Finally: Hawksmoor

157 Commercial Street
E1 6BJ
Tel: 020 7247 7392

Date of Last Visit: Friday, January 12th, 2007

The Victims: Mark, Jeff

The Damage: £47 each, with one cocktail and one dessert wine each.

The Background: Mark moved to London a few months ago…funny how life works…one day, you’re hanging out at the local Starbucks every night until 2 or 3 in the morning, valuing a Swedish mattress company, and then next thing you know, you’re both working for the same company, and in a foreign country no less. Jeff is another one of our classmates, and being as Mark is a bachelor these few weeks, dinner was on order. I have been dying to try Hawskmoor forever, and being City folk, it was a convenient local option.

The Entrance: Totally not what I expected. Hawksmoor is casual, but not. But then again, it is. I had white tablecloths in my head, and there were none to be had. I was glad.

The Cocktails: We were immediately approached for cocktails, and our server did a really nice job of explaining a couple of them–I fell for the one with champagne and strawberries, but sadly cannot remember the rest of the ingredients. Our server faltered a little on Jeff’s request for something fruity with rum in it, but the resultant mix (chosen by the bartender) was fantastic and I was jealous. Now here’s the rub…I can be very patient when I really want to, particularly when I’m having a nice time like I was on Friday night in such good company. And I understand that cocktails can take forever to make.

Well, we waited, and we waited, and we waited. And neither our drinks nor our server were anywhere in my line of sight. Finally, I took myself up to the bar and noted that we had ordered our drinks ages and ages ago, but none had arrived. Apparently, I was talking to the barback, because he just looked at me and said nothing and continued cleaning his glasses. (I didn’t know he was "just" the barback.) The other gentleman took notice and promised to send the drinks over right away, and he did, but I was still a little miffed. I forgot this soon enough, but not really.

The Starters: We split orders of ribs and three jumbo shrimps (casings and all–2007 is they year I learn how to work for my food). Good stuff. The size of the portions don’t really lend themselves to sharing unless you are a very small and dainty person (which I am not). Zum Beispiel, the normal order of shrimp was two to a plate. We bumped it up to three.

The Mains: I wanted the hanger steak, but it’s only served rare, and I wasn’t sure I could do that. I like a little blood, but not so much. So I went with the rump, medium rare. It was really really nice. All of the meat at Hawksmoor comes from The Ginger Pig at Borough (do they have a Web site, anyone?) and it’s pretty suberb. Nicer still were the sides of triple-cooked chips and most particularly, the macaroni and cheese–it was really excellent Really. The creamed spinach was okay–mostly because I missed the separate bowl of cream they delivered to the table, so I ate my spinach creamless.

The End: We ordered some dessert wine, which they were out of, but the server–the same server who neglected our cocktails–redeemed himself by bringing over a 1/2 bottle of something orange. (As you can guess, this very limited description is exactly why I am not a professional. All I can remember is that it was orange and it was a dessert wine. Nothing else. Schade.) We went for all the ice cream on the menu–the sundae and also the apple tarte–and had a very enjoyable ending to a very tasty meal.

The Loos: Could use a woman’s touch. I was disappointed in the design and the cleanliness. They can do better. Much.

The Verdict: Despite the service mess up with the cocktails, I would definitely go back. Great atmosphere, great food.