A star in the (South) East

Apparently, London's latest up and coming are is Bermondsey. Whereas previously hip London districts have been north of the river (yes Shoreditch and Dalston, I'm looking at you), now anywhere with an SE1 postcode is considered too cool for school.

According to people who are far more down with the kids than me, Bermondsey Street is the epicentre of where it's at. It already contains several fabulous bars and restaurants, The Garrison, Zucca, The Woolpack and the recently opened, and previously blogged about, Jose. Rumours abound that a White Cube art gallery and a Gordon Ramsay restaurant are soon to open.

Yesterday lunchtime, on the prowl for somewhere lovely to lunch and feeling a bit decadent, we headed to Village East, 171 Bermondsey Street. It's a bit lovely, a bit lofty, with a cute dining room and even cuter staff. We cracked open a lovely bottle of rosé wine, obligatory when the sun is shining, and pored over the menu. We wanted lobster even though it was on the evening menu only, and the kitchen said they'd happily oblige our request, only for us to be those really annoying people who then chose something completely different.

Hitting the rose. 

So, on to the starters. My friend Sara had the asparagus soup with sorrel and creme fraiche. She said it was very nice for the first seven mouthfuls, but there was too much of it. I tried it and have to say that it was lovely, served chilled, which highlighted the combined flavours. I suspect I could have managed the whole bowlful myself....

I had the seared scallops and caramelised pork belly, served with carrot puree and a (largely unnoticeable) terayaki glaze. The scallops were cooked perfectly, the pork was lovely but a teensy bit dry in places,and the carrot puree was beautifully flavoured with orange and possibly cumin. Sara liked this so much that she proceeded to keep sticking her fork in to try it. Maybe she should have had a bowlful of that instead?!

In a vague attempt to be virtuous, we both had the salad as our main course. The furthest-from-diet type-salad you can imagine. Loads of chorizo, paprika, beautifully cooked squid, 'perfectly soft squid' said Sara, who is Spanish and knows about such things. Dressed with a citrussy mayonnaise and served on a bed of mixed leaves, this was a really good main course salad.

Pleasantly stuffed, and not inspired by the dessert menu, we passed on dessert and coffee and ,although tempted by the tiramisu martini, we left that for another visit and meandered off to check out their private bar for a forthcoming party. Very cool, despite the price tag. Pleasantly squiffy, we headed off back down a sunny Bermondsey Street, trying to decide the venue of our next gastro-outing and wondering where London's next 'hot new neighbourhood' will be.