Gail's Kitchen

Mediterranean surprise

Located inside "Myhotel Bloomsbury" just off Tottenham Court Road. Gail's Kitchen is a contemporary restaurant/ cafe serving small plates of Mediterranean inspired food that are ideal for sharing with the bread base ingredients playing a key part in the menu.  

Grilled sardines and tomato salad

New potato and roast aubergine salad
with soft boiled egg

Monkey Shoulder

Flipping popcorn fun

Monkey Shoulder has always been an interesting whisky for me, one of the few rare blended malt whiskys in the world, three malt whiskys blended from the world renown Glenfiddich, prestige Balvenie and single malt from the Kininvie distillery. Due to the special triple malt contents, Monkey Shoulder has a very unique tasting profile that really stands out from other Scotch whisky. Therefore it is such a good whisky for innovative cocktail creations, and when Tom Walker from one of the most iconic venues in the history of cocktails: The Savoy Hotel, created the "Popcorn Flip" base on a traditional "Flip" cocktail, it was so good that a special celebration was required...

Giant popcorns!

Mamita Que Chorizo

A gourmet sandwiches experience

I love sandwiches, and everything just tastes so much better wrapped in bread, so when I was informed that there was a new pop up sandwich joint that served quality sandwiches using premium meat in the mood of a South American style. I was very keen to test it out after being invited by the restaurant, the whole idea just sounded very inviting and offered something different to the never ending burger trend. Mamita Que Chorizo currently only opens Thursday to Saturday after 6pm and operates a BYOC policy.

Menu

Bubblesdogs

A real "Kitchen Table" experience

Bubblesdogs came to my radar when it was opened last year. It is a pretty modern concept: Serving gourmet hot dogs and champagne. It has become a somewhat winning formula as I noticed the long queue outside every time when I walked past Charlotte Street.  But I didn't take much interest in it because first, I am not much of a fan in hot dogs, and also I just can't handle champagne! But I was informed by people from Roganic and The Ledbury that there is a kitchen table at the back of Bubblesdogs and it serves a full on tasting menu, where guests sit behind the kitchen watching the food prepared and cooked in front of them. 

Kitchen Table "theatre"

epicness await!

Byron

Movember November

Byron, one of the pioneers that kicked off the London gourmet burger trend shows no sign of slowing down with expansion opening across the UK.  I always enjoyed Byron's burgers, their monthly special has always been really appealing and I was so sad when I missed out the Le Smoky special from October. 

Movember time!

Meat Liquor

Triple chilli challenge

My second visit to Meat Liquor, one of the most successful UK burger joints. Meat Liquor is known for its legendary Dead Hippies burgers and the infamous long queue. It is normal for you to have to wait at least an hour to get in to this hip place which looks more like a night club than a burger joint with the neon lights setting and a bouncer at the front. This time around I took my friends to enter their deadly triple chilli challenge.

Meat Mission

Meaty mission

From the same people behind the trendy burger joints in Meat Liquor and Meat Market, Meat Mission in Hoxton is a trendy burger joint in a colourful church setting with a "Shoreditch" touch that attracts the young and fashionable crowds. The real big plus about this place compared to other Meat joints is that they take bookings here so it is pretty rare to see the mad queue you would often witness at Meat Liquor.

Meat Mission

Honest Burger

Honestly fabulous

For people who have been reading my blog regularly they would know I am a big fan of Honest Burger, it is known for its premium quality meat, soft bun, good balance of garnish and of course, the legendary chips. To fix my burger addition I visited the Soho joint on a Sunday evening to get my hands on those wonderful juicy burgers one more time.

Hendricks Gin

A surrealist supper with The Clove Club

Joining London Cocktail Week, Hendricks Gin has taken up a site at Fitzroy Square and set up a pop up call "Carnival of Knowledge". I went to one of their special events on the Friday night: A surrealist supper which was a fine dining experience with the food provided by The Clove Club and Hendricks gin providing matching cocktails.

Carnival of Knowledge tour bus

Bodean's BBQ

BBQ meat feast

Bodean's is an American smoke house chain serving the good old traditional Kansas City BBQ in London, I was on a business trip at Kansas City a while back and I failed to visit any BBQ smoke house at all! So to get a quick fix on what is Kansas City BBQ is all about I visited Bodean's to seek experience some good old American flavours.

Bodean's Soho

Cay Tre

Pho Joy

One of the most popular Vietnamese restaurants in Shoreditch, Cay Tre on Old Street serves some of the most authentic and freshest Vietnamese food that you can find in London. Like most other Vietnamese places in Shoreditch, the setting is in the mood of a traditional cafe style which is ideal for a quick fix or a casual dinner with friends. I walked in with a few friends without booking and luckily managed to get a table despite being pretty busy.

Cay Tre Old Street

Story

Great story in the making

Restaurant Story near London Bridge was one of the most anticipated and hyped openings of the year in the London restaurant scene. Having worked at some high profile restaurants such as Noma in Copenhagen, Tom Sellers is one of the brightest British chefs and his restaurant has already received some very positive feedback from the press as well as a Michelin star in less than six months of trading.

Lima

Bit of a mixed bag

Peruvian cuisine has become somewhat of a trend in London lately. Lima, a restaurant in Fitzrovia serving Peruvian contemporary food is one of the latest restaurants to be awarded a Michelin star in its latest GB guide. Having eaten there last year and was impressed, I suggested it to my friends for lunch when I was asked to pick something unusual with creative elements. 

Kantuta. Cucumber infused Pisco,
beetroot,agave syrup

Bread

Pieds Nus

Small plates sensations

A newly opened tiny restaurant in Blandford Street, occupies the former space of the wonderful Roganic. Pieds Nus is a pop up restaurant by restauranter David Moore who is also owner of two Michelin restaurants in London: Pied a Terre and L'Autre Pied. Pieds Nus' concept is very different to his other two restaurants, while Pied a Terre is all about luxury fine dining and L'Autre Pied is more of an informal fine dining affair, Pieds Nus has a very laid back and casual interior, serving simple small plates of food but with top quality ingredients involving little to no cooking.

Pieds Nus (photo taken from Pieds Nus Facebook)