Salvation Jane: Old Street’s newest arrival

Living next to Old Street Roundabout; my neighbours include a 24-hour shop with strip lights bright enough to induce a migrane, a taxi rank, low-grade jewellery wholesalers and a kebab shop. I’ve had my fair share of encounters with tourists bounding out of Old Street tube - usually clutching their iPhone map and a whole load of expectation - asking where Shoreditch is. Cue the bewilderment on discovering they’re already in it. Until recently, Chicken Cottage and decrepit 1980s office blocks helped to form the first impressions of ‘cool’ Shoreditch.

Well, not anymore. The kebab shops of old are still there, but so are the new additions of EAT, Pod, a speakeasy cocktail bar, a hotel, Sainsbury’s Local (the true indication that your ‘hood is getting a bit posh) swanky new apartments and a circular coffee shop with hip movie-theatre signage (we’ll come back to that later). 

These days, if I fancy sinking a prohibition-era cocktail to the backdrop of twinkly 1940s jazz, I just nip across the road to the Nightjar, and if I crave excellent Neapolitan pizza, then I’ll soak up the chilled vibes in the also-new Meter bar. But I still felt there was a hole where the perfect coffee and cake shop should be, the kind of friendly local hang-out where it feels ok to nurse a tap water for a while.

Shoreditch Grind certainly looks cool and the tongue-in-cheek lettering above the door might give you a smile (“flick your coffee bean” was a personal favourite), but it’s not always the friendliest place. Their coffee quality can be inconsistent and their bar stools are awkward and uncomfortable to sit on for more than five minutes.

Then a month ago, like a ray of sunshine, Salvation Jane happened. This new Aussie cafe - on the Moorgate side of City Road - is a vast yet inviting space that’s open from breakfast through to evening drinks (and everything in between).

The staff are friendly and welcoming, the atmosphere is relaxed and the cakes are all homemade on-site. I’ve been there twice now (in two days) and both times I’ve had coffee (which was great - smooth, creamy and not in the least bit bitter) and cake.

The ‘cherry ripe’ coconut, cherry and chocolate slices were great for a super-sweet hit, as were the coconut, banana and pineapple sponge cakes with cream cheese frosting (dubbed crack cakes because they’re addictive), though the latter was possibly a little sickly. The stand-out winner for me was the orange and almond slice. They’re sticky and indulgent, with just the right balance of tart citrus flavour and creamy ground almonds, then finished off with a glossy marmalade glaze.

Afraid of seeming a little over-keen, I’m making myself busy and unavailable for a week or so, but I look forward to trying their savoury offerings very soon. It’s hard to play it cool once you’ve tried that cake…

Salvation Jane, Unit 2, 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, EC1Y 1HQ

- ECB

Something for the weekend: Yayoi Kusama at the Tate Modern

At the tender age of 83, Yayoi Kusama is something of an icon, not only in the art world, but also in fashion, feminism and poetry. The Japanese-born artist and writer is a striking figure, known for her electric-red wigs and eccentric wardrobe. She has recently collaborated with Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton to design a selection of leather accessories, but her collection of work at the Tate Modern takes you back to the very beginning, with a section dedicated to each stage of her career.

Kusama has been somewhat prolific since a young age and has always reinvented herself, moving through different mediums and even branching into film making. There’s a distinct difference between her early work - which focuses on intricate abstract paintings - and later pieces which were created through a meditative repetition of brush strokes on canvas in white paint.

Never afraid to shock, she often took everyday objects such as shoes, handbags and hats and covered them in phallic sculptures called ‘Accumulations’ to express a disgust with material clutter. It was in the 1960s that her work made a mark on the New York culture scene. A contemporary of Andy Warhol, she took advantage of the ‘free love’ vibe of the 1970s to create surreal films of naked models covered in painted polka dots (which are shown on a loop on a large screen), communicating the idea of ‘self-obliteration’ - losing yourself in repetition.

Kusama’s obsessive nature spiralled into illness, and she has spent the past 35 years living as a voluntary patient in a psychiatric hospital in Japan, but has a studio across the road where she continues to work. The last stage of the exhibition seemed to be proof that her seemingly limitless skills are taking her in yet another direction. It was an incredible light installation in a mirrored room, where strings of tiny lights constantly changed colour and made you feel as though the polka dots went on forever. You really do lose yourself in it for a moment and it’s definitely worth catching before it ends next month.

Yayoi Kusama is on at the Tate Modern until 5th June

-HT

24 hours in: Berlin

10am: Wake up in Mitte. You won’t want to; chances are you’ll still be able to feel the faint pulse of European techno from the night before, but there’s so much to see in this mad city that sleeping until noon just isn’t an option. Fix yourself up and head to Alpenstueck on Gartenstrasse for a brunch that’ll coax you tenderly out of your 120bpm haze with sugar-dusting and light pastry.

11am: Jewish Museum. Opened in 2001, this is one of the most important museums in the city. Architect Daniel Libeskind has created a series of disorientating structures that are hugely affecting. The Garden of Exile features forty-nine concrete stelae standing in perfect order, with Russian olive groves growing from the top as a symbol of hope.

1pm: Garage. Head to Schöneberg and buy second-hand clothing by the kilo in this cult basement locale. Unlike the densely concentrated vintage shops of London’s Brick Lane, Garage is a little off-track, so you won’t have hordes of pesky hipsters to contend with.

2.30pm: Konnopke’s Imbiss. Up in edgy Prenzlauer Berg, under the U-bahn. Wait patiently for currywurst – pork sausage cut into pieces and slathered in ketchup and curry powder. It tastes exactly how it sounds, but this experience is about so much more than the food.

4pm: Brandenburg Gate. Get an eyeful of one of the city’s most iconic sights on your way back to Mitte. The sheer size of this famous landmark, surrounded by bombastic Prussian architecture, is really quite overwhelming.

7.30pm: Reinstoff. Recently awarded its second Michelin star, this sultry low-lit restaurant could teach the finest restaurants of Barcelona a thing or two about avant-garde. Eat food that is so beautifully presented, it might break Instagram.

Sleep: Soho House Berlin in Mitte. Ultra-hip and notoriously exclusive, this Bauhaus beauty is hands-down the most stylish place to crash. Humongous rooms, eclectic furniture, freestanding tubs, a private cinema, vintage record players and hints of 1930s glamour in an industrial setting make for sweet dreams indeed.

12.30am: Berghain. Sit upright in your custom-made bed and realise that – cripes - you’re in the hedonistic capital of Europe, asleep before 7am. Book a taxi to take you to this iconic techno factory, guarded by Germany’s most petrifying (and selective) doorman. Cameras aren’t allowed – though needless to say, just about anything else is.

- JL

Vanilla Black - Michelin-recommended vegetarian dining (and not a lentil in sight)

Hidden away on Tooks Court (a quiet backstreet just off Chancery Lane), it’s almost as if the owners of Vanilla Black - London’s only Michelin-recommended vegetarian restaurant - don’t want you to find it.

With its olive green walls, chandeliers and slick, members-only vibe, it’s a far cry from the tofu-saturated hippie haunts in Soho and Camden that tend to give vegetarian cuisine an unfair reputation. This restaurant proves unquestionably that meat-free does not have to mean bland and unadventurous.

On arrival, my friend and I are swiftly presented with two kinds of freshly baked bread and a dish of salt and black pepper butter, and as we sip our wine (a crisp South African Sauvigon Blanc), the waitress answers our questions about the menu.

There are six of each course to choose from - I try the whipped jacket potato and crispy shallots with tomato syrup and Wensleydale cheese. This is delicious and the whipped potato really does taste like crunchy potato skin. The real winner though is the brie ice cream and Victoria plum chutney with caraway seed cornets and toasted hazelnut (cue serious case of food envy). The flavours are just as playful as the presentation, leading you delicately through sweet and savory and landing somewhere in between.

After more bread and a delicious amuse bouche of sour apple compote with fir pine yogurt, we both choose the same main course, which is poached organic hen’s egg and Ribblesdale pudding with hickory smoked potato croquette and pineapple pickle. The Ribblesdale pudding turns out to be a heavenly melt-in-the-middle cheese souffle, and this is set off beautifully by the chutney-style pineapple. The egg is perfectly poached and soaks into the potato, which we eat with a watercress salad.

The great thing about Vanilla Black is that the portions are beautifully presented but not in any way meagre. By the time it came to choosing the dessert, we had just enough room left.

I definitely made the right pudding choice with iced malt and burnt orange marshmallow muscovado, sugar meringue and parsnip purée. The parsnip puree was more like a creamy sorbet, which was not too sweet and was complimented by crumbly meringue and orange jelly. My friend had the peanut butter cheesecake and cracked cocoa beans with banana and thyme bread and toffee sauce, which all sounds better on paper. In reality, it was a bit of a mish mash and the cocoa beans were far too bitter.

This was our only grievance though, as we were pretty impressed with the complexity and creativity of the menu. My dining partner is a serious carnivore, yet she professed that she didn’t find this meat-free dinner to be lacking in anything. This is surely the restaurant’s aim after all, not just to cater to vegetarians, but to prove themselves as a real contender against London’s top-notch gourmet restaurants.

Vanilla Black, 17-18 Tooks Court, London, EC4A 1LB. 020 7242 262 

-HT