There is something hairy about visiting a place "outside its normal living hours." Like a nightclub during day light would be, Canary Wharf's mall at the week-end is almost spooky without its hum and buzz, the conversations, the busyness of thousands of London office-workers who always seem to have a purpose even when they are standing...waiting.
The email said "come hungry", which got a bit on my nerves as normally, I don't starve myself before a review, it would give the restaurant an unfair advantage. But I didn't let this cloud my judgment as I was quite excited to join Michelle as in Greedy Gourmet, Gocha of Coffee and Vanilla, Sarah of Maison Cupcake and Jeanne of Cooksister! for one of our restaurant review meet up which is always so cool and fun. This time round, Michelle had arrange a Crussh review.
First impression "clean, lean and very orange...futuristic." Whilst it looked appetising and colourful will it fulfill promises in the taste department?
The juice bar with its freshly pressed juices, smoothies, super-smoothies, boosters, wheat-grass, coffees and wait for it smoothie-cocktails, scored a perfect 10 out of 10 with me
And yes, we tried every single one of these drinks and more-over we ate every single thing on entire menu. The email was justified. Chris Fung the Managing-Director had prepared a banquet with more than 30 dishes, he stayed with us the whole time, run us through the preparation, the ingredients, answered all our questions. We couldn't have asked for a better.
Though I will review only a few of the dishes, in depth that doesn't take anything away from the others. Oddly I am going to start in reverse order. At the end of our banquet, we introduced to an inventive drink: the smoothie-cocktail. Crussh Canary-Wharf does not serve alcohol for that you will have to go to Shoreditch where decommissioned recycled bottle containers have been made into pop-up trade units. This is where Crussh customers will be able enjoy Tequila Smoothie and Vodka Berry Blast. The smoothie texture gives an extra dimension to the cocktails. They certainly got the thumb-up from the group, my preference went to the Vodka Berry Blast.
After our alcollic foray we were offered wheatgrass juice, you have got to try this, Grown from the wholewheat grain, wheatgrass has been recognised for centuries for its healing qualities, it purifies the blood, neutralizes toxins, improves digestion and helps purify the liver. It is a powerful detoxifier. It is a rich source of A,B,C vitamins as well as E. Its colour is spectacular, its vibrant green comes from the chlorophyll. Once juiced it has to be consumed within 15 minutes. So at Crussh they grow their own in the shop. It works better on an empty stomach, which was certainly not our case but even though I could feel work as you drank it. Some people experience nausea or dizziness when tried for the first time but it doesn't last long.
Health pots £2.25
If there was a Crussh around where I work, I would eat have my lunch there every day as the Crussh Health pots even Tuna Lean which sadly looked boring compared to its counterparts was delicious.
In my opinion, the best of the health-pots is Beetroot and apple Hijiki, with vermicelli, cashew nuts, sesame oil, pumpkin seeds, sunflower oil, seaweed, agar agar, sesame seeds, kikurage mushroom, bonito extract, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, salt, red pepper.
This sea-weed is a divine nutrient, it has lovely texture, an amazing taste and the combo of all these ingredients makes for the kind of dish you can only find here. Fantastic.
Wraps: However if you'd prefer something a little more traditional, sandwiches and wraps are on offer from Club Sandwich to Tarragon and Red Pepper via Chipotle Chicken on Sun-Ripe Tomato Wrap. I worked out that there is a wrap for every day of the week. Favourite in that range: Sweet Potato Falafel Salad Wrap
Stews and Zero Noodles
Stews are huge, free range meat is used, they cost £5.65 a pot and each has an individuality for example the Mediterranean Lamb has a barbecue flavour, The Green Thai Curry was slightly too spicy.
Noodles at £4.95 are made with "miracle noodles" which have been around for century produced from Yam, but of course nobody ever bothered to tell me so!
Quinoa and Black Barley salad was sooo good , not fiddely at all as when quinoa is on its own, black barley gave it weight and texture. It was nutty and the lemon dressing had a lot of depth. It looked so healthy that it put my conscious if not my bathroom scale at rest.
This is the kind of place where you bound to find something which you'll like. It is tasty, it is fresh, the quality is good, dishes are innovative, overall a top 8 out of 10 from me.
If you wanted to try Crussh out. Here is a little present. DM your address @solangeweb on Twitter and I will send you a couple of vouchers for a medium smoothie when you purchase any soup, salad, sandwich or wrap. I have three pairs of vouchers to give-away, first come, first served basis.
Disclaimer: Crussh has 20 branches in London Crussh locations We were invited for a complementary meal at the Jubilee Branch. My thanks to Chris Fung and his team for looking after us.
Unit 21 Jubilee Place
Canary Wharf
LONDON, E14 5AB
phone: 020 7 519 6427closest station: Canary Wharf exit on the left after the escalators
