First things first, sorry for the shortage of posts. Between moving house and job in the past few months, and some time spent overseas for work, coolbeforeeating has been left idle for a while. Slightly less eating out has been done, as a result of a recently embarked upon health kick, but worry not it is only slightly less, there are still reviews of Negril, Elephant, Ariana II to come, along with a review of Hawksmoor, where we will take a look at the steaks at Seven Dials, with a review of the bar food at Spitalfields, and culminating in a look at the new Air Street branch.
Another reason for the lack of communication, my parents have been over for the past few days. We've had a great meal at The Avalon over wine, and ribs and beer at Pitt Cue Co. Last Thursday night we went out to Ben's Canteen on Saint John's Hill for a nice long dinner with plenty of chat and wine. It wasn't the first time we have been to Ben's, Sophie knows the eponymous Ben and in fact we had one of our first dates at the Canteen. It also fit the bill perfectly for bringing my parents out, close to their hotel and easy for us to get to after work.
Sophie and Eoin showed up, and we got down to the serious business of ordering. The menu is split into starters, burgers and sandwiches, mains and sides. The choice is great, from very trendy americana options like shrimp po-boys and pulled pork, to more classic British food in the shape of bangers and mash and fish and chips. The wine list has good options and value; we went for a couple of bottles of the Malbec to wash everything down.
Before the mains came out, we opted to share a scotch egg. These things are alien to me, having not seen one before the move to London, and usually associating them with dried out varieties found in the snack section in Marks and Spencers. This specimen could not be more different. The egg is surrounded by a spiced mixture of sausage meat and black pudding, crumbed with mushroom and bacon bread crumbs three times, then fried and finished in the oven. The result is amazing, the york is buttery and runny, the meat packed with flavour. When we had these before, I will confess that they were a little too rich, but the sausage blend appears to be spot on now, and the slightly smaller size helps with the full feeling. One of these on its own and you're set you up for the day, so I’d advise sharing.
For mains, we had hit all the major areas of the menu. Dad had the meatballs and mash, they had a strong pleasant hit of fennel and were moist and tender. Mam decided on the chicken with garlic mash, and was fiercely defensive of it, the bit which I managed to steal was great; creamy mash and very flavoursome chicken. Eoin had what looked like a very good chicken burger, but alas I did not try it.
Soph and I have dinner down to a fine art now, two mains are split half and half, to prevent the food envy which dogged the first excursions of coolbeforeeating. The French-dip was a kind of a cross between a steak sandwich, a cheese steak and a more traditional french dip, served on a crispy baguette. I would say it could be slightly improved with a thinner slicing of the meat, or a longer dunk in the roasting juices, but it was still good, particularly the thick goo-ey cheese holding it all together.
Our second main was the BC Burger; a burger topped with home-brined beef, Ben’s burger sauce, smoked cheddar and served on shredded lettuce and tomato. The burger tastes flame grilled, which adds an extra level of taste, and was cooked perfectly pink with a good level of juice. The bun held up well to both cutting and biting, but I think that the mince could be ground a little finer. It’s a shade coarser than the grind at Byron for example, which means there is a slight separation between the meat and the juice as you chew. I am being critical and food-blog-ey now though, the burger is easily one of the top 5 I have had in London.
On the side we had really great sweet potato fries, and excellent hand cut chips with chilli. The chilli is fantastic, I would have eaten bowl after bowl on its own. Fried pickles are of the long and deep brown variety, and had my non pickle-eating mother reaching for more. The chicken wings however were a slight disappointment, firstly, and I know this is irrational, but I don’t like whole wing wings, with the drumette and the wing together. More rationally the wings didn’t have evidence of the homemade spicy rub, instead tasting like they were just coated in sweet chilli sauce, which was a shame as they were tender and juicy, but lacked a great sauce punch. But they were a rare misstep in a great meal otherwise.
Dessert was cocktails for three, a very good Vanilla and Chilli Caprioska for Soph and two iced teas for my parents, which were served with extra bottles of sweet tea to adjust the flavour, a really nice touch. The chocolate mousse flower pot was good, rich mousse topped with chocolatey soil. The not-a-brownie-but-a-blondie was fantastic, caramel and treacle flavoured with a really good vanilla ice-cream. I think I still hear Soph muttering in her sleep about these.
Again, it would be remiss not to mention that the team at Ben’s are excellent, from the warm welcome, to the friendly banter at the tables, the guys on duty made it feel like what Ben’s is, an excellent local restaurant with great food, and an amazing atmosphere.
The bill came to just under £200, but that includes a LOT of drinks.
Hits: My ideal meal here would be Scotch Egg with chilli chips. Do not overlook them. The mains are of a fantastic quality, I cannot wait to go back to try more.
Misses: The wings have a great base being tender and juicy, but the sauce needs a bit of attention.
Rating: 9/10
Ben's Canteen is at benscanteen.com, @benscanteen and in the real world at 140 Saint John's Hill, SW11 1SL.
Apologies by the way about the lack of photos of what we ate, it was more of a chatting than an instagram night. All photos are from the Ben's Canteen website.
