Southwark and Kings Cross

SET LUNCH AT LA CAVE

M&G suggest lunch at La Cave in Southwark, as it has an offer of £15/head for 2 course lunch with a glass of champagne.  We’ve been there before and know it’s ticked away on the lower level near the cathedral, so we arrive promptly to find M already there. G is on his way – and inevitably gets lost, so arrives needing the glass of fizz to calm him down.  As the name implies, the restaurant feels underground, and is sparsely decorated.  When we arrive there are only a couple of other people there, mainly playing with a coffee and a laptop – a few more do come in over the lunchtime, but it’s never busy.

The set lunch menu is wider and more interesting than I’d feared.  B and G have the mussels to start – a good sized steaming bowl in a good marinière sauce (no cream!), though they have to ask for bread. M has the chicken liver pate which is also large, with plenty of gherkins and pickles, while I have the goat’s cheese in filo pastry with honey – very interesting.

Service is fine, very French – amused but not completely on the ball.

For mains, M and I have the seabream, which is very good, with crisp skin and good flavour. B has the chicken in prosciutto and G the bavette steak – both pronounced acceptable. We have two bottles of Spy Valley, NZ Sauvignon Blanc at £31 and an excellent red Cote du Rhone (Grenaches/Syrah) at £28.50 (both at the bottom end of the price range). So with some water and coffee and 12.5% service our £60 lunch comes to £186.30 – beware of special offers !

 UNUSUAL MENU AT THE GRAIN STORE

We’re meeting J&K, so somewhere near King’s Cross is the best bet, and J suggests the Grain Store. Looking at the menu online, we’re a bit wary as there are mainly vegetarian and vegan options, but with nothing else to suggest we go with it. The restaurant is round the back of the station, across the canal and effectively the Central St Martin’s canteen in Granary Square. The whole area is a major development, so soon it will be very busy. On a Sunday lunch the Grain Store is already very buzzy, a bright lively space, with big windows, exposed ducting in the ceiling and an “exploded” kitchen – not as terrifying as it sounds, just open to view.  The place is owned by Chef Bruno Loubet and The Zetter Group's Michael Benyan and Mark Sainsbury, following on from the popular Zetter Townhouse.

We’re there first so order the white Rioja at £23 – pretty much the cheapest.  off. J&K arrive and we’re chatting away for ages until we eventually order), which seems to irritate the waitress. It’s 2.30pm and we’re told the special from the “Josper”  oven (apparently a charcoal combination grill/oven) is “off”, but as it was rabbit, we probably wouldn’t have gone for it anyway. The menu is slightly confusingly arranged into starters, medium-sized brunch items and mains. K has the Jerusalem artichoke soup with lovage pesto – very thick and warming. J has the mushroom & duck liver pâté, with celeriac remoulade and mulled wine jelly, which she is pleased with. B and I share a brunch sized (actually quite modest) fried duck egg with creamed chestnut mushrooms and toasted hazelnuts – a good and warming dish as well. For mains course J tries the wood pigeon , which she’s not had before. This comes with fermented red cabbage, tea soaked golden grapes and a truffle dressing, and is served fairly pink.  Not quite her taste I think, but pretty nicely cooked. K has the smoked salt lamb with lime pickled potatoes, minted cucumber, and fried egg from the brunch list – again quite modest. B has ordered the sea trout with Vietnamese style salad, and squid à la plancha – to be told that there is no squid. She asks what she will get instead, to be told she may get a bit more salad!  When it arrives there are no obvious extras, and the fish is pretty ordinary.  My braised beef with four splodges of root vegetable purées and some roasted onions is falling apart and very tasty, though the vegetables add little. It’s now 4pm, so we’re sternly instructed to order dessert quickly as the kitchen is closing. J orders the apple, blackberry & elderberry crumble which apparently comes with olive oil ice cream though it tastes just like vanilla to us. I get the carrot cake with goji berries (so hip!) and chamomile ice cream- the cake is good and moist. With three bottles of wine, a couple of glasses of house white, some water and a coffee this comes to a bit shy of £200 including service, pretty good value.  The place is very fashionable and rather too self-aware, but certainly a good option if you’re in the Kings Cross area, and if you are entertaining a vegan.