Sometimes when I venture into East London, I feel like I am an imposter. Maybe I’m just not cool enough. You know? But regardless, there are some good eats there so venture I must. (Although since I live on an Overground stop it’s not really that far of a “venture”.) Enter Forge & Co. It’s a workspace, a lounge and a “canteen” (read: a restaurant). The atmosphere was great; the perfect mix of all types of people and ages.
First of all, I’d like to commend the staff on being awesome. They were friendly, well informed and super helpful. And not just to us, I witnessed them being awesome to all their customers. The automatically get a huge check plus in my book for excellent service! Also the waiter recommended the Picpoul de Pinet to drink and I think it’s one of my new favourite white wines. Delicious! He said it was super trendy right now though.
We started with starters of the leek and caerphilly croquettes, and the duck rillettes and cornichons. The caerphilly was recommended to me by the waiter. I’d never had caerphilly before (it’s a Welsh cheese) and was feeling a bit trepidatious, but boy am I glad that I ordered it. I’d like to say that this dish is like super posh mozzarella sticks. I inhaled them. If I was being too picky I wish there was a tiny bit more leek present, but only because I love leeks. However, as a start that costs £5, it’s totally worth it! The duck rillettes (£6.50) were also great. I’m a bit picky when it comes to pates so this one was definitely going to be either a big hit or a big miss for me, but I really enjoyed it. I think it’s because the duck still had a good deal of “chunk” to it, instead of being utterly smooth.
For mains we had the chicken with coriander and sweet potatoes (£14), the whole sea bass with heritage potatoes and caper sauce (£18) and a side of heritage carrots (£3.50) and brussel sprouts with lardons (£3.50). I loved my chicken. It was absolutely on point. It was still juicy while maintaining a satisfying crunch on the outside. The sea bass was perfectly cooked and the caper butter the perfect accompaniment. When it came to sides the brussel sprouts were king. And I don’t usually even like brussel sprouts! They just tasted like bacon. (Probably because they were cooked with lardons…mmmm….. bacon). The only part of the meal that I could fault were the carrots. They just weren’t cooked enough.
I finished my meal with the chocolate fondant with chestnut ice-cream (£5). The fondant was ace and I wolfed it down without even offering to share it. I really enjoyed the chestnut icecream as well, though I wish the chestnut flavour was a bit stronger.
I really want to come back for brunch one day. They got me hook, line and sinker with the £10 Prosecco deal.
Delicious wine!
Caerphilly. mmmm….. I’d go back just for this dish!
Duck rillettes.
Heritage carrots.
Chicken with sweet potatoes.
Seabass.
Brussel sprouts
Chocolate fondant.
Forge & Co is located at 54-158 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6HU. I’d estimate that a meal for two would cost about £50 without drinks.
I was a guest of Forge & Co and Zomato, however, as always, all opinions are forever my own.
