Shoreditch

SHOREDITCH

Shoreditch, home of Yalla Yalla and The Hoxton, is just a 5 minute walk away from the busy train terminus that is Liverpool Street station and the City, work place of bankerman. 

We nipped over to Shoreditch or as it was known in a previous life as 'Sewer-Ditch' when the area was not much more than a boggy landscape. 

Well, you'll be pleased to know things have moved on since then even though the weather may still be the same, wet and very, very cold. Us Southern folk are such wimps when it comes to the cold. Fail!

The thrust of urban development is creeping little by little with new flats rising from what seems like the very cracks in the pavement and interestingly we came across the March for Homes, a demonstration against "social cleansing". Hundreds of people walked the streets protesting against the lack of affordable housing. Like most modern cities London is a place of extremes with people sleeping rough alongside 3 bedroom flats on sale for £2.4M. The March for Homes is said to be the first of its kind, bringing campaigners, retailers and trade unionists together to highlight the lack of affordable housing and spiralling rents.

March for Homes

Stopping off for an impromptu haircut at a Turkish barbers I managed to get warm again, whilst my old man had the haircut to end all haircuts.  Not having witnessed the intricate skills of a Turkish barber I nearly jumped off my seat when said barber set fire to my husbands hair and then proceeded to slap him with hot wet towels, followed by intense massaging of the upper body. With only a slight whiff of burning protein in the air my husband escaped with his hair intact, well what was left. In fact it was the best haircut he'd ever had, certainly the most entertaining.

Street art is everywhere....

Smokers take shelter

Foxy....

Damien Hirst at The Tramshed 

By chance we came across The Tramshed, Mark Hix's celebrated Chicken and Steak eatery and headed inside mainly to escape from the weather. Fortunately, for my purse, the Weekend Brunch menu was available and we sat and enjoyed a 'Cock 'n' bull hash with a double yolker' and a Salt beef sandwich. Its not everyday that you can sit under a piece of Damien Hirst artwork. A word of warning don't have the fries they're more expensive than the main course....cunning naughty sides! Well worth a visit and not just for the food. At the moment kids under 10 eat free!

Cock 'n' bull hash with a double yolker

Salt beef sandwich

Staff are friendly and food was delivered quickly and efficiently, they even had time for a chat. If you have time, pop into the Cock n Bull gallery for some arty inspiration.  Shoreditch....we'll be back when the sun comes out again.

Pizza East - Shoreditch

Picture by Pizza East

Sorry, no chocolate this morning just pizza! 


Pizza East, Shoreditch High Street, is just a hop, skip and a jump away from the frenetic craziness of Liverpool Street, especially at 5:30pm when commuters dash for home, like migrating Wildebeest.  


Shoreditch, according to Google Maps, is but a 15 minute walk or probably 5 minutes on a Boris bike from Liverpool Street,  god knows where you'd park it.  Allegedly the name Shoreditch originally derived from 'Shore's Ditch', Jane Shore, an unlucky mistress of Edward IV supposedly died in a ditch and was buried in the area.


Pizza East is situated on the ground floor of an old tea warehouse, a rather ram-shackled old building which from the outside looks like it might be close to demolition.  The entrance is dimly lit and not clearly signed, but having been before I knew where we were going.  The bouncer on the door, well we assumed he was, gives the restaurant an edgy and imposing feel.


Arriving early we are seated quickly and efficiently by the receptionists.  The restaurant interior is dark and cavernous with banquette chairs and communal tabling stretching for what seems like miles.  It's almost institutional and refectory like.  The pizza ovens can be seen way out in the back, you can sit at the Counter if you so wish to watch some pizza action.  Service is very quick and our hostess reminds us that, "we need the table back in an hour and 30 minutes".  No problem dear, we'll be out of here in 45 minutes!  


The menu is not vast and is simply written with little or no explanation of the dishes but we ask our waitress and she has the knowledge and quickly fires off an explanation to our questions, which is always a positive. 

Picture by Pizza East

The lighting is a tad too dark for me and I have to hold the menu up to the candle to see it. Think I've spotted a potential health and safety hazard here!  In total there are eleven pizzas to choose from but if you don't fancy pizza you can select from the 'Wood Oven', beef lasagne or chicken cacciatore to name just two.  Without setting fire to my menu we order two pizzas, Soppressata (a cured dried salami), tomato, burrata (mozzarella and cream), olive (£12.50) and a Mushroom, ricotta, spinach and egg (£9.50), which arrive quickly but, not too quickly. 


The pizzas are very well presented and my fried egg is cooked to perfection, mushrooms are extremely tasty, almost meaty.  The pizza crust is chunky, but not overly chewy and the base is thin and crisp, the burrata is soft and melts in the mouth.  However, I do like to see what I'm eating and low lighting is not helping. What I'm lacking in visual stimuli is certainly made up for by the delicious tastes and different textures.


The tables are very close together and you can catch most of the conversations at the next table which can be interesting but annoying at the same time.  A strange mix of background music including Deep Purple, Smoke on the Water, which was enjoyable for my date, but it was not something I was expecting. With a bottle of water and a cider the total bill came to a few pence over £31 including 12.5% service. Pizza East is part of the Soho House Group of companies.


Overall very good value for money, service is excellent, but they only had half a dozen tables to serve so I suppose that was expected!  Certainly well worth a visit and being a chocolate fanatic I'll be back for the Salted Chocolate Caramel Tart!
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