Tuck & Vine

17 May 2013

Natural wine - untainted by stereotypes

The RAW Wine Fair is being held this weekend - 19th - 20th of May 2013
For more information - http://www.rawfair.com/

Ginstock 2013

Ginstock

Tickets on sale Midday from here

7 May 2013

Homeslice Restaurant - A first look

Homeslice, one of the first streetfood traders to take woodfired pizza mobile will open their restaurant today. Serving wine and pizza by the inch, the 50 seater eatery can be found in Neal's Yard - access through a passageway from Monmouth Street. The restaurant has been almost a year in the making as founding member and chef Ry Jessup has teamed up with Mark Wogan to launch the venture.

Pizza at the restaurant will set you back a little more than what they used to charge over at Broadway Market. That said, at £4 a slice and the same amount for a glass of wine, you'll be stretched to find a better value pizza in Covent Garden.

The initial offer is simple - five types of pizza, Prosecco and beer on tap. Wine by the glass, delivered in magnum format. The license runs late and there's a small amount of outdoor seating for those that like to eat pizza like a Roman.

Those keen on eating pizza on the street can still enjoy it from 'Slice Girls', keen apprentices who have taken the original oven, giving it a new lease of life on Ridley Road. The ever popular Pizza Pilgrims will be around for a few months until they too open their own place in the heart of Soho (across the road from a Pizza Express).

Homeslice opens today

Homeslice
Neal's Yard
Covent Garden

Follow them for updates and pizza's of the day @homesliceldn

9 April 2013

Tuck and Vine Weekly Edit - Bone Daddies, The French, Streetfeast, Ride or Fry

Stripped Back

The Tuck and Vine weekly edit - Volume 4.
The Neighbourhood / Destination edition

What makes a good neighbourhood joint? Is it purely about proximity, or are pricing and atmostphere also key criterial? How about destination eateries (and drinkeries)? The 'destination' tag is usually applied to places that are seen as out of the way or exclusive, but surely there's more to it than that?

I won't try and resolve this debate in this week's edition, instead i've recommended places which sit at both ends of the scale. And some which could be seen as embracing a bit of both.

Streetkitchen - Shoreditch High Street

The early months of 2013 has seen street traders moving their operations indoors. I've gone on about it enough already so I think i'll call it a 'trend' and be over with it. However, it would probably be remiss to brand Streetkitchen, an outdoor kitchen established by chefs Mark Jankel and Jun Tanaka, as another trader that has come in from the cold.

Since starting the project in 2010 Tanaka and Jankel have sought to achieve the ambitious - a fully featured kitchen turning out dishes (made up of more than one item) with a focus on using the best British produce and ingredients they could lay hands on.

The new Aistream

Already proud owners of a hatch in Battersea (the location where Patty & Bun first launched their pop-ups) and a shiny Airstream in Broadgate Circle, the team have recently installed another just across the road from Shoreditch House.

Jankel, a produce fanatic is set on updating the menu frequently to focus on seasonal dishes. That said, the offer is a bit more 'down and dirty' here. Burgers and Wings take centre stage (this is Shoreditch after all), although Summer should see a return of salads and vegetables. Prices start at £4.50 for BBQ Chicken Wings - a soft and sticky combination very similar to those at Patty & Bun (no surprise here as Mark and Joe are good friends) - i'm going to put them up there as some of the best out there at the moment.

The burgers are far from the dirty burgers you might find elsewhere- Chicken, Salmon and Beef and Mushroom are the options and start at £5.50 (topping out at £7.50). Like with all their dishes, the team spent a good amount of time sourcing everything from the meat, toppings and the buns (made by a secret baker that they're keeping a secret). Worth the money and again, up there with the best.

The concept of 'everything British' even extends as far as the wine and beer selection, which will be on offer pending a successful application for a liquor license. Also co-located in the same space are Engine Food and Yalla Yalla - other established street traders who will be pushing this as a destination. Which i've no doubt would make this an ideal spot to launch the night, if only if would warm up a few degrees.

No matter, the food alone will keep me coming back.