Mad Scientist Soirée

Yelp's underground laboratory

When it comes to putting together a night of awesome entertainment, few can match Yelp's. An online reviews platform that publishes crowd-sourced reviews about local businesses, you can find anything from restaurants, movies to shops and even home services! It is a very popular and extremely helpful website with lots of social events that reward its users. This time, the team from London came up with a fun "mad scientist" theme that has everything from food, drinks to entertainment. It also features some trendy and independent crafty brands.

I started off the evening with some luxury foie gras and truffle oil from Gourmet Culture. Their foie gras was very creamy and rich with no trace of bitterness which worked really well with either crackers or salad. The hot savoury food on the night was supplied by HotBox, a BBQ restaurant from Spitalfields. The smoked pork ribs were extremely delightful, it was finely marinated with spices and BBQ sauces with super tender meat. I also got the chance to try out how to hand roll sushi with L'atelier des Chefs, it seems simple enough but when you actually get your hands to it is a completely different story. 

classic Duck foie gras from Gourmet Culture

smoked ribs from Hotbox

Ice Bar

There were plenty to pick from for drinks and dessert, not least a chilled iced vodka shot from the Ice Bar when you have to drink it from an ice sculpted device. One of the great finds on the night were "cocktail sweets" from Smith and Sinclair, a collection of cocktail inspired flavoured confectionery, the whisky sour packed a whisky kick with a settled sweetness to it. Hand made Ice lollies from Lickalix were also a real delight with some exciting flavours such as peanut butter and jam. The best drink on the night went to Shaken Udder, natural milkshake with no colouring and preservatives. It wasn't overly thick with a depth of clean and refreshing taste.

cocktail confectionery

Lickalix

Shaken Udder milkshakes

Yelp once again pulled off an awesome evening, it was a great discovery of many high quality independent brands. These brands often have amazing products but lack the brand awareness so it was great to see Yelp manage to gather so many of these great products together, otherwise it would be unlikely to ever come across these fantastic food and drink brands. I am looking forward to whatever Yelp has in store next as I am sure it will only get better.

For more information about Yelp, please visit:

http://www.yelp.com/london