Typing Room, Bethnal Green Town Hall

It was my birthday at the beginning of February and I was a very lucky lady as my husband took me to the Typing Room in Bethnal Green Town Hall for a 7 course taster menu. I had been previously whilst it was Viajante with Nuno Mendes as Head Chef – you will know him from Chiltern Firehouse. I have wanted to come to the Typing Room for a long time as I’ve heard great things and with Lee Westcote leading this it was something to look forward to!

We ended up going for the wine pairing for the 7 course taster, the sommelier, who was such a character and one of the most down to earth, friendliest sommeliers I’ve met talked us through some great bottles but we couldn’t decide so ended up with the pairing. As you can see there are not photographs of all the courses… the more wine that was poured the more more blurry the photos.

The meal begins with ‘snacks’. These are not any ordinary snacks; I enjoyed the snacks as much as I enjoyed the following courses. To begin we were served onion bhajis. Not like any bhaji I have eaten before; a delicate crisp skin with a spiced mango chutney. A crispy fish skin with a cod, oyter, dill and paprika was next. Then came my favourite snack, the crispy pigs trotter with bacon jam which was delicious! Followed by a chestnut foam with apple compote which was a little too sweet for me so early on in the meal.

The breads were served next. And they were oh so good. They say you shouldn’t fill up on bread before a meal, but you just can’t help but finish every little bite, including finishing off all of the butter when the bread is done. But come on, marmite butter. A rosemary brioche is served with a crispy chicken skin butter and the marmite alongside an IPA sourdough. Loved it.

The first plate was celeriac, foie gras, mustard and walnuts. The mustard worked really well with the celeriac and a lovely dish to start us off. This was followed by one of my favourite dishes of the night: venison tartare, beetroot, turnip with horseradish snow. The earthiness of the venison and beetroot was brilliant with the refreshing horseradish. Could have eaten two!

The next dish was also surprisingly a contender for my favourite of the night. I say surprisingly because it’s meat and fish free, I normally don’t favour vegetarian dishes over them. It was yeasted cauliflower with raisins, capers and mint. I don’t actually have a photo of this dish. But it was delicious, the smoky flavour the chef got into that cauliflower was amazing. I’ve been craving cauliflower ever since.

The fourth plate was halibut, brassicas, mussel and spice. The fish was slightly overcooked for me, but loved the fried mussel. By this point we were starting to feel a little tipsy as we were on our third glass of wine. We loved the sommelier as I mentioned and at each course he came to introduce the wine. I found a couple of new favourites, but unfortunately (stupidly) I didn’t write them down and now can’t find them!

The beef was next and well what’s not to like about the dish, lovely and pink and really very tasty. We were nicely full by this stage and in that happy haze of wine and delicious comforting food. Finally we finished off with dessert; smoked apple, Jack Daniel’s and dill. I always love dessert, but this was also one for the husband. The Jack meant it wasn’t overly sweet, nice and smoky. A great dish to end the meal. We were feeling very happy with ourselves.

We decided to head next door to Peg and Patriot for a cheeky cocktail before we called a cab and headed home. We had a bloody great time at the Typing Room. I’m just trying to find an excuse to head back soon.