The Book Club

‘When a man is tired of the Book Club on Leonard Street in Shoreditch, he is tired with life.’ This clumsy paraphrasing of Dr. Johnson’s aphorism about the perpetual excitement that surrounds London existence might seem a little over the top and quite a far-fetched statement to make. But hey, the Book Club has got a ping pong table.

There’s a lot going on during the day and at night. The venue manages to put together DJ sets, lectures as well as life drawing classes. There is also a room in which to play pool as well as the provision of board games. When I popped in on a busy lunchtime, there were a decent mix of City workers, hipsters and media types.

The atmosphere was a very convivial one with a lot of people seeming to use the venue as a place to meet up and hang out for the afternoon. I was only in for lunch but the longer I stayed, the more it struck me that it was a place that you could probably come in and end up spending the whole day. There is enough to keep you captivated and many reasons to keep passing that perpetual just another half an hour until you suddenly realise that it’s closing time.

For lunch, I started with the Mediterranean tart with house salad and new potatoes. I’m also a bit wary when tucking into dishes named after generic locations such as the Mediterranean Sea. It’s very non-descript and leaves one at a loss as to what to expect in terms of the ingredients. Fortunately, the dish contained an enjoyable combination of roasted vegetables rather than washed-up mafia victims and industrial pollution.

For main course, I went for the wild boar sausage and chorizo casserole with broad beans in a tomato broth. It was very weighty although certainly very pleasing in terms of the amount of meat. This large provision of protein in addition with the large number of beans meant that I was only able to finish half the dish. Yet I was still satisfied and sated to the point of exhaustion.

The Book Club might not be a place you would come to specifically for the food, although it is very decent and changes every two weeks. However, given the plethora of activities that take place here, it would definitely be worth your stopping by, just to see what might be going on.

The Book Club
100-106 Leonard Street
Shoreditch
EC2A 4RH

Tel: 020 7684 8618