I like big buns and I cannot lie...
Liverpool Street - 27 February 2015
Buns are big business. London’s premier steamed bun slingers,
Yum Bun have a pop up in Harvey Nic’s
(dahling), and their main rivals in delicousness, Bao, are about to open up in the heart of Soho. 2015 is the year Hirata
hits the heights.
And joining them (on a temporary basis at least) are Beer
& Buns, a six-month pop up near Liverpool Street that does exactly what it
says on the tin. And a little bit more.
The location doesn’t immediately scream ‘exciting food pop
up’. Above a sushi train in an outside-of-office-hours deadzone. But persist. Once
you’re through the quiet & empty, up the blackboard painted stairs (with
chalk for adding your own bun-based bon mots), you find yourself in perfectly on-trend
Narnia of cool. The rock soundtrack speaks to my child of the nineties
sensibilities, there’s table football & pinball, and more scope for
wall-scribbling. And most importantly; beer and buns.
And wings.
The menu reads short and sweet; three types of buns (well four, but one was vegetarian), three flavours of wings.
The buns themselves are excellent – soft, fluffy, and pretty
damn big; certainly the biggest buns I’ve eaten (that’s what she said). The
star of the show is the signature bun; filled with chicken katsu and yuzu
coleslaw. The chicken is moist and tender, the coating crunchy, the slaw creamy.
It’s a winner.
The pork bun is nice enough, a thick slab of belly meat, but the pickled cabbage a touch
bland and the whole thing lacks any punch – there’s allegedly some mustard
mayo, but I didn’t notice it. The gf hit upon the perfect trick by dabbing her
bun through the leftover sauce from the wings and said it was immediately
improved. The duck is well cooked, but the supposed caramelised spring onions
and advertised sauce add nothing to elevate it beyond good. In both, the base is
there for something special - some bottles of Sriracha (or similar hot sauces)
on the table would lift everything.
And it’s worth reiterating that the chicken
buns (with self-saucing slaw) are spot on.
The wings are great; deep fried, beautifully crisp and
liberally coated in super-sticky sauce. And it’s satisfying to bite into a
meaty, manly, whole wing, than the pitiful twiglets some places pass off as
wings these days. This meat is tender and comes clean off the bone. The whole
dish is three or four napkins messy. Yes, the 3 different sauces all taste similar;
the sweet and spicy, and the Korean hot are virtually indistinguishable, but who
cares, it’s delicious and filling.
The beer part stacks up well also, with an interesting
selection of Japanese craft brews I’d never heard of. I’ve now added Hitachino
Nest to my list of must-try again beers.
Beer & Buns is a tasty little find. Go there with a bunch of mates, get on the table football, grab some brews, smash
through the chicken buns and wings, and you’ll have a banging night. BYO Sriracha.
Beer & Buns
'Upstairs @ K10'
3 Appold Street
London
EC2A 2AF
