If you have ever wanted to a lick a Pikachu, I can confirm that he/she/[insert your preferred gender here] tastes of mango. Yes, that’s right. If your childhood dreams of catching them all actually involved eating them all, you now can. Except, by all Pokémon, I actually mean mainly Pikachu.
Ladies and gentlemen, listen up! There is something new in town and it’s coming your way on June 6th.
Last month, I was lucky enough to win tickets, cocktails and food at Emporio Eivissa, an Ibiza-themed pop-up bar on the rooftop of East London’s Rockwell House, sponsored rather incongruously by Brugal rum from the Dominican Republic (thanks to London on the Inside – love their website). I guess a Spanish-speaking party island needs some Dominican rum, and who am I to question something awesome like that? Continue reading “Emporio Eivissa – Brugal Rum Rooftop Pop-up”
Please study the menu above. Study it well. Feast your eyes upon it and notice words such as ‘spicy’ and ‘beef, and – for the really observant – “thinly sliced gochuchang smoked pork.”
Then, also notice the word ‘Korea’ and understand: HOW COULD I NOT ATTEND THIS EVENT?!!!
Not only does the menu involve ridiculous quantities of meat, and lashings of spice, but it involves Korean cuisine – three courses of it for only £20. And I’m a sucker for Korean cuisine – I actually don’t remember much from my one-week trip to Korea except stuffing as much food as I could into my mouth from bulgogi (grilled marinated beef) to dakgalbi (spicy stir fried chicken with noodles, sweet potatoes and loadsa good stuff).
Dakgalbi
Actually, I lie. I also remember hiking up Hallasan and a trip to Love Land, but that’s probably a story best told another time.
Getting it on at Love Land
We arrive at the Dead Dolls House to find a hipster dressed as a soldier(?) acting as security(?) on the door, before being led into a room, with few furnishings as most of the ‘furnishings’ have been painted onto the walls in fiddly, black lines. Cue: discussion about how ‘poor’ and ‘poorly done’ becomes hip. Cue: stomach interrupts discussion and directs attention towards menu.
Lotus crisps and rice skewersLotus crisps and rice skewers
Having sampled the Galbi Bros’ ramen burgers and rice burgers at Urban Food Fest, I knew we were in for a treat. Starting off, we crunched our way through lotus chips, which – to be honest – are more crispy than tasty but great fun nonetheless. Then we sampled the dukkochi – the chewy rice cakes. These were definitely very chewy – perhaps a little too much so – but the spicy sauce from Moses’ hometown Yeokkok was like a drug. I wanted to lick my plate until I wore away the ceramic. Moses – please take me to your hometown. My life will not be complete otherwise.
These photos do not do this beast justice!Do I spy some gochujang smoked pork?
Next up, the main course – the ‘Invincible Admiral Yi’: ‘beef marinated in homemade galbi sauce topped with thinly slice gochuchang sliced pork, cheese, kimchi, fresh vegetables’… with some ‘secret Brother sauce’. First of all, I should say that the Admiral is indeed invincible – he was demolished well and truly. However, in the flavour stakes, he truly is unbeatable. My dining partner turned to me, brow slightly furrowed in concentration, and announced: ‘This is the best burger that I have ever eaten!’ High praise indeed.
To begin, the homemade galbi sauce, secret Brother sauce or whatever sauce was on there was sweet and delicious with just the right amount of tang to give the burger that umami moreishness (or I could just be blagging it here, but you get the gist – it was awesome). ‘Gochujang’ is the ubiquitous fermented red chilli past in Korea, and it is simply delicious and not overwhelming in its spice levels. Basically, it’s a very good thing to coat smoked pork in. Surprisingly, the kimchi (fermented pickled vegetables, usually involving cabbage) was not nearly as sour or strong as the kind I’ve previously sampled, but just provided a gentle flavour that occasionally came through the decadence of the rest. The only thing that didn’t quite work for me – whereas it was a high point for my dining partner – was the firmness of the beef patty. It had quite a dense consistency, whereas I prefer the softer kind. However, within the layers and layers of the burger, the consistency was so obscured and mixed with other items that it did not detract from my enjoyment.
Probably the most fattening fries ever. YUM.
The fries were topped with all kinds of amazing things – namely, more smoked pork and cheese – but sadly were a little cold by the time they reached us.
Dessert was: “A trio of handmade ice creams: wasabi with a drizzle of olive oil, almond with a splash of toasted sesame oil and roasted green tea with pine nuts”- and it seemed to divide people. Many people were very taken with the wasabi, much to their surprise, but I loved the almond, which was far less popular.
Ice-cream
Fortunately, this didn’t cause any riffs because we were all united: the Invincible Admirable was in our hearts. And he remains there to this day.
You can find the Galbi Bros here or follow them on Twitter here.
Welcome to the age of pop-ups and what a fun age it is. No longer tied to locations, rents, fixed times and dates, anyone with an idea for an event and a good amount of enthusiasm can start entertaining. This means themed events, ranging from Jamaican supper clubs to breakfasts on rooftops. Yet we are also in an age of experimentation, pushing the boundaries of what could be considered food, of what flavours go together. Out of this innovative gastronomic climate, Cocoa Kitchen was born – a pop-up that focuses on using chocolate in all dishes, both savoury and sweet.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, founders Annette Boraks and Jeremy Wickremer met through their shared passion for food. In the winter of 2010, Jeremy was organising a food festival and advertised on Gumtree for event organisers. “I responded on the spot,” explains Annette, “as it was the ideal combination: events, something I am experienced in and enjoy, and food – my true passion! We met and became friends on the spot.”
This led to a friendship firmly founded in food, but it wasn’t until early 2013 that they decided to organise pop-ups themselves. Their inspiration stemmed from an event on how to organise pop-up restaurants where four entrepreneurs from the dining industry shared their experiences.
“I remember my favourite speaker was Ceviche’s owner, Martin Morales, a Peruvian who came to London and put almost everything he had at stake to open his first restaurant, “ Annette recounts. “His funny and touching life story was what made me believe that anyone can do it. You just need to do it! After the event, Jeremy and I were exploding with excitement and energy. We didn’t even have to say it – it was already obvious we had to do something with that energy.”
Jeremy had already founded Ubuntu Chocolate, and given the general absence of any savoury chocolate dishes, the duo quickly spied a niche. They then invited Rado Andrian to join the team, bringing wine and cocktail expertise to the project. Just four months later, in July 2013, Cocoa Kitchen launched their first event, a three-course dinner. This included Michel Bras’ dark chocolate and blue cheese aperitif and the tantalisingly intriguing combination of white chocolate mashed potato with dark chocolate and sesame tiger prawns.
The chocolate tapas dining event, however, was a more casual affair to match the style of dining. We went along to Kingly Court, Soho, to find an open kitchen with stalls scattered around worktop tables. Several appetising plates were crammed next to bottles of various beverages and glasses. It was clear that this evening was not purely about the food: it would be an opportunity to talk with other foodies and acknowledge that you were all eyeing up the large saucepan of chocolate melting on the stove.
After some drinks, chit-chat and a lot of self-restraint, we were presented with a bowl of different types of chocolate and Jeremy talked us through the tasting. Needless to say this just whetted our appetites, and we soon were diving into the other tapas dishes.
Some of our favourites included:
Cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and basil with white chocolate pesto The pesto was simply stunning. The chocolate not only sweetened the flavour but added a smoothness that meant it could have been eaten by the spoonful without anything else.
Butternut squash, red onion and feta, drizzled with chocolate Butternut squash and feta is simply one of the best flavour combinations that exists – sweetness and tanginess rolled into one, but the chocolate brought these flavours out even more clearly on the tongue.
Roasted peppers stuffed with ricotta, white chocolate, garlic and other secret ingredients
This could never fail as who could resist garlicky, cheesiness with a mild sweetness inside perfectly cooked peppers?
Perhaps not surprisingly given that their event was attended by some serious chocolate lovers, but the star of the evening was the sweetest: dates stuffed with goats’ cheese, drizzled in chocolate. There is no way that words can do justice to the flavour experience but they almost dispelled the warm, sociable atmosphere as we snatched them off the plates in a desperate frenzy.
The chocolate raspberry and chocolate orange cocktails were equally praiseworthy. They provided the most intense chocolate flavour of the evening – warm, rich and too thick to gulp quickly, tempting though that was. We mingled whilst sipping these, and happily chatted among the embarrassingly numerous piles of discarded cocktail sticks, a testament to just how much everyone enjoyed the food.
People stayed late and the question on their lips on leaving was what would be coming up next. Fortunately, there will be no-one suffering from chocolate withdrawal symptoms: Cocoa Kitchen have big ambitions for the future. As Annette explains, “We would like to regularly host events that gather inspiring and wonderful people, to create a cocoa community, where we share experiences and cool stuff. Practically speaking, we would like to challenge the limited the cooking presents us with, explore new ways of cooking, new ways of using chocolate in our everyday lives.
And who wouldn’t raise a chocolate cocktail to that?
For more information and for future events, head to:
Stoned Immaculate – awesome cocktail from Beard to Tail’s Pete Lewis
Although London Fashion Week might have been gobbling up media attention, London Design Festival has had some spectacular installations and displays throughout the city. Designers of everything from furniture to shoes have been showcasing their wares. Of course, I’m particularly interested in a very specific kind of design – the kind that involves food or drink.
US-based design firm Teroforma have created whisky stones – stylish soapstone blocks – used to keep your drink cool without the diluting effects of ice. This is a genius idea, which should not just be used for whisky but for all drinks that are served chilled. There is nothing worse than watery dregs.
To promote their innovation, Teroforma were holding a week-long festival ‘Colonial Common’ in Old Shoreditch Station with a different restaurant catering each day. I went along on the Tuesday to find two immensely over-crowded rooms, a live band and a lot of whisky. It’s just a shame that none of the drinks being served that evening were demonstrating the whisky stone, but I guess they would have been stolen fairly quickly.
The Jura line-up
I sampled Jura Origin whisky, aged 10 years. The assistant advised us to keep it in our mouth one second for every year it has aged, which led to 10 seconds of unpleasantness and a numb mouth. However, the Origin was much smoother than the Supserstition, a mix of a 13-year old and a 21-year old whisky, with 13% peated malt. Keeping this in my mouth was impossible and I choked in the face of the assistant, who looked at me with concern. Undeterred, I decided to ‘misread’ the ankh symbol on the bottle as one for ‘female’. “Why does it have the female sign on it? Does it help you get lucky with women?” I asked. He wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that.
Pignatius – the mascot of Beard to Tail 🙂
The real stars of the evening were Beard to Tail. They’re on my list of places I’ve yet to review but to summarise briefly, my friends, family and I are all having a love affair with their pulled pork sliders. They are so rich, so intense and oh so good. This is thanks to the Head Chef, the awesome Dan Thrippleton, who has concocted an amazing sauce that includes sriracha, orange juice and caraway seeds. These absolutely *must* be tried. If you’re ever in Shoreditch at lunchtime, you can get two sliders and a side of fries for £6.50. Don’t miss out.
Dan and PignatiusThe boys ready to serve up delicious pulled pork…out of a giant Campbell’s soup can!
As well as the fantastic food, Beard to Tail’s Pete Lewis was mixing up whisky cocktails. Now, as above, you’ve probably guess I’m not a massive whisky fan, but I can tell you that the ‘Stoned Immaculate’ had me immaculately stoned…or something. It was phenomenal! Check out the ingredients below. I have been giggling over ‘Noilly Prat‘ for quite some time – apparently it’s a brand of Vermouth from France.
Stoned ImmaculateWhisky for the cocktailsStoned Immaculate cocktail with whisky bottle transfer tattoos!?!
As my friend and I strolled through the room, we heard heaps of praise for both the sliders and the stoned immaculate cocktail. Indeed, the cocktails were so popular that Pete ran out and I really regretted not getting a second one sooner. However, on finding the photo below, I’m really grateful I just had the one.
Hyper Pheebz. The real question is – was it the whisky or was it the pulled pork?
I’ll definitely be heading back to Beard to Tail for pulled pork and the Stoned Immaculate cocktail. You should head there too.
Dear readers, apologies for the break! Exams have prevented me from blogging. However, you’ll pleased to know that *nothing* prevents me from eating! So I have a good two months’ backlog of delciousness.
For my return to the blogosphere, I bring you a 5/5 review (yes really) from the brilliant Shoryu ramen.
Shoryu ramen
To celebrate their opening, they were offering a 3-day 50% discount. So I went twice. Then they extended their offer to the end of April so I squeezed in a third trip ( – such a chore being a food blogger, I know). So I have sampled THREE dishes for you all.
Bones! Pork bones!Eating alone is standard at ramen places in Japan. I ate at Shoryu Ramen alone the second time. And ended up swapping food stories with a very nice lady ^_^Snack on some lightly pickled cabbage whilst you waitDon’t put your bag on the floor. Keep it tidily in a basket. It even fits my monster-sized bag.
First of all, Shoryu looks like a Japanese restaurant. It has drapes over the door, the low tables, baskets for your belongings and that elegant modernism that makes Japanese-design generally revered. Having spent a lot of time in Japan, I was instantly in love. Plus there are actually Japanese people working there. Shouting in Japanese. Oh I was so happy.
Secondly, I must make a terrible confession. I have spent over 14 months of my life in Japan. And I’ve hardly ever eaten ramen. I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Noodles in soup? How exciting could that be? Turns out I was just unlucky in my choices. Because now I’ve had Shoryu Ramen, I want to eat ramen until slops out of my ears. Almost.
Shoryu serve ramen in tonkotsu broth – broth made from boiling up pork bones. The menu runs several variations on the theme. I tried their signature Shoryu Ganso Tonkotsu (£9.50) – a tonkotsu and miso broth with added spinach and garlic. Your menu will tell you: “All tonkotsu ramen comes in a rich tonkotsu pork broth with bbq pork, nitamago egg, kikurage mushrooms, beansprouts, spring onion, sesame, ginger & nori unless stated.” So expect all the works. Tender slices of pork, delicious mushrooms, the slightly sweet hard-boiled egg. Oh yes.
Shoryu Ganso Tonkotsu – their signature dish
For me, this ramen hit the spot. The broth was rich and warming without being too heavy or oily. The sesame and garlic were fantastic. It was essentially a evolutionary flavour party and had me draining my bowl dry.
It’s traditional to eat ramen by slurping the noodles in a way that would be considered horrendously impolite in the UK. I’ve never managed the trick as I end up sucking the noodles too quickly so they whip upwards and splatter broth across my forehead. But by all means, give it a try.
Dracula Tonkotsu – think garlic overload!
On my second visit I risked the Dracula Tonkotsu (£11.50), described as “deep roasted tones from caramelised black garlic mayu, balsamic vinegar and garlic chips”. Mayu is apparently a type of garlic oil, and yes, this was garlicky! If you love garlic, then this is definitely for you. Please realise that you will be antisocial for two days afterwards (I exaggerate not). I found the garlic chips a bit bitter and just a tad too much, but the flavour of the broth was again spot on.
Karaka Tantan Tonkotsu – spicy but addictive!
Third time round, I tackled Karaka Tantan Tonkotsu (
£9.90) – “
tonkotsu with a twist, rich and spicy fried minced pork in white miso & garlic with added lemon, garlic and chiu chow chilli oil”. This is actually spicy – not mouth-scorchingly so, but it has a real pleasant kick. The chilli flavour is the slightly sour spice like in Korean kimchi but a lot milder, and, although my tongue initially protested, within a few mouthfuls it gave in and begged for more. Seriously addictive. For anyone who likes spice, I highly recommend this dish. It comes without the barbecue pork but spicy minced pork on top – very tasty but I thought the portion could have been a little more generous.
Padron peppers
My friend Sparrow was dining with me, and in a very un-Sparrow-like manner, he was super hungry and ordered Shishito (
£6.00) –
fried padron peppers with hakata yuzu and british sea salt – and we shared some Gyoza Dumplings (5 pieces / £5). The peppers were a little underwhelming – too plain for my liking – but the gyoza were fabulous. Shoryu also do some Hirata Buns (the steamed white soft dough with tasty fillings like belly pork sandwiched in the middle) but sadly they didn’t have them the day I was there. If anyone has tried them, do let me know your opinion!
Pork gyoza with soy, ginger and spring onionsYUM
Shoryu Ramen 5/5 – Just so good. Don’t waste a single drop of that broth.
Food 5/5 – I can’t believe my scepticism in Japan has seen me reduced to this ramen-loving blabbering idiot. Shoryu have converted me. Value 3/5 – So in Japan, ramen are cheap. Seriously cheap. £5 a bowl cheap. But the thing is that Shoryu ramen are so good…so if you pretend that you don’t know about the true cost of ramen, and only know the London cost of ramen, then it’s fine 😉 Plus they have the 10%-off offer at the moment! Atmosphere 4/5 – You’re crammed in but there’s happy slurping all round. Service 5/5 – Prompt and efficient. I love the older Japanese guy who calls out Japanese greetings. Makes me miss Japan.
Website:http://www.shoryuramen.com/ Where: 3 Denman Street London W1D 7HA (30 seconds from Piccadilly Circus) When: Mon – Fri 11:45-15:00 / 17:00-00:00; Sat 11:45-00:00; Sun & Bank Holidays 11:45-21:30
Imagine 14 street food traders. Crammed into one yard. Serving up everything from hot dogs to jerk chicken, from scallops to green tea choc ices, from buttermilk fried chicken to tofu and mushroom gyoza. Every Friday night? Does this sound like a foodie heaven? Well, yes. Yes, it does.
When I arrived at Street Feast London at 8.30pm last Friday night, I felt pretty far removed from heaven. It was pouring with rain. The covered areas were so packed with people that rows of umbrellas were lining the fringes. Through the grim darkness and crowds, it was hard to make out what the traders were actually offering. Slowly but surely, we realised, with increasing horror, that many traders had sold out! Spit & Roast was packing up, people were walking away empty handed from Buen Provecho and the Ribman was nowhere to be seen!
PANIC. I’d invited three sets of people who didn’t really know each other. They were all hungry, standing in the rain. Many of them required vegetarian options in the absence of halal meat. I felt severe guilt at leading everyone into what looked like would be a dismal and damp disappointment.
PANIC. Divide forces! Quick! Some of my friends hit Well Kneaded for some ‘firebreads’, which are essentially like a pizza without the tomato sauce. I joined the long queue for Bleecker St Burger. The people in front of us looked round and commented, “The queue doesn’t move forward but it grows longer. So our relative position improves.”
Always look on the bright side of life.
My phone rang. More friends would be joining me soon. I’ll get you burgers, I told them, or you might not get anything at all.
Eventually, I made it to the front of the queue and made my order to be told it would cost £45. I had £35 and I went off friend-hunting to scrounge a tenner. Then I did the maths and realised I’d been overcharged £13.10. Which he was highly embarrassed about. I was just relieved that I didn’t need to pay any more!
We were also very forgiving once we tucked into our Cheeseburgers (£5). I had heard good things about Bleecker St Burger but I didn’t realise it’d be this good. The bun was light but held together well. And the patty was one of the more succulent offerings I’ve tried. YUM.
FINALLY!YUM
Forgiveness turned to all-out worship once we tried the sweet potato fries (£3). Oh my goodness. We turned to each other with a look of bliss on our faces. These might be the best sweet potato fries I’ve ever eaten. They looked a little soggy but were surprisingly firm. And they were simply exploding with sweet potato flavour.
Sweet Potato Fries imported directly from Sweet Potato Heaven
Sadly, our Beetroot and Goats Cheese Firebread with Watercress and Pea Shoots (£5.50) from Well Kneaded was no good, because they’d run out of goats cheese and had used ordinary cheese instead. Which turned into a minor flavour car crash – edible but not particularly pleasant. With goats cheese, however, I imagine it’d be fantastic.
My friends also tucked into some gyoza from Rainbo (8 = £6). Their Chicken and Coriander is really unusual, and they do a surprisingly meaty Tofu and Shiitake Mushroom version for veggies.
Gyoza
To finish up, we ambushed Sorbitum and sampled an array of dazzling flavours (2 scoops = £3.50). I was fond of the Chocolate and Hazelnut flavour – it was like praline in ice-cream form – and I also enjoyed some salted caramel. Really intriguing however was the Toffee Apple and Brown Butter and ginger fanatics should not miss the Fresh Ginger and Pink Rhubarb Ripple.
Sorbitum ice-cream truckHazelnut-chocolate and salted caramel ice-cream
So our mood was drastically improved by full stomachs. And the rain having the decency to pause whilst we were eating.
Street Feast has promised on Twitter that traders will bring twice the amount of food next Friday. Phew! Cos I’ve got a lot of eating to do. And if you like food, I advise you make plans to head there too.
As mentioned previously, I was lucky enough to win two tickets worth £40 each to Two Nights Only, a burger pop-up dining event. Needless to say, I was VERY EXCITED. Ashamedly, I’d been stuffing myself all day at a food trade fair and was not at all hungry. I cursed myself. This was not a good way to start off. Because this evening was all about gluttony…
We entered the Bedford and Strand restaurant, going down some steps into a dimly lit room, where long tables were laid out for feasting. The element of secrecy hung in the air. We were directed to our seats where personalised paper placemats awaited us.
YAY! I’m a winner!
My placemat read “U winner” and made me very happy, even though they spelt my name wrong.
Hoxton pickles
The table was decked with mini jars of Hoxton pickles to take home and eight poker chips, each representing a drink token for either beer or a rum cocktail (being a non-drinker, I just made towers out of mine because no-one wanted more than eight drinks each!)
It was undoubtedly a pop-up event. Food was served on disposible plates and presented without flourish, but this just made it all the more fun. A secret feasting atmosphere was combined with American diner aesthetics and some whacky presentation.
Chicken kiev with lonely sweetcornCheck out that gooey middle! YUM
First up, our starter was buffalo-style chicken kiev, served bizarrely with a single baby sweetcorn that looked a little lost and lonely. I really wanted to stick the sweetcorn into the kiev to make a snowman’s head and nose, but my friend said that that would look like something not quite as innocent as snowman. The kiev itself was very tasty – the chicken was evidently of a good quality and very succulent. This was mixed with some mild spice and blue cheese, and served up in breadcrumbs that were crisp and fresh, and expertly avoided greasiness.
The Forty Burger – 40x your recommended daily calory intake 😉
Next, the burger. The Forty Burger as they called it. Yes, it looks gloriously lethal, but we weren’t here for the health benefits.
You can read for yourself what it contained.
Burger made with love
This was a highly enjoyable and extremely messy affair. As with the starters, the quality of the ingredients could not be faulted. I found the patty tasty but a little bit dry for my liking, although this was not a problem with all the cheese and relishes – in fact, the bun disintegrated almost immediately! I found the pickles a little fat – they were exquisitely tangy, but I like my gherkins thinly sliced in order to spread the potency of flavour and to stop them overpowering the other flavours. However, the bacon was to die for – so crispy and so moreish, that I almost started on bacon sandwich fantasies there and then.
Without cheeseWith cheese
We were given a basket of chilli cheese fries. A basket each. Yes, the quantities were ridiculous. The chips were a little light and airy, but the chilli was delicious – very mild but flavoursome, and surpisingly moist given the lack of sauce. The cheese came in a pressurised cannister and sprayed on top. I couldn’t detect any flavour but I was really amused/alarmed by the serving method – apparently it exploded over an unexpecting diner on a neighbouring table!
Yet cheese wasn’t the only thing to explode that evening – and no, I’m not referring to our stomachs from over-eating. We were given garlic mayo in tubes and my friend struggled with opening his, managing to squirt it directly into his eye. Here he is trying to smile while I’m cruelling laughing at his misfortune. I’m a terrible friend.
Brave faceOxtail doughnutIt’s so doughy! And there is meat in there too – I just didn’t bite deep enough!
The garlic mayo came with what was for me the highlight of the meal: an oxtail doughnut, served in a 2NO burger box. It was very slightly sweet and very doughy, filled with savoury meat (that tasted jsut like ordinary beef). This proved the most controversial item of the evening but I loved the sweet/savoury contrast and the texture. It reminded me of kare pan in Japan, a deep-fried curry doughnut, which is a lot greasier and filled with a sweet curry sauce (and is one of my embarrassing guilty pleasures). I managed to blag an extra doughnut to take home, so I was very happy.
Choco dip!
Dessert was a KP chocolate dip, which had been altered – salted caramel sauce had been poured into the base of the biscuit tub. I’d never had one of these pots before but I wasn’t too enamoured with the concept: I didn’t like the biscuits and there was something disturbing about being given a pre-made dessert that had been opened and tampered with. The chocolate and salted caramel were rather yummy, but I was so stuffed at this point that I couldn’t fully appreciate them (alarming, I know – I only refuse chocolate when I’m in a terrible state).
The evening was incredibly fun, and there was a general party atmosphere as everyone cheerfully ploughed their way through the feast. I shall remember it as a night of relaxing, pleasant conversation and increasingly difficult yet determined mouthfuls – no-one wanted to waste such fantastic food.
2NO
Two Nights Only deserve a massive congratulations for the effort and imagination that went into the evening, as well as the fine quality of the ingredients used to prepare each dish.
So thank you Two Nights Only for some marvellous meaty mayhem and glorious gluttony.
And thank you again to Hamburger Me for picking me as a winner!
Really cool knitted burger made by Akiko, which won her and Luke tickets to the event. I’m really glad they did because they were so nice!
In case it’s somehow passed you by, it’s Fairtrade Fortnight to promote fair wages for farmers and producers in developing countries. In honour of this awareness week, Divine Chocolate is holding a pop-up shop in Covent Garden.
Peeking through the window…
As well as a range of tantalising chocolates, there’s a photo exhibition of Kuapa Kokoo, Ghanian cocoa farmers who own 45% of Divine, and thus influence how the company is run and share in the profits.
I went along to have a sneaky peek and, of course, to sample some chocolate! Divine have just released Milk Chocolate Toffee and Salt, which is proving incrediblypopular. Personally, I find a little too sweet and can’t quite rival my affection for Lindt’s Dark Chocolate with Caramel and Sea Salt.
However , Divine do a wonderful job with the flavours in their new Dark Chocolate Chilli and Orange. Neither flavour is too strong and the chocolate is smooth and rich. This could be my new favourite.
Also worth sampling is their Butterscotch Milk Chocolate, which is quite frankly addictive.
Mmm
The pop-up is only there until March 9th, so hurry to 71 Monmouth Street, eat chocolate and support fair trade.
Pop-ups are all the rage at the moment and are definitely expanding their definition. Forget a temporary shop for two-weeks – Rotary Bar & Diner are open for a full 10 months. And when I found out that they would be offering meaty things with 25% off for their soft opening, I couldn’t resist a trip.
Capitalising on the notion of “pop-up” and the general dilapidated-cum-trendy feel of Shoreditch, Rotary Bar & Diner is contains a variety of styles and patterns, high and low diner-style tables and pots of mismatched cutlery.
Our waitress was incredibly friendly and relaxed, and was evidently learning on the job as she explained the menu to us.
The menu offers buns and barbecued meat, as well as a range of choices form the grill. We both took ribeyes (£20 for 300g) with the ‘house sauce’ – a green peppercorn sauce. The food arrived incredibly promptly and, although it served on an ugly plate and in a manner that made me think of dodgy school canteens, the giant ribeye steak boldly sitting in the middle dispelled this notion. After all, no canteen serves steak.
Don’t judge by appearance: 300g of ribeye steak with green peppercorn sauce
My main concern when presented with this was not “How am I going to eat it all?” but “How am I going to eat tonight when I’m going to a potluck party tonight and it’s already past 3pm?!” Steak always comes first, however.
I have very high steak expectations but I was very pleased with the beast before me. First of all – and always a good sign – my steak was cooked medium-rare, just as I asked. It was also fairly tender – probably 7 on a scale from 1 (not tender) to 10 (very tender) – and it tasted properly steaky and flavourful, like a good quality piece of meat should. The sauce was slightly sweet and really quite delicious. A minor point – I think the steak could have done with some more seasoning because when I had a mouthful without sauce, I wanted to add some salt and pepper.
However, my tastebuds might have been biased – or rather, obliterated – by the dripping cooked chips, which were so over-salted that my companion and I ended up trying to scrape the salt off them!
Dripping cooked chips AKA salty devils
The chips themselves were tasty and crispy but our mouths were burning by the end of the meal. However, our waitress was wonderfully receptive to my comments, explaining that they were keen for lots of feedback. I hope they’ve fixed this problem by now.
We couldn’t say no to salted milk chocolate ‘pudding cup’ (£5) – a kind of rich and dense chocolate mousse. I had the salted caramel peanuts for a topping, which again overdid the salt! I’m also more of a dark chocolate fan.
Salted caramel milk chocolate pudding with salted caramel peanuts
My friend got crushed Oreos which provided a bit of relief from the salt. Yum.
Salted caramel milk chocolate pudding cup with crushes Oreos
Rotary Bar & Diner 4/5 – A few creases to iron out, but go for real comfort food – delicious, good quality meat.
Food 4/5 – Stop with the salt! But otherwise, very good.
Service 5/5 – Had a laugh with our waitress. She was very attentive.
Value 4/5 – For the size and quality, I have no complaints.
Atmosphere 3/5 – Um, dining at 3.30pm on a Thursday during a soft opening wasn’t the best time to determine this. But it felt very chilled out.
Pheebz Eatz 