The Blues Kitchen

Shake, Rattle n Roll

17 April 2014 - Shoreditch

Being a food blogger now, part of my mission must be to boldly go to new frontiers of the restaurantiverse. And so it was with that in mind that the gf and I headed on down to the latest barbecue in the east: The Blues Kitchen in Shoreditch.

I had been to the original Camden joint before for a drink (and was very impressed with the extensive bourbon list and a 16 year-old blues guitarist on the open mic who could really wail) but hadn’t really heard much about the food. But when the internet started making noise about a new place serving  juicy Texan BBQ washed down with hard shakes - the kind of siren song to lead me on to any rock (n roll) – we decided it needed checking out. And we were in for quite the treat.

First let’s make mention of the venue. In its previous incarnation, it was The Music Bar – a cavernous, minimalist, Shoreditch hangout I only ever visited in the middle of the afternoon when it seemed empty and a bit soulless (although that didn’t stop me enjoying a large number of strong Belgian beers there). Following this re-fit they’ve clearly tried to turn the soul-quotient up to 11. And I think it works. The island bar has now been copper-topped and to contrast the still-bare brickwork, they’ve added shabby-chic tiling, whilst the restaurant booths are immaculately upholstered to add a nice homely feel. They’ve even – and this is an excellent touch – stuck an airstream caravan in there that you can hire for private parties. Even the trip down to the toilets (possibly the second longest in London after the Covent Garden Big Easy) has been decked out with corrugated iron and posters of blues legends to give it that dive-bar aesthetic. But, this is far from a dive…

OK, with that out the way, let’s deal with the important issue: the food. Overall it was up there. We went for our usual BBQ-benchmarks of pork belly ribs (slow smoked for 12-hours), buffalo wings, and onion rings, along with their burnt ends as the second main and a side of mac n cheese.

The ribs were pretty special. You get three massive, meaty ribs for your money which, whilst not being the most tender I’ve ever eaten, are juicy. The pork is full of flavour - well seasoned with a decent smokiness, that could be stronger but is still noticeable. Eaten on their own they would be satisfying enough, but what elevates them is The Blues Kitchen’s own barbecue sauce: a treacle-thick, sweet and smoky effort with quite a kick to it. It’s definitely up there with the best in London (hi, Bodean’s Chipotle BBQ sauce!). Ask for a second pot of it – the gf secured us three - you’re gonna want to drown everything in that shit, yo.

The burnt ends were tasty too. I know people that rave about the burnt ends at Bodean’s, but I have found them to be a little dry. Here you get a big bowl of fall-apart-tender, mouthful-sized chunks of charred brisket, liberally doused in their beer & hickory BBQ sauce - a deeply rich and meaty number closer to gravy than the (amazing) BBQ sauce that comes with the ribs. It too was delightful, but not so delightful that I didn’t also add in the amazing rib sauce. Have I mentioned that the BBQ sauce was amazing? Anyway - I’ve not had brisket that tasty since the first year of Pitt Cue’s truck on the South Bank (let’s pause briefly to remember those special days…) and it made me happy.

Both these mains came with a vinegary slaw and skin-on fries, crisp on the outside but woefully under-seasoned. Also, they were probably only once-cooked which in the post-Heston age, is just plain lazy.

The wings and the other sides were less great. The onion rings were anaemic-looking and the mac n cheese solid and dry. The wings were well cooked, with a crispy coating and tender meat, but an unpleasant amount of salt in the buffalo sauce. With a mild heat, it was thick and creamy but too salty where there should have been sweet and vinegary sharpness. This downer was counter-balanced by the blue cheese dipping sauce. It had a shit-load of creamy cheese in it, which is only to be applauded.

So good I lost focus

Finally I’ll get to the real star here – the hard shakes. We ordered the ‘Caramel Captain’, a chocolatey fudge & rum delight that is probably the best milkshake I’ve ever had. Which, for £8, it should be. But it was immense. I’d go back just for the shake, let alone the tasty BBQ.

This place is a winner on two key points – taste and value. We came hungry and left full, with a doggy-bag, all for around £30pp with service (which was slow to begin with, but did pick up).

While I’ve never been to the US, so can’t make any claims about the authenticity of the Texan BBQ on offer, I can vouch for it’s ‘deliciousity’. I enjoyed it and would recommend The Blues Kitchen to all. Which I guess is what I’ve just done. I’d love to go back and see some live music there. And try their Alligator Bites. Maybe next time my Dad is in town; thus far, his only experience of BBQ was when we went to Red Dog Saloon a couple of years ago and I need to redeem that. Given The Blues Kitchen is the place that Red Dog wishes it was, and he loves the blues, this would be a decent do-over.

http://www.theblueskitchen.com/

Chilli Chilli Bang Bang

More Fire! 

10 May 2014 - Dalston Yard

Round two of our season of Big Eatings saw Tweat Up & Street Feast join forces with Wahaca chief Thomasina Meyers for a celebration of the mighty chilli - Chilli Chilli Bang Bang. The event promised more capsaicin-crammed street foods than one could point a spiced-stick at, chef's demos and the usual meeting of booze and vibes that usually make Tweat Ups so great. Plus, we were promised the Big Eating cards that will certify us as stone-cold legends (kind of).

Unfortunately, for us at least, this bang bang went off like a damp squib.

Ignoring our better instincts, we decided not to be some of the first through the gates and arrived mid-way through the afternoon session. This may have had something to do with the fact we had entry to both sessions taken care of, and thus could double our booze allowance. However, it turned out to be a fatal error.

Being conscientious carnivores,  we had fully pre-planned our afternoon's eatings, but by 3pm - a good two hours before the end of the session - everything on our list had sold out. Well, not everything; more on that later. Clearly there is a lesson to be learned there, always go early. But I'd also argue that lots of vendors running out of food mid-way through the event suggests that the planning could have been better - something I've never been able to say about a Tweat Up event before. Maybe they'd over-stretched this time. It did seem very busy in Dalston Yard, with massive queues and some really bad bottle-necks in the labyrinthine venue, meaning you were constantly pushing past people. The weather probably didn't help here - the occasional biblical shower forcing people to cower under the roofs and leaving large puddles in their wake, and also resulting in fire 'pits' (read tubs) being placed around the venue, filling the place with smoke. And the girlfriend's view of the toilet situation was 'absolutely rank'.

In addition, the promised Wahaca margarita & bottle of hot sauce included with entry turned out to be vouchers redeemable at another time and place, and the Big Eater cards STILL weren't ready.

So as far as we were concerned, the vibes quota was lacking (and given how many others were over-heard pissing and moaning, it seems we weren't alone). Which was a shame: like I've said before, these things are usually amazing so I'm certain this was a one-off mis-step.

OK, rant (almost) over - it wasn't all bad.

While all the stuff we wanted to try before hand turned out to be unavailable, what we did eat was all good. While I was in the queue waiting to be told SmokeStak had run out of everything but pulled pork, the girlfriend was discovering Nanban had run out of the curry-pan donuts. But following a nice chat with chef Tim Anderson & his lovely wife, she came away with one of the final few servings of the pulled pork yuzu curry that went into the donuts (that Tim assured her was better anyway). And that was an absolute delight.

The pork was incredibly soft and juicy - melt in your mouth meatiness. The cheese on top was a great, and unusual touch, adding a salty gooey-ness. The onions on top added a different texture, and the whole dish had a subtle heat to it. Also, the perfect curry to rice ratio, meaning it was great value for money. Take note, food sellers everywhere:

Next up, I went and secured a bit of sweet Thai pork belly from Som-Saa, served on a betel leaf with some peanut and 'mouse-shit' chillis (sold out: flank steak with chilli jaew, and crispy pigs ears). I liked this - it had a great balance of hot, sour & sweet that is the corner-stone of Thai cooking. The girlfriend's piece of pork was too tough for her, so she was less impressed.

We then hit up Bao for their classic slow-braised pork belly gua bao with dou ban jiang pickles and peanut powder, and a pigs head terrine (sold out: the lamb gao bao with aioli and jalapenos, and their amazing fried chicken). Incredible - the pork sweet and sticky, the bun light and fluffy, and the pickles and fresh herbs really shone through. Dish of the day, no doubt. I'd like to see a cook-off between these guys and Yum-Bun. That would be awesome. A proper bun fight.

The terrine was a bit of a non-event, though. I liked the crisp pickled daikon that came with it (I do love a good radish), but the terrine was bland and just a bit fatty. Oh well - the bun was so good, this can easily be forgiven.

Our final food was the indian slider trifecta from Rola Wala, served on mini naans, each with a different heat level. Mild was shredded BBQ mint chicken with crispy Kashmiri chicken skin - a 3/10 heat rating. Medium was beetroot dal with scotch bonnet and coconut crusted corn kernels - 6/10 for heat. Hot was goan-style pulled pork with carolina reaper crackle, a 10/10 heat rating that promised 'a wave of fire'.

Overall, they were good. Even though the heat-ratings were probably oversold: the pork 'bad boy' was more like one of the fire tubs than a towering inferno. And the naans were maybe a little too crispy. But that's by-the-by; the key thing was the excellent flavours. The beetroot one wasn't overly beetroot-y (just as well as the girlfriend thinks it tastes like wet earth), and the corn kernels added crunch to what was otherwise a bit mushy. The chicken was nice and fresh, juicy and the mild spice was refreshing. While not as hot as I was expecting, the pork was definitely the best of the three - it had a rising heat, and... Definite shout out to the pickled onion garnish on them all, which added a vinegary sweetness to proceedings.

After that, we had space for one more dish, so headed over to Slider bar to see what magic the taco wars winners could produce. But despite it being just gone 4pm and there still being food left, it seemed the Breddo's boys had decided to knock off early and were shutting down. Which was a touch annoying. Then after being told by the barman they'd run out of chilliback juice, we decided to bring an end to a slightly disappointing afternoon.

Look at what you could have won...

On our way out we walked past the SmokeStak guys prepping for the evening service. The beef ribs they were pulling out looked and smelled amazing. Which kinda just rubbed a little salt in the wounds.

Oh well, roll on the 22nd and Auction Against Hunger. That sounds like it's going to be epic, and we'll get there for the opening time. We might even have our cards by then...

Honest Burgers x Ribman Special

Gone, but not forgotten

April 2014

Living in Brixton, Honest Burgers have always held a special place in our affections, given their beginnings in their quaintly ramshackle unit in the Village. They were at the forefront of the burger-explosion that took off a few years ago, and we've always found something immensely pleasing about the 'Honest Burger' and its monster big brother, the 'Federation' (although the appeal of that has waned since they actually started listing it, rather than it being an off-menu item and it therefore holding a slight – and probably quite twatty – 'in-the-know' thrill). We like the fact their food represents a very British take on the American classic. And their rosemary-salted, triple-cooked chips are the kind of thing dreams are made of. If you dream about chips. Which we don't. Yet.

But it has to be said, since they have launched a Byron-esque quest to take over London (current count is six branches), they have faced accusations of spreading too far to be able maintain standards. And I was starting to buy into that theory; I had two burgers in a row where the buns were very dry - bordering on stale - and that totally tempered my enjoyment of them. In the early days I found the buns had a tendency to disintegrate under the full-force juice-assault, but if anything that's because they were too soft. These were dry and unpleasant, and I was starting to worry.

But then last month they totally won us back over. Teaming up with London street-food stalwart and hot-sauce hero Mark ‘The Ribman’ Gevaux, they introduced ‘The Ribman Special’. With the possible exception of the ‘Tribute’ (their take on an American cheese burger, which is a lovely, mustardy masterpiece now permanently on the menu in Kings Cross, Notting Hill & Oxford Circus), I've always found the specials to be slightly disappointing when compared to the Honest (try it with stilton – you can thank me later). I'd missed the Christ-on-a-Bike special back in February (one friend's verdict was that it was just ridiculously hot and you couldn't taste anything else. That sauce don't play.), but this one sounded way more exciting: Ribman rib meat, one-off special Honest-to-God BBQ sauce, cheese, pickles & lettuce. Before I first went, one friend (the same guy that introduced me to Tweat Up) described it as “one of the best collaborations of all time.” And when you consider there is an episode of Diagnosis Murder with Quincy in it, that's a big statement.

But he wasn't lying. Holy f*ck (see what we did there), this was good. The smoky flavours of the soft, super-slow cooked pork and the sauce were the perfect accompaniment for Honest’s medium-rare aged beef patties. Every bite was a meaty revelation. Those pigs and cows did not die in vain, they ascended to glory... Hyperbole aside, this is easily the best burger we've had out of Honest. If we were going to change one thing, we would have had the sauce a little hotter – it had a little kick to it when tried on the chips, but that was lost somewhat in amongst the meat and cheese, leaving just the sweet and smoke. But that’s nit-picking. It was still banging.

And having tried it at three different branches over the space of about 10 days, Mr. Eatings can safely say that no buns were dry.

Of course, it’s gone now; the final one was eaten on it’s last day. Thus it came with a minor side of sadness (as well as some awesome onion rings), accompanied by the thought that it may be the last we saw of it. Which is somewhat of a tragedy. Like a good holiday romance, it burned bright, burned briefly, and will live long in the memory.

…a dark day

http://www.honestburgers.co.uk/

Red Dog South

Bad BBQ

14 April 2014 - Clapham North

Hoxton BBQ joint Red Dog Saloon (home to London's hottest wings and a pretty impressive feat of burger engineering in 'The Devastator') has moved to Clapham. The girlfriend scored us a table during the soft launch, so we went to check it out.

We generally love soft launches. What's not to like about chowing down on tasty food at half price? Except here, the 50% off probably only made it about 1% less disappointing.





For starters we went for jalapeño poppers and buffalo wings (not the challenge wings, which are made with Naga Viper chillis, one-time world's hottest. I have tasted one at their Hoxton joint, and instantly regretted it - ouch). These wings were ok - a bit of crunch to the coating, the sauce tasty and a decent amount of heat. I thought the blue cheese dipping sauce would have benefited from more blue cheese (like the amazing dip you get at MEATliquor) but it was fine.

The poppers were rubbish, though. The batter fell off as soon at it was touched, and somehow they'd managed to make a jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese taste bland. Which is actually quite impressive when you think about it. I've had better from LiDL.







For mains we went for beef rib and pork ribs. The pork ribs - four decently meaty belly ribs - were surprisingly tasteless. There was a nice deep red smoke ring on them, but overall they weren't that smokey or barbeque-y. I had the occasional bit that got the full effect of the marinade, but generally I had to keep slathering each bite with the (admittedly very good) Kansas City BBQ sauce to keep flavour and moisture levels up, which says a lot.

The beef rib - one rib - was tastier than the pork. We're guessing given the longer cooking times required, it had more of a chance to soak in the smoke and flavour. It was fairly tender (I've definitely had chewier beef ribs), but again was bordering on the dry. Not terrible, not amazing. But - ONE RIB. And it was in danger of being dwarfed by an onion ring…

Had we been paying full price, that morsel would have cost £18. Jesus wept.


Compare and contrast this with the currently missing-in-action (from London) BBQWhiskyBeer for the same price.

And not only was it four times the size, it was at least four times tastier - if not more.

The service at Red Dog was a bit slapdash too - for example, we had to ask three times for some water which was never refilled and had to pour our own wine. It's not even like the place was half-full. Maybe there is an argument to be made that this was a soft-launch, and so service wasn't tight yet. But that didn't prevent  Hawksmoor, Foxlow or Big Easy being on-point when I went to their soft-launches...

Which is the recurring theme with Red Dog; you get much better everything, elsewhere.

So to sum up - if you find yourself in Clapham and have a hankering to eat wings so hot you think you're about to go blind or a ludicrously large burger, then fine, knock yourself out (And this is exactly why they should do pretty well in Clapham). But if you want good bbq, there's a Bodean's down the road and it's a lot nicer than this.

www.reddogsaloon.co.uk

The Dairy

Epic tasting a'gwarn

10 April 2014 - Clapham Old Town

As a treat, Mr Eatings took us to the much-hyped The Dairy in Clapham. Clapham is a bit of weird place - the cultural wastelands of the Junction, and the Old Town with some truly terrible bars, populated by tank-topped bogans and alpha-chino city boys. Then this place - a diamond in the Infernos-infected rough.

The vibe you get as you enter is one of a glorified gastropub - it's small and narrow, not particularly bright and there's no linen or anything on the table. But the laidback atmosphere really belies a place with food of the highest standard, served by friendly and enthusiastic staff.

We went for the seven-course tasting menu which takes in dishes from all sections of the menu; snacks, garden (they grow their own veg on top of the restaurant), sea, land and sweet. In reality it's 9 courses, if you count the amuse bouche (a lovely little cabbage and fermented cream salad) and the mini donut petit fours. Which I totally will, because its quantity and quality I like.

The whole meal was taken from the top-drawer (described by my dining companion as some of the best food she's had outside of a Michelin-starred place. She's eaten in a lot more of them than me, so praise indeed). I won't go into everything, but the highlights were:

A bread course consisting of a mini sourdough (served in little hessian sack), accompanied by some excellent bone marrow butter (served on a rock!), charcuterie and a light, yet rich, creamy chicken liver pate. All elements of which were banging. If a little rustically eaten, given the lack of a bread knife for slicing the sour dough. Still, who doesn't like playing with their food?

A show-stopping fish course - mackerel fillets cooked at the table using a cast-iron skillet and a blow-torch. It was then served up on some beautiful stone-plates with a bonito butter (Bonito being a type of shrimp we have since learned). The presentation was stunningly simple - you can tell the head chef has worked at Noma.

And dessert. Salted caramel, with a super-rich and silky cacao, topped off by malted barley ice cream. We can't put into words how good this is. Which is a bit of a massive fail for nascent food-bloggers. But trust us - go, try, and enjoy.

http://www.the-dairy.co.uk/