We began with lunch at Casse-Croûte, a relatively recent addition to the restaurant scene. It is unashamedly, a faithful reenactment of classic French bistro. Clearly this is something that Londoners don't seem to tire of, as the small dining area was buzzing by 1pm and we were pleased to see our reservation hastily scrawled in market on the paper tablecloth. The menu changes daily and is duly posted on Casse Croute's Twitter account so whilst counting down the hours this morning I had already settled on trying their pigs trotter starter - wrapped in tight rolls of deep-fried filo pastry, served with a tartare sauce to cut through the richness of the porky-gelatinous meat contained inside. It was an extremely well-constructed dish although strangely reminiscent of a Chinese spring roll.
For mains we had a shoulder of lamb served classically with vegetables and red win jus, served with a dish of creamy polenta (and by creamy I mean the seriously heart attack inducing type), as well as a fillet of sole, simply served served with a fresh tomato and herb sauce on rice. Meal for two including wine, £60.
Whilst the tarte citron at Casse Croute looked delicious, on my way to the venue I had come across Watch House Coffee at the southern end of Bermondsey Street. The former derelict watch house that stood in the corner of the cemetery has been transformed into a stylish coffee house. I noticed some beautiful details - the black and copper colour watchtower window which represents the brand's motif is incorporated in the interiors, such as the delicate copper vases, bowls and coffee sleeves. High ceilings expose original brickwork and wooden beams. Most importantly, it also served a pretty decent coffee and a sticky, chewy, salted-caramel brownie. We chatted to the barista, a chirpy, whistling young man who also introduced us to some cool new music from London artist, Shakka.
Lunch, coffee and cake done, we dragged our feet back towards the White Cube gallery. Who knew galleries could be so much fun in London when they're near empty on a Tuesday afternoon? Christian Marclay's exhibition is a study in sound and other than describing what I saw perhaps those preferring a more detailed dissertation of his work can redirect themselves to an article in the London Review of Books (here).
Marclay explores the subject of sound in a range of media including pop-art paintings/prints, sound and video installations and performance. On our visit we watched woman stood in the middle of the performance space, measuredly pouring water into various wine bottles, the sounds of which were being live recorded by sound engineers onto vinyl. Marclay has installed a vinyl record press and a screen printing machine and these are put in full use on weekends where guest musicians led by the London Sinfonietta are invited to perform and record works that are then immediately pressed, printed and sold in the gallery shop.
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