There's nothing like showing off the city you live in. I'm a very proud Londoner and when I have friends in town it's usually an excuse to eat somewhere and enjoy a day out and about. A colleague from France (but a native Londoner) was visiting and had brought her children with her. The order of the day was to show them around a few parts of London they were less familiar with and generally get some fresh air to shake off the collective post-Christmas food hangover.
That curing a food hangover should involve both lunch and dinner might sound surprising, but hair of the dog and all that... The first part of the day was spent walking around east London, ducking in and out of vintage clothing shops, interesting side roads and the almost real-time regeneration of the east end. Lunch time hit us and it was decided we should grab a pizza. I suggested Pizza East since it was enjoyable on first visit and it was more interesting than Pizza Express.
The variety on the Pizza East menu is always a pleasant balance between exotic and familiar. There's never too much choice but there is just enough to make the first read through the card an enjoyable debate. I decided to push the boat out with a pizza and a side dish. The main event was topped with squash, pancetta, parmesan and stracchino cheese (left). This was a hearty, thick and creamy pizza. One perfect for a winter's day walk around London. The stracchino, a cow's milk cheese I had not eaten previously, contributed the creaminess without overwhelming the base and flavour elsewhere. The parmesan's sharp acidic notes gave some zip to the whole thing whilst the meat and the squash sat perfectly as the main flavours: salty, savoury and deliciously soft.
My side dish was cauliflower cheese (right). Given that I was eating a cheesy pizza it seemed a little indulgent but the fact that it was also still technically the Christmas season meant I had impunity to order all the dairy I wanted. The dish itself was a delightful mixture of both white and green cauliflower, both of which were perfectly cooked. The different types of vegetable lent a necessary textural variation to the dish and the overall effect was wonderful. Another dish perfect for a winter afternoon.After more walking, taking us up to St Paul's by the time the day was drawing in, the wife came to meet us and we headed to Chinatown for a light supper. The lure of Imperial China was too strong to ignore and we found ourselves at a typically tasteful round table upstairs wondering what would be acceptable to order given our rather heavy lunch.
In the event, we went for a sample of dim sum dishes which started with an assortment of dumplings (left). All steamed but containing different fillings, these were a lovely way to start. All the fillings, from scallops to pork to mushrooms, were excellent. The soft, supple dumpling casings were steamed to a smooth texture which meant the whole tray was devoured in minutes.
We also ordered soft-shell crab (right). This was clasically deep-fried to crispy, greasy satisfaction. Not at all heavy or cloying, the meat was soft and sweet with a hint of saltiness to bring home the sea flavour. A dish like this is so pleasurable by its very nature that it becomes easy to dismiss it as a constant winner. However, Imperial China is the kind of place where it starts to become something a little more special than the closest one gets to Chinese fish 'n chips.
Our final main dish was a plate of pork gyoza (left). These were properly crisp, chewy and slightly soft dumplings which had been pan-fried to a perfect bite. With soy sauce on the side, these didn't last long and the fact that we'd had pizza for lunch suddenly seemed a distant memory.Imperial China was a lovely way to finish off a busy, bustling day. Two good meals at two dependable restaurants combined with a vigorous stroll around parts of the east and central areas of town made it one to remember. There really isn't anywhere quite like London and restaurants are such an important part of that.
Pizza East
Imperial China
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