Published: 8 December, 2011
by LOTTIE MOGGACH

Finally.

For the past few months I’ve been waiting impatiently for Mishkin’s to open.

This is the fifth West End venture in two years from Russell Norman and Richard Beatty, who are, for my money, the most exciting restaurateurs around right now.

Their first place, Polpo, in Beak Street, Soho, was inspired by the unfussy, small-plate cuisine of Venetian baracos and the stripped-down aesthetic of hip New York joints.

Their new restaurant, in Catherine Street, most resembles its sibling Spuntino, in that its primary food influence is America rather than Italy.

Described by Norman as a “sort of” Jewish deli with cocktails, it is, like the rest of the family, very good-looking: with its checkerboard tiled floor, rustic wooden walls and red leather booths, it has the feel of a Lower East Side diner mixed with a treasured old East End caff.

Along with comfort-food favourites familiar from the other restaurants – meatballs, mac and cheese, sliders – the menu features a number of classic Jewish dishes: chicken matzo ball soup; a sandwich comprising two inches of Brick Lane salt beef on rye; chopped chicken liver; a lox bagel.

There’s also a pork hot dog, so it’s not kosher (hence the “sort of”).

Whether the food is kosher in the more slangy sense of the word I can’t say: I had hoped to bring along a Jewish friend who could it compare to the genuine article but she couldn’t come, so I had to sup with a fellow gentile.

I was disappointed not to find my favourite Jewish food, gefilte fish balls, on the Mishkin’s menu.

In the name of research and greed, we tried lamb and pistachio meatballs, a slider (small hamburger), battered onion rings, a substantial en croute parcel of whitefish and spinach with parsley sauce and a two-person portion of macaroni cheese.

To wash it down we had a glass of decent Italian red, and, on the advice of our cheery waiter, a rather delicious cocktail containing Cynar, a bitter aperitif made from artichoke and mixed with gin and Prosecco.

By the end we were so grossly stuffed we could barely lift our water glasses, let alone contemplate a whole pudding, but in theory would have had the warm choc chip cookie and ice cream and Nanny Newman’s soggy lemon drizzle cake.

As we dragged ourselves to the door, though, a waitress handed us each a clementine – which, we realised, was exactly what we wanted. I don’t know exactly how Norman and Beatty do it, but with Mishkin’s they’ve done it again.

Summary: Hearty, “sort of” Jewish food in a highly stylish and convivial environment. Around £25 a head for a feast.

Mishkin’s
25 Catherine Street, WC2B 5JS
020 7240 2078
www.mishkins.co.uk