Last night I went to the Engineer in Primrose Hill. It had been sold as one of the best gastropub’s in the city…highly recommended by both RL and ASH, although I later found out RL hadn’t actually eaten there before, he had just heard about it.
In lieu of JBS, RL came along with me. After quickly downing a cappuccino each to hopefully wake us up from the cold damp weather, I ordered an Erdinger Weissbier – a wheat beer from Germany. Good stuff. Good times.
We decided to go against the grain of the British style of eating out (each ordering a starter and main) and instead ordered a hodge podge of starters. We both ordered the soup of the day which was butternut squash and spiced apple. At first I thought I was a big fan of the soup – it was a bit different and very flavourful. I’m guessing the soup was made with granny smith apples or some similar tart apple – because it was overwhelmingly tart. As I continued to eat it I mentioned to RL that it was missing something. My guess is that if the chef that sautéed a bit more “savoury” into the base of the soup (e.g. celery, stock, onions) the edge of the tartness would have been removed and the flavours would have been a bit more balanced. As RL so effectively stated, “I feel like I’m eating heated jam”.
In lieu of JBS, RL came along with me. After quickly downing a cappuccino each to hopefully wake us up from the cold damp weather, I ordered an Erdinger Weissbier – a wheat beer from Germany. Good stuff. Good times.
We decided to go against the grain of the British style of eating out (each ordering a starter and main) and instead ordered a hodge podge of starters. We both ordered the soup of the day which was butternut squash and spiced apple. At first I thought I was a big fan of the soup – it was a bit different and very flavourful. I’m guessing the soup was made with granny smith apples or some similar tart apple – because it was overwhelmingly tart. As I continued to eat it I mentioned to RL that it was missing something. My guess is that if the chef that sautéed a bit more “savoury” into the base of the soup (e.g. celery, stock, onions) the edge of the tartness would have been removed and the flavours would have been a bit more balanced. As RL so effectively stated, “I feel like I’m eating heated jam”.
The shared starters were a bit more successful. The first, cured duck breast with melon salad, pickled ginger and soy was a bit rarer than I personally like (it was nearly quacking), but the flavours were nice when all eaten together. The second crispy potato and onion tart with rocket and truffle oil (photo above) was just ok. As a general rule truffle oil makes everything taste better, and it did in this instance as well. However, the tart wasn’t really a tart – more wafer-like actually, very thin. It always bugs me when I’m out eating something that I could very easily have made at home and which no doubt would have tasted better…this was the case here. Basically the “tart” was just a conduit to showcase some nice truffle oil. I would have preferred a nice tart that could stand alone in its own right. Our third starter, curried sweet potato and peanut samosas with cucumber raita was absolutely wonderful. A bit different from any typical samosa I’ve had before. The cucumber raita (a cool Indian yogurt concoction) was really refreshing. Once we’d finished the samosas I used some left over cucumber raita to doctor the potato and onion tart and make it taste much better!
