Into Food
Culinary Delights
Published 15-04-2008
BISTROTHEQUE
23-27 Wadeson Street, London, E2 9DR, 020 8983 7900, www.bistrotheque.com
*****
Following its opening in May 2004, Bistrotheque became a firm favourite with East London diners, both for its simple but beautifully cooked food and also the somewhat outre goings-on in the accompanying bar, such as Tranny Lip Synching (otherwise known as karaoke in drag) and Night Of A Thousand Jay Astons (Jay Aston, of course, being the girl in Bucks Fizz who wasn’t Cheryl Baker).How gratifying to report that Bistrotheque is better than ever.
Founding chef Tom Collins has kept the menu true to its roots in French bistro and British classics. The steak tartare is superb, a fresh egg yolk sitting round and proud on top of tender raw meat flecked with capers; the roast chicken with garlic is lip-smacking combination of crisp and moist with a delicious and thoroughly antisocial dose of the stinking rose; while a goats cheese and asparagus salad is the equal of anything you’d find in a Parisian café.
Likewise, the room, a unselfconsciously minimal white box, has lost none of its straightforward charm. And downstairs, the team behind Night Of A Thousand Jay Astons is currently staging Strange Hill, which they describe as “Grange Hill meets Fame meets Lord Of The Flies”. In short: brilliant.
23-27 Wadeson Street, London, E2 9DR, 020 8983 7900, www.bistrotheque.com
*****
Following its opening in May 2004, Bistrotheque became a firm favourite with East London diners, both for its simple but beautifully cooked food and also the somewhat outre goings-on in the accompanying bar, such as Tranny Lip Synching (otherwise known as karaoke in drag) and Night Of A Thousand Jay Astons (Jay Aston, of course, being the girl in Bucks Fizz who wasn’t Cheryl Baker).How gratifying to report that Bistrotheque is better than ever.Founding chef Tom Collins has kept the menu true to its roots in French bistro and British classics. The steak tartare is superb, a fresh egg yolk sitting round and proud on top of tender raw meat flecked with capers; the roast chicken with garlic is lip-smacking combination of crisp and moist with a delicious and thoroughly antisocial dose of the stinking rose; while a goats cheese and asparagus salad is the equal of anything you’d find in a Parisian café.
Likewise, the room, a unselfconsciously minimal white box, has lost none of its straightforward charm. And downstairs, the team behind Night Of A Thousand Jay Astons is currently staging Strange Hill, which they describe as “Grange Hill meets Fame meets Lord Of The Flies”. In short: brilliant.
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