-
BRGR.CO: Going back to basics
Have we reached peak burger? Is that even possible? I don’t know about you but I’m starting to get a little weary of it all. Once upon a time, when your fast food options were McDonalds or Burger King or a greasy van on a roadside, the likes of Meat Liquor and even Byron seemed daring and exciting. But now those trendy burger joints are as ubiquitous as the fast food chains that they once stuck two fingers up at. So where now for the once humble burger? In the case of BRGR.CO you go back to basics. You make it all about the meat. BRGR.CO isn’t pretentious. There’s no…
You May Also Like
Jackdaw and Star/We Serve Humans
-
Cottons: Bringing the sunshine to Shoreditch
There are rare moments, when the British summer is playing ball, that London can feel fairly exotic. When the sun beats down and Londoners pour outside, noise levels rising, the scent of grilled meat in the air, music streaming out from cars and bars, it’s easy to pretend that you’re in an entirely different country. This is helped along with a spot of world cuisine from London’s diverse restaurant scene. I was recently transported to the Caribbean thanks to a balmy summer evening, jerk BBQ and copious amounts of rum at the new Cottons restaurant in Shoreditch. When I first moved to London I lived around the corner from the…
You May Also Like
Rum and dancing: Valentine’s Day in Cuba
-
Bar Douro: Bringing Portugal to London
BAR DOURO IS…. TAKING A TRIP TO PORTUGAL WITHOUT LEAVING TOWN My relationship with London is a complex one. There are few cities that I love like I have loved this one. I fully accept that I am one of those crazy, bug-eyed London disciples, who can’t imagine why anyone would ever hate it here. Lately, however, I feel very much like that person watching their loved one stumble down a path that’s inherently bad for them. The city is becoming increasingly dull and sanitised; space is being snapped up at grotesque prices and flipped around into “luxury apartments” or yet another big chain. For every “cool” neighbourhood, there are at least 10 big brands…
You May Also Like
BRGR.CO: Going back to basics
Aquavit
Cottons: Bringing the sunshine to Shoreditch
-
Bob Bob Ricard: Where dining dreams go to die
Recent events in the world of politics seem to suggest that people can’t be trusted with crucial decisions. So, learning absolutely nothing from this, I thought it would be fun to let other people choose my next restaurant. I’m terrible at making decisions for myself, so why not leave it in the hands of the internet…? What could possibly go wrong? I even drew up the shortlist myself, so there was no chance of being sent off to a Harvester in Croydon or an Angus Steakhouse in Piccadilly. The options were Bob Bob Ricard, Fifteen or Rules, all of which sounded perfectly civilised on paper. I watched, excitedly, as the votes poured in and Bob…
-
Medlar: Disappointing dining in Chelsea
I’m often asked why I started a food blog. There are actually several reasons ranging beyond simply “I like to eat”, and one of these was motivation. Motivation to get off my sofa and experience London’s wonderful food scene. So one of the main “objectives” behind this blog was to work my way through the Time Out Top 100 restaurants list. Clearly I had ambitions way beyond my budget because, before I realised it, a brand new Top 100 had been published and I’d ticked perhaps one restaurant off the list… I’m still trying to hit them all but these days I use the list more as a guide than a…
-
Aquavit
Not long before we moved to London, my then boyfriend and I visited for a week’s holiday. We stayed in one of those old fashioned hotels in Paddington, delighted by how cheap it was, not realising that the area was a notorious red light district. I was so in love with London then. It was unlike anywhere I’d ever been before; a place fat with possibility. We visited a pub not far from Hyde Park and I was thrilled by how buzzy it was, how it felt like an integral part of a neighbourhood that I wanted to be a part of too. That pub has long since closed, like so many…
-
Miusan
Contentious as it may have been, the Night Tube is a thing of great excitement for this Londoner. No longer do I have to limit myself to nights out in south west London. No longer do I have to make that mad dash for the last tube, bringing brilliant evenings to an abrupt end. The city has opened up to me and it’s great. Weirdly, I quite like grubby, touristy old Camden for the occasional night out but I’ve so often had to cut those nights out short. Taxi from Camden to Tooting? No chance. But, thanks to the Night Tube, I can now relax and enjoy what Camden has to…
You May Also Like
Chi Kitchen
-
Jackdaw and Star/We Serve Humans
I have a theory regarding burgers which goes a little something like this. If you need to eat it with a knife and fork then it’s a good burger. Of course, that theory does fall down from time to time. I’m sure there are plenty of burgers that are stacked high and stuffed full and still taste rank. But in general, a good burger is one that you most definitely can’t pick up in your hands. Case in point: McDonalds and their teeny, shrivelled “burgers”. I can easily eat a Big Mac one-handed and my hands are positively Donald Trump-esque in their dimensions. So I don’t care if I look silly or genteel or “posh” with…
You May Also Like
BRGR.CO: Going back to basics
-
Chi Kitchen
If I were to tell you that Debenhams on Oxford Street is the place to go for a really great meal, you would probably laugh in my face. To be fair, I wouldn’t blame you. Department store eateries are generally a little bit sad. Old ladies and bored husbands huddled around weak coffee and dry cake, surrounded by beige formica. No thank you. And Debenhams? A middle-of-the-road shop with about as much character as a clothes peg; the one that’s not as classy as John Lewis. But…department stores are realising that shopping habits are changing and that it’s going to take something extra to get customers through the door these days. And that something is…
You May Also Like
Miusan
-
Where to eat on Seymour Place
Once upon a time, I had a truly terrible job working for a company on Seymour Place. I think I lasted all of four months, and they felt like the longest four months of my life. There wasn’t even anything exciting in the area to make up for the work woes. I spent my free time eating claggy pasta salad from the local caff or drinking cheap wine in one of the old man pubs nearby. So, funnily enough, it’s not a part of town that I tend to frequent much these days. But, London being what it is, Seymour Place has evolved and developed over the years into somewhere really rather interesting. The…
You May Also Like
Ognisko
