The first of 2013: The two faces of Bubbledogs

First up this year, and one of last years successes for me, a bit of both at Bubbledogs &. And when I mean both, I mean opposite sides of the foodie spectrum. Out the front, you will find a queue snaking out the front all the way down Charlotte Street, waiting for their turn to tuck into a selection of hot dogs (pork, beef and veggie) covered in all sorts of delicious accompaniments. To drink, a selection of grower champagnes selected carefully by wine buff Sandia Chang, or a decent selection cocktails made and shaken to order by people who actually know what they are doing.

The dogs taste great and come with that essential snap of the skin, releasing all the meaty juices held within. For me, a hot dog with no snap is like a sad bowl of soggy Rice Krispies, mushy and undesirable. Toppings are inspired from all over the world, with kimchi, chilli, truffle and even red cabbage adorning the dogs. Personal favourites are the BLT, which is a dog wrapped in bacon, and topped with caramelized lettuce and truffle mayo, and the Small Eye (in the pic above), a combination of pickled veg and sriracha, akin to a hot dog stuffed banh mi.

I'm not massively into bubbly or queueing, but I do love cocktails and hot dogs. Book a table for 6 in advance, gather a few friends together and go and eat the menu, you won't be disappointed. If you're a sadist and want to torture yourself, get there at half seven and wait in the queue. Not advised as these get kind of crazy long, so basically either book or start queueing early. Oh, and don't forget sides of tater tots, the best sweet potato fries I have ever had, dipped in bowls of cheese wizz (artificial cheesy artery glue). Dirty but satisfying.

Step through the curtains at the back and you enter the realm of the "&". In front of you is the most beautiful open plan kitchen, with a horseshoe shaped bar seating surrounding the hot plates and prep areas. This section is very much the domain of James Knappett, husband to Sandia, and orchestrator in chief behind that curtain. Every week, James plans his menus around the produce that his suppliers choose to send him. Only the best in season will hit your plates and you will never get the same menu twice.

James has had experience in so many top kitchens, it wouldn't be outlandish to say that his CV reads like a list of ther worlds best. Per Se, The French Laundry, Noma, The Ledbury, Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley, a pretty impressive bunch. All this experience has finally culminated in his own place serving his own food. I've bumped into James a few times wandering around Maltby Street Market; jovial, friendly, buying ingredients to cook and eat with. At the Kitchen Table, his attention was devoted to the food, meticulous with each dish and orchestrating his chefs with ease and calm.

There is no a la carte, with just two tasting menus differing in length as your options (I forget how long they are but I went with the 12 course menu, the longer one). Each listed menu item was simply summarised in one word, not giving away what each dish had in store. I'm not sure the menu helped all that much anyway, as each dish was a surprise and a delight.

Take "Cod, for example. What arrived was a delightfully light cod roe based taramasalata, served with curls of pork crackling to dip and scrape. I'm not a massive fan of taramasalata, it's fishy pungency and salty fishy tang embodies much of what put me off fish in the first place when I was a kid. This, however, was something different altogether. That salty fishy tang was still present, but was whipped smooth and creamy, without being overly pungent. The crunchy puffed pig skin wasn't heavily salted and the combination of crunch, salt, fish and a few other ingredients just left me wanting more. Lick the bowl clean good, the best dish of the lot for me (I may or may not have done any licking).

I'm not going to go through every dish, but each one came prepared in unconventional ways or came paired with with ingredients that I had never tried together before. A whimsical take on a lobster mac and cheese (in the pic above), a classic seaside combination of mackerel and oysters, venison rack with a side of venison pie, a superb Meyer Lemon sponge, straight from California. Each dish carefully presented, each dish plated with precision in front of you, a unique experience I don't think you can find anywhere else in London.

The Bubbledogs package is something quite unique for London and in this ever expanding city of restaurants, it's always pleasing to see something so unique take off. Struggle with the crowds out the front for a chance to scoff down some hotdogs and champagne or sneak behind the curtain for one of the best tasting menus in town.

[For more photos, please click here]

Bubbledogs& - 70 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4QG

Lima, Fitzrovia

When I read about the growth of Peruvian food in some article or another about a year ago, I dismissed this out of hand. The little I knew I of Peruvian food revolved around roasted guinea pigs and fish smothered in some sort of strange limey concoction, and had no idea how this food fad could justifiably develop into a "trend". Can't say that seemed too appealing and read on about burgers and the rise of all things USA.

El Burrito: Celebrating Mexican Independence Day

The 15th of September is Mexican Independence day, and in order to celebrate such a joyous occasion, I was led to a small restaurant priding themselves on "antoijitas and margaritas", translated loosely as snacks and booze. Above and beyond your standard burrito fare, the menu is extensive and contains lesser known Mexican delights such as flautas and tamales. Do not be deceived by the slightly tacky frontage and ramshackle appearance, this is a place run by passionate Mexicans, offering out tasters of their frozen margaritas as if it were water.

A meal of diminishing proportions, Busaba Eathai

Busaba Eathai, an interesting assortment of words, probably formulated in a marketing company's wet dream. Oozing cool, with its simple but sleek image, it certainly has grasped the public's attention. Now located across three sites, the ever expanding Thai restaurant chain seems on the verge of bursting onto London's eat and go scene, much in the fashion of Wagamama.

I have actually long been a fan of Busaba. I have learned to avoid the Soho branch where queues have been known to stretch down Wardour street, and normally gravitate towards the Store street branch, conveniently located across from Goodge street station. This branch certainly is the image of cool. Tealights, gold buddhas and wooden interiors accompanies the all too familiar trend of communal dining tables. The staff, mostly attractive, young and predominantly foreign, were polite if a little distracted.

As I was dining alone, I was wondering how I would be able to fit in my favourites of pandan chicken and squid, normally suited for sharing. Lo and behold, the menu has shrunk! Not the selection, mind, this is still as extensive as ever. Instead these dishes have been made into side dishes so I could happily order them, (relatively) guilt free.

Thai Calimari

Strangely sweet nuggets of squid. I'm really not sure what makes these Thai, or what brings that strange sweetness to this dish, but I love it. The light batter is covered in that sticky sauce, with smatterings of peppercorns. Highly moreish.

Pandan Chicken

Morsels of chicken wrapped and roasted in pandan leaves. The roasting of the chicken in the pandan leaves imparts a slight flavour reminiscent of fennel, but slightly sweeter, hard to convey. The chicken was soft and tender and again, I really can't stop myself from eating this. Plenty of flavour, sauce is unneccesary in my eyes (but this is also coming from the person who doesn't use hoi sin in his aromatic duck pancakes).

Pad Kwetio

To finish, I decided to go for the pad kwetio. I would say that this dish has a stronger origin in Malaysia as opposed to Thailand (where char kway teow is a hokker stall standard), it is essentially a wok fried dish of flat noodles. Nice, inoffensive and perfect to fill the hole. One thing I had noticed is that the portions are definitely getting smaller. Fine when you are intentionally reducing the portion size (such as the chicken above) but not so acceptable when the prices are going up.

Busaba is a great place for a pit stop. It's quick, fairly inexpensive, and as long as you avoid the Wardour street branch, you should get a table with minimal fuss.

Busaba Eathai (website) - 22 Store Street, WC1E 7DF

Food Blogger Overload! The BPR Summit and Tweatup No. 2 at Koba

Twitter. Without this, I would probably never have met the people I have over the last 3 days. I've been on Twitter since the early days, a semi early adopter. I signed up, I tweeted and then I stopped. Its not until the last 7 or 8 months that I have really started using it more frequently, and it was through this medium that I started to (virtually) meet others with the same interests as me, one of which happens to be all things food.


This merry path led me to the Bloggers PR summit, held at the Rubens Hotel and organised by @timhayward (Guardians Word of Mouth) and @spoonhq (Sarah Canet of Spoon PR). The aim was simple, help PR to understand bloggers and vice versa. I think its understood that both parties have a lot to gain from a good two-way relationship, and that at the moment, this relationship is very much in its infancy.

I'm not going to bother going into too much detail about this as there have been some very good write ups about this meeting already, notably the WoM piece and the write-ups on with knife and fork and Silverbrow on Food. What I will say is that the conversation appeared fruitful and definitely quite informative from a bloggers point of view with regards to the work of the PR. I do, however, feel that quite a few of the PR's in the room seemed to miss the point. The questions they asked and suggestions proposed were very much focused on things the bloggers could do to make their lives easier. I think many failed to realise that for us bloggers, blogging is about indulging an interest as opposed to a job. It was disappointing to think that many PR's had turned up just to see what they could get out of the bloggers, and they were conspicuous by their absence from the pub afterwards. I actually felt that many of the more constructive conversations between PR and bloggers were held in the pub as opposed to the actual summit. Special mention goes out to two PR's who I spoke to, Nancy from Selfridges and Kate from Paul A. Young, who made their way over to the pub and braved the lions den.

Debate aside, the pub was a scary place for me. Being a relative newbie in the blogging world, I was in a room with many people who I had been chatting to over Twitter, and reading their blogs on an almost daily basis. Many were already acquainted with each other but I took the plunge and introduced myself.

Twitter is such a strange beast. I hadn't met any of these people before but knew loads about them already by conversing over twitter, discussing matters such as egg tarts, what we used to eat as children, steak and so on. This made conversation a pleasure as opposed to a chore and the night was over almost as soon as it had started. Special mentions go out to @chrispople, @gingergourmand, @foodstories, @hollowlegs, @oliverthring, @eatlikeagirl, @essexeating, @foodurchin, @eatmynels, @biggestjim and @goodshoeday. I'm sorry if I have missed anybody out, but I had a great time and it was a pleasure to meet you all.

Blimey, this post is turning out to be a lot longer than I thought.

Two days later, a group of 6 food fanatics converged on Koba, a Korean BBQ on Fitzroy street. The same butterflies applied as before. I had met @catty and @supercharz before (two fine young ladies with voracious appetites) but this time @londoneater, @foodbymark and @foodieguide were joining us.

I have to be honest, I don't remember too much about the meal itself, we were all too busy chatting. I do remember the following:


○ Catty ordering an absolute mountain of food.


○ Us subsequently running out of food so we had to order more.


○ The fiercest looking soup I had ever seen (which was delicious and very much a sheep in wolves clothing)

○ Catty providing little goodie bags containing Suku Laku, a Tim Tam, chocolate coated macadamias and nougat, mmmmmm..........


○ Me eating raw meat (Yukhwei) and ox tongue, both firsts and both surprisingly nice


○ Kang's chocolates from Belgium

○ Serious camera envy

○ One of the staff trying as hard as they could to chop Helen's finger off.

(any pics of Koba, I stole off @foodbymark, cheers mate)

Details of the meal are scant, I know, but Mark's pictures should give you a better insight into what it was all about. The meal itself was a great experience. From the spicy pickled veg (kimchi), to the lovely soups (chigae) and dumplings (mandoo), every dish hit the spot. By the time the BBQ was wheeled out, we were ready for the veritable meat feast which was about to arrive and subsequently gorged ourselves on pork belly, beef (ribs and marinated slices), chicken and squid.

Koba comes highly recommended. The food was great but the company was even better. Through something as strange as twitter, I genuinely feel like I have made some real friends. Bring on tweat up number three!

Koba, 11 Rathbone Street, W1T 1NA

The Perfect Brunch at Lantana

If I had to choose, I think breakfast is probably my favourite meal of the day. There isn't much that can beat a bacon and egg sarnie on buttered white bread, especially to beat away those post "oops I had one too many" blues . Or even a bowl of cereal doused in ice cold milk. There are few ills in the world that a few slices of toast licked with butter and a mug of builders tea can't fix.


I think the scene is adequately set. Its Saturday and I need to eat. I have nothing planned, the weather is nice, I am up early and am heading for one of the most hyped places in recent eating history. Lantana is a small (-ish) cafe located just off Charlotte Street. It specialises in what I consider "breakfast food", but certainly has a good reputation for a whole lot more and has been mentioned so many times in the blogosphere, one more write up couldn't hurt.



I really don't have an issue eating on my own and Lantana is perfectly set up for its solo visitors with its "breakfast bar" out the front. I get there early (for a Saturday). Its 11:30 and its buzzing and already packed bar one seat out the front which I happily occupy. First up I ordered a flat white from the infectiously cheerful Aussie girl who was serving me. The sign outside claims that it is one of the best in London, and indeed it is very good. Although it arrived lukewarm (my second was piping hot), it was as smooth and creamy as any coffee I have tried in London and had that mellow caffeine hit which jolted me back from my pre-food malaise. Great stuff.



What I got next was as close to brunch heaven as your going to get (IMHO). It looks like a bit of a mess but there is so much going on here. First, there's the main part of the dish, the halloumi. Salty and perfectly grilled, its a perfect foil for the iron rich spinach, sautéed with fine flecks of garlic, located underneath. Dive a little further and you hit the deep and earthy flavours of the flat cap mushrooms, dotted with a herb pesto. All this topped with a perfectly poached egg yielding a golden runny yolk. On the side, some of the sweetest roast tomatoes I have ever eaten as well as some toasted sourdough, slowly mopping up the juices collecting at the bottom of the plate. In addition, I ordered a side of bacon (I need meat), the perfect foil for all of the above.

I really hope my description gave this dish justice. I know its not been the same experience for everyone, but this was as close to a perfect dining experience as I can remember. I ate my food so fast that I was sure I was going to give myself indigestion and even considered ordering more food although I was thoroughly stuffed.

I really like this place, can you tell? It is already seriously hyped up, and I guess I have just added to it, but the food they are churning out is seriously tasty, as is their coffee. I would love to eat here every day if it wasn't for the fact that I work miles away and that it is quite dear. I guess you get what you pay for, but come pay day, your going to find me out the front, reading my book, drinking my coffee and best of all, tucking into my food.

Lantana (website), 13 Charlotte Place, W1T 1SN