BBQ Whisky Beer: A Ronseal Moment

You'd never guess what the lovely people behind London's latest pop-up do. Well okay you might. Its not all that subtle. Its called BBQ Whisky Beer. And that is exactly what it does. Very well indeed.

Set in a Young's pub called the Lord Wargrave near Edgware Road, I wasn't holding out for much.  Apart from being able to transport myself to the karaoke bars of Thailand down the narrow stairs at the Heron Pub nearby, Edgware Road doesn't normally feature as a destination.

Hardly unique, the Wargrave is an identikit London boozer. That is until you look at the back wall. Thereon lies the first difference. Row upon row of neatly written names. Like a roll call of former club captains, their ages written neatly alongside. Mr Laphroaig, 18 years. Mr Glenrothes, 21 years. Mr Talisker 25 years. It goes on, I need not. You get the picture. This place is serious about its whisky, so am I. Suddenly I feel like we could become friends. (On Saturdays they do "Flight Club" - there are even rules - various flights of whisky with ever increasing ages (and prices), well that's at least one Saturday night spoken for in the next few weeks!).

On to the second limb of this triumvirate. The beer. Reasonable selection, nothing to get excited over. It's tied to Youngs. Would love to see a few more of the smaller London breweries included, London Fields, Hackney Brewery, Redchurch Brewery, all great and all local.  Still, not bad.

Now the real reason I was here. The BBQ. While it is easy (relatively speaking) to become London's whisky bar, to top its BBQ leader-board is a taller task. Places like Pitt Cue Co, and more recently Climpsons Arch have really taken BBQ up a notch.

We started with a couple of things from the snack menu. A plate of Chip Bits (you know those little crispy things at the bottom of the chips, the best bits) with Pulled Pork. This took "dirty" to a whole new level. It may have taken at least a couple of minutes off my life, but it was good, really good. Excellent pork, tart BBQ sauce, crispy chips. Like chips and gravy, but much much better. This should become Scotland's national dish - perfect alongside the whiskies.

 We also had chicken wings - sticky, with blue cheese dipping sauce. Like the Monkey Fingers at Meat Mission, although maybe slightly better, bold.

Given that the "snacks" were larger than most main meals (think American-sized), we were struggling a little.  A short break then some ribs and the "Beef Royal" burger. The ribs were spot on - tender meat, great sauce.

The burger itself was great: loosely-packed, well-aged meat, seeded bun.  But it was just too big - burger plus onion rings plus beef rib meat plus mushrooms.  There was no way of getting your mouth round it - I took the onion rings out.  That aside, very good indeed - and in fairness they do do a burger without all the toppings, so maybe that will just teach me. Special mention should be made of the short rib off cuts - these deserved to be more than a topping - they should be a dish in their own right. Celebrated. That good.

The market for American BBQ in London is keen, as is London it appears. Burgers are debated, I wouldn't be surprised if someone has come to blows over whether Pitt Cue or Duke's Brew and Cue serves up the best ribs. So where does BBQ Whisky Beer fit into this. On the whisky front they are so far out ahead there is no competition. On the beer, a little behind the pack. So by all accounts the BBQ should be smack bang in the middle. But it is a little better than that. Those ribs were as good as anywhere, with a little tweaking the burger could be too. The perfect accompaniments for my induction to Flight Club.

Follow them on twitter @BBQWhiskyBeer

*All drinks and food were provided courtesy of BBQ Whisky Beer, thanks guys.

   

Meat Mission: Meat Liquor, but fun

I have been following the MEAT franchise since the days of New Cross Gate. Many an hour I have whiled away standing on the streets of South East London, then later in behind Oxford Street. And yet, while I used to be a devout follower (it is incredible how the Meat brand attracts an almost religious fervour), I was left feeling empty by my last trip to Meat Liquor. The music was too loud - when Metallica invades your personal space to such an extent that you feel you are sitting inside one of Lars Ulrich's bass drums, something is wrong. The service brusque. And worst of all, the food was a major let down. Overcooked burgers and a terrible Philly cheese steak roll. This was not the #MeatEasy I had fallen for.

So, when they opened their next venture, Meat Market, I let it pass me by. But then came a third, Meat Mission, and the feeling returned. I remembered the good times, and I decided it was worth one final shot.

Once a great place for a beer, but barren for food, the restaurant scene in Shoreditch has had somewhat of a resurgence in recent years.  First came the big boys (Busaba Eatthai, Byron), then more recently Brindisa opened its latest outpost, Tramontana.  Now the MEAT guys have moved on.

Set off the main drag, MEAT Mission is a cavernous place - only half of it was open on the evening we were there. And, ironically enough, you can book. No more queuing for me. The atmosphere is everything MEAT Liquor is not - friendly, welcoming, egalitarian. I felt comfortable once again.



The menu is similar to the other outposts - I went for the Dead Hippie, the original MEAT burger combo. Rare, sloppy, delicious - this was a return to form.  Back up there with the Lucky Chips of this world - a proper dirty burger. The Fashionista had the cheeseburger which was equally good.

Alongside the burgers, we got some of their Monkey Fingers - battered chicken with a hot pepper sauce and blue cheese dip. These have been getting rave reviews - but I was left nonplussed. They reminded me of the kind of soggy sweet and sour chicken people seemed happy to devour growing up in Scotland in the 90s.  That said, the blue cheese dip was some finger lickin' stuff.

MEAT Mission has restored my belief in what the MEAT guys are doing. Proper dirty burgers up there with the best of them. But I think I will stick East to get my MEAT fix, maybe I am getting old, but MEAT Mission is just so much nicer. MEAT Liquor feels like a teenager trying to be something, MEAT Mission has got through the angst and knows what life's about.

Burger and Lobster: the march goes on

They say that you are either a Goodmans or Hawksmoor man when it comes to steak.  No one else gets a mention. But, while Hawksmoor has moved tentatively into the world of fish with its Air Street restaurant, Goodmans seems intent on world domination by lobster (and burger):  Burger and Lobster.

It all started in Mayfair earlier this year.  A simple concept, a menu of only three things: a whole lobster; a lobster roll; and a burger.  Everything is twenty quid.  Cue queues only the likes of Meat Liquor and Pitt Cue Co have seen this year - two hours wait, no reservations.  I think everyone in London has been apart from me.

Such was the popularity that before long an outpost had been opened in Soho, then St John Street, and soon St Pauls.  At last someone is expanding faster than Subway and Starbucks.  Not that this place should be put in the same category. Yes there has been expansion, but the people behind Goodmans are serious about their food - larger, yes, but the same emphasis on quality.

So, with no one else in the City between Christmas and New Year, I thought I would seize the opportunity to try out their St John Street restaurant. No wait, table for seven, delighted.

After a recent (allergic) experience with lobster I decided to stick to the burger. The burger is finely ground -served with lettuce, bacon, cheese and tomato.  The meat had great depth of flavour.  Once I had removed the (over sized) slice of tomato, it worked well -with the tomato, there was no way to eat it. A good premium burger, but not a patch on the Honest Burgers or Lucky Chips of this world for me.

Others had the lobster roll - brioche stuffed with lobster meat and Japanese mayo - and the whole lobster.  Serving lobster, cooked simply, at a price everyone can afford, a great achievement and a real step forward in the London food scene.  For so long the king of the crustaceans been overpriced - available only to those with the dosh to afford it in restaurants or the knowledge to cook it at home.

The expansion goes on for Burger and Lobster - a great concept restaurant.  Now that London has a taste for lobsters, their march outwards from Mayfair seems unstoppable. Keep it up!

Burger Monday: Honest Burger

I reviewed Honest Burger way back in August of 2011 when it was possible to get one of Tom's awesome burgers without having to queue for at least 30 minutes.  So I was delighted when Daniel Young (of the excellent blog Young and Foodish) decided to ask Honest Burger to set up shop for a one night special Burger Monday.

The premise of Burger Monday seems to me to be to ask some of London's most interesting chefs to come along to Andrews (a rather grimy greasy spoon which would you normally be happy to walk on by) and provide their interpretation of one of the great American meals, the burger.  It all started with Hawksmoor and it has hosted such culinary stars Ben Spalding of Roganic.  Sounds great, and it is, but you'll need to get your skates on if you want to go along, they generally sell out in under five minutes.  Follow @burgermonday on twitter to be in with a chance!

And so to this particular Monday.  The Fashionista was caught up at a event looking at the latest trends for food over the forthcoming year (pine needles are apparently the thing this year- a multi-sensory experience) so I persuaded G-Star to come along.

It all started with an incredible black pudding duck's scotch egg - rich and gooey yolk with peppery black pudding.  Not healthy but darned good!

On to the burger - it was the usual tasty Ginger Pig aged beef patty, but something was different.  Rather than rashers of bacon perched perilously atop a burger, the streaky rashers had been instead been woven together into a lattice and cooked as a whole.  This sheet of bacon was then divided into squares and placed on the burger!  The rationale being if you cooked bacon this way it wouldn't curl up leaving you with a perfect mouthful every time!  Genius! With the burger came rosemary-salted triple-cooked chips - some of the best in London if you ask me.

 
Feeling rather full now we were served up with a Relay custard tart- quite nice but completely overshadowed by what had preceded it.

A great night with wonderful company, I will be keeping my eyes peeled for the next Burger Monday.  In the meantime I may have to join the back of the queue again at Honest to get my hands on one of those burgers again...

Daniel Young of Young and Foodish (left) and Tom from Honest Burgers

Meat Liquor: Hype Over Substance?

2011 has been the year of the burger in London.  And of all of the places which have opened none have been talked about so much as Meat Liquor. 

For those not in the know, Meat Liquor started life as a mobile burger van called The Meat Wagon (rather like the excellent Lucky Chip at Netil Market).  When Yiannis Papoutsis' burger van was stolen, an idea was hatched to open a pop-up restaurant in a pub's dis-used restaurant in New Cross Gate. Called #meateasy, the aim was to save up enough money to buy another meat wagon.  This was an untold success, queues out the door every night! I went once, the Fashionista three times - all in all we queued about ten hours for the simple but excellent burgers on offer!

There followed another pop up in Peckham and an appearance on Jamie Oliver's tour of Great Britain food programme.  So when it was announced that Meat Liquor was to open in Marleybone the hype was already fever pitch.

Situated on the ground floor of a modern building behind Oxford Street, Meat Liquor lives by the same code it always has - everyone queues, always, and meat is the order of the day.  The interior is "distressed rock chic", the music heavy rock.

We started with the fried pickles and blue cheese dip - juicy gherkins, light batter and delicious blue cheese dip. We also had the pork slider. Both really good!

For mains I had the Dead Hippie, a double burger with "Big Mac" sauce, gherkins, lettuce and tomato.  The Fashionista had the Philly Cheese Steak roll.  For sides we had fries and onion rings.  We also asked for a mac and cheese but it never arrived.

The burger was good, but a little overcooked and under seasoned unfortunately - certainly not as good as they used to be at New Cross Gate but still a lot tastier than your better than average chains like Byron.  The chips were so salty they were almost inedible and the onion rings were a bit greasy.  The major disappointment was the Philly Cheese Steak roll - dry and boring!

Now I am a fan of Yiannis Papoutsis' burgers. They have, before this visit, been excellent.  I also know that the general consensus is that the burgers at Meat Liquor are up there with the best of them.  But this time it just wasn't that great - in fact it was a little sub-standard (especially the Philly Steak) when compared with places like Lucky Chip and Honest Burgers.  Maybe it was just a bad day.  However I am not sure I will queue for another 45 minutes just to find out if we were unlucky...

The Cambridge Bar: Big Big Juicy Burgers

Back up in Edinburgh for Christmas, I met up with one of my mates for a lunch on the Friday before Christmas.  With a half day in the bag a hearty lunch and a few beers were on the cards.  Cambridge Bar came the cry from the Strakattack and we had a plan.

The Cambridge Bar, along the road from the Oxford Bar, a regular in Ian Rankin's Rebus novels, is a small pub on Young Street in Edinburgh's New Town.  The menu is simple - burgers and some more burgers - however unlike many of the new fangled burger places, the Cambridge Bar does burgers "old school" - big burgers, even bigger toppings! Now that is not always good, sometimes a more refined burger would be my preference, but facing an afternoon of beers these seemed perfect.

I went for a bacon cheese burger - the burger was rare and delicious, the toppings good if not great.

The Strakattack went for the Mexican - looked pretty tasty with lashings of chili and jalapenos.

Along with the burger we shared some nachos rather than getting chips to share - they were okay but the cheese wasn't melted in a few places and all in all they could have been a bit better.

If you're in Edinburgh and fancy a quick burger, the Cambridge would be top of my list! 

Getting Lucky at the Lucky Chip

Everywhere I go there seems to be a new must-visit burger van or restaurant - from Honest Burger in Brixton Village to the Meat Wagon, burgers are trending in London.  I have been hearing a lot about the Lucky Chip of late and meant to go up last night to their joint party with a pop up version of the Off Broadway bar at the Netil market but got sidetracked by my Vietnamese feast at The Green Papaya. 

With the Fashionista and I determined not to go to Banh Mi 11 for once at Broadway Market we were on the search for something new - she was almost distracted by some delicious looking risotto balls in the extension to Broadway Market that has been set up in the school yard at the London Fields end - but I was single mindedly heading to the Lucky Chip at Netil Market - just round the corner from Broadway Market proper.

Apparently they had been hit pretty hard by the party the night before and were therefore running low on supplies so a couple of the interesting toppings for the fries were already finished - they still had more than enough to entice us. I went for the el chapo burger- 35 day aged "Ginger Pig" beef, roasted jalapenos, aioli and blue cheese- great burger, bit sloppy, and the cheese took away from the taste of the beef a little but nonetheless was still pretty darn good.

The Fashioinista went for a naked dog- an organic pork hot dog served in a toasted hot dog bun with mustard and tommy K- this was even better than the burger- really really tasty! 

A Naked Dog.

The fries were great- we had them plain but they were offering free truffle oil with them which smelled delicious- next time!

On the evidence so far I will no doubt return to the Lucky Chip again and again- it really is great- although, and this is perhaps splitting straws, it may just fall into third place behind my personal favourite, Honest Burger, and the legend that is the Meat Wagon.

UPDATE, JANUARY 2012: Lucky Chip has just had a week long residency at the Sebright Arms, a pub literally 25 metres from my bedroom window, so I decided to head on over to see if standards were being maintained.  Sure enough they were!!!

We had the chicken wings with chipotle and lime dip to start - crisp but juicy chicken which worked tremendously with the smokey citrus of the dip - spot on!

I then had the Kelly LeBrock burger - served very rare with caramelized onions, philadelphia, applewood smoked bacon, chedar and aioli - very, very sloppy but delicious.  The Fashionista had wanted another hot dog, but unfortunately they had run out.  No matter they gave her a free upgrade to a straight up cheese burger - simple, awesome!

On this evidence, Lucky Chip has now overtaken MeatLiquor to move into number two of my reasonably priced burger spots in London.  Honest Burgers is still just ahead though!

An Honest Burger

If you haven't been down to Brixton Village recently- or as is more likely the case given Brixton's (undeserved) rep, ever- you really should give it a go. I was at the re-launch of Brixton Village a couple of years ago, more by chance than design after stumbling upon it while wandering around Brixton Market proper, and what was then a couple of start up restaurants and lots of empty units has really blossomed into a great little hub of foodie activity with numerous restaurants and a real buzz.

The Fashionista and I popped along last night to try a little Thai place called Kao Sarn- unfortunately though they were fully booked so that one will have to wait until another time. We wandered around for a while and then decided to settle on "Honest Burgers" which serves a simple menu of Chicken burgers, various 35 day aged beef burgers or a vegetable fritter. With such a short menu they really are pinning a lot on the burgers being up to scratch- and they are!

Most of the burger hype in the last few years has been surrounding the phenomenon that is #MeatEasy. We went when it was in New Cross Gate (now of Peckham Rye) and had to queue for about an hour when we got there and wait at least another forty-five for our food. When it arrived it was great-so good in fact that I didn't ever think I would find a better burger in London- Honest Burgers, however, manages to top it on every level! The buns are lighter, the meat tastier and the toppings more generous!

And these burgers really are that good. I went for the honest burger- a delicious bun filled with a large chunk of tasty burger meat cooked very rare (I like it this way but it may have been too rare for some), smoked bacon, cheese, relish, and gherkins- my oh my this was burger perfection. With the burger were served triple cooked chips with rosmary salt- all for 8 quid.  An absolute steal for food this good...

The Fashionista had the vegetable fritter- made from (according to the menu board) cauliflower, sweetcorn, shallots, spices and coriander with a mint yoghurt again served in a bun with tripple cooked chips- having seen my burger, the Fashionista thought she may have made an error going veggie for an evening but the fritter was really good- it was good to know there was such a tasty alternative if I ever (although I doubt I ever will) decided to stray from the beef burgers.

Everyone should give this place a try- I doubt you will find a better burger anywhere in the London!