Jewish deli – The Bombay Boys

Having been advised by my two favourite food critics (Jay Rayner and the lovely Ellie) that Mishkin’s (25 Catherine Street, Covent Garden) was a lovely place to experience Jewish deli food and amazing gin cocktails, what was a girl to do? Rush there for a lovely long lunch of course! We had the perfect excuse. I was going to the Lucien Freud exhibition (SO worth visiting, his art is amazing once you’ve got over the visual shock factor of all the nakedness) with Ellie and Joyce, my favourite art exhibition companions and fellow-lunchers. So, it was an easy walk from the National Portrait Gallery to Covent Garden.

I loved the informal atmosphere, with the small bar and the booth-style seating. Booths always make me happy, they remind me of New York holidays and treats as a child to the local Wimpy Bar (Don’t turn your nose up, their milk shakes are heavenly!) We indulged in the gin cocktail of the day, whilst we looked at the menu, which appeared as typed by a 1930’s olivetti. Gin, prosecco and elderflower worked extremely well. Gin cocktails at lunchtime seem faintly naughty, but I think should definitely be encouraged in the future. We chose randomly from the menu and decided to share everything. We started with the chopped liver and pickles on the side, and this was truly heavenly. I had imagined it would be like pate, but the addition of the egg made it far different and far more delicious, we all loved it. The macaroni cheese divided us, as it was topped with thinly sliced horseradish (or maybe hot radish of some sort) which Ellie and I adored but Joyce found a bit too hot. The white fish knish divided us again, as Ellie and Joyce were very impressed, whilst I like it but wasn’t bowled over. I did like the little jug of parsley sauce and just the fact that is was called a “knish” was somehow appealing. This was followed by oxtail and cholet. The oxtail was satisfyingly tender and falling off the bone and the cholet seemed odd, as it was served in a separate dish and seemed to consist of salt beef and egg, but then what wasn’t there to like? If I was being super-picky, it could have been seasoned more, it seemed a little bland, but we did devour it.We finished with an obligatory bowl of chips, just for Joyce, as it really wouldn’t have been the same for her if we didn’t. So what was the verdict? Definitely deli delight. I would go back if only for the chopped liver and gin cocktails. Really good lunch place.