Haven’t done a review for a while so here we go… This review actually should’ve taken place a couple of years ago, except for the fact that I got confused, and booked a table at the underwhelmingly shit Steak and Lobster, instead of Burger and Lobster.
Before I dive into the actual review, just for comparison, Steak and Lobster has a near identical (although slightly less interesting menu), obviously is based around the same ‘surf ‘n’ turf’ concept, but the interior is weird and sterile, the service was a bit shit, and the food was dead. Literally of course, the steak and lobster were dead, but going beyond that. Dead af. Bland and uninspiring. I’m not sure I could paint a less glowing picture.
So after this unintentional restaurant visit, I’d been pining for the real deal. Pining for two years in fact. And today was finally the day that I got my Burger and Lobster.
This is not acceptable lighting.
I can probably concede that the only thing Steak and Lobster did better was the lighting. I have a thing about poorly lit restaurants. Really does my head in, and the Burger and Lobster in Soho at least was like this. That is, however, pretty much where the negativity ends.
To start, the three of us shared the Lobster Croquettes. These were super creamy with a lovely level of spicy flavour from the bed of Chipotle mayo. The little avocadoey blob on top doesn’t add much but it does look pretty. These aren’t cheap. You get 4 croquettes for £9.50, and you can bet that we divided that last one up between us into incredibly precise thirds. But at the end of the day, it’s a lobster restaurant, so if you’re on a budget, just don’t bother in the first place.
I’d always thought that I’d end up having the Lobster Roll here, but ultimately after some intense social media stalking, I decided that the B&L Beast Burger looked exciting. It consists of a thicccc AF beef patty (medium rare ofc) with a solid chunk of lobster meat on top, gooey melting Brie, truffle and tarragon mayo, fennel and Chinese cabbage. It is such a satisfying burger. Part of me thinks the flavour of the lobster gets a bit lost when it’s served like this, but despite that I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. It really is a bit of a beast.
I was super tempted by the melty Gruyere Spinach on the side, but decided to be slightly less naughty, and opted for the tenderstem broccoli instead. As far as veggie sides go, it was nice and buttery, but obviously there are more interesting options. I did however, have to try one of my friend’s Truffle Chips of course. I was surprised that they were proper thick cut chips rather than fries, and if I’d known I might have been tempted myself, although we all agreed that despite the truffle smelling quite strong, there wasn’t much actual truffle flavour from them.
Finally we come to dessert, which I had told myself I wouldn’t have. But why stop myself if I change my mind? Gutted I didn’t get there last Easter for their Creme Egg Cheesecake, but rather than going for their plainer White Chocolate Cheesecake, I was taken by the Cranberry and Hazelnut Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream.
First off, it definitely ticks the gooey box. It was super soft and melt-in-the-mouth. The hazelnuts and cranberries were both really nice additions, both in terms of texture and flavour. My only complaint would be the warmth of the brownie. Normally when something is served with ice cream on the side, it’s so hot that the two kind of melt together, and the hot-cold contrast works beautifully. With this dessert, the brownie seemed to be kind of lukewarm in the first place so that delicious contrast wasn’t quite there.
Service was great, super friendly, and the menu has a decent selection of mains combos.
There is probably a gimmicky element to the lobster craze, which accounts for the high cost of the food, but if you’re willing to look past the food as a trend, for me at least, it was a good quality, tasty meal. £25 for a burger with a small amount of lobster in isn’t ideal, but I’m in London, I know what I’m getting myself in for, so there’s no use in complaining.
As I often tell people with a sickly sweet smile at my place of work when they scoff at the pricing,’It’s fine, you don’t have to buy it.’ 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
The ‘Rankings’ heading has been floating around on my blog
ever since I started it a few months ago, but until now hasn’t actually
featured any writing.
The idea of ‘Rankings’ is that I group together my favourite
dishes in a range of categories, ie, ultimate cake, ultimate chicken burgers
etc etc.
Obviously it takes me a while to have tried enough of any
one kind of dish to establish a solid top 10 or so, hence why it has remained
blank for all this time.
But now I’m ready with my first in the ‘Ultimate’ series,
and it’s my absolute favourite category – Street Food. Now what I mean by
street food in this context is anything I’ve had literally in the street, at a
food market/food truck, or even a food hall where the trader wouldn’t necessarily
be considered a restaurant, but more like a small pop-up style eatery (think London’s
Seven Dials/Market Halls etc).
This list is in no particular order – it’s hard enough
whittling it down to a top 10 (or 15 in this case) let alone then having to
decide which ranks as the absolute best of them all.
You’ll find their Instagram handle in brackets – do check
out their amazing social media content to see more of what they do best!
So enough of the rambling, here are my favourite street food eats…
The Athenian (@theathenianuk)
Location: Boxpark Shoreditch
Cuisine:
Greek
Dish:
Lamb Gyro with Halloumi Fries
I’ve tried a few Greek places in and around London and The Athenian has to be my favourite. Their Gyros (finally worked out it’s pronounced ‘yeeros’) are second to none, and are absolutely packed with all the essentials i.e. meat (lamb in my case), chips, halloumi and salad. The pitta wrap was super soft and the halloumi fries on the side were delicious with a creamy, slightly sweet salad cream style sauce. An absolute winner.
Kottu Lanka (@kottulanka)
Location:
Victoria Park Market
Cuisine:
Sri Lankan
Dish:
Mutton Curry
This was one of the first street food dishes I tried after moving to London and I was blown away. Rarely for me, I hadn’t had a look to see what traders would be at the market and so hadn’t decided in advance what I wanted to try. I think it was the idea of Sri Lankan food that intrigued me in the end – I’m always interested in trying new cuisines that I don’t know much about. I had their mutton curry and it’s difficult to put into words how much I loved it (to be honest if I had ranked these in order starting with the best, this may just be Number 1). The photo really doesn’t do it justice, but the meat was incredibly tender, the sauce on top was beautiful, and I loved the fact that there wasn’t a heavy curry sauce; the flavour just came from the spices and the way everything had reduced down and infused with the meat.
A Pie Party (@apieparty)
Location:
Victoria Park Market/Greenwich Market/Canopy Market
Cuisine:
Desserts
Dish:
Toffee Popcorn Pie
I won’t say too much on this one as my last blog post was entirely dedicated to this amazing business, but as a reminder, my highlight is 100% the Toffee Popcorn Pie with its indulgent blondie-style base and sticky, sweet popcorn topping. A Pie Party is unique on this list, as an original and exciting dessert street food stall. The menu is regularly switched up, meaning there’s always something new to try, and you won’t see any pies like this elsewhere in London (or the country for that matter!).
The Mac Factory (@themacfactorylondon)
Location:
Camden Market
Cuisine:
Mac and Cheese
Dish:
Pesto Mac and Cheese
Okay, so ‘Mac and Cheese’ is not typically considered a ‘cuisine’ in itself (lol) but the heading ‘cuisine’ sounds better than ‘type of food’ etc, so we’ll stick with that. The Mac Factory’s mac and cheese is my favourite that I’ve had so far and I’ve tried quite a few. They have lots of exciting combinations and toppings, making it quite difficult to choose but I went for the Pesto Mac and Cheese in the end. It was so creamy with salty pesto, and mozzarella balls to top it off. It’s as appealing visually as it is flavoursome.
Rice Brother (@ricebrotherlondon)
Location:
Spitalfields Market
Cuisine:
Chinese/Asian Fusion
Dish:
Char Siu Rice Roll
I’d been on the hunt for sushi burritos for a while, and was struggling to find a mainstream option within London’s food markets. This isn’t technically a sushi burrito, as the recipes and ingredients are Chinese-inspired rather than Japanese, but it’s a similar concept, using sticky rice and nori (I think?) to fill out the roll and hold everything together. The Char Siu Roll had so much flavour – the meat was delicious and with the gelatinous rice, worked as a really filling, but not overly-heavy lunch, not to mention they’re super colourful.
2 Lads Kitchen (@2ladskitchen)
Location:
KERB King’s Cross (and various other locations)
Cuisine:
Afghan
Dish:
Chicken Flatbread Wrap
Much like my experience at Kottu Lanka, it was the idea of Afghan cuisine that drew me in, having no idea what that really meant. As I approached the stall, the smell of the grilled meat wafting towards me was incredible. My first bite of the wrap consisted of literally just the flatbread, but even that in itself had so much flavour. After that, it was absolutely packed with chicken, a small amount of relish and lots of hot, spicy sauce (although you don’t have to have it so hot!).
OINK (@oinklondon)
Location:
Various (I went to City Point)
Cuisine:
Pork Burgers
Dish:
Notorious P.I.G and Pepper Pig
Notorious P.I.G
THE best burgers I’ve ever had. Genuinely. You know when you eat something so good, all you can do is close your eyes and savour that deliciousness, hoping that it’ll never end. The Notorious P.I.G consisted of bourbon glazed bacon, a pork patty, bacon chilli jam, mozzarella, bbq sauce and apple slaw. Dreamy. And the Pepper Pig, Sriracha streaky bacon, pork patty, Monterrey Jack cheese, jalapeño salsa and avocado mayo. I loved that these two burgers were very different, as I sometimes find with street food burger stalls that they have a few different burgers that look and taste pretty similar. Can’t recommend these guys enough – life-changing food.
The Bucket List (@chipbuckets)
Location:
Various/Cromer (I ordered via Deliveroo in Norwich)
Cuisine:
Loaded Chips
Dish:
The New Yorker
One of my rare experiences of street food outside of London,
this ironically became the complete opposite of street food when I ordered it
via Deliveroo to my hotel room in Norwich. I didn’t have time to eat out
properly when getting ready for an evening out, so basically went by how
interesting the pictures and descriptions looked on Deliveroo (which I now am
no longer using due to them being useless when my account got hacked and orders
were placed using my money. They failed to delete my account on 3 occasions to
prevent access and I’m still waiting for my refund but more on that fun story
another time!!!).
This was the unhealthiest thing I’ve ever eaten and admittedly I did feel gross after, but it was so incredible that it was worth it. The New Yorker is a bucket of chips (very decent ones at that, with a crispy, crunchy exterior) topped with umm, everything. Chicken nuggets, gooey, fried Brie, cheese fondue, bacon, bbq sauce and aioli (garlic mayo). If you haven’t had a heart attack just reading that then, congratulations. I’m still salivating.
Bill or Beak (@billorbeak)
Location:
Camden Market
Cuisine:
Chicken Burgers
Dish:
American Fried Chicken Burger
Still my favourite chicken burger that I’ve had in London, they do both grilled and fried options, in case you want something a tad ‘healthier’ lol… but when would I ever choose grilled over fried?? It looks a little squashed because I refused to eat it until I’d taken it on a 45 minute journey home but this didn’t affect the taste and it looked wonderful when I first got it. The chicken fillet was huge and with a super crunchy fried batter. It was very simple, with American style cheese, lettuce and crunchy pickles, but in this case simpler was better. Really impressed, and great service from these guys.
Truffle (@trufflelondon)
Location:
Seven Dials Market
Cuisine:
Truffle???
Dish:
Beef Shin Croquettes
I did have a couple of lovely burgers from Truffle, but what really blew my mind were the Beef Shin Croquettes. These were insanely delicious, with shredded, stringy beef with a crunchy exterior. I don’t actually know what the dipping sauce was but it was beaaautiful. These were heavenly. And I don’t think I have anything else to add.
Hanok BBQ (@hanokbbq)
Location:
Victoria Park Market
Cuisine:
Korean BBQ
Dish:
Korean Chicken and Beef BBQ Bowl
This was an unexpected one. Hanok BBQ had never really been on my ‘desperate to try’ list, but after seeing a few amazing looking photos I decided to give them a try. Everything about this dish exceeded my expectations. I absolutely love sticky rice and so anything sitting on a bed of it gets off to a great start. I decided to indulge in the best of both worlds with chicken and beef, and the meats were sticky, smoky and super flavoursome. The kimchi on the side added that burst of flavour, unique to Korean food, and the side sauce (why do I literally never know what the side sauce actually is???) was AMAZING. It was probably some kind of sriracha mayo, it had that kind of feel/flavour to it, but who knows?
Breadahead (@breadaheadbakery)
Location: Borough Market
Cuisine: Doughnuts
Dish: Salted Caramel Honeycomb Doughnut
I’m labelling this as street food based on the fact that I got it from a stall, in the street, at Borough Market. Breadahead’s doughnuts all have a very uniform look, and their signature trading point is the way they really focus on the actual bake of the doughnut. Their dough is not heavy and is super soft. The fillings are generous and the salted caramel was delicious. The only thing I would say was that the honeycomb genuinely nearly broke my teeth so I couldn’t eat it, but the actual doughnut itself was beautiful.
Motherflipper (@motherflipperuk)
Location: Victoria Park Market
Cuisine: Burgers
Dish: Breakfast Muffin
I think I’d been scarred for life by the Mcdonalds breakfast muffins, which despite all the hype, I thought were kind of gross, but the Motherflipper one looked so good I was willing to try it. I was really pleasantly surprised – delicious sausage patty, oozing cheese, slightly crispy bacon and the perfect fried egg with a gooey yolk. Definitely worth the calories.
Seasoned: Street Food (@seasonedstreetfood)
Location: Hatch, Manchester
Cuisine: Various
Dish: Beetroot and Feta Fries
Fries are never my favourite side. I often leave them out in favour of more exciting options such as croquettes, mac and cheese, things like that. But these fries just sounded incredible. I really love beetroot and so the idea of beetroot flavour fries was really intriguing. The portion was huge and even I couldn’t finish them, but the beetroot dust was delicious, they looked incredibly striking, and the feta sauce on top added a creaminess that enhanced the flavours and textures.
Tarricrii (@tarricrii)
Location: The Market @ University of Manchester (open to anyone – when I visited they were located at Hatch in Manchester)
Cuisine: Arancini
Dish: Butter and Ham Arancino
The best arancino I’ve ever had. You can see how cheesy the centre was, and the rice cooked through beautifully. Massively creamy with a thin, crunchy outer shell, not to mention the size of it! This is really huge and would be a good side to share between two (unless you’re me and you eat it all to yourself).
WILDCARD
I’m going to finish with a Wildcard option, which will be a
regular feature of my ‘Rankings’ post. This will be something that doesn’t
necessarily fit in with the other options for whatever reason, but absolutely
still deserves a mention.
Sai Woo
Location: Jalan
Aloor, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Ciusine: Malaysian/Chinese
Dish: Singapore
Vermicelli Noodles
My top 15 have all been within the UK, but the irony is that the majority of the street food we see in this country, is inspired by cuisines from elsewhere in the world. A highlight on my trip to Malaysia was eating the fantastic food on Jalan Aloor, a street full of amazing freshly-made street food. This is also another kind of cheat, as actually this place was more like a restaurant, with the food cooked inside and brought out to you. But I’m going to treat it as street food, as the street itself is full of small stalls cooking dishes before your very eyes, and the restaurants are not restaurants in the typical sense. We ate here 3 times in a row, each time the food was absolutely beautiful, but my favourite of the dishes was this Singapore noodle dish, which I often have when eating Chinese at home. Deliciously spiced with the addition of pork, egg and veg, this street, and restaurant in particular are definitely one to watch if you ever venture to this wonderful country.
So, my round-up is complete. No doubt that week by week I’ll
be frustrated at all the amazing new street food I’ve eaten but that I can’t
add to the list, all for it being too late, but who knows, I may do an updated
version in a year or so’s time! Definitely check out these recommendations,
even if you’re not someone who would typically try this eating-in-the-street
street food malarkey. Casual dining is becoming huge so stay tuned for a
further post in a few months focusing a bit more on some of London’s most
popular food markets and halls, rather than the individual dishes.
My reviews so far have all been of London restaurants, so it was nice to head home to Nottingham for a couple of days to explore more of the foodie scene there. Gotta put the ‘travel’ in foodtravelsldn somehow…
Persian Empire is somewhere we’d never been before but had seen fab reviews on Trip Advisor. It’s in a city centre location where you might not typically find the best quality food, but so many good reviews surely meant something.
The interior is a bit basic and dare I say, slightly tacky,
but I’m all about the main focus being on the food itself.
To start, we shared a mix of 5 starters for 4 people with a side of flatbread. They came well presented on a rotating dish; I’ve numbered each of the dishes to review them individually.
Your simple hummus. A lovely, thick and creamy texture with lots of flavour. Bland hummus always sets off alarm bells but this one hit the mark.
Olivier. Chicken, egg, mayo and potato with gherkins and peas. I wouldn’t have known this was a typical Persian dish, and the flavour was giving me generic egg-based salad feels, but I did actually enjoy it and was great piled onto the bread.
Ghel Gheli. Lamb meatballs with prunes. These were flavoursome with moist mincemeat sitting on a juicy sauce.
Kashke Bademjan. This shredded aubergine was delicious. The way it had been cooked gave it a tender, almost meaty texture.
Last, and to be honest, least, was the Sabzi Paneer. Basically just cubes of feta with walnuts and various herbs. Each element sat there in isolation, none of the flavours or textures working well together harmoniously. Nothing unpleasant about this at all, but just not one that I’d recommend.
Quick mention about the flatbread – perfect thickness – not wafer thin and crunchy but not heavy and stodgy either. A great balance and the ideal side to accompany the mixed starters.
Onto the mains, and typically, whenever I head to middle eastern restaurants I tend to always go for lamb over chicken. This time I decided that I’d change things up a bit and stick to chicken. The Fesenjoon caught my eye on the menu straight away. It’s a pomegranate and walnut chicken stew served with either rice or bread and salad. Really rich in both colour and flavour, it was delicious. The shredded chicken soaked up the creamy sauce, and the pomegranate added the perfect amount of sweetness to the stew. The saffron rice was a solid accompaniment – not wildly exciting, but just what you need to mop up all the sauce.
I couldn’t leave without satisfying my dessert stomach, obviously, so I shared the Faloode with saffron and pistachio ice cream. Faloode is basically rice vermicelli soaked in rose water syrup. For me, any food this bright in colour immediately makes me slightly sceptical. My brain is automatically shouting ARTIFICIAL… and admittedly this dessert was divisive. For me, the flavours were quite unnatural and I didn’t associate them with saffron or pistachio. The vermicelli in the syrup was also incredibly sweet and I just found it to be too much. Its crunchy texture also didn’t really work for me. Having said that my Mum really enjoyed it, so just goes to show that our tastes are entirely subjective.
The service was great throughout. Waiters were lovely, and
attentive but without being overbearing. It’s also fantastic value for money.
Starters are generally under £5 each, mains around £10 and desserts under £4.
Even with a couple of rounds of drinks the final bill was a pleasant surprise.
So whether you’re a Nottingham local, or find yourself
visiting in the future, I definitely recommend this place. It’s not at all fancy,
but if you just want some hearty, flavoursome food, this is the place to go.
Looking up ‘Let’s eat’ in perfect Farsi might be a bit
ambitious so for now I’ll stick with…
Every time someone tells me they don’t like cheese, my eyes do a 360 roll in my head. Believe me, such people actually do exist, and there’s clearly something wrong with them.
I’m tempted to say that the best kind of cheese is always melted or baked, hot and gooey, an oozy cheese pull stretching from the plate to your mouth. But normal cheese, you know, hard cheese, soft cheese, basically uncooked cheese, is also a delight, especially when accompanied by gallons of wine.
The super successful Cheese Bar, located in Camden, have just opened their wonderful new project in KERB’s latest food hall/market in Seven Dials, Covent Garden. How no one’s come up with this before I’ll never know, but it’s basically like Yo Sushi, for CHEESE…
For anyone who’s not familiar with this set up, you basically find yourself perched on a bar stall, with a conveyer belt of cheese circling before you. Each cheese plate is contained within a little glass pod with a numbered tag, which corresponds to a number on the menu, explaining exactly what it is. The challenge here is finding the number of the cheese in front of you on the menu and deciding whether you fancy it or not, before it flies past and you have to wait for it to do another lap to come back to you.
Belt dish prices range from £2.95 to £6.10 and you can find out the price by looking at the colour of the dish and checking that against the price guides dotted around the restaurant bar in front of you.
Upon arrival I was told there’d be a 30-40 minute wait, which I’d kind of anticipated seeing as it’s new and there’s still a lot of hype surrounding it. They take your phone number and text you when a table is free but you can opt out of this at any time, and there’s loads of seating throughout the food hall where you can sit and wait.
It probably ended up being about half an hour, so really not too long at all.
There are 3 or so off-belt menu items, plus some desserts, but the vast majority of the dishes you can just help yourself to from the belt. There was only one that they didn’t have available as everything is fresh from their various suppliers and on this occasion the supplier wasn’t able to provide it.
Service was friendly and staff were enthusiastic and helpful.
It is honestly so hard to whittle it down to just a few dishes because I was desperate to try everything, but as per, I still gave it a pretty good go.
Plate number 1: Kingham with Walnut Fudge
My ability to articulate the subtleties in cheese flavour and texture is limited, so I’m going to settle for a ‘This was good.’ The cheese was pleasant, described by suppliers as having ‘a buttery, strong flavour, with a Gruyere-like texture.’
That fudge though…
I know it’s not supposed to be the star of the show but it was beautiful. Weirdly, one of the highlights. It was smooth, creamy and absolutely delicious.
Plate number 2: Rachel with Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Pesto
It was the Pesto that appealed with this one, and although it was nice, I found this to be the least exciting. The cheese was still decent, with a kind of manchego-y appearance and texture and a slightly nutty taste, and the pesto did complement it well but the best is still yet to come…
Plate number 3: Fellstone with Sherry Baked Cherries
Definitely one of my favourites here. Although technically a hard cheese, it still has a thick, creamy feel and taste to it. The sharpness of the cherries alongside it worked perfectly. The ultimate example of sweet and savoury working together in harmony.
Plate number 4: Stilton with Chocolate Oat Cookie
Now I had to try this one, as weirdly, it’s made in Cropwell Bishop, the tiny village in Nottinghamshire where I went to Primary School. They actually have two cheeses on the menu but I went for the Stilton as I absolutely LOVE blue cheese. It took me a while as a teenager before I was willing to stop turning my nose up in disgust and actually try it, but now I can’t get enough. So honestly, if you’ve always avoided it, you really should give it a chance, as it’s a lot tastier than its mouldy appearance might lead you to believe.
I’m not entirely sure why they decided to pair it with a chocolate chip cookie (am I missing something obvious?) but regardless, I’m not complaining, it was a softly-baked (random) side treat.
(Wine also excellent and inexpensive)
My friend tried the other Cropwell Bishop cheese which was the Beauvale with Sticky Pear Jam so I had a tiny bit of this one too. Super soft and creamy with a the sweet, sticky jam, I would definitely recommend it.
Plate number 5: OFF BELT
You CANNOT, I repeat, CANNOT, visit Pick and Cheese without ordering this dish which appears on the menu but not on the conveyer belt.
Whole Baked Waterloo with Basil Stewed Blackberries and Bread
Remember when I was talking about baked/melted cheese being unbeatable at the beginning? Well…
LOOK AT THIS. JUST LOOK AT IT. Not only does it look massively exciting, but it was one of the most delicious things I’ve eaten in a while. There’s actually quite a bit more to it than appears here, and it’s definitely more of a sharer.
The sharpness of the blackberries with that gooey baked goodness was heaven. Can’t say I was getting much basil from it other than the giant tree-frog-style leaf but I didn’t want the basily vibes anyway. The bread is unexciting but entirely necessary for dippage.
Honestly, when I go back (and I 100% will), I’m getting this just for myself. No sharing.
Just as a side note, they do also have a few charcuterie dishes but I wanted to stick exclusively to the cheese this time round.
Overall, I was super impressed with Pick and Cheese. It’s not just a meal, but a fun dining experience. For all the above dishes plus the glass of wine and service I think I paid about £35 which I thought was really reasonable. Waiters add up the prices based on the colours of the piled up dishes that you’ve accumulated throughout the course of the meal.
I love that each cheese comes with a unique, complementary side, and I’ll be honest, this often influenced my choices more so than the cheese itself!
This place is wonderful. It’s situated within a buzzing (but not overwhelming) food hall environment, has a sophisticated feel to it and produces some excellent food. I, for one, can’t wait to go back with other friends and family.
It may not be a hidden gem, but it lights up London’s food scene all the same.
When it comes to food, the excitement, for me, comes from variety.
Variety in terms of the food I cook at home, the places I dine at, and the types of dishes I order. That’s why tapas reaallly does it for me. You order a range of dishes to share, giving you bursts of flavour from everything from seafood to meat, cheese to veggies – nothing is off limits.
We decided to try out Camino for the very simple reason that it has a branch at King’s Cross, and we needed to be close to the station that evening.
Camino had been on my list for some time, but to be honest it had kind of been lost somewhere waaay down, and certainly wasn’t at the forefront of my mind. When I looked at the menu however, I got excited. There was so much that stood out to me and so ended up really looking forward to it.
They have a lovely courtyard and bar area, and another outdoor seating section by the restaurant itself. As it’s tucked away from the street, sitting outside in the warm weather is very relaxing and not at all noisy.
I was disappointed first off not to see a traditional sangria on the menu, but we did go on to discover that they did have their own version of it. Despite being sceptical it was lovely, and really refreshing.
Normally I’d go wild on the mains with tapas but we decided to stick to 4 dishes as I already had my dessert planned out…
First up was the cheese platter, featuring 5 different cheeses (including manchego and picos), a fig and almond slice, chilli jam, quince jelly and walnuts.
The cheeses were all nice but nothing exceptional. I did massively enjoy the chilli jam though and definitely felt/tasted the nice little kick of spice afterwards.
The picos (blue cheese ball) was definitely the stand out but as you can probably gather from the picture, the other four cheeses were very similar in appearance and texture and there weren’t huge differences in the flavours either.
We also went for the octopus on a bed of beetroot and chickpea puree. It’s not the most tender octopus I’ve ever had, but personally I’m not a huge fan of the cold Spanish Galician octopus, so this was more to my taste. The puree was nice, but again, no outstanding flavours. The best thing about this dish was probably the beautiful appearance. I think the large chunks you can see are swede which I don’t often eat, so I’m not confident on how it should be cooked but I think I would’ve given it a bit more time to soften.
Next up is one of their specials – the pan fried squid stuffed with black pudding (morcilla). Black pudding as a food can be quite divisive but I absolutely love it. In this case though I didn’t feel that it particularly enhanced the dish. The squid was cooked nicely but wasn’t massively flavoursome, and the accompanying sauce, again, was just ‘nice’. Once again, the presentation was probably the highlight.
By far my favourite tapas dish though, was the standalone black pudding dish (because you can never have too much). The texture was lovely – I’m not keen on chewy black pudding but this was soft with a delicate flavour. I challenge any meat-eater who wouldn’t normally eat something like this to give it a go, it really is delicious.
Since the day that I booked our table, I had probably been most excited for the desserts. After stalking their IG account on numerous occasions, I had worked out exactly what I wanted to try.
Originally I had ruled the churros out, as I’ve had them in a fair few places and I thought ‘How different can they be? I’ll try something else’. That, however, was before I saw their beautiful ‘churros sundae’ special, with a white chocolate mousse, melted chocolate and raspberries. It looked so attractive I couldn’t say no.
Admittedly it wasn’t quite as pretty as I had seen on social media (a common observation), but it tasted good. I have had better churros – I prefer them less on the crunchy side but it was tasty nonetheless.
By far my favourite dish of the meal was our final dessert – the drunken banana bread. I absolutely love banana bread but never really think of it as a dessert; it’s more commonly seen on breakfast/brunch menus.
This particular one was so incredibly light and moist, soaked in Oloroso Dulce, with goat’s curd mousse, popping candy and dulce de leche (like caramel) sauce.
Definitely a case of save the best ’til last.
Fortunately, Camino isn’t too pricey – tapas often gets a rep for being pretty expensive but Camino really isn’t too bad.
Overall, it was a good meal, with a couple of great dishes. I had been expecting more than two of the six dishes to be great to be honest, and I wouldn’t be desperate to rush back, but there definitely wasn’t any bad food at all. It would’ve been great to go in a party bigger than 2, simply to be able to sample an even wider range of dishes, for example, the Iberico pork and fideua that had also been on my hitlist!
If you want a relaxed meal, in a lovely outdoor setting this summer, Camino could be the place for you. Don’t wait around as the current specials are only on the menu for a week or so longer. Get a move on and…
Restaurant review numero tre and it’s a popular one. Gloria was opened in Shoreditch by the Big Mamma group earlier this year and people went wild over it. Queueing for crazy lengths of time to get a table was standard, and the same thing is now going down with their newly-opened sister restaurant Circo Popolare.
It’s sometimes nicer to let the hype die down a bit before you visit somewhere, and although for me it wasn’t intentional, clearly I did go at a time when people were so busy obsessing over Circo Populare that getting into Gloria was actually pretty straight forward.
Before I get stuck in, I want to emphasise that my intention is never to rant and rave about a restaurant and put people off. There is a significant difference between a restaurant that serves poor quality food with subpar service, and a lovely restaurant, with well-cooked food and a good menu, but that on one particular occasion ends up serving up food that isn’t to your personal taste. My experience at Gloria falls into the latter category. I had heard so many positive reviews of this place before trying it myself, so please bear this in mind as you read on.
It’s super inviting, light and bright, with an abundance of plants and leafy decor both on the inside and outside. Be aware that you may end up sandwiched on a table incredibly close to the diners beside you (especially if there are only two of you), which I understand seeing as they are so popular, and ultimately this having more tables squeezed in means a shorter wait time, but it’s not ideal.
And so we begin. The starter. I have never in my life ordered Burrata before, and had reached a point where I felt like this was a bit embarrassing considering I think I’m the world’s most enthusiastic foodie. Having said this, I think I reminded myself why I’d never ordered it when it came. For me, a cheese lover, burrata just isn’t the same. IT HAS NO FLAVOUR. Am I wrong? Please feel free to enter into discussion with me if you disagree but I can’t work out why people seem to love it so much. On top of that, the creamier the burrata, the more it seems to be raved about, but for me, this just emphasises the fact that it doesn’t work as a stand alone dish.
There was more pesto than this, it’s just not visible in the photo!
It looks pretty, there’s no denying that. And at least this particular burrata came with pesto and some other unknown sauce as pictured above. But still that did not make it the wonderful experience I was hoping it would be. I should also mention that it was pretty big. This isn’t a starter for one, it’s definitely a sharer.
For mains I chose the truffle pasta, as I feel like both the truffle pasta and carbonara are praised fairly often on social media. I have to admit, Mafaldine is not my favourite pasta shape – it’s has the length of spaghetti but with wavy edges, and I found it slightly slimy. I got a lot from the truffle flavour, but similar to the burrata, I think truffle is kind of overrated. The subtlety of truffle oil on pizza etc can be a tasty addition, but when it’s supposed to be the star of the show like in this pasta I feel like it can be bit overwhelming and can get sickly.
Dessert was where my heart was well and truly broken. I had been so excited to try their famous lemon meringue pie with the giant, wobbly, fluffy meringue topping but this didn’t seem to be on their lunch menu, so instead, I went for my second choice of the giant profiterole.
Honestly I do not want to keep being negative but this was probably my least favourite course. First off, it really is giant – again, not a dessert for one (and that’s coming from me – someone with an impressive appetite). Sandwiched in between the profiterole pastry is ice cream, but it doesn’t have that lovely vanilla bean flavour you hope for; instead, it’s the kind of bland that you find in those flavourless school choc-ice bars. I had also expected it to be hot, with a rich, warm, fudgey sauce. In reality, the sauce was cold (intentionally so) and pale and seemed more like melted chocolate ice cream. It completely drowns the profiterole which was actually the only bit I semi-enjoyed.
Please do not ask me why this looks like a close up of something cooked up on The Sims – I don’t think I’ve done any kind of outrageous, unintentional editing. But yeah, just not the one at all. And I genuinely am sad to say it.
To be fair, the service was great and the bill really wasn’t bad, I had been expecting to pay a fair bit more, but I’m just sorry that I can’t be more positive about my experience of the food.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this meal just wasn’t to my taste. These things are so subjective, and had we been presented with carelessly prepared, unimaginative food and bad service, I would go in slightly harder with my review, but here that just wasn’t the case.
So, now’s your chance to make up your mind: burrata, truffle pasta and profiteroles – do they do it for you? If so, get down to Gloria, and…
Today’s review centres on somewhere I’ve been desperate to try ever since I moved to London last year.
I spent about 20 years convinced I didn’t like sushi, with the idea of eating raw fish just not sitting well with me. That all changed however, when I was living in Brazil.
If you’ve read my Top 10 Foodie Experiences in Brazil post you’ll know that perhaps surprisingly Brazil does fantastic sushi due to the large Japanese population. To be honest, I do have to put my change in opinion in part down to the fact that Brazil does amazing fried sushi and we all know that literally anything fried tastes delicious.
But even for those of you who are still not convinced, don’t give up on Sticks ‘n’ Sushi just yet. It prides itself on being ‘A sushi restaurant even for those who don’t like fish’. Although they do offer some cooked chicken sushi dishes like maki rolls, the main selling point for anyone not a fan of seafood is the ‘sticks’. Their sticks are mini skewers that come in an incredible array of flavour combinations, some of which you’ll see below.
We went to the Covent Garden branch (there are quite a few all around London) and the first thing you notice is how dark it is. In the main restaurant section it is so gloomy (assuming this is supposed to be ‘atmospheric’) and all the decor is black and dark-coloured. Clearly some people like this ‘mood lighting’ but tbh it’s not for me. The sushi bar downstairs is still pretty dark but the bar benches are lit up and you can at least see your food and dining partner.
The menu itself is pretty cool. It’s a photo menu that shows beautifully colourful (and accurate) images of what each dish looks like.
So onto our order…
I ordered the Hell’s Kitchen rolls – tempura shrimp with avocado and spicy sauce, topped with tuna and bbq (8 pieces). For anyone who’s concerned about spice levels, although I love a bit of heat and can handle it pretty well, honestly, these were not spicy at all. The puffed rice tempura on the prawns adds a really lovely crunch and the bbq injects some extra flavour.
The second lot are the Hotate Kataifi (6 pieces) which are scallops with miso aioli, trout roe and cress. They were absolutely delicious and the aioli was beautiful.
Despite being a sushi restaurant, the sticks, for me, are the most exciting and unique part. With 18 to choose from, it’s so hard to narrow down which ones you want to try. There are meat, fish, veggie and vegan options so there’s something for everyone.
And here they are in all their glory…
Starting on the far left, we have the duck breast with panko and wasabi caesar. For us, this was the only disappointment of the evening. The duck was pretty tough and didn’t have much flavour. Having said that, I hate wasabi, but yet found that the wasabi caesar was beautiful. They’ve ensured that the wasabi flavour is pretty mild for those who aren’t fans, and eating it as a mayo like sauce makes it so much more enjoyable.
Next up is the absolute favourite – goat’s cheese wrapped in dried ham. The cheese was unbelievably oozy, it’s honestly the most incredible texture in your mouth, and the salty ham adds to the flavour. Next to that is the teriyaki duck hearts. Now, please don’t be put off by the idea of hearts. I tried chicken hearts for the first time a few years ago, and yes, I was definitely weirded out by the idea of it. Ultimately though, I eat meat, and so what difference does it make eating one part of the animal over another? Better to ensure that nothing goes to waste, right? Anyway, they tasted just like any other kind of standard meat and the teriyaki is sticky and slightly sweet.
So, photo number 2 we have firstly the free-range pork with yuzu miso. The meat was cooked well, not too tough, and I enjoyed the sauce too. Second to last is the emmental wrapped in bacon – realistically can you ever go wrong with cheese wrapped in bacon? No, absolutely not. Not quite as oozy as the goat’s cheese one but still delicious. And then finally we have the scallops wrapped in bacon (bit of a theme here…). Lovely scallops, lots of flavour. Fab.
Okay, so I feel exhausted after that stick breakdown. I’ll quickly add that despite not having photo evidence, we ordered the fried cauliflower with black truffle goma on the side. Coming from someone who supposedly doesn’t like cauliflower, trust me, it’s good. It’s kind of odd being served on top of a pure black sauce – definitely looks like something you shouldn’t be consuming, but I promise it’s safe! The truffle sauce really is lovely.
Before drawing to a conclusion, we obviously have to touch on dessert. I say obviously – I guess it’s easy to overlook dessert at sushi restaurants but Sticks ‘n’ Sushi have a fab little menu where you can try 3 mini desserts for £10 (There are 8 to try overall).
The top one is a coconut rice pudding with passionfruit coulis and this was my least favourite. The texture of the pudding was actually decent and the coulis was tangy and sharp, so there was nothing wrong with it, I just preferred the others.
The middle is a white chocolate mousse with raspberry topping with liquorice. I hate liquorice so that was the only downside but I knew what I was getting myself into, it was no surprise. There’s also only a very small amount of liquorice flavour coming through so it’s still perfectly edible even if you’re not a fan. The rest of the dessert was lovely though, and the white chocolate didn’t get sickly – probably avoided by the sharpness of the raspberry on top. BUT, the star of the show 100% was the chocolate fondant with oozy salted caramel centre and peppermint topping. I really didn’t think that a dessert from a restaurant so focused on mains could be so impressive but it was very indulgent and wonderful-tasting.
So, there’s the food. A feast for your eyes. Bit of a quick moan before I sign off. Firstly, when I arrived I was asked if I’d like any water for the table whilst I waited for my friend. Was it was my fault for not asking at this point whether I would be charged for it? Anyway it was £4 which I only realised when the bill came. To me this is a massive pisstake – it’s pretty pricey as it is but with amazing food, so they really don’t need to take advantage by adding on such a ridiculous charge.
The other thing that I found mildly annoying was the service which I found slightly too intense for my liking. We had to stop our conversation a few times whilst waiters kept coming over, and when they bring your food they go through exactly what each dish is. Maybe some people need to be reminded, but I personally know exactly what I’ve ordered, and when you’re hungry and just want to eat, you really don’t want your waiter taking 5 minutes to reel off the names and ingredients of each of your 10 sticks (Not that the staff weren’t lovely though).
Anyway, review number 2 complete… go and book a table EVEN IF YOU THINK YOU DON’T LIKE SUSHI (but whatever you do say no to water) and…
¡Comemos! 