North Sea Fish - A Mixed Bag Really.

The North Sea Fish is more of a take away with a restaurant attached, than the other way around.

As you walk into the restaurant side you feel you are in a 1950’s seaside hotel. The deep red carpet and wooden bar in the middle all add to this walk back in time feel I got. It’s an odd experience.

It became pretty apparent that the restaurant caters for tourists more than locals, due to its vicinity to a myriad of hotels and the stations nearby. The chippie on the other hand seemed to be full of locals.

The menu is extensive and pretty bloody pricey. £12 average price for cod and chips, and for a few quid more you could go jumbo. I’d hate to think how big jumbo was, as the medium was massive. The waitress made some signs that in other circumstances would have been embarrassing.

I do love the laminated place mats of different types of fish. Sadly we both had ray on ours, but I do now know how to pronounce in several European languages. This could come in very handy if I am in Russia and fancy a portion of ray.

As I said the portions of fish are large, which are not fresh, it’s from frozen stock. These never actually bothered me as it was encased in a very tasty and crispy batter, and I was a tad drunk and therefore bloody hungry.

The chips came in a wooden basket with some greaseproof paper at the bottom, they again were tasty and crispy, until you made your way through them to the bottom and then they were soggy. A reminder of chippies of my youth.

This is really what this place did to me, I reminded me of the best chippie in Basingstoke as I was growing up. Which for so many years was head and shoulders above everything else, until it got brought out and the quality went into freefall. A shame when people think of money before quality.

All in all if I was in the area and desperate I may have a takeaway from here, but it’s unlikely. As far as chippies go it is a little above average, but does have a good feel to the place, and the staff are warm and friendly. Although one of the waiters was particularly forceful in making sure one foreign couple liked their fish. Yes you will enjoy it.

As for tourist fish ‘n’ chip places, this has a long way to go to catch up with the Rock and Sole Plaice in Covent Garden, and is light years behind the wonderful Beach Hut in Highbury Barn, whenever it is open.

Foto Friday # 61

The ultimate in street food. Cuy is the Ecuadorian national dish and is eaten by everyone from rich to poor.
It is mainly an indigenous dish as they do not take up much room in the house as they are being fattened up.

The Lucky Chip Burger Van

I am hoping we are on the verge of a revolution here in London. Food vans. Street food has come along with leaps and bounds in the last few years, but over the last 12 months it has jumped years into the future.

Going are the days of the cheap doner kebab vans, greasy bacon butties and bad and burnt burgers. Sad to say they are still around, just head out to any festival and you will see them, but a new breed of heroes are coming forward and showing us how it can be and should be done.

Even with all these new and exciting people selling their delights, we are still light years behind LA and New York. I read recently that no new street food licences are being issued in New York, and people are auctioning theirs for up to $70,000. Madness. But they have this tradition of food vans that we do not. Yet.

The newest guys on this rollercoaster ride of street food heaven here in London, are the Lucky Chip. This van is run by 2 friendly, cheery guys who serve up some of the best burgers I’ve tasted in a long while.

They say they use Ginger Pig meat in their burgers, but I overheard them saying the meat they were now using was holding together a lot better. So not sure if it’s from Ginger Pig now or not. But who cares, as it is bloody good.

After gazing at their short but sweet menu for an age, we both decided on the Sheen burger, a juicy fat patty with beer soaked onions, Philadelphia cheese, apple wood smoked bacon, cheddar and a lush garlic aioli. It was a monster of a burger, but oh so easily was it to eat.

The meat was well seasoned, cooked to a juicy perfection. The sweet onions mixed with the bacon and cheeses made a good change from my normal cheeseburger ordering.

Even though it was a big boy burger, there was a perfect ratio of meat to bread, unlike a few pubs in Stokie where there is so much meat the bread disappears in your hands.

The hand cut chips with a scattering of grated cheese were a true delight, which really sent me back to the Shake Shack in NYC.

I’ve not tried the Meat Wagon, so I cannot compare, but the thought of queuing up for 2 hours for anything is something I will not do. Even with a drink or two in hand.

The Lucky Chip burgers however, have been the best burgers I’ve had outside of New York, they were that good. But we are going to the next Burger Monday so we shall see.

However as these burgers were cooked in a food van in a small market in East London gives me joy for the future of street food here in London. Something that I hope to join in with something in the future. We’ll see.

F is for France @ Le Relais de Venise L'Entrecote

It has been a while now, over two months since our little jaunt through the alphabet in London town. But we’re back.

After many people had been on holidays to Spain, Ecuador, Colombia and Morocco since our last outing back in May. Whilst poor old me hasn’t even left London in all that time. Boo hoo.

So I am making up for it with a quick jaunt across the channel to France. This time to Le Relaise de Venise L’Entrecote for some steak frites in Marylebone.

This place does one thing and one thing only. Steak and chips, and to be honest with the quantity they churn out, they do them very well. Which is pretty bloody surprising as we were there in total for around two hours including queuing time and it was constantly full with a never ending queue churning around the corner.

The sheer volume this restaurant does on an evening is staggering. It’s a good thing that they do one thing and one thing only. I’d hate to work in that kitchen though,  everyday doing the same prep. Make special sauce, blanch chips, cook steaks, dress salad leaves. Yawn yawn yawn. But for the owners its damn good.

I initially suggested this place as a bit of a joke to everyone, as one of our party has a problem deciding on what she wants to eat. I think everyone else got the joke but her, and to top it off she ended up making the final decision. But at least there were desserts for her to ponder over in the end.

So the 6 of us sat down and the only thing to choose was which wine we wanted to drink and how we wanted our steaks cooked. Three chose rare and three medium. All these we were told was in the French style.

To start the meal off, you are provided with a plate of dressed lettuce leaves and walnuts. I’m not a big salad eater in restaurants and this has put me back years. It was pretty dull, wet and not very attractive. If I wasn’t here for the steak this would have made me cry. I’m sure my old chef would have told me to walk if I sent something out looking like that. Not a good start.

Thankfully the main was a hell of a lot better. If you didn’t know you got two portions of the steak and French fries, then you would be seriously saddened by the small portion you received first time round.

My meat was cooked to a perfect French rare, which is how I like it. To be honest I have no idea how the steak really tasted as it came thinly sliced and smothered in their Special Secret Sauce. This closely guarded secret is from what I can understand, made up of chicken livers, thyme, cream and Dijon mustard. Bloody good it was too.

The fries are not bad, not quite as crispy as I would like, but the second set we had delivered to our table by the delightful French waitresses with their ooh so French attitudes, were a lot better.

The only choices you have is on the dessert menu, where a montage of French classic puds live.

We also have a dessertinator in our ranks, who could quite delightfully eat her way through dessert after dessert after dessert. For such a tiny thing she managed to eat a tower of a pud all to herself. For her sins she was slightly hyper afterwards with all that sugar in her veins, we all were not surprised.

All in all Le Relais de Venise is not a bad place to eat. You could do a lot worse, but with a group of friends it is a fun place, and with the queue constantly outside, everyone else is thinks the same as well. 

Foto Friday # 60

We love Via-Via Cafes, especially this one in Yogyarkta. Not that we were fed up of eating the local Indonesian food, but sometimes change is good. Plus they do great coffee, and it's a great place to meet other travellers, and they do great coffee.

Spuntino - Little Plate Heaven

I really wished I had eaten at Spuntino a lot earlier. Ie from day one. But I have this habit of letting a new restaurant flow for a couple of months before hitting its tables to sample the wares from the kitchen.

But as this group had two restaurants running at full flow very close by, it should have put my mind at rest, but it didn’t. I mean Marcus Waring’s new restaurant hasn’t received good reviews so far, and that is one place you’d expect to be at its best from day one.

The neo industrial look inside Spuntino adds to its charm, with its chipped exposed white tiles, it’s long dangly lights, the almost uncomfortable stools around the bar. The fact that the queue for seats is right behind you as you are eating, with the people in the queue staring into the back of your head willing you to eat faster and leave so they can sit down.

I like the place. I thought I had enough of small plates. This fad of sharing your food with your dining partners I thought I would not be able to do anymore.

But bang, wallop I am sucked in all over again. Damn if Spuntino didn’t knock me sideways with its coolness that made me want to love it, and hoping this food fashion doesn’t go out of style.

I didn’t even mind queuing up for 30 minutes or so, especially as we ordered a bottle of red and stood supping away jabbering on about love, life and general nonsense.

The menu in Spuntino is leaning rather heavily towards New York with plenty of sliders, mac n cheese and cheese grits on offer, that make you think you are dining somewhere on the East Side.

What to order. As we were pondering a cup of spiced popcorn was planted in front of us. I’m not a fan of popcorn, but the spiciness tantalised my taste buds, and kept my fingers delving into that cup for more.

I’d listened to a podcast recently where one of the presenters had a selection of sliders at his wedding. Nice idea and from what he said it all worked out well.

So we ordered a couple of sliders, the minced beef and bone marrow and the spiced mackerel.

Both were dainty as sliders should be. The mackerel I have to say was the least flavoursome of the two and overall over the night it was the dish we liked the least. The beef and marrow slider was truly how a burger should taste.

That marrowbone adds a divine taste to the burger that really surpasses all other burgers I’ve tasted in a long time. Shame these only come in little two bite portions. Well I am a greedy git.

The mac n cheese seemed to be very popular that night, as those black pans were being come thick and fast out of the kitchen.

The last time I had mac n cheese was in Cairo at my fave kushari joint. Every 5 or 6 times there I would venture off piste and have their version of mac n cheese. It was pretty naff as mac n cheese goes, put it was cheap, tasty and filling.

This version has to be the best I’ve ever tasted. The crispy topping had been under the grill for the most perfect of timings. It was so Moorish that even though my belly was fit to bursting I still couldn’t keep helping myself to the last scrapings out of the pan.

But the truffled egg on toast blew everything else out of the water. Damn it was good, and I mean so good that I really wanted to order another one. I love that heady scent of truffle oil, it instantly sends me back to the Italian countryside in autumn.

This is the work of a genius. I mean a slice of bread, hollow out a hole in the middle, pop in an egg yolk, add lots of cheese and a dash of truffle oil. In the oven and voila you have the dish of the year. A true work of gifted chef. Danm I’m envious.

This was one of the best eating experiences I’ve had in a long while, even though the quality of food I’ve been eating recently has been excellent, Spuntino somehow overall was far and away ahead of everyone else.

The only downside of the night was the fire alarm going off for at least 15 – 20 minutes, and we watched a guy pick bits of food out of his girlfriend’s teeth at the bar. Have people no shame.

Birra Moretti and Giancarlo Caldesi

I was invited to an event sponsored by Birra Moretti and La Cusina Caldesi last week. It was to promote the wonders of Birra Moretti, a fine Italian beer, eclipsed in the UK by the other more famous one. We shall not name it. But after tasting Birra Moretti with its fuller and far superior flavour, I am sold.

The event was held in the La Cusina Caldesi, which is behind Café Caldesi, or the alleyway opposite the Golden Hind. We were treated to several delicious little snacks all cooked using Birra Moretti. I wonder how many times I can mention this beer before the end of this bog post. We’ll see.

Anyhows Giancarlo was there to cook these delights for us and also to explain about the wonders of using Birra Moretti in cooking. I’m thinking at least another 10 times.

So we got to sample Zeppole di Gamberetti (fried prawn and parsley dough balls), very very Moorish, but after a couple you wish you hadn’t.

Also a Focaccia alla Birra Moretti (needs no translating), this I have to say you really could taste the beer in the bread. Lovely dipped in olive oil and balsamic.

Then some Spiedini di Pollo, ananas e pancetta marinati con Birra Moretti (chicken, pineapple and pancetta skewers marinated in …. You’ve guessed it). These were so easy to munch on, and with a big glass of Birra Moretti in hand, oh so very easy.

Lastly was a pudding of Gelatina di Birra Moretti con datteri e crema pasticcera (Date, custard and guess what’s in the jelly). The combo of the dates and the custard was really intoxicating. I liked the beer jelly but separate as the dates over powered everything.

It was a good night, and having a chance to chat to Giancarlo and hear some classic stories over a Birra Moretti was really good. Really nice guy.

Before I end it here, let me tell you about some pop up pizza making classes happening over London with Giancarlo and Birra Moretti. They are free and take place at the following locations and dates.

·     Exchange Square on the 27^th July

·     Soho Square on the 28^th July

·     Canary Wharf on the 29^th July

To get in with some pizza action, you can visit www.facebook.com/morettiuk … But this is on a first come, first serve basis, so be quick.

I’m sure that the dough is going to use Birra Moretti, and as a mixer in bread or pizza dough it’s brill.

At the moment there are not too many pubs serving Birra Moretti on tap, but there are some. They just need searching out. Enjoy yourselves on this task, but please let me know where you come across it.

Foto Friday # 59

This is the spread we had at lunch after a hard mornings ride around Dalat in Vietnam with the Easy Riders.
If you ever make it to this small old French hill station, then give these boys a go for at least a day, or if you like it a lot, then you can go with them for a lot longer.

Bistro Du Vin

I’m in love. I’ve found another restaurant that does what I love. Simple well cooked food. I don’t ask much out of life. I’m not into snazzy gimmicks, getting fed up with the ever changing food trends. I don’t want molecular gastronomy nor do I want my food deconstructed either. All I ask for is good ingredients, well cooked and shown the respect it deserves by a chef who loves his job.

I’ve found this at Bistro Du Vin. Phew. No small plates here. Just down to earth ballsy cooking.

I didn’t really enjoy myself in this building the last time I was here, when the Eastside Inn was here. I never did find out why it closed so suddenly. I know some of you are still pining for it.

I’m not sure what didn’t do it for me with the Eastside Inn, as the food was very tasty, well cooked and pretty well priced. But somehow we just never clicked. It happens.

Walking into the Bistro Du Vin we were both hit with deja vu. Had we traveled back in time and were in the Eastside Inn again. Nope we weren’t, it’s just there isn’t a lot you can do with the place to be honest. It was well designed in the first place and needed no tweaking. But kinda scary how everything is still in place. I even saw the old cheese trolley. Had a great selection off that. The mood lighting got on my tits before and it was here again. Loose that guys please.

The menu is very easy on the eye, with daily specials and a lot of grilled meats making use of that Josper grill left behind from the former owners.

We weren’t going to have a starter but as I’m an offal man I couldn’t help myself. I have to choose it. So I was very pleased indeed to see some offaly items for me to choose.

So for starters we choose the crispy lamb’s sweetbreads with a sauce charcuterie and also the foie gras and chicken liver parfait.

Those crispy sweetbreads were as I was hoping they would be, crispy on the outside and creamy and yummy on the inside. I remember having them cooked for me at Leiths once, and they were all creamy. Not to my liking. Then I had them again in Buenos Aires and grilled sweetbreads are the way to go.

These were a good midway point between the two. The sweet roasted onions and the slightly spicy sauce completed a fantastic starter. Only downside were the elaborate pea shoots all over. But we can live with that once in a while.

The foie gras and chicken liver parfait was more chicken liver than foie gras, but as it’s an expensive piece of offal we were not surprised. But it was so silky smooth that it was nearly but not quite eating liquid velvet.

Again this was a generous portion and with two thinly sliced but large slices of bread along with an accompanying chutney this was another winning start to the meal.

The mains I opted for an onglet steak (rare) and béarnaise sauce, whilst the other half had the saucisson a la lyonnaise, ratte potatoes and Dijon.

My steak came a perfect rare, and was as good as I have been cooking recently after my last bulk buy form the East London Steak Company (needless plug there).

The Josper grill works wonders with meat and leaves a gorgeous taste on the buds. The fries were thin and crispy and with a tangy béarnaise sauce that even I was proud of. It was a bloody good dish.

The saucisson was quite a sexy little number. It did look so beautiful, generously sliced with the ratte potatoes and that Dijon mustard sauce and even the pea shoots couldn’t stop its visual appeal.

The taste matched the look. Sleek and sexy it was. I almost wished I had chosen it myself, but the steak was too good not to have, although the calves liver was a close second on my choice of mains.

We didn’t have any desserts, but I did opt for a small glass of calvados, which aided my digestion. Thinking ahead there I was.

All in all we loved Bistro Du Vin, although I wonder if they can keep up this high level consistently as it was nigh on perfect. Not only the food but the level of service as well. Attentive but in a casual way that put you at ease. Maybe that was the difference with the former residences.

It’s not somewhere I can go to every week, unfortunately, but if you want good food you have to pay for it and I’ll definitely be back.

Baozi Inn – A Revisit

It had been a while since I had been to Baozi Inn, but I felt it was due a re-visit to check out how it was faring up.

For a Tuesday night this small joint was heaving to the rafters, which is always a good sign for a restaurant to be full mid week during a recession.

Not much had changed since my last visit a few months ago, the décor is still a little faux, but they do have some lovely green Mao bags and caps hanging on the wall. I must pick one of those up in China later this year.

The menu hasn’t changed either since my last visit, it still has the same Baozi Inn specials. So we ordered a few. First off was the Spicy Sichuan Beef Noodle Soup and a Noodle Soup with Pork Ribs and Mushrooms.

My spicy beef was spicy enough for me, but lacked any real depth of flavour, which is a shame. The beef itself was super tender and full of flavour. The noodles were a little dull but well cooked.

In comparison the pork rib soup stock was pretty bland, but my taste buds were shot by the end of my soup so I can not judge. I was reliably informed that the stock was very well flavoured though. I managed to taste one of the ribs and the meat was falling off the bone, so good.

All in all the Baozi Inn still serves well flavoured and tasty Sichuan style noodle soups for a very good price. Which is probably why it is always packed. Still a winner then. 

Brunch @ The Riding House Cafe

The Riding House café has been on my radar since it opened earlier this year, but for many reasons, some best not mentioned we’ve just never managed to go there and eat. These things happen you see. But finally we managed it. About time.

So this Sunday we turned up with reservation in hand for Sunday lunch, which actually turned out to be more of a brunch event instead, as we were still kinda heady from dinner the night before at Bistro Du Vin. We were coming to an end of a celebratory weekend for welcoming my wife back from 3 weeks in Ecuador. She was in need of some good food.

So with slight hangovers and really not wanting to eat that much we opted for their lighter options. Not their small plates I might add. I am kinda getting tired of small plates at the mo, I long for the day when small plates are so last year. So a while to go then.

We were seated in the rather opulent but not dining room, with its large red padded seats and quirky lamps made out of old plumbing parts. Very snazzy.

This lunchtime it was full of well-heeled-twenty-something-girlies having their weekly-brunch-gossipy get together. If I would had known, I’d have just turned up and gone into the main dining area and ate there. It seemed a lot more casual and less formal, but where we were provided a lot of people watching. A fave hobby of mine.

So on the Sunday lunch menu there are some breakfast/brunch items on the menu, these are on till mid afternoon. This is what we were in need of.

I’d already checked out their menu beforehand and noticed they had a smoked haddock kedgeree on the billing. I cannot remember the last time I ate this or even saw it on a menu. Wow when was that. We are talking years, and I mean years. This I had to have.

After 3 weeks of eating some of the worst food on the planet and being sick for it, the wife was more than happy to eat just about anything, but she opted for the delightfully sounding eggs Hussard.

My kedgeree was a reminder of how those Victorians knew a thing or two about breakfast dishes and how good they are to cure a mild hangover.

The flaked smoked haddock was wonderfully smoked and gave that all important taste to this Anglo-Indian dish. The rice was just as wet as it should be and well spiced and seasoned. The added pea shoots on top were a needless decoration. They seem to be this year’s garnish as 2 of the 4 dishes at Bistro du Vin the night before had then as well. One year it is chervil, the next its pea shoots. Whatever next.

The only downside to this dish was the not runny boiled egg on top. I prefer my eggs to be a slightly set but still runny. These were well cooked eggs. Not my style at all, but other than that it was damn good.

The hearty eggs Hussard with that marchand de vin sauce was delish. I actually wished I had ordered this. Although I did eat about ¼ of it after Lina was too full to go any further. I love dining with people who are just getting over an illness. This is now my fave hangover dishes. Definitely beats a full English, but in a more decadent way.

I’d never come across eggs Hussard before but I will be having it whenever possible. Basically it run like this, two poached eggs napped with hollandaise sat on top of a portobello mushroom, which was on top of an ox heart tomato. Beneath that was ham and baby spinach, which was nestled on top a doorstop slice of bread and this was mopping up all the juices from above and the marchand de vin sauce underneath. Awesome. Man I’m hooked. A greedy guts version of eggs benedict.

We really liked the Riding House Café, and already planning a return visit, as I want to try their burgers and maybe those small plates.

But for Sunday brunch, not so sure as it is sooooo far way from home, and Caravan and the Breakfast Club are just so much closer.

Burgers are for life, not just for snacking on....

An emotional opening day of the fabled In-N-Out Burger chain in Texas. Funny but really quite sad.

Foto Friday # 58

I love street food, but sometimes it can really damage you.
This is some typical street food from Ecuador. It's called Chugchucara. No idea what it means, but the wife suffered for a couple of weeks because of it.

Sausage Time @ Kurz and Lang

I’ve only been to Germany once, and that was a few years ago in Munich for the Beer Fest. Wow what a night that was. I only have very vague memories. Way too many Steins of lager.

A thumping hangover to boot the following day as well, which was actually cured with two things. One was more beer, and the other was a plate full of German sausage. Man it worked a treat, better than any fry up.

What type of sausages I ate that day have gone into the dustbin of my forever fading memory. No matter how I try and put together that jigsaw it will never come back. All I can remember was that the sausages were homemade and full of flavour and taste.

The closest I have encountered here is Kurz and Lang. They have been at the corner of St John Street for a few years now selling fast food in the form of those funky German sausages. The beasts are imported from a family run company in the Rhineland. Truly authentic.

I was in the area meeting up with some friends, but I needed some filling for my stomach before I started on the high alcohol content euro lagers.

I opted for the Classic Wurst meal with a Rindswurst. A pure beef sausage with at least 81% beef content, so the menu says.

The meal also comes with sauerkraut, potato cubes and a small baguette. I also had a Paulaner Weiss beer to get the night going. Well you have to really.

The sausage was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. It had a slightly smoky taste to it, and very beefy. I didn’t get the potato cubes though. They were a tad soggy and really not that good. Pointless in my eyes.

You are either a lover of sauerkraut or not. I am a lover of it, but not when it is too mature and funky. Just not used to it that is all. This sauerkraut wasn’t too bad, it definitely had a little funkiness about it, but when mixed with the mustard it was a hell of a lot better. Man I love mustard, especially nasal cleansing mustard. Hmm love it….

The sausages at Kurz and Lang were not bad, but I think they would have been even better at the end of the night, as everything tastes better after a few too many beers, just like those hocks at the beer fest.

Food on the Street with the Pitt Cue Co.

I am a great lover of Bar-B-Q. Anything to do with meat cooked over burning embers sends me into such highs that I start dribbling. Literally.

To feed this addiction I am forced to cook bar-b-q style foods in my own oven at home, as I do not have a garden and therefore no bar-b-q.

It’s the one thing we want in London. A house with a garden or even a balcony. We had a front porch once and I used to cook bar-b on a small portable cue there. Heaven bloody heaven it was. Ahh how I miss those days in Brentford. It’s about all I miss.

Anyhows I’d heard about the Pitt Cue Co. on the South Bank a few months ago and have been meaning to get my sorry arse down there to check it out, but with work and generally being a lazy shit recently I haven’t managed it. Gotta change that.

My last adventure with street bar-b-q was at the recent Street Food Fest on the South Bank. A video of this day will be released too much pomp and ceremony soon. The bar-b-q I had to be honest was pretty poor. The sauce lacked any real flavour and it looked like the guys woke up that morning and said what shall we do today. I know we’ll do some bar-b-q. It was very lame.

Bodean’s are the big bar-b-q player in London, but with their major expansions (4 branches to date) has left this small chain spiralling downhill, as corners seem to be cut on quality to make up for quantity. Although their smoked hickory and hot chipotle sauces are pretty damn good.

As the Victoria Line was down this weekend, yet again, and the thought of getting on the bus replacement service out of Victoria was just too much to contemplate.

So off I trotted to the South Bank to finally sample this supposed bar-b-q truck heaven. The truck is silver and I want one. I really do. I think this is what I want to do, buy a truck, do it up and sell cheap heart warming comfort food to hungry eaters. What kind of food do you ask. Well it would have to contain every cheap cut of meat known to man. My favourite.

But enough of my dreams, back to the review. I never actually read the menu I just saw on the blackboard pulled pork and I was hooked. The pulled pork comes with either bar-b beans or coleslaw, bread and some pickles. I chose the beans of course. Silly question. And of course there has to be beer as well. Well bar-b-q with out beer is a sin in my books.

It comes in a nice little box and a piece of toasted bread to mop up the juices. I parked my arse down on one of the yellow stalls and tucked in as they say.

To be honest it was underwhelming. I was expecting a whole lot more than with what I got. I was expecting some wonderful smoky taste to dazzle me, instead all I got was a good but average bar-b-q that I reckon had not been smoked at all. Maybe oven cooked with spices.

The pulled pork was juicy and tender, but it lacked any real flavour at all. It was really rather bland. Disappointing. Those pickles however were awesome, they were really bloody good. I need to know where they get them from. Awesome. The bar-b-q sauce was thick and unxious, but the small black beans were slightly undercooked. They were a little too al dente for my liking. It’s just a shame that the star of the show was just so dull, and at £11 for the pulled pork and a beer, it is not cheap street food at all.

But with what London can offer at the moment with bar-b-q it is the best of a disappointing bunch. As I mentioned before it was much better than the bar-b-q truck at the recent street food fest, and the over sweetened bar-b-q ribs around Brick Lane every Sunday.  But not as good as Bodean’s in its hey day, although that place is becoming more miss than hit recently.

But with my slight obsession with bar-b-q no doubt I’ll be back. Hopefully it was a one off. Please let it be.