Mishkin's

Where is the meat?

Two wafer-thin slices of meat – and you're calling this a Reuben.
It's more sauerkraut than meat. And it's more bread than anything else. If I wanted a loaf of bread, I would have gone to a bakery.
Are you joking?
Marks and Spencer makes pre-packed Ham sandwiches with more meat than this thing! I've never seen such a stingy sandwich, let alone a Reuben.
A place like this would be laughed out of existence in New York, New Jersey – or any state in America for that matter.

Shame on you Mishkin's

What a let down… I will never return again.

I love Russell Norman's restaurants and I'm a massive fan of Lower East Side New York, so when I heard about Mishkins I got very excited! We made a point of going once the hype had died down a bit and just towards the end of lunch service on a weekday so it was a little quiet, and we got served VERY quickly. Perhaps a little too quickly? Cod cheek popcorn was yummy, but the highlight was the Salt Beef sandwich which I can honestly say was even better than the one I had at Katz's in New York! My only disappointment was with the bread which I'd expected to be Rye but wasn't. Still, the salt beef itself was so orgasmically good (move over Meg Ryan) that I wasn't too bothered. We were in & out of there within 40 minutes which is a new record for hubby & I, and the bill came to £50 (without booze). Mr Norman's restaurants really are a licence to print money!

New York meets the East End by way of Finchley style all day Jew'ish' diner. Those who have been to other restaurants by creator Russell Norman will know the drill; small space squeezes maximum capacity with handsome bar seating, trendy and friendly staff sucked from design school by way of Diamond Jacks and a cocktail cum small sharing menu focused on comfortable classics. The only anomaly is that Mishkin's has a booking policy (finally, Norman, finally!).

The space is beautiful. Russell Norman truly is the Conran of the cozy cafe, though you need to be VERY good friends if you're getting more than two people round the postage stamp tables.

My guests went for salt beef mac ‘n’ cheese, a pleasant enough concept, unfortunately overdosed with English mustard and on the runny side, missing the nutty unctuousness of the thick fontina-based sauce in sister restaurant Spuntino.

I followed the crowds, who have been raving about the Reuben, toasted rye with layers of good pastrami, melted swiss cheese and sauerkraut. You know what though? It's just a sandwich. A messily enjoyable one with a little too much gunk for me and fundamentally – Just. A. Sandwich. After numerous reviews, outpourings on Twitter and a double page spread in the Metro, just on the sodding sandwich, it's hard to see how anywhere could live up to that level of hype.

I went again, for post-meeting cocktails (all gin-based and very acceptable) and bar snacks of battered Brussels sprout and battered cod cheeks. Both quirky and totally fine, though neither demanded return visits in the way of Spuntino's deep fried olives. You're not going to feel hard done by when you get the bill, the staff are superb (with the possible exception of that mustard handler in the kitchen) and if you had it on your doorstep you'd be crazy not to be there regularly. It's not the second coming though…

Russell Norman is opening restaurants at a rate that is thicker and faster than an Irish sprinter. The latest, the fifth in the last year and half or so, is in Covent Garden, next door to the terrific Opera Tavern and opposite Shrek. The musical, not Wayne Rooney.

So does the fact that he has opened up five restaurants make this a mini-chain? Well, four of the five do have a bit of a theme, with a bar as the central point. They all serve small tasting plates and cocktails and all employ more tattoos and lower riding jeans than is strictly necessary. The music is rock/blue grass/country, and noisy, but only two could be said to be sisters. The others are all very different: the sisters (the original, Polpo, and the penultimate, Da Polpo) share an almost identical menu and look interchangeable. Polpetto is similar in menu, but very different in restaurant layout; crammed into the first floor of a pub, with no bar in sight, other than the one downstairs in the (separately owned) pub. Spuntino is American influenced and Mishkin’s, the latest of the quintet, is Jewish deli inspired.

In fact, it is very different in feel and style from any of the others. It has that US diner feel, with booths on one side of the room and a counter as you walk in. This is where the action is, so we forewent our reserved seating and sat at the counter/bar.

The menu is, if I am honest; odd. It starts with a series of sandwiches. These are big, and are heavy on the salt beef, but there are plenty of sandwich bars around here where you can get a salt beef on rye that doesn’t cost this much. So we passed on these, and instead settled for a nice bowl of duck scratchings whilst we sank our cocktail and spent time studying the menu.

The cocktail was lovely: gin based (as all are – there being a full bar of lovely gins, from Hendricks, through Sipsmith and Juniper, to Tesco’s Value), which came in a jug sprouting a crop of mint that would keep a mojito maker happy for a month, and with a couple of jam jars. We assumed that these were to drink from, as no glasses were proffered, so did. I cannot comment on the duck scratchings, as they never arrived. This is a theme of RN restaurants: the service isn’t as bad as at that homage to him that is Duck Soup, but it can sometimes border on the wrong side of casual.

Having decided against sarnies, and thinking that we would start with just a couple of dishes and see how we went (which is the joy of RN’s places) we ordered, and received, a very fine couple of dishes in the shape of a duck hash and fried egg, which came with a side of liquor (a sort of super-strength jus) and an oxtail and bean concoction, both being main course sized, so enough, with a mixed plate of chips and onion rings, for a whole meal. Although that didn’t stop us having an equally terrific lemon drizzle cake for afters.

The crowd is an odd mix; some look as though they are extras from Shrek over the road, whilst some are drop in tourists and others, like us, just locals looking for a good nibble at lunchtime. The booking policy is a good idea, especially for groups of more than two, which are always difficult to seat at places without one, yet this is also certain to get a high level of passing trade, given its location.

Overall a confusing place: is it an expensive sandwich bar, a starter followed by main course followed by desert restaurant or a small, sharing plate place? Or is it all three? Whatever it is, the food is very good and, overall, I liked it, but it would probably the least amongst the group that I do.

And no, it is most assuredly not a chain, which implies identikit food, atmosphere and dress. RN is clever enough to realise that you can have a simple theme that unites different restaurants, but let each develop its own character. I can’t wait for the next one.

Loved this place – service was absolutely outstanding – great communication throughout the team, extremely friendly. The venue is really cool – love the little soundproof booth at the back, where you can close the doors and switch the light to ‘on air’ . Daisy Lowe was in there while we were there. It had it al! The vegetarian selection was a little weak though, but the staff took on board our comments and were going to look into adapting the current menu. Will definitely be going back.

We forewarned the restaurant that one of our party was in electric wheelchair; they said there was one step but otherwise no problem. But the front door doesn't open fully and there is no ramp.

We eventually got in and for a party of 5 we ordered 2 dishes to share at the table, 5 mains and 2 side orders: of these, 4 dishes didn't arrive (including my main) until everyone else had finished their main course. We reminded the waitress 3 times and when she eventually delivered my main course, she told us that “of course, the dishes have to be staggered”. Well, I was staggered! Up until this point, I had been very patient, but this is not a tapas bar, nor Wagamama where there is a disclaimer about food not arriving at the same time. I told her this was nonsense and she took such umbrage that not only could she no longer serve our table, she couldn't look us in the eye and she whispered about us to the other staff. This is where you expect a manager to step in, unfortunately not.

The trouble with this is that it leaves a bad taste, even when some of the food is tasty. The chopped chicken liver with schmaltzed radish was fantastic, as was the egg and chips, and liver with mash. The pastrami, however, was tasteless and my salt beef, when it did eventually arrive, was cold. Better to go to Selfridges for these two. The cocktails were very good: Bloody Mary's served to 3 different strengths, a London Cup for sharing (but drinking out of odd jam jars, really, not even in Hoxton!).

Finally, a plea to restaurant mangers everywhere , please tell waiters not to recommend something because “it's my favourite”; particularly when it happens to be the most expensive bottle on the wine list, or is made even more inane when it turns out she has a completely different favourite at the neighbouring table.

We will not go back, even if the restaurant decides to comply with the Disability and Equality Act 2010.

Dire. Some of the poor service can be put down to the fact the place had just opened when we went, but nothing can excuse the pretty dismal food. Salt beef sandwich served on brown bread rather than proper rye bread and with pretty ropey beef, chicken soup like water, chips half cooked, and the oxtail cholent virtually inedible. Cocktails were great though and service whilst slow and chaotic was at least friendly. I like their other places so will give them another shot in a month or so but clearly there's big room for improvement in the food.

London needed all of the Norman/Beatty incarnations to liven things up.

Mishkins is in the same bracket as all of them for me.

Pretty and studied cool. Food is just fine and prices are ok.

Good middle class chain restaurants with a nice edge.

Will go back again and again because decent alternatives are few and far between.

For the first I was disappointed by a Square Meal suggestion!

Pastrami didn't taste of anything and was completely overpowered by the taste of sauerkraut and cheese.

The service was poor, my side order was delivered a long time after I actually finished my main.

Will never go there again!