Mrs Jiffler has the day booked off work so we embark on a lengthy walk around North London, stopping to look at interesting things along the way. Our route takes in Holloway road, archway, Highgate, Hampstead Heath, Hampstead, Primrose Hill, a bit of the canal, and Camden, before having a look at the new developments around Kings Cross (Kings Cross Central – it looks like it will be massive) and heading up to Upper Street, and back to Holloway.
Foodwise we stop to have a nibble here and there. We munch organic plums from a little shop on the Holloway road while making our way up Highgate hill, past the monument to Dick Whittington’s cat outside of the Whittington hospital. Amongst other things we pass the former home of Joe Meek (record producer responsible for ‘Telstar’ by the Tornados) and a book shop in Hampstead where George Orwell used to work – inspiration for ‘Keep the aspidistra flying’. Its now a pizza delivery place… I wonder what Orwell would have made of that. At a café nearby we order overpriced pastries and coffee and sit and do both Sudokus in the Café’s newspaper, just to get our money’s worth out of them.
Hampstead and nearby Belsize Park have some lovely grocers and delis, but the area is just too expensive to live. We don’t spot any celebrities in Primrose Hill, which is where they all live according to Mrs Jiffler.
Down in Camden we’re in more familiar territory. We’re here to see Jim Noir play an acoustic set at Fopp by Camden lock. I saw him play in Manchester on Monday, but he and his band all had the flu so were a bit dopey. We all sit cross-legged on the floor as if in a school assembly, while the band breeze through half a dozen songs. It goes well, and finds a few new fans I think. I accidentally buy a signed copy of his new single, along with a King Tubby boxed set. I keep accidentally buying things in Fopp, I wonder if I can take out insurance.
Its quieter in Camden during the week, and the crackheads are a bit more obvious without the weekend crowd to hide in. We move on quickly to try to get to Kings Cross before it gets too dark. Tasty Corner, purveyor of brightly coloured Chinese food, is undergoing some sort of refurbishment, presumably to try to keep up with the rather swish looking oriental place that has opened up just a few doors down.
Upper Street is busy as always, and we slip off behind the antiques market to poke around the back streets a little before reaching our destination on Essex Street: the S&M Café.
S&M stands for ‘Sausage & Mash’ of course, which is pretty much the staple of the menu at this café, which doesn’t appear to have changed much since the war. They do have a couple of pies on the menu, but we’re here for the main event. We both go for a plate of plain mash with gravy and London Traditional Sausages (there are many more on the menu, but we’re beginners at this place), two cups of tea, and a bowl of minted peas to share.
Mrs Jiffler – a mash aficionado if ever there was one - immediately approves of the mash, which was smooth, yet still yielding to the even textured gravy. The sausages are perfectly done, tight in the skin, while still juicy inside. Our side of minted peas is as near to perfect as they get.
There are a variety of condiments on each table – in jars and bottles not those horrid little sachets. I’m pleased to see that each table has a jar of Coleman’s original mustard, along with some HP, as it should be, but also intrigued by the selection of mustards made by Gordon’s fine foods of Surrey. The high standards set so far encourage me to taste of few of these. The wholegrain is fine, despite not having quite the fire and crunch of Coleman’s wholegrain. The sweeter Mustard with wildflower honey would sit nicely with a spicy sausage such as a Lincolnshire or Cumberland ring. Finally the Dijon Mustard with Chablis mixes nicely with the mash and gravy. Its not quite true to the Dijon recipe as it lists spirit vinegar rather than verjuice on the label, but the addition of the Chablis brings things into line a bit.
