hodge podge

mountpelephant

found this menu online and saw the signs up today on the shop front.

https://www.facebook.com/HodgepodgeLondon/photos/rpp.648370028694187/686374108227112/?type=3&theater

also, next to traiteur there is movement in what looks like a huge shop unit. anyone know what's going in there?

Arkady

Menu looks great. A wine bar that does goat in Riesling. Heaven.

conformable_kate

Arkady - what an epicure.

Arkady

That's a polite description of my venal nature.

Papa

Where is it going? Where Incontro was?

mountpelephant

yes where incontro was. It says that it opens on Wednesday 18th.

walked past traiteur today and it looks like a hair salon is going in next door.

CityOfSin

This seems to have quietly opened and is soft launching with 20% off food this weekend.

Details: http://www.hot-dinners.com/Gastroblog/Latest-news/hodge-podge-modern-british-restaurant-opens-on-crouch-hill

Menu:

miss annie

They have picked a perfect name judging by that menu.

therattle

I wish them luck but that menu does not appeal to me. It's not just that it's too complicated and fussy (that I can handle) but the combinations they've come up do not seem appetising.

TheMimsy

@therattle My thoughts exactly!

Luirette

Had dinner there tonight and it was delicious. Highly recommend. I had the beef-rib which was tender as and my partner the fish a la Green Lanes. Plus the desert which was yum-di-yum-yum. Nice friendly staff too.

Arkady

Anyone else been here yet?

krappyrubsnif

Yes. We had to wait a long time for them to sort out someone else's bill and lay our table before they even took our order - it was hardly busy. Right old fusspots. I was ready to leave. BUT when the food finally arrived it was simply amazing , at least mine was, very fresh, imaginative, exquisite combination of flavours, properly cooked and beautifully presented. I think it was the fish. So all was forgiven.

HolbornFox

This place is never open when i walk past, maybe it has closed

grenners

Open tonight. Two customers inside at 8pm.

minim

Went there with a group of friends last week Friday. Lovely food (I had the 'cheesy chips and gravy', which was very good, but my friend's poussin looked bloody amazing) and friendly service.

mountpelephant

Went a couple of weeks ago and was very impressed. They mentioned that they will be opening for brunch soon.....

primefactor

Ooh, I'd love brunch. I really want to go there and the menu looks great, but can't do dinners. Same for Traiteur!

MonicaT

We went to Hodge Podge on Valentine's Day. They had a fixed menu, unbeknownst to my partner who booked here as a surprise (from hell, it would turn out...). I cannot eat fish, and everything had fish in it... not a great start, but I was switched to the vegetarian menu, fine... The first "course" was a quarter of a tomato (yes, one quarter cut in 3 pieces) with splotches of coriander sauce and some sprinkled quinoa. Absolutely tasteless, and so little of it!!! Not even a bit of olive oil, or something that goes so gloriously well with tomatoes, nothing...just the sad coriander. The doubts started to mount but still I kept an open mind for the following course. What a mistake. It was 3 (yes, three) ravioli with butternut squash mush in it, what was Ince upon a time supposed to be a triumph of Northern Italian cuisine, reduced to that...and wait for it, dumped in loads of SEAWEED and a miso-type broth. It was actively revolting. Actively revolting is the only way I can describe it. You longed for the half, undressed tomato of the prior course if you can believe it. The "main" was a quarter of boiled cauliflower with a base of kale. Kale mush and boiled undressed cauliflower. WHAT A FEAST. By then I actively wanted to cry I was so hungry. I tasted a little bit of my partner's main as well, some beef and dry potatoes that tasted like sand. There's always dessert, I thought, nobody messes up dessert. Oh how wrong I was. Some really sour, bitter inedible concoction that was supposed to be passion fruit sauce with some incredibly hard frozen slab of "vienetta" was also left on the plate. And I NEVER leave dessert on the plate...
Wait for the worst part (it is not over!!). My partner ordered ONE glass of red wine, I drank TAP WATER, and the bill was £91. Ninety. One. Pounds. I came home, made myself a toastie, and had a good cry.
Do not come here, it is the worst restaurant I have ver been to in London (in 11 years). Only positive note was the service, the waitresses were polite and pleasant, but God they need to change the "chef" at Hodge Podge.

Scruffy

A sad tale, @MonicaT , but I suppose the name itself is a warning. It seems to be a place for the gastronomically masochistic. Whenever I've taken a look in passing, their menu has looked like too much of a random assortment of elements to which to inflict on my (admittedly fairly conservative) palate. Emba Soira and Piccolo Diavolo are nearby…

krappyrubsnif

What a pity, @MonicaT, I feel for you. I also was in HodgePodge with my partner for Valentine's Day, though probably much earlier, and my experience was the complete opposite of yours. I had a different menu. I happen to like fish and had the special tasting menu, not vegetarian. It was an incredibly varied, creative and innovative menu, using lots of highly flavoured and unusual ingredients, imaginatively combined and prepared, and every dish was simply delicious. I dont recognise any of your dishes, except dessert, perhaps you had a hastily mugged-up 'vegetarian option' due to your late change of diet. (I thought the food must have been very carefully planned in advance and taken time to prepare - the restaurant rang me at lunchtime to check we were coming.)

OK, so portion sizes are not huge, but this is a place for flavour and not comfort food - there's Petek for that. I can't eat that much these days and I was easily full. Yes, it was expensive (over £100) but we knew that in advance, were expecting it and it was a special occasion. Yes, a bit pretentious, but what the hell? There is a thing called putting on the Ritz. It was the second time I've been to HodgePodge and both times I've left thinking 'best food in Stroud Green'.

Horses for courses, i suppose. A shame it's so pricey, but amazing that a restaurant of this quality can actually survive in SG, and in the former 'dead zone' at the bottom of Crouch Hill, to boot.

Jess123

Meh, you can't please all. Although I think dubbing it the "worst restaurant in London" is a bit OTT.
I was there and absolutely loved it. I've been multiple times and never been disappointed. I would never go there for huge portions, I go there for delicious high-end dining in my local area.

I hope one bad review doesn't put off others from what is a lovely restaurant and a great addition to the area.

HolbornFox

@MonicaT has removed the same review from Google, well someone has anyway.

cmo

good to hear, I love it personally.