Mishkin’s

I really love this place. Small, simple, great tasting/​sharing plates in such a relaxed atmosphere. You have to go for the Mac & Cheese and at least some of the sliders on your first go. The bill may add up if you get carried away, but it’s just a good excuse to come back and try anything you missed. (Visit — 17/​07/​2015 Lunch)

If you go here (which I think you should) make sure to order what they do best, which is the proper soul food. The first time I went there I chose some healthier options — like the salads and market greens. After that time I wasn’t a fan. I gave it a second chance though, and that time me and my friend shared the Mac and cheese, brisket sandwiches and sliders. Kick in the crotch, spin on my neck that was bloody amazing.

Headed here after the Unilocal mulled wine ‘festival’. Delicious. Sat at the bar and were helped by super friendly staff. Gin Sour was okay, nothing special — the Manhattan much better. Food was delicious. Great salt beef. Nice atmosphere. Busy but not pretentious. Would definitely go again.

Excellent food, cool vibe, and helpful staff. Definitely going back again.

Very tasty drinks. Staff is attentive and happy to explain the menu. I ordered a pastrami. All food is good so that is really no problem.

Not great. Ambiance more like a traditional diner than a deli. Food was… well they got the traditional deli menu items right but the food was very blah. Bland to taste, nothing special. Very expensive for what on offer, but is located in a touristy area I suppose. Wouldn’t return and wouldn’t recommend to anyone familiar with traditional American Jewish delis.

Nice food and loads of Gin!
Would def come here again.
But would explore the menu more

Great food but small portions for the money. Traditionally– this comfort food would be served in larger deli style portions. I ordered the chickpea, spinach, and ricotta sliders which was good. The waitress recommend I order 2 if it was my main which was a great suggestion as 1 would have been too small. My husband had the reuben which he loved. We also shared the house cut chips, slaw, and house pickles. The chips was a small portion so if ordering for 2 I would order 2 portions in hindsight. The slaw was really enjoyable as was really fresh with natural ingredients. The house pickles I found pricey for a small metal cup portion and is not traditional pickles but was still good (was more pickled veg slices). We shared the pumpkin pie at the end which was really good. Food had great flavour and service was great. My only reserve is that it is pricey in a way that works for something like a tapas restaurant but not a kind-​of-​deli.

This place never disappoints! Part of the set of Russell Norman restaurants the food here is naturally awesome, but tucked away behind Covent Garden is very rarely as busy as it’s sister restaurants in Soho.
I like that the menu is a collection of things to share — mac and cheese, sliders, meatloaf — which lends itself well to most lunch genres (groups, dates, hungry, not hungry, expensive, cheap, quick, long… you understand), and the Jewish theme (whilst an increasingly trendy food style) means it offers something a little different from your average tapas /​small plates venue.
Décor is super cool, in keeping with the polished style of Covent Garden but with a nod to the more edgy ‘Brooklyn’ vibe — it however avoids either extreme and hence doesn’t alienate too many potential diners (I’ve been there with both casually dressed uni friends and a more formal dinner with my family).
Five stars, didn’t even have to think about it.

The restaurant is a diner style layout. We had no booking, but they were able to accommodate us.
The menu looks good. It’s a deli, so there are some good sandwich and slider options. The salt beef looks tempting, but I was feeling like fried chicken at the time. I got a side of onion rings too: a classic accompaniment. My wife was tempted by the mac & cheese and the beef slider. The solution: get the small version of each! She got a creaming soda to drink and I ordered half a pint of white beer.
The slider was just too big to eat as a burger, so I semi deconstructed it and ate with a knife and fork. The chicken is nice, but had a kind of batter like fish and chips. Combined with the onion rings, I was feeling a headache from too much battery coating and I couldn’t finish the onion rings.
My wife chose the mac & cheese which had salt beef and Coleman’s mustard. I think this would be nice as a small side, but it would be way too rich to have as a meal on its own. Even then, I was struggling to help my wife finish it off.
We left feeling full, but not completely satisfied. I think I needed a lie down! Maybe on another day and making different choices, it would have been better.

I love Russel Norman’s restaurants. Spuntino is pretty much my favourite place in London. I like his style. This was my third visit to mishkins and i oh so want to love it but I just don’t.
The place is beautiful. The menu I like. I really love the idea of the place. But I’ve always felt a but ‘meh’ about it.
I’m not sure what is lacking but something is. The atmosphere just never is right. My server today was perfectly pleasant. I have no complaints about her at all. I am recovering from stinking horrible cough so I figured matzoh ball soup would fix me right up.
I had that and a half salt beef sandwich. The salt beef was outstanding. Delcious and tender. Perfect. It was lacking the punch of English mustard such a sandwich needs though. Not quite enough. And sadly the bread disintegrated when I picked it up. So I was reduced to using a knife and fork. Which shouldn’t be the case. The bread itself is a bit boring. Nothing special. But I did over all enjoy the sandwich because of the meat.
The soup was very tasty. The broth was excellent. A tad underseasoned but I know I like a lot of Salt. So that’s just me being picky I imagine. The chicken mean inside was juicy and very full flavoured. The matzo balls were not a knock out. A little bland and dense. No real flavour. I wouldn’t have missed them. In such a tasty soup. But then again they are kinda the point of matzo soup.
Coffee — what I ordered was a flat white. What I received was more like a latte. But tasty so I shan’t whine.
Oh I wish I loved it like I love spuntino. Maybe someone can tell me what it is that stops this place singing.

I really wanted to give this place a 3 and a half, but Unilocal!don’t do things by halves!
I had heard about Mishkin’s quite a bit and was curious. When the Unilocal!Book Club came up and there was a tenuous link between the book and Mishkin’s I opted for that.
So, first impressions. The place seemed hectic and the staff harried.
The took a long to time to serve, first to take the orders and then to recieve them. Whilst refereshing, I found my Diamond Fizz a watery disappointment. Although, for a reasonable £7.50 I guess I can’t complain.
Now, in the food department this is where Mishkin’s excels. I had a half portion of the blue cheese and portobello mushroom Macaroni cheese and a the beetroot, feta and cumin salsa slider. Both delicious, but the slider in particular was stand out! Beetroot and feta patty is an interesting and imaginative veggie option. Great combination of flavours that I found enjoyably satisfying to eat.
They could have saved themselves with the food but we decided to go for some grown up milkshakes — milkshake with a shot of alcohol of your choice! I was all excited with anticipation. After another long wait what was presented in front of me was milk with flavouring — THIS IS NOT A MILKSHAKE! A real milkshake should pretty much be almost melting ice-​cream so thick and creamy you can barely suck it through a straw. This was not the case here — another disappointment.
All in all, I would recommend the place for the food, but given the anti-​climactic drinks and extremely slow service you might be better off just getting take-​out — which they do.

Mishkin’s is a solid four-​star restaurant, but due to an amazingly bizarre experience I had, I decided to up the review to five stars (keep reading for details).
Mishkin’s was chosen for our book group location because we were reading a book about Germany during World War II (The Book Thief) so we decided to come and try some Jewish food to keep the theme going. Granted it’s a bit of a strange idea, but why not?
So first off the cocktails are pretty delicious. I had a beetroot martini. It sounded great, but ended up just being gin and a giant hunk of beetroot. I was expecting juice or whatever, but since I like gin it really wasn’t too bad. I tried a few sips of the other drinks, and they were pretty awesome, so I was curious to try more. Unfortunately the service is a bit slow, so we didn’t actually end up ordering any more cocktails. If you don’t like alcohol, they serve American soft drinks! Cream soda anyone?
Everything on the menu looked amazing. It looked like an American food fest, so I wanted to try as much as possible. I ordered the small beef and mustard mac and cheese, a spicy chicken slider and the half and half (half fries and half onion rings). They have two sizes of slider, and be aware that the large size slider is still a slider size, just with a double patty. Everything was super tasty. Probably one of the best mac and cheeses I’ve had outside of the US. I do it better (of course I do), but if I don’t want to make a giant batch, I know where to get it. The slider was also super tasty. Perfectly fried chicken with a spicy sauce, and plenty of extra sauce on the side if you like your slider sloppy, or if you want to dip your chips and rings into it.
For dessert I opted for the boozy milkshake. Unfortunately, the milk shakes are British style and not American style (that means NO ice cream), so wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but it tasted nice with the booze. I tried a bite of the cheesecake and they do a heavenly baked cheesecake.
Unfortunately the service was fairly mediocre. So even though the food was super tasty, I wasn’t willing to give five stars. However, the bathroom experience really boosted this restaurant into five-​star territory for me.
They have super old-​school copper-​y taps. And what’s between them? Sticking out of the wall? There’s what can only be described as a bright yellow soap phallus. In order to use soap on my hands, it was literally like I had to give the soap a hand job. I just about lost it. So if you enjoy giving a bit of a wank to the soap phallus, Mishkin’s is the place for you.
I’ll be back. Oh yes, even with your crazy soap.

One thing you don’t see too much around in London — where there is abundance of in NY are Jewish delis. I asked a Jewish friend of mine if she was interested in checking it out and she hadn’t had matzo ball soup in ages. She ordered the soup and said it was really good and pretty damn authentic.
I ordered the mac and cheese with salt beef and coleman’s mustard. It was good after the first few bites but then got a bit heavy. I’d recommend sharing this with someone and splitting something else.
The rest of the menu is quite simple — like hot dogs and sandwiches. Now, I’d like to go back and see if they make a proper bagel!

Why are you here? This place is not good. It must be a matter of convenience I’m assuming.
Popped by while shopping in the neighborhood husband ordered a Reuben. It was passable. I ordered matzoh ball soup and a chocolate malt.
I am not sure on what planet a malt tastes like that on but for 6 pounds when I order a BOWL of matzoh ball soup I had better receive a bowl of something with a giant ball in it. Not two sad excuses for matzoh balls that look like testicles.
The broth was flavorless. Matzoh Ball Soup is meant to be filling NOT refreshing and palate cleansing…
Delisserie in Golder’s Green kicked this places ass without trying.
Will I back? Not if I can help it.

I’m glad that this nook is hidden away, yet near enough Covent Garden, as have never had problems finding a table. Nevertheless, I’d recommend making reservations just to be safe if you want to go for dinner.
Very attentive and charming staff, and no pretensions about the place.
The reason I keep coming back? Their superb gin drinks, the hash dishes (duck, or corned beef), corn dogs, and desserts.

I was expecting great things and so took myself off to this place for lunch. On my own. Yeah you can do that — it is ok right?
Having just returned from NYC it felt very similar to a little place round the corner from my apartment on Bank Street
I ordered the Reuben and was a bit disappointed. The bread was a little but overdone and the meat was a bit flavourless.
The people in there were all trendy types and the staff are a quirky.
I might go back one day but no rush.

What I like about this place is the attention to detail even down to the wallpaper in the loo (sorry, restroom) that looks like it was put up in the 1960’s but no, it was done just a few months ago. I have no problem with the imitation American diner /​deli vibe and it’s careful attention to detail, in fact I love this kind of place in the actual US of A. What’s good about these places (in the US) is that they serve honest good food, no fuss and no nonsense and untrendyfied and with good value prices too.
Translate this to London however and it becomes trendified, I suppose on account of the slight novelty value and the thrill of pretending that you are in NYC and also with premium prices for the imitation authentic experience… so I realised that was going to be the deal, before we went in so was prepared.
Unlike others, I do like the fact that the Russell Norman restaurants are generally reservation free although I would not stand in a queue for more than 10 minutes to go in but really, you shouldn’t have to reserve for a diner or deli that’s just a casual eating place. Strangely, apparently you can reserve at Mishkins. We hadn’t and there was plenty of room on a rainy Sunday evening. My work week is scheduled, I don’t necessarily want a schedule at the weekend too, especially Sunday.
For some reason I ordered the fishcakes, I think I was attracted to the beets and horseradish on the side more than the fishcakes. My friend ordered the turkey schnitzel. I was going to order the £5! side of ‘greens’ but turned out it was just kale — blah, so got the ‘half and half’ ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ fries and onion rings which were pretty good but smallish portion. Food came quickly and was good. I would have liked more of the beets and horseradish on the side and more bite to the horseradish, it was very meek indeed.
We both ordered the chocolate and peanut cookie and ice cream for desert, I think with butterscotch sauce. The cookie was large, warm and good and went well with the ice cream.
Overall good, simple food, not stellar. Service laid back but sufficient, probably about right.
Came to £25 /​head so didn’t break the bank but was no bargain either.
For the next project, how about a London replica of Johnny’s luncheonette from NYC? Does great breakfasts (eggs, bacon hash browns) and pancakes and costs around $ 6. That would be great.

Zara L took me here, after she took me to a top secret filming at the Royal Opera House (she really knows how to take a girl out, then not pay).
We shared a salt beef sandwich and a soup. You know what? BTW chicken soup with a matzo ball in 1 bowl is kinda hard to share (just so you know). But they were both so delicious.
The 4 of us then decided to have lots of desserts (since they forgot our half and half chips/​onion rings dodah) and caught diabetes. They are sweeeet! But delicious. I loved the lemon drizzle cake.
Beware of the cocktails, they are lethal!
*May be we should work there, the servers food (we were there as they were all taking turns eating dinner) looked AMAZING.

Mishkins is the latest offering from Da Polpo people Richard Beatty and Russell Norman — a New York diner that’s a «kinda Jewish deli with cocktails». It’s jewish-​ish, as ‘Ish-​kins’ also serve eel, or pig based food.
Besides the non kosher factor, the menu is very comforting and takes me back to the delis of my youth. Brick Lane salt beef sandwiches, chicken soup with matzo balls and deep fried potato pancakes aka latkes (but only served with eel — hiss!).
I admit some of it is a bit pricier than if you head to a deli in Edgware, but it’s more convenient, and despite dearly loving the elderly folk of Zone 5 this is a little bit of nicer atmosphere to hang out in.
You also get US diner food on the menu too — beef patties, meatloaf, milkshakes and best of all… cocktails at a decent price, served in silver kiddish style cups. The cocktails mean I can see this being an all-​rounder — suitable from brunch all the way to decadent late dinners and drinks.
Be warmed though — in authentic J-​style this is not a place best for vegetarians although I think I did spy a vegetarian meatball slider (mini burger) on the list.
Mishkins is very welcoming with comfy booth seating, and cutlery in plastic trays with ketchup and mustard on the tables. Also it was not as expensive as I was expecting but I think there may be a soft launch on the prices with 50% off at the moment.
I ate the salt beef sandwich which was around £9, so obviously more money than Brick Lane, but they trim the fat off for you, and it comes with oodles of delicious salt beef. It’s served on soda bread but I had to recreate the deli experience (also known as being difficult) and requested rye instead which they happily obliged. Gorgeous, but rather mustardy though — and had a few mustard nose pain moments. They also serve amazing lightly battered onion rings and chips. Can’t decide which one to have? Get half and half instead. My friend ordered a creamy fish Knish dumpling covered in creamy sauce. We finished off with mmmmm-​milkshakes — I would have greedily liked them to be larger but I was extremly full at that point, so perhaps E Mishkins knowns best here.
Our lovely waiter gleefully demonstrated the private booth at the back, a former BBC sound booth — sound proof and with an on air sign that lights up! The service was generally very good and friendly, any glitchess I witnessed (such as running out of a few key menu items) I am sure will be ironed out soon. I also made an idiot of myself over my change — and now I’m a little bit embarrassed going back but hopefully they will forget me soon, as I really want to return because Mishkins put the ish in delicio-​ish. (#PUNFAIL)