House of Ho - Soho

57-59 Old Compton Street, Soho, London, W1D 6HP

Shopping is always more chaotic than you think it'll be. Even with a fixed list, you get sidetracked buying jeans you didn't know you needed and held up while shop assistants lazily look for the trainers you really do. No matter the weather, the basement changing rooms are hot and humid, dripping with sweat. Two hours later, two hundred pounds down, and in possession of two damp armpits, you're ready to quit.

Thank God for lunchtime deals and thank God for Twitter for altering me to them. House of Ho, a Soho restaurant that comes highly recommended, are selling dishes for £5 between twelve o'clock and four. Do my eyes deceive me?

No. No they don't. And no queue either. I waltz through the door and glide effortlessly to a table for two at the window. Or rather, I drag seven heavy bags across the threshold, pant unintelligible words towards a scared looking barman, and throw myself down next to the open window, with the tramps, dead bicycles, and sex shops of Soho beyond. It's not a nice view.

Fortunately, inside, this is a pleasant restaurant with incredibly good food. Chilli squid - fast becoming a favourite of mine - is tender with a hot hit of chilli and a dip to match. The lobster - that's right, lobster, for £5! - is served in perfect small bites on top of a bed of glue-like noodles. I can forgive the noodles. It's £5 lobster! A sweet and salty duck 'salad' comes overflowing with nuts, chilli, and noodles - delicious. The real surprise was a plate of 'heavenly flowers'. I've no idea what this is. It looked like a pile of tiny flower heads, devoid of petals, with a small garnish of fried shallots sat on top. It tasted incredible.

It's so good, we ordered more. A side of edamame and a bowl of noodles, with green leaves and slices of seared beef. A second helping is testament to the quality of the food, rather than any gaping hole in my stomach.

I'll be back to House of Ho. Definitely. Although it may just be back for lunch, this time armed with an even larger roll of five pound notes, in place of those seven bags of shopping.

The Cornwall Project @ The Dissenting Academy - Newington Green

92 Mildmay Park, London, N1 4PR

"I've had to work hard every day of my life, and what do I have to show for it?  This briefcase and this haircut! And what do you have to show for your lifetime of sloth and ignorance? Everything! A dream house! Two cars! A beautiful wife! A son who owns a factory!  Fancy clothes and lobsters for dinner."

- Frank Grimes, Homer's Enemy (4F19)

(This review also appears on Hoxton Radio)

If the lion is king of the jungle and steak the king of meat, then lobster is king of the sea. Delicate in flavour, substantial in texture, lobster when cooked well is a silky delight that can't fail to please anyone. Served alongside thinly cut hot chips and cold mayonnaise, as it was at The Cornwall Project*, perfection on a plate is a cliché that can definitely be rolled out here.

This wasn't the only triumph at The Cornwall Project - a pop-up kitchen occupying the candle-lit and cartoon-strewed Dissenting Academy, nestled in the corner of Newington Green. Starting with an (unfortunately shared) plate of scallops and finishing with a chocolate and pear dessert, this was food at it's finest. Incredible stuff for a pub, food that wouldn't look out of place at the sort of table-clothed and silver-cutleried place where I'd be asked to leave before making it through the door. The other seemingly endless number of gastropubs in Stoke Newington should take note and start to worry that The Cornwall Project doesn't take root here and grow.

*Disclaimer: The lobster was on the house.