Latest reviews for Cantaloupe

Perfect for big groups... by CristinaA

CristinaA — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:15:32 +0000

Review by CristinaA

Rating: 3.00
Tags:
Cantaloupe has tastey food and really good wine.

ven though it's busy most nights there's alway a chilled vibe and a lot of laughter.

I went for a meal for a friends birthday and will definitely be going back to Cantaloupe

Thoroughly enjoyable night out by ilovelucy

ilovelucy — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:48:17 +0000

Review by ilovelucy

Rating: 4.00
Tags: brazilian, good value, lively
Came here last Friday night for dinner with my good friend Giselle. Really didnâ¬"t know what to expect as Iâ¬"d been to the bar many a time on a Friday night after a hard slog in the City but never tried the food. I guess the saying back then was â¬SEatingâ¬"s cheating!â¬ so no wonder I cannot recall many memories of Cantaloupe.

Anyway I digressâ¬¦..on a very wet Friday evening, Giselle and I turned up for a civilised meal at Cantaloupe. It was somewhere that we would never had chosen but since Cantaloupe very kindly, via Trusted Places had given us the opportunity to sample their food and drink free of charge, we thought why not? The interior was just as I had remembered it â¬ kind of the shabby chic that Shoreditch is famous for. It wasnâ¬"t packed at the bar but with the DJ warming up you could tell it was going to be a busy night. We headed straight to the restaurant at the rear of the bar. This section was portioned off with comfortable booths on one side and tables on the other. With the skylight giving the restaurant a sense of light and space, it was quite a pleasant area. At 7pm, we were the second table to be seated but it didnâ¬"t take long to become busy, with plenty of groups of young professionals and couples arriving. One nice thing about Cantaloupe was the lively atmosphere â¬ it was like the atmosphere of the bar was somewhat transferred to the restaurant in a positive wayâ¬ you could hear the tunes but it wasnâ¬"t so loud that you couldnâ¬"t hear what each other was saying. So we got the â¬SFriday feelingâ¬ without actually being in the bar.

Giselle and I got stuck into the cocktails whilst making our minds up about what to order from the Brazillian menu. My mojito was superb â¬ perhaps one of the best Iâ¬"ve tasted â¬ and Iâ¬"ve tasted many in my time â¬ the consistency of the mint to the rum was spot on. We then ordered. It was difficult to decide as there were many delicious dishes and the exotic dishes sounded most appealing. Giselle had the croquetas de jamon, (salt cured Serrano ham and parsley cakes) which were perfectly creamy inside with the parsley and ham maing good combination. I ordered La Bomba â¬ mixed seafood in a spicy sauce, apparently this is what Brazillianâ¬"s eat before they go out clubbing to give them energy. This starter came in a sundae glassâ¬ and I could smell the Tabasco a mile off. However I loved it â¬ itâ¬"s not really for the faint-hearted, but the spicy sauce went brilliantly with the sweetness of the prawns and the squid was cooked perfectly so tender.

For the mains we both chose beef, but Giselle was a little more adventurous than I was. She had the â¬SCarbonada Criollaâ¬ Argentinean beef casserole braised in Malbec with pumpkin, apricots and oregano with sweet potato mash, whereas I chose the fillet steak â¬ for which I had a craving all day. Their steaks apparently come from a cross of Hereford and Aberdeen Angus cattle that have roamed on the lush, rich grass of the Uruguayan pampas. As the journey from the wild open pastures to the table allows the meat to age for five to six weeks, the steaks are even more tender. And tender it was â¬ my knife sliced through the plump medium-rare fillet as if it was butter. It was perfectly cooked and had the intense flavour which is associated with prime beef. Along with the steak came french fries and chimmi-churri salsa which surprisingly went very well with the meat, deliberately subtle as to not disguise the flavour of the steak. Divine! Not too sure what Giselleâ¬"s casserole was like but despite it being a rather large portion of food she cleaned her plate with ease â¬ a rare feat for Giselle so I came to the conclusion that it must have been good. The manager Paul recommended the Argentinian Malbec wine which excellently complimented our beef dishes.

Service was attentive and helpful but we didnâ¬"t feel as though we were rushed. Good thing as we had lots to catch up on. Very full but not wanting to miss out on desserts we chose the cheesecake and the cheeseboard to share. The cheesecake was dreamy â¬it had a rich depth of flavour without being too sour or sweet. Hmmmâ¬¦ Nice selection of cheese on the cheeseboard (sorry canâ¬"t remember what they were but were a great match with the second bottle of malbec!)

After we polished off the remainder of the Malbec, I asked Giselle the time, she rummaged in her phone for her bagâ¬¦.quarter past midnight, she shrieked and we ran off to catch the last tube! We were shocked that we had been there for 5 hours â¬ sitting in the same place, eating, drinking, gossipingâ¬¦.Time flies when youâ¬"re having fun eh!

cantaloupe by gilka

gilka — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:24:34 +0000

Review by gilka

Rating: 2.00
Tags:
same owner as Cargo. The food is tasty but the portion that we got were small! Take away is disorganized so everything was just wrapped in foil. The waiter run after us because they mixed up our order... Atmosphere is a bit bland... There are better options around for food like Ruby just next door!

An oldie but a goodie.. by idoru

idoru — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 01:21:15 +0000

Review by idoru

Rating: 3.00
Tags: cool, young professionals, electronica, family & home feel, house, good value, spanish, portuguese, crowded, vegetarian, lively, brazilian
Opened over 11 years ago Cantaloupe is well known for being one of the founding cornerstones of Shoreditch. The first baby of the Cantaloupe Group, it has now been sold onto the Alphabet Group. Still retaining all it's charms it remains a home for suits finishing work and Shoreditch shoppers during the day.

If you can get in early on evenings you can set yourself up on one of their leather couches, large tables or high bar tables and stay in for the evening, though they close at the early 12pm. You can book an area and arrange table service for drinks and food, (12.5% service charge) which is the Cantaloupe Group style of tapa-esque dishes made for sharing. This was the original bar that reflected Richard Biggs travels through South America, particularly his experiences of street food. The big plates of nachos and shared hot platters are definitely worth mentioning, also the lamb burger and falafel sandwich.

We went for dinner on a Friday night and I was an appalling 40mins late, luckily the others were there or they would have given away our table. It is necessary to book on the weekend nights, and they are very strict about minimum spend and which menu you can order off. This is to discourage patrons from the bar looking for somewhere to sit.

The service wasn't particularly enthusiastic though I got the impression they were a little pressed from the number of people wanting to use the restaurant for drinking. I think the best time to dine here might be earlier in the week.

The food was good with the features being the swordfish and steaks. This is definitely a steak place with 8 and 12 oz bad boys that have been aged 6-8wks on their passage from Argentina. They're served with a variety of exotic sauces, my favourite being the chimi-churi a creamy parsley sauce that has no dairy. There are a few good vegetarian options and a vegan so everyone is well covered. And there is an extensive restaurant only wine list that covers all the important regions and a few little known ones. It's worth noting the higher up the list you go the better value you receive.

This is a pretty solid place that is well loved by its regulars and has a great warm feel to it, the bar staff are equally hot and exotic. And I can't forget the humorous signs on the way to the bathroom& an actual god send when you've indulged in a bottle or two of good red from their bar selection. I wouldn't suggest this for a Friday night first time visit because you won't get to the bar and there's nowhere to sit. Come early in the week because I think the relaxed approach is definitely the best when discovering this well loved corner of Old Street.

by tristan

tristan — Thu, 08 Mar 2007 20:09:33 +0000

Review by tristan

Rating: 3.00
Tags: cool, relaxed
Reliable. With big open drinking areas that's a step up from the drinking chains. Feels like how I imagine drinking in Melbourne might feel.

by TrustedBot

TrustedBot — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 18:19:48 +0000

Review by TrustedBot

Rating: 0.00
Tags: Mediterranean, Vegetarian Dishes, Hip
Cantaloupe is a Hoxton legend! It was the first bar to open in this hip part of town and has led the way for many others.

The kitchen turns out some fantastic food; interesting wines and spirits are advertised on blackboards scattered around the bar.

Chef´s Speciality Dish:

Char grilled swordfish with roast butternut squash spiced with cinnamon, thyme and nutmeg with chilli and cranberry relish

An old standby by mundek

mundek — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:50:19 +0000

Review by mundek

Rating: 3.00
Tags: cool, "young professionals", mature, electronica, hip-hop, house, expensive, trendy, lively
One of the less pretentious bars in the Shoreditch area. Cantaloupe is run by the same people who run the nearby nightclub Cargo. As well as being a bar Cantaloupe also serves food and has a sit down restaurant out the back.

As a bar it's pretty decent, they have a good selection of beer and wines, the drinks prices aren't ridiculous and the crowd is slightly older and less achingly hip than most of the clientele of other bars in the area. They have DJ's playing standard bar jazzy house/hiphop/blahblah/wallpaper beats some evenings, which while being slightly annoying if you are trying to have a conversation, is nowhere near as annoying as the staff - the bar staff here are pretty bad. They seem to enjoy standing around chatting and looking cool rather than serving customers.

As a restaurant the quality of the food was good, but too pricey and the portions are too small. Nothing particularly fancy, but the food seemed well put together.

Still, I've had some good times here, they have free wifi and nice leather chairs and big wooden tables so on the whole, not too bad. Can get busy on thursday and friday evenings.

Cantaloupe Restaurant & Bar by annika

annika — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 01:08:59 +0000

Review by annika

Rating: 5.00
Tags: restaurant, delicious nibbles, great for brunch, bar
This is a brilliant place with a slightly exotic touch to it that has something to offer for everyone, which makes it the perfect place where to meet friends on weekends both at night and daytime. Cantaloupe combines an exciting restaurant with a well-stocked bar that offers equally delicious finger foods and nibbles from around the world (try the sweet potato chips, they are to die for!). On weekends, at daytime, its the ideal place for brunch and reading the paper at one of the large wooden tables, while in the evenings the music (which is usually pretty good with different DJs listed on their website) is loud enough to impress but still allows you to catch up with friends before heading elsewhere to end the night. This is only downside: Cantaloupe closes relatively early. However, its a great option for kicking off a fun night out in Shoreditch.
Opening Times:
Bar
11am - 12 midnight, Monday to Friday
12 noon to 12 midnight Saturday
12 noon - 11.30pm Sunday
Restaurant
12 noon - 3pm/6pm - 11pm Monday - Friday
7pm - 11pm Saturday
Closed Sundays
Sunday Brunch
12 noon to 5pm