling fish all his life and has been coming to Wanstead since 1984.  As well as delivering to his regular customers’ doors, and supplying the 62 Spice Indian restaurant, he now parks up in the car park behind the Corner House at the top of Grove Park. He’s there from 10.30 until 2pm every Wednesday, having driven his fish down from the port the previous evening.

I usually buy fish from Waitrose, as I think it’s worth spending the bit extra for the quality and provenance. But having chosen a seabass and a whacking great piece of cod, all sustainably sourced, I was steeling myself for an independent trader-style hole in my purse. But the two came to just £10, and I wasn’t too upset.

Noel effortlessly filleted the seabass, giving me a very healthy and fresh looking serving, enough for two. When home, the very delicate whiff of the cod left me in no doubt at all that this fish really could have been swimming about yesterday. There were a few scales left on the seabass and, upon eating, we found about half a dozen tiny bones, but to be honest that just made me feel that this was the authentic thing – somehow if it had been in sunken supermarket polystyrene tray I would have been much more unforgiving. The meaty subtle flavour works well with some light veg – you feel like you’ve eaten without really having indulged.

I’d be interested in knowing how other Wanstead folk have found Noel’s fish. I know he’s not the only person delivering door-to-door, so any comparison would be welcome too. But by Neptune if Wanstead can’t have its own fishmonger in an actual shop, then Noel’s the next best thing.

Before...
And after

Choice tweets about Wanstead on a sunny day

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/Welshbeard/status/55693761732292608″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/RuthiesTweets/status/55667135468421120″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/Sasiexo/status/55662884176412673″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/meljique/status/55658166230331392″]

[blackbirdpie url=”http://twitter.com/#!/TGRob/status/55550076348674048″]

New for Wansteadium: Live Tube info

From today, following a period of testing, Wansteadium is offering live Tube information for Snaresbrook and Wanstead stations. The list of trains, visible on the right, shows destinations and number of minutes from the station. It is drawn from feeds provided by TfL and so should in theory be as accurate as the departure boards on the platforms. Source information updates every minute, but you will need to refresh the page to get the updated times.

Wansteadium hopes the residents of Wanstead and Snaresbrook find this useful. Your comments are welcome, via the form below or directly at wansteadium[at]gmail.com.

(Thanks to TfL for being enlightened with its data, and to developer Akshay Raje.)