Four legs good

The Time Out Food and Drink Award results came out this week and after my recent haute cuisine extravagance I thought it apposite to take a look at the winner of the Best Cheap Eats category.  The Table is also a runner up in the Best Design section.

It's a short hop on the bus away from work for me, so I'm interested in finding a good, cheap nearby place for lunch.  The Table's on Southwark Street and is a five or ten minute stroll from Borough Market.  It was very soggy, autumn was definitely asserting itself.

The restaurant itself is a kind of work canteen for the architects office, Allies and Morrison, next door. It's in the same building, hence the design weight of the place.  It was certainly busy on a Friday lunchtime and I only just found a place at one of the communal tables.

I guess the eponymous table is the large one just next to the salad bar - this displays a range of greasproof paper wrapped rolls and sandwiches.  The salad bar itself looked very appetising with a selection of Mediterranean/Californian style mixes.

Past The Table's table, there's the hot food counter.  The day's special, was an unsurprising (given it was Friday) fish pie.  What with the rain outside this was just what I wanted.  There were also some vegetables available and I had carrots with cumin.  In a desparate attempt to summon up a last remnant of summer I had a bottle of Luscombe elderflower bubbly.  The hot food counter will also grill things for you, on this day they were offering trout.

The pie and carrots were delicious.  Under a crisp surfaced layer of mashed potato was a creamy mix of salmon and haddock, peas and parsley also with an occasional pearl onion.  I struggled not to listen into my neighbours' conversation about Nudie jeans - it's fairly close quarters there.

The canteen also has a terrace.

I'm not sure whether that's going to get much use until next Spring though. 

The Table's a great work canteen.  Why is it only architects that seem to have places like this?  You're going to be unable to get the benefit of this unless you work nearby as at the moment they're not opening evenings or weekends.

Is it cheap?  My fish pie was 7.25 . . . the carrots were a whopping 2.35 though.  Still, I'd go back for this quality.

Inevitably, as this was Saf Lahndon, as soon as I went outside I was soaked by a white van man pluming through a roadside lake.

The Table, 83 Southwark Street, SE1 0HX

Comments

[shawn]

Good read ! Good Eats !