CJ Duffy and David Vigor shared their wonderfully illustrated journeyessay of Wapping [...view here] on the site last month and consider Wapping their “spiritual” home.
As an “honory resident” CJ shares a Wapping Writers review of Il Bordello, our Italian Restaurant which he’s summed up as:
For only twenty pound a head, I would highly recommend Il Bordello as a fine, friendly place to eat.
Having stomped around the wide ranging traditional East End of London, bone weary and foot sore we (my colleague Dave and I) made our way back to our ‘spiritual’ home of Wapping
Now it was time for relaxation and food and where better than the curiously named Il Bordello that sits on the elbow of Wapping High Street as it curves into Reardon Path.
Il Bordello is as Italian as you will get outside of Naples. As you enter, you are met by genuine warmth from the Italian waiters as they greet you dressed in their red bow ties. They gently guide you to your table where an embracing atmosphere sparkles as friends, family and couples enjoy the ambience that washes over you.
We glanced at the menu which offered a rich and diverse collection of temptations, pausing momentarily, uncertain if we want a first course starter or not. Dave decides against but I go for a plate of wild mushrooms coated in garlic. Dave goes directly for the main course selecting a dish of Medaglione di Filetto con Porto e Stilton (steak, stilton and a generous splash of Madeira sauce) whilst I choose the Salmon Tagliatelle. Dave is driving and so orders a beer whilst I go with a diet coke.
Close by a couple of lovers sit bathed in the light of their own intimacy. He has his booted foot nestling between the girl’s open, embracing ankles. They were so enrapt in their own world that we, and the rest of the dinners, faded from their view.
The food is delicious, the waiters both polite and helpful as they ignore our tragic attempts at ordering in Italian.
The mushrooms were delightful with just enough garlic to kick the taste buds into action. The effect is explosive and quite literally prepares me for the next course. There is a brief interval between courses typical of the unhurried and quite frankly sensible Mediterranean way of eating that is so at odds with the old English method of sit down, serve up, eat and go. The Salmon, when it arrives, is beautifully cooked and crumbles beneath my fork. It is a mouth watering dish that I eat with relish as Dave demolishes his steak like an emaciated wolf. My wife would like it here and I must remember to tell her of it later.
Having had a starter I pass on the desert. Dave though finds the chocolate desert irresistible and orders the same which he again devours as soon as it arrives.
Review by: CJ Duffy
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