Pop will eat itself
Leicester Square - July 2016
It’s not every day you get your dinner cooked for you by a multi-million record selling, Grammy-winning musician. But when Kelis Rogers, of Milkshake/Boys/Yard fame, linked up with French/American street food stars Le Bun for a two week London pop-up (with additional nights at Standon Calling festival), that’s exactly what we got.
There’s no denying Kelis’ cooking credentials. She trained
at Le Cordon Bleu part time for 4 years while knocking out albums & having
a kid. She’s run a food truck at SWSX. She’s presented a show on the Cooking
Channel. She’s released a range of sauces & she’s published a cookbook. Baby,
she got this.
In order to help her bring her passion project over to
London (something she’d been wanting to do for years, apparently. I bet she
says that to all the food scenes…), she teamed up with Le Bun, who have been
growing steadily in reputation since starting up a few years ago at Street Feast, and whose beef bourguignon
bun deserves to be on the pantheon of great London street eats.
So this was no mere gimmick, no half-arsed celebrity endorsement. And
the lady herself was sweating it out in the kitchen. But was it any good?
In parts.
There were some moments of true brilliance – a sticky, soft,
soul-satisfying ox cheek poutine with super tender meat and deep, rich gravy,
served over crispy yukka wedges was bowl-licking stuff.
The off-menu bahn-mi came with dipping gravy we enjoyed straight from the glass (even if the sandwich itself wasn’t setting the world alight). Her chilli & cornbread was a winning combination of deceptively spicy meat and sweet crumbly bread (addition of stem ginger gave it a fiery kick).
And the truffle-aioli & parmesan coated corn is a mix of sophisticated and homely; the perfectly browned sweet corn matched against rich truffle and salty cheese. Even if the lack of available toothpicks meant the rest of the meal was spent working the bits out.
The off-menu bahn-mi came with dipping gravy we enjoyed straight from the glass (even if the sandwich itself wasn’t setting the world alight). Her chilli & cornbread was a winning combination of deceptively spicy meat and sweet crumbly bread (addition of stem ginger gave it a fiery kick).
And the truffle-aioli & parmesan coated corn is a mix of sophisticated and homely; the perfectly browned sweet corn matched against rich truffle and salty cheese. Even if the lack of available toothpicks meant the rest of the meal was spent working the bits out.
Then everything else is pretty average. There was a ‘Pho Get Me Not’ that was fragrant, but lacking in any depth, and only two pieces of rubbery chicken. It was pretty phogettable. The sea bass ceviche is pleasantly citrusy and slightly spiced, but the best in the game aren’t merely pleasant; they’re up to 11 with the flavours. (see Lima Floral for details). The arepas have their moments, with the pork being the best of the bunch, but there's nothing in there to convince me they're just inferior tacos.
The most obvious Le Bun portion of the meal was actually a little disappointing. Our cheeseburger was overcooked, the truffle mayo lacked any real truffle hit, and while the flank steak was perfectly slow cooked and tender, the cherry barbeque sauce coating it was just too sweet like hoi sin for my tastes. It’s a shame, because as we’ve hinted, their food is usually top drawer.
And finally; a word on dessert. Half a fig with some warm
almond milk and almond flakes is not ‘A Happy Ending’, it was more like a limp
handshake.