What can you tell us about Mishkin's?
It's the latest in Russell Norman's slowly burgeoning Soho/Covent Garden empire, following in the footsteps of Polpo, Polpetto, Da Polpo and Spuntino. While it retains many of the features of its predecessors (counter dining, sharing plates, and a bare-brick Lower Manhattan vibe), this time the restaurant is taking NYC's Jewish delis as hits key point of reference. So you'll see matzo ball soup, pickled herring and salt beef on the menu. However, it's an inspiration only, so it doesn't stop the restaurant offering pork hot dogs (from Big Apple Hot Dogs).
Where is it?
Mishkin's is the latest restaurant to contribute to the gastronomic revival of Covent Garden and its Catherine Street location puts it right next door to one of our favourite restaurants in London, the Opera Tavern. People leaving the adjacent Drury Lane Theatre Royal are now truly spoiled for choice.
Who’s it suitable for?
Anyone who's enjoyed Russell Norman's other joints will find plenty to like here. So if you're looking for a laid-back place to chow down in or some Covent Garden counter dining, this is perfect. Unlike some of his other restaurants, you can book a table here, which is always a bonus. We also thought it was particularly good value, with larger sharing plates for that price than we're used to seeing in London.
Where should I meet my fellow diners for pre-dinner drinks?
Covent Garden's stil not the best for pubs (although the old reliable Coal Hole is nearby) but if you can arrive at Mishkin's for a pre-dinner cocktail, that would be by far your best choice. The cocktails are mainly gin-based but one of us who was a gin-avoider found the Diamond Fizz (Gin, Prosecco and lemon) to be the drink that converted them. We'd have no problem recommending the Cynar gin fizz either. And if you fancy splashing out, there's always the American Bar or Beaufort bars at the Savoy just down the road.
Where should we sit?
We were squeezed on to one of the tables for two that run along the side, which was fine, but if you can arrange to come here with a group of friends, then securing one of the leather booths is definitely the best place to be for the best view of the room. There's also plenty of room around the counter here, so you're not going to be squashed up against people queueing as you would be at Spuntino or Polpo.
What would you recommend ordering?
Unlike Polpo, Polpetto or Spuntino, the menu at Mishkin's has a somewhat clearer sense of purpose. So you can choose from Sandwiches (salt beef or lox beigels), meatballs, brunch (including egg and chips) or some larger dishes from the All Day Supper section. Portions seemed a little larger than Polpo/Polpetto, so you don't need to go too mad on the ordering front. We chose the chopped chicken liver with schmaltzed radish to start from the sandwich section to start with - which wasn't a sandwich at all but slabs of toasted sourdough with chopped liver and radishes.
We also had the duck hash and the fantastic cod cheek popcorn (tiny little nuggets of white fish in batter, served up with chillis and limes) which we could imagine snacking away at on the bar for hours. The show stealer, however, was the Meat Loaf with its surprise runny egg in the middle - a fantastic dish that we'd definitely come back for again.
We'd recommend the Bananas Foster (bananas flambeed in rum with toffee sauce) for dessert which was so good that we ate it before remembering to take a picture.
What’s the wine list like?
Like Polpo et al, glasses, bottles and carafes are available, served in tumblers. The house wine is £12 for a 50cl carafe and we had a decent few glasses of Picpoul that was £22 a bottle. Cocktails are a very reasonable £6/£7 and, as mentioned, very highly recommended.
Is bread included?
There's no bread and butter on the menu, but the aforementioned chicken livers served with toast alleviated our wheat craving.
How much is this going to set me back?
We thought Miskin's was surprisingly good value. As everything was bigger than we expected, we reckon you could easily have a good sized meal here at £25 a head (not including booze) for very good food in the middle of Covent Garden.
Overall thoughts?
We'll happily admit that we weren't quite sure what to expect from Mishkin's. After all, our only experience of Jewish food to date has been lunch at the tourist trap (although still good) Katz's in New York. So on one level we couldn't tell you at all whether this is authentic Jewish food - although to be fair it doesn't proclaim to be. That said we were sat down next to a couple of self-proclaimed 'New York Jews' who ordered extensively and polished everything off, so it must be doing something right. All we know is that the food was excellent, the cocktails were very, very well done and it's all great value for the centre of town. There aren't that many places you could pop out to and enjoy eating this well for this money, so Mishkin's is a good new addition to the London scene.
Hot Dinners were invited to eat at Mishkin's. Prices are correct at time of writing.
