Restaurant Review: Christmas at Number 42 by the Pale Blue Door/ Architecture Foundation

I was nervous before I went here. Was it going to be about the food or about a drag queen serving you food?

The underground restaurant 'scene' in London is about many things, one thing I have unfortunately realised five or six 'supper clubs' in is that good food is not always guaranteed.

The first supper club I went to (Ms Marmite's Underground Restaurant) made me question what all the fuss was about due to the lacklustre cooking. Having read that it was inspired by the paladares in Cuba I probably shouldn't have been surprised as having eaten my way around Cuba 12 years ago I had learnt the hard way that paladares/ underground restaurants can offer disappointment and food poisoning (often together).

It was only the novel experience of mingling with strangers and the slightly illicit sensation that led me to try my second (Lady Gray's tea room). Her great baking spurred me onwards and upwards to try Fernandez and Leluu's brilliant Vietnamese extravaganza. Thereafter there was the slight commerciality of the Savoy Truffle Club (insofar as they run a tight ship which means you get acceptable food but a slightly astringent experience compared to the frivolity of the other supper clubs I have been to) and then well... Christmas at Number 42 done by those behind the Pale Blue Door in Hackney. Oh, and I nearly forgot, Nuno Mendes at the Loft is also meant to be part of this trend but there is something different about a professional chef cooking at home (however, it was hella good).

I hadn't ever been to the Pale Blue Door but I knew it was a set designer's/ drag queen's mash up of a meal. When I saw that they were collaborating with the Architecture Foundation I booked three tickets to go, one of which was for Clair who first lured me to Ms Marmite's earlier in the year and put the whole 'supper club' scene on my radar.

Beyond that I walked into Christmas at Number 42 ignorant and not having listened to Christina Aguilera for an age. That was about to change. The room was a revelation. Normally when people talk about 'rooms' they blather on about decor or some nice wallpaper. This was a pre assembled miniature house. We wiggled our way up to our table, on the second floor, into the kid's bedroom. As we went pass our drag queen for the night (Russella, see http://www.russella.co.uk), resplendent in red, informed us that there was porn under the table (superglued we found out). So far so normal.

Restaurant Review: Lady Gray's Hidden Tea Room in Old Street

This is an old review which used to live elsewhere but my failure to make properly fluffy and sweet scones last night (no thanks Nigella Lawson) made me want to revisit and repost it. 

When I originally wrote my review I thought that the Hidden Tea Room was the best of the "domestic" underground restaurants I had tried at that time (this is meant to exclude Nuno Mende's efforts as there is nothing less than professional about his place, The Loft).  This was for the simple reason that Lady Gray and her husband had got the concept right; high tea. Brilliant. Simple, and easy to maintain the quality. 

This was one of the first underground restaurants reviewed by Time Out and has always meant that getting a booking is a bit tricky.  However, I managed to get a space there at the end of the summer and took two friends there.  I would definitely try to go in summer as Lady Gray has an advantage most Londoners don't have; outside space.  Perfect for champagne and her best dish, cheese biscuity nibbles.

After the opening drinks you find yourself in Lady Gray's front room squeezed in around a table that touches every corner of the room.  You don't forget for one second that this is not a restaurant and that is part of its beauty. The service, the surroundings, the food are all at a tangent of your "normal" experience. I mean, we even spoke to the people sitting opposite.

The effort Lady Gray and her husband took to relax, feed and stuff you were laudable. As already mentioned the cheese biscuits to go with the champagne were the highlight but the rest of the cream tea was good.  Not grand Hotel good, but good. Where they really stood out was on the teas, a selection of 10s and with each person getting their own little teapot.

All you can do when you meet such nice people as Lady Gray and her husband is wish them well and thank them for a great experience.

Price - £25 a head with all the tea you want