ask for janice

i have found my favourite cocktail. it's taken years of research and much trial and error but here it is:

hey ladies.

it's 'breakfast tea infused beefeater gin, creme de figue, lemon, fig jam, egg white, prosecco top, and a sherbet rim.'

it's beautiful. it's delicious. it's sweet. it's got everything i love - prosecco, gin, lemon and some sweeeet sherbet. mission accomplished.

at ask for janice in farringdon, there is a new spring menu and a whole host of newly created cockatils, mostly featuring one or more of their 40+ gins. i tried both the hey ladies and the 3 minute rule. i had to try them again...

the restaurant on street level looks out onto smithfield market, and is only a few minute's walk from the barbican (the tube station and the actual barbican). it opened only last year, and i don't know who janice is, nor did i ask for her, but she has created a fantastic menu featuring locally sourced seasonal ingredients, some even foraged in hackney. i had some crispy fried wild garlic flower - delicious. like some kind of tempura batter, but seeming healthy as it's totally natural and wild inside. with those amazing cocktails, they are beautifully complementary.

another starter/nibble worth the visit is the pork crackling. crisp, really crisp, served with a sticky cider jelly. the perfect snack to whet your appetite for the rest of the menu, which is all billed as british, with a modern creative twist. all seasonal, all locally sourced. all delicious.

there was asparagus salad with somerset ricotta and hazelnuts,codcheeks with braised wild fennel and lemon - again very more-ish, and marinated flank steak with young buck blue cheese. so tender and so tempting.

for dessert ask for janice has taken the traditional british dessert poor knights of windsor and turned it into the farrindgon version - a brandy-soaked walnut bread and butter pudding, with caramelized peaches, served with custard. not too sweet and not too stodgy, the perfect end to a meal.

the basement bar at ask for janice is a laid back, trendy area where you can choose from a gin list, a wine list, and a cocktail list. you can even hire it out for private events. did i mention the hey ladies? go and try it. it's wonderful.

p: "ask for janice"

j: "arse for janice?!"

p: "no.. ask for janice"

after a few more rounds like this, i finally heard loud and clear that this restaurant was called ask for janice. it is located opposite smithfield market and is a short walk from farringdon tube station. the name baffled me. was janice the lady to ask for to get a table? was it one of these poncy places where you have to recite a riddle to the bouncer in order to gain entry and janice was integral to the riddle? it turned out that you don't need to ask for anyone called janice, nor recite a riddle.

it is very stylish; lots of exposed brick, interesting artwork and chairs resembling secondary school art room chairs. it was slightly too loud though; i was anxious i wouldn't be able to hear my fellow diners.

our waitress was friendly, attentive and trendy (in keeping with the decor). she also advised us on ordering; the menu is split into "things" and "bigger things" which are pretty much what they say on the tin. we paired off based on meat-eating tendencies. i was in the pro-meat pairing, and we opted for black dahl with deep-fried pickled cauliflower and paneer, braised beef croquettes (with two varieties of mustard),codcheeks with braised fennel and lemon, stichelton, comte and pearl barley arancini ("things") and roasted pollock with summer greens, parsley sauce and cornish new potatoes (a "bigger thing").

the dahl was wonderful, the croquettes were nice but a tad too salty, thecodcheeks were really great and the arancini was delcious and interesting given that arancini is usually done with rice. note thatcodcheeks taste the same as most other parts of the cod.

the pollock was really something special. it was so flavoursome, the greens were wonderful and the sauce was tasty whilst not being overly rich.

we shared a fruity/craime freche apricot granola dessert which was lovely.

pre dinner i enjoyed an interesting gin cocktail from the extensive gin menu, including sloe gin which i tried for the first time (and plan to drink again soon).

dinner was approx. £30 per head. highly recommended.

the vibe

‘ask for janice’ is a lyric from the beastie boys’ 1989 album ‘paul’s boutique’. their record label, capitol, initially considered it a commercial failure but the album endured, eventually reviewed in 1994 by nme as “an electrifying blast of cool”. its namesake is tucked away in farringdon, around the corner from smithfield’s market, a long way from beastie hood. once inside, the vibe is the kind of hipster chic that has become ubiquitous. squashy, scandi sofas, exposed bulbs, enamel tiling, craft ales and a hidden downstairs bar; so far, so snore. too many bars and restaurants have used this formula but ended up drowning in their own hype. ask for janice, however, has one thing that really helps it to stand out from the crowd, the food is creative and it’s good; much like the album, it turns out this place has legs.

the order

order the small plates and share. the beef croquettes with mustard, clapton smoked salmon, lardo on toast andcodcheeks with sorrel mayonnaise are delicious, hearty and reasonably priced. our favourite was the whipped goats curd with mashed pumpkin: mild, creamy and delicately seasoned with rosemary and thyme. the food is british at its best and it’s clear the chefs really take pride in creating interesting combinations with locally sourced ingredients. the staff are brilliant and also very knowledgeable about their range of london gins so take their advice and mix and match until you find your perfect g&t.

the game

this is a perfect mid-week date spot. we went on a tuesday evening and the atmosphere was lovely – buzzy enough to justify the gin, relaxed enough to chat properly, and the crowd was reassuringly mixed and unpretentious. grab a table on the ground floor, order leisurely and try each other’s cocktails. linger over fresh ripe cherries and espresso for pudding and walk back arm in arm underneath smithfield’s imposing iron arches. if you’re in the mood dive into the barbican centre for a late night movie. this could also be an excellent joint for a breakfast date if you both work centrally. their doors open at 7.30am for eggs with house cured treacle bacon, freshly baked finger buns, crumpets and coffee by coleman coffee roaster’s - london’s finest.

the faults

i imagine it is packed with an after work crowd on thursdays and fridays, so go early in the week to really enjoy the atmosphere.

sex factor

3. ask for janice is light and airy, it’s not a romantic candlelit spot but that’s not always a bad thing. you should take someone here who you actually want to talk to. you may be able to steal a kiss as you wander through smithfield’s, it is a meat market after all