Home United KingdomLondonEC1 Eastside Inn Bistro

Eastside Inn Bistro

by Krista

Eastside chicken

Eastside Inn
38-42 St John Street
EC1M 4AY

Date of Last Visit: Saturday, June 13th, 2009

The Victims: Rutton, Al

The Damage: About £40ish each?

The Background: If you fiddle with a food blog, never Twitter where you're going for dinner. Because before you know it, you might end up Twitter-friends with the chef's brother or something. And the chef's brother might tell the chef that you're coming and the chef might drop by your table to say hi and then the chef's wife might drop by the table to say hi too and then you might just fall in love with them both because they're both so nice and you want their new place to be just as successful as they are nice.

So be careful, you know?

The Entrance: I am the first, as always. Rutton is on a bus on the other side of London. Like Westbourne Grove. (Tube troubles, he tells me at the time. But when arrives, he elaborates about running into our friends Dev & Connie at Baker Street on the way and how he just had to have a beer with them.) While I'm waiting for Al, I joke with one of the servers about the review of Eastside Inn in that week's Time Out. That's my server there in the picture. Or at least, my first server. Because after placing my drink order and asking for some tap water, someone else asks me if I'd like to order a drink. And then a little while later–while I'm still waiting for that drink–a third person asks if I'd like a drink. I feel very looked after. But it is a little like Groundhog's Day. (The movie.)

With the boys running a bit behind (Al wasn't THAT late–maybe 7 minutes), I order some snacks. And this endears me to the Eastside Inn immediately. Proper little snacks. Some radishes, served with butter and sea salt. Some very good olives, and some goats cheese and toast. We end up combining the radishes with the goats cheese. A nice combination.

The Starters: Chef Bjorn tells us about his specials…there's what I keep calling Kalbskopf in my head but I suppose you'd call veal head? Calf's head? I forget what Bjorn calls it. Served cold in a carpaccio-like way. And then there's a roast chicken for two. Rutton confuses our server completely by ordering the veal to start and then placing two orders for the chicken, one for him and one for Al. I clear it all up. For me, it's squid to start and the calf's head as my main.

Eastside squid

I like the flavors in the squid, which are mixed up with peppers and a nice zesty vinaigrette. The squid seems a little chewy but maybe I need to eat more squid to figure out how chewy is too chewy for fresh squid. (I do think I've eaten a lot of squid. See my About page.) The only thing is…it just seems a little messy, there in its bowl. Like it should be more organized, more neatly piled. Hmmm.

Eastside kalbskopf

The Mains
: Next up is my calf's head, which is a heartier dish than I had imagined. (I obviously was not paying attention while Rutton was polishing off his as a starter.) This is a pretty generous portion. I like it. The veal is sturdy but soft, and it's a cooling dish on a warm day. Rutton and Al are digging into the chicken and they polish it off so quickly I don't even get to try it. I can only tell you that they like it. A lot.

The Wine List: The bistro wine menu is very abbreviated. There's a Torrontes on it, which I'm familiar with after passing the Wine & Spirits Education Trust Exam. (I'd suggest some tasting notes for the bistro menu, personally. And while CdR might clearly mean Côtes du Rhône to me, it means nothing to the average punter.) After some discussion, we end up asking for the wine list from next door, and then the very patient sommelier talks us through some options. (Now if only I could remember what we selected!) Later I'm thrilled to discover they actually will sell by the carafe, as we're not really ready to polish off a second bottle. (I swear that during our meal, the unsteady and uncommunicative couple next to us polish off two bottles of wine between the two of them, but maybe I am just imagining things.)

The Atmosphere: If I were to go back, I'd grab a space at the counter, which overlooks the kitchen directly. I'm a sucker for show kitchens. Decor-wise, I don't know…something was missing. Or maybe the lights were too bright. Or maybe we were just sitting too far up front. When I think "bistro," I think cozy. There's a modern-y newness to the bistro side of the the Eastside Inn that could use some warming up. 

The Verdict: I thought the bistro side of the Eastside Inn was good. I'd give it another shot, for the warmth and enthusiasm of Bjorn and Justine alone. But I wouldn't tell anyone on Twitter that I was going.

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5 comments

Willem van der Horst 2009 -

Hi Krista, nice review – glad you liked it enough to be interested in trying it out again! Twitter and online makes it a smaller world doesn’t it? 😉

I posted your review on the Eastside Inn FB page as well:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/London-United-Kingdom/Eastside-Inn/94600288368

We should meet in person now, would be cool to go for a drink or something maybe.

Krista 2009 -
Hi Willem
Thanks for dropping by my site! I'm going to be on the road for most of the rest of July (Twitter will tell you where!) but would be great to meet up when I'm back.
x
Krista

Gourmet Chick 2009 -

Krista the same thing happened to me at another restaurant re Twitter! Very embarassing. I went to the Eastside Inn last week and really enoyed it as well. It was pretty deserted I thought it deserved a few more people as the food was excellent and great service although one quibble -we ordered the cheese plate to finish and one of the cheeses served was Laughing Cow which just seemd rather strange.

Krista 2009 -

You have to be kidding me. Laughing Cow? Are you serious? I love Laughing Cow myself, but really–in a restaurant? Wow. Words cannot express. Are you going to write about this? Did you take a picture?

Jonnibgood 2010 -

As i recall after an absolutely great meal at ESI (a combination of great tastes, a visual feast, superb atmosphere and spot on service, the laughing cow was a joke – something a friend had bought them and they showed the box on the cheese board but didnt actually serve – quite a talking point and certainly not something you should tarnish their image with!

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