Dinner for 1 with beer: £25.00

I’ve been spending a bunch of time in Fitzrovia for some reason and each time I am there I’ve walked by Josephine’s which is the only Filipino restaurant I’ve seen in London (if you know of other please let me know!).  I make a mental note to come back and try it each time I pass it and now I find myself in the area on a nice evening and decided to finally give it a go.

Its a lovely night so I opt to sit outside.  Charlotte street is good for curbside dining, not too much traffic and great people watching.  And despite its proximity to Oxford street (my least favorite street on earth) it is luckily unvisited by the hordes of shoppers.  The interior of the restaurant is nice but nothing special enough to lure me inside when the weather is this good.

The menu is extensive and unfortunately I don’t know enough about Filipino cuisine to make an educated selection.  I recognize Adobo but decide to try something I’ve never had before.

My main dish is Kare-Kareng with beef.  The menu describes it as beef with banana blossom and peanut sauce so I immediately set my expectations to something vaguely sweet.

Kare-Kareng

It wasn’t sweet at all, which was a bit disappointing really.  The dish had peanuts in it but the sauce had no peanut flavor which was strange.  It was good but perhaps not as advertised.  Also I couldn’t find anything blossomy.  The beef was very tender.

Pinakbet

My other dish was Pinakbet a vegetable dish.  It had a nice fishy flavor (its supposed to) but it consisted of the same vegetable selection as in the Kare-kareng.  A little variety in the vegetables would have been a better showing.

All in all the meal was just fine.  I have a nagging feeling that I just didn’t order right.  That had I had different dishes I would have loved it.  It makes me want to go back and try it again.  The service was really friendly and the location is easy to get to so I will have to go back and try some other dishes.

Book I was reading: The Canterbury Tales

Josephine’s
4 Charlotte St.
Fitzrovia
London W1T 2LP