A little Gem in Islington

A bit late... but when A joined me in London while I was there on business in February; I promised him that I would guest blog to share my thoughts on Gem. Note to readers, this review is going to be very biased as Gem is my favorite restaurant. Ever. 

We first discovered Gem when we first moved to London, many years ago. It's one of many Turkish restaurants in Islington, but Gem boasts a Kurdish take on food. Peering into the storefront, you will see an elderly woman making fresh Qatme (stuffed bread) for the patrons. 

On our last trip, we found a fresh new Gem, as it recently underwent a significant remodel. It's spacious, bright and while we checked out the 'new digs' we were brought our Qatme. This time around, we received one with potato and the other filled with spinach and green onions. Thin, warm and very comforting, it's a perfect quick bite while you peruse the menu. 

Being regulars, and not having a chance to eat there in so long (4 years!) we stuck to our usual: the Menu C. What is Menu C? 6 hot mezze and 7 cold mezze + dessert. Too much food you say? Never! Each item is appropriately portioned, and just enough for two people to share. Usually, the chef will select the dishes for you; our only comments to our server was to indicate that we were vegetarian and that we'd love to double up on the Halloumi (more on that later). We ended up with the following selection:

Cacik: yogurt with cucumber, mint, garlic and dill. It's very refreshing, and a great accompaniment to the hotter mezze

Yaprak Sarma: Essentially dolma. I'm not really a dolma fan, but I loved these! Gem's version had raisins, along with rice; which I thought was a great complement to the briney leaves.

Patates Salatasi: Potatoes with chopped pickle, parsley, dill, lemon juice. A heartier dish. The lemon juice and dill make it feel super light, even thought there are good sized chunks of potato. 

Kisir: Cracked wheat in thick tomato sauce. This one was a new one for us. In all our visits, we'd never had it, so it was nice to try something different.  It had a nice tang to it, very different from the other dishes, though I would have preferred this to be warm. 

Taboule: Of all the taboule i've tried or made, these guys do it best! They've mastered the parsley/wheat ratio and the results are amazing. Not too herby, not too lemony; but just right.

Patlican Soslu: This, to me, is more like a giardinaria. It's fried aubergine with tomato and red pepper. Alone, it's a little underwhelming; but spread on the foccicia like bread? Amazing. It's tart, yet sweet.

Falafel: If you haven't tried falafel, you don't know what you are missing. Made from chickpeas, broad beans, and onions they are deep fried. Gem's take on falafel rivals the famous Falafel's Drive In in moistness. 

Halloumi: A salty grilled cypriot cheese. I first tried halloumi at Gem, and I have been addicted ever since. It grills well, and pairs well with almost any mezze. It's hearty and surprisingly filling. 

Muska Boregi: Filled with Feta and spinach, these samosa shaped pastrys were our last hot appetizer. I'm not always a fan of feta, but these are consistently good and never over powering

Sounds like a lot of food? Well, it was sort of. Did I mention that we also had dessert? As part of the fixed menu, we received a small baklava, a small seker pare with a scoop of french vanilla ice cream. As all things Gem, this dessert is a great finish to the meal. The baklava is homemade, not overly sweet and full of pistachios and walnuts. Seker Pere is a soft sweetened semolina cake. If you have a sweet tooth, this is for you! With the two desserts, if the ice cream had been absent, it would have been fine - but after all who can resist!

After so many years, I was curious if Gem would still be as good as we always thought, and it was! We've been to many restaurants in our travels (as can be seen on this blog), but Gem has always been my favorite, and continues to be. It's always fresh, feels like home cooking and reminds me fondly of our time in London. If you ever happen to find yourself in London, make the trek to Islington to visit Gem. You won't be disappointed. 

The Gate in Islington, our old London stomping grounds

We're taking our blog oversees - London to be precise - the place that started our foodie fascination. Sheila recently had a business trip and I decided to tag along. Why not eh? London is a food haven, with a vibrant ethnic and cultural scene that serves up extremes - hole in the wall up stalwarts to much heralded Michelin star establishments.

This review is of The Gate, an Islington vegetarian joint just south of Angel tube station on St John's St. The Gate is new to the N1, we'd never been nor had our old friends who we came to visit. It's an inviting dining hall with a large center drinking counter which has the bones of a converted pub only much more airy and bright. We were seated within a side mezzanine area, a bit more intimate but with a great perspective on all the action.

The menu is a dizzying array of inventive seasonal vegetarian dishes, I joked earlier that we should have ordered one of everything. In the end, we settled on a shared mezze sampler for the table and individual mains. The meal was great, but for us catching up with old friends made it amazing.

First was the mezze platter of falafels, corn fritters, Stilton cheese pate, roasted butternut squash, and herb feta croquettes. The falafels, corn fritters, and feta croquettes were seasoned well and lightly fried. Each had a nice crispy exterior, but retained their original chickpea, feta, and corn flavors, respectively. The squash was fresh with hints of smokiness and the drizzled aioli provided an unexpected kick of spice. The bed of cous-cous below was a great balance of savory and sweet. This was my favorite of the mezzes. Conversely, the pâté was my least favorite partially because I'm not a stinky cheese fan. Plus I couldn't get over the consistency. With that said, it's worth ordering as a shared starter for the table as the portion is plenty for four.

Second was my dish of aubergine schnitzels with horseradish sauce, roasted kale, mashed potatoes. The presentation was amazing - two lightly breaded and baked aubergine slices laying delicately over a bed of braised kale and horseradish sauce with herbed mashed potatoes formed into a cube. Each component on its own was okay, but together they were fantastic. The earthiness of the aubergines, the sourness of the horseradish, the saltiness from the kale, and starchiness of the potatoes all gave an unexpected flavor combination. The kale flavor was a bit lost in the horseradish sauce, but that was a very minor ding. I particularly enjoyed the aubergines which could have come off as a heavy oily eggplant parmesan, but turned out to be very light filling dish that actually healthy. What a concept, eh?

Lastly was Sheila's dish of root vegetable tagine with mint and pomegranate cous-cous. Upon arrival, the aroma of the tagine won her over. It was spiced just right, with a hint of heat and sweetness. It came piping hot which was perfect on e dreary day. With came with the same cous-cous we had earlier in the mezze. The cous-cous added some brightness too. The dish had a slight tartness with the pomegranates and fresh mint. It also came with a handful of greens which though unexpected, was a nice touch. Overall, the dish was filling yet light. A great introduction to the concept of a tagine and she'd recommend it as a great solid dish.

The Gate is a neighborhood restaurant with an inviting ambiance, cordial staff, and wonderful vegetarian dishes. It is far removed from the tourist hubs that dot London, The portion sizes are just right and the price pricing is comparable to other establishments in the area. Even though it might come off as a bit pricey, the quality of food makes it worth it. Cheers to our good friends for finding this great place, we will most certainly be back! I give The Gate an 8 out of 10.