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Educate! Educate!
The Spitz is a rather strange restaurant-venue (or "bar and bistro", according to its own publicity) which backs onto Spitalfields market.
The restaurant part looks like any market cafe - scruffy wooden tables, a blackboard menu. The tables seat up to four people - they had to move furniture about when we requested a table for five. You'd expect the restaurant perhaps to serve pizzas, or jacket potatoes - cheap and cheerful pre-gig food.
Except they seem to have picked up somebody else's menu. I ordered what (at £12) was coincidentally the cheapest thing on the menu: Filo moneybags stuffed with spinach, goat’s cheese and nutmeg with herb salad and warm tomato and olive vinaigrette. The dishes ranged up to a hefty £20, complicated-sounding duck affair. Vegetables and so on have to be ordered separately as side-dishes.
And, to be fair, the food I had was very nice. I really enjoyed my moneybags; the Sauvignon Blanc we ordered was lovely. And I fell to wondering: why did I feel as if I wasn't quite getting value for money ? After all, a meal out should be about the food, not about whether the surroundings are a poncy restaurant. I'm not sure. I don't think it should matter, but somehow I still came out thinking that the meal was slightly too expensive. Had I been in a more conventional location (with less grotty toilets), I'm not sure I'd have minded.
And then we pottered upstairs to the tiny, dark venue. Punish The Atom are a band I've been trying to get to see for ages, but they kept insisting on playing gigs on Tuesdays when I was at a dance practice. PtA came to my attention because their lead guitarist is the brother of a friend of mine: I bought letsdothedontcare when it came out, more out of --------[*] than anything else. And although they lean rather more towards the shouty-with-distorted-guitar than I'd necessarily normally listen to, the album is interesting and I was keen to hear them live.
We caught the final support act, Paper Cuts, about whom I couldn't really form an opinion because... er, well, because they were too loud. No, I'm not too old. I just felt that either they should be turned down a bit, be better mixed so that you heard instruments instead of a wall o' sound, or that I should have been about 100ft further away. They seemed friendly and enthusiastic, and the music was OK, I just can't really comment much more than that.
PtA came on stage, and blasted into their first song. After which they introduced themselves: "Good evening, we are Punish The Technical Difficulties." But sadly, they weren't - the technical difficulties resolutely refused to be punished, and put up a brave fight throughout their entire set.
They seemed to be carrying on the theme of mis-match we'd encountered in the restaurant downstairs. Their music, their clothes and their faces don't correspond. So, while producing a wall of distorted noise, they're wearing the matched shirts and ties of a clean-cut early 60s band, and make up that clearly wants to be in Kiss. Which was odd.
Credit is due to them for a sterling perfomance in the face of the odds - it can't be easy to pull off an entire song (and still sound reasonable) without a lead guitarist. Credit is also due for a bassist who can make the most bizarre vocal noises - I initally mistook him for a synthesiser during one track.
And again, things were difficult to hear clearly, because of various problems, the size of the venue and the volume - although it was less noticeable, because I did at least know some of the songs. And though I'm not sure I like the agression which seems to be part of their on-stage persona[**], their singer is one of the most compulsively watchable frontmen I've seen at a small gig.
And today, my ears are almost better. Note to self: remember earplugs :)
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verlaine or satyrica or someone: make yourself useful and provide me with a word like "nepotism" but when it's friends instead of family ?
[**] Can a whole band have a persona ? Bandona ?
The restaurant part looks like any market cafe - scruffy wooden tables, a blackboard menu. The tables seat up to four people - they had to move furniture about when we requested a table for five. You'd expect the restaurant perhaps to serve pizzas, or jacket potatoes - cheap and cheerful pre-gig food.
Except they seem to have picked up somebody else's menu. I ordered what (at £12) was coincidentally the cheapest thing on the menu: Filo moneybags stuffed with spinach, goat’s cheese and nutmeg with herb salad and warm tomato and olive vinaigrette. The dishes ranged up to a hefty £20, complicated-sounding duck affair. Vegetables and so on have to be ordered separately as side-dishes.
And, to be fair, the food I had was very nice. I really enjoyed my moneybags; the Sauvignon Blanc we ordered was lovely. And I fell to wondering: why did I feel as if I wasn't quite getting value for money ? After all, a meal out should be about the food, not about whether the surroundings are a poncy restaurant. I'm not sure. I don't think it should matter, but somehow I still came out thinking that the meal was slightly too expensive. Had I been in a more conventional location (with less grotty toilets), I'm not sure I'd have minded.
And then we pottered upstairs to the tiny, dark venue. Punish The Atom are a band I've been trying to get to see for ages, but they kept insisting on playing gigs on Tuesdays when I was at a dance practice. PtA came to my attention because their lead guitarist is the brother of a friend of mine: I bought letsdothedontcare when it came out, more out of --------[*] than anything else. And although they lean rather more towards the shouty-with-distorted-guitar than I'd necessarily normally listen to, the album is interesting and I was keen to hear them live.
We caught the final support act, Paper Cuts, about whom I couldn't really form an opinion because... er, well, because they were too loud. No, I'm not too old. I just felt that either they should be turned down a bit, be better mixed so that you heard instruments instead of a wall o' sound, or that I should have been about 100ft further away. They seemed friendly and enthusiastic, and the music was OK, I just can't really comment much more than that.
PtA came on stage, and blasted into their first song. After which they introduced themselves: "Good evening, we are Punish The Technical Difficulties." But sadly, they weren't - the technical difficulties resolutely refused to be punished, and put up a brave fight throughout their entire set.
They seemed to be carrying on the theme of mis-match we'd encountered in the restaurant downstairs. Their music, their clothes and their faces don't correspond. So, while producing a wall of distorted noise, they're wearing the matched shirts and ties of a clean-cut early 60s band, and make up that clearly wants to be in Kiss. Which was odd.
Credit is due to them for a sterling perfomance in the face of the odds - it can't be easy to pull off an entire song (and still sound reasonable) without a lead guitarist. Credit is also due for a bassist who can make the most bizarre vocal noises - I initally mistook him for a synthesiser during one track.
And again, things were difficult to hear clearly, because of various problems, the size of the venue and the volume - although it was less noticeable, because I did at least know some of the songs. And though I'm not sure I like the agression which seems to be part of their on-stage persona[**], their singer is one of the most compulsively watchable frontmen I've seen at a small gig.
And today, my ears are almost better. Note to self: remember earplugs :)
[*]
verlaine or satyrica or someone: make yourself useful and provide me with a word like "nepotism" but when it's friends instead of family ?[**] Can a whole band have a persona ? Bandona ?
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(Anonymous) 2004-07-29 12:03 pm (UTC)(link)no subject
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Solidarity, maybe ;)
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There's live jazz on Fridays and fusion/funk on Saturdays, both in the restaurant, which start about 9 and does help to balance out the food costs, which are certainly not the cheapest ever. It is however exquisitely yummy, and I used to adore their warm fig salad, which sadly is no longer on the menu.
I can however thoroughly recommend the chocolate dessert - even if it does take an extra 20 minutes to cook - it is chocolate heaven on a plate, with chocolatey spongey outside and melty hot gloopy chocolateyness on the inside. It looks small, but even the most hardened chocoholic (me) may find themselves stuck.
And actually it costs less than yesterday's cojones and all tastes a good bit nicer, too.
... It's just possible that I'm a bit of a foodie, you know. Who'da thought it??
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We couldn't wait for the chocolate fondant thingy (on account of wanting to get on and see bands), though it nearly got ordered by our rebellious chocolate-lover.
I didn't want a pud, and just had a caffe latte, which was actually a bit inferior, but the rest of the food was really good. I guess if you factor in live music then price becomes rather more reasonable. Might have to try it on a Friday :)