Grub 2 at the Runaway Brewery, Manchester

The couple behind one of the more popular Northern foodie twitter accounts and semi-dormant blogs (Good Gobble) and better Manchester street-food offerings (Arepa!Arepa!Arepa!) clearly felt they weren't busy enough handling those on top of their day jobs and have taken the next step towards world domination with GRUB. After a successful stint overseeing the food offering at the recent Cup North coffee festival, they teamed up with Blackjack Brewery and Shebeen Events for Grub vol. 2 which was due to be held at a brand new top secret venue but due to last minute issues was held at the Runaway brewery, under the arches on Dantzic street.

Street food in Manchester feels a bit like it's stalled to me, Friday Food Fight has lost it's way - moving away from genuine street food into overpriced drinks and restaurants dishing the food up; it's clearly a format that works well for them, it just isn't to my taste. I've been to a few Guerilla Eats events and always felt like their heart is in the right place but there’s never any atmosphere. The GRUB folk seemed like they were attempting to fill a genuine gap in the market in Manchester – realistically what could be better than hanging out in a brewery, eating some fantastic sounding street food and quaffing a ton of beers? 

I bought tickets early on for the two Saturday sessions and it was no great surprise to see that the weekend sold out in advance - a real testament to their hard work on the line up and well-deserved support they've built up over the years.Seeing as the event was a "Winter Beer Festival”I did the right thing and headed immediately for the bar. There’d been a beer list doing the rounds and I had a short list of priorities (OCD, what?) of beers that I was keen to try – most of which unfortunately didn't appear over the two sessions on the Saturday. I was still spoiled for choice but it was a little frustrating that there were very few changes between the sessions - I fully appreciate that they’re bound by how much beer had been sold during the day so I shoulder my share of the blame. Still a slight disappointment for a "Beer Festival".

The token system (the bane of many a beer festival) initially seemed a little overcomplicated but actually worked well resulting in quick service - £10 bought you a sheet of 20 tokens and then beers were priced depending upon third / half or pint serving and scribbled off the sheet accordingly as payment. As you got to the end of a sheet it did become slightly problematic to figure out if there was enough left for a round as you couldn't actually see the prices until you saw them scribbled on the pumps – adding a thirds / halves / pints prices to the board would’ve been a great help. I did enjoy the extra challenge of achieving a FULL HOUSE by getting my sheet crossed off right down to the last token.

Entertainment wise - the background music and bands were ideal for the event, I wasn't sat too far from them but they were just pitched at the right level (volume and intensity wise) whereby I could easily drift in and out of paying attention and they didn't ruin conversation. It all felt very well planned, major kudos for getting this so right - must've taking some serious planning given we were all essentially sat in a giant echo-y room it could have all gone wrong pretty easily.

Food - All of the food traders across the weekend were different enough to sound interesting and make the food alone a major temptation for visitors. Saturday showcased sweet treats from Ginger Tart, Andy's Low and Slow BBQ, Fu-Schinkens with their steamed buns and Comida serving up a range of Spanish themed goodies. I decided to follow my nose and I was lured over to the Comida stand and once there it all sounded pretty enticing so I just asked them to sort me out with a taster set from the menu. They sorted me right out. I ended up with a pair of Deep-fried Croquetas, a 'Blue cheese and squash' and a 'Black truffle and cheese'. Honestly, i'm glad I didn't have to sit and watch me eat these, I was a like a dog with a bone as soon as I got a sniff of them - they hit the spot like only deep fried cheese dipped in some wonderfully thick alioli can.

I also dug into their Montados', which after a little research i'm told are essentially toppings on bread. The flavour combinations on offer (I had one of each) were smoked salmon, tinned squid with Spanish ketchup and aubergine with a padron pepper speared on top. The squid was my favourite but I thoroughly enjoyed all three, I'll definitely have my eyes peeled for any future supper clubs they arrange. Whilst not the first food I'd think of as ideal for snacking on at a beer festival it certainly filled me up and kept me going through the evening. 

Overall, I had a hugely enjoyable day out and was impressed with what was accomplished; especially considering the last minute issues with the original venue. I jinxed myself by mentioning early on that the poster looked too wintery for the end of January - my god it was cold in there at times which is absolutely out of their control, just wish i'd stuck a thicker jumper on. I’m certainly looking forward to a summer winter beer festival where I’ll be able to feel my fingers for the 24 hours afterwards.

Regarding the new venue, there is currently a Kickstarter under way to 'supplement existing investment'. It appears that they've wrapped Grub, Shebeen and Blackjack under the banner of Keystone and are running a campaign offering rewards including tickets to a Shebeen festival in May. There's a link to the Kickstarter here – clearly they have some big ideas and I thoroughly recommend you take a read for yourself and do what you can to support them, I've already chipped in. Manchester is certainly short of the type of venue they are hoping to set up and I'm excited to see how things progress.

Craft Nerd vs Supermarket Beer - Part 2

Here's the second part (find the first here) of Ian's supermarket craft beer reviews. If you'd like to chat about any of this he can be found on twitter or untappd and i'm he sure would welcome a chinwag.

It's all Ian from this point onwards:

Day 5 – Wednesday

The Lawn Mower - Backyard Brewery/Carlsberg - £1.50 as part of a 4 for £6 deal – 330ml

By this stage I was feeling a bit fed up, I realised that I had front-loaded what I thought were likely to be the better beers and had three days worth of filler to get through. This is an attempt at an amber lager and much like the other Carslberg effort it is seems like a tweaked version of their standard product. Drinkable but not sure why you would bother….Rating 5/10

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference London Porter – Shepherd Neame - £1.66 as part of a 3 for £5 deal – 500ml

I had relatively high hopes for this, decent enough brewery and a change from lots of pales/lagers. Initial impressions were reasonable, the aroma was faint but it seemed to have the right texture for a porter. But then I tasted it. Whatever merits this beer had were completely wrecked by a horrific metallic aftertaste. Another clear bottle and another that would ordinarily have gone down the drain. In date, but I can’t help but think this wasn’t in great condition. Rating 3/10

Day 6 - Thursday

Metropolitan Brewing Company Under Currant Pale Ale – Greene King - £1.25 - 330ml

I was now really craving a decent beer, in fact just something that wasn’t dull or flawed. Unfortunately I wasn’t massively encouraged by the remaining stash of 4 beers. I thought I would suck it up and get stuck into the least promising. It was actually better than the IPA in the same range, with some of the blueberry character you expect from Mosaic (this being a single hop pale). However it lacks any real bitter snap to balance it out and it ends up a bit cloying. Rating 5/10

Marks and Spencer Organic Scottish Beer – Black Isle - £2 as part of a 3 for £6 deal – 500ml

Reasons for optimism – M&S were clearly winning this taste test and Black Isle are a decent brewery. Reasons for pessimism – I wasn't that attracted to a beer with added honey. Difficult to criticise this beer as it is exactly as described, a pale beer with added honey, but that aside it is pretty one dimensional and dull. Aside from the delicate honey flavour I can hardly remember it, but if you like honey its worth a go. Rating 5.5/10

Day 7 - Friday

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference American Pale Ale – Genesee - £1.75 – 330ml

American Pale Ales need a serious amount of hops for aroma and bitterness. This was clearly lacking in both, plus with a bottling date in June 2014 it was hardly fresh, which is also vital in these beers. There was faint mango aroma but the malt dominated the flavour, so it just wasn’t right. One to avoid. Rating 4.5/10

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Tap Room IPA – Genesee - £1.75 – 330ml

For obvious reasons I wasn’t filled with optimism as I approached my final beer. This shared a similarly dull character with its sibling, there was some bitterness present but it was pretty crude. Not enjoyable overall and another to avoid. Rating 4/10

So, overall a pretty uninspiring seven days of drinking. Only two beers that I would actually buy again and a couple of others that have some merit. Not a great return, even when taking into account the potential bargain prices. It was clear from this sample that M&S are way ahead of the competitors. The worst of their beers were at the same level as the best from Sainsbury and Tesco. Even though they are more expensive they offer better value generally. The Tesco ranges had little merit, with only the rye pale being something I would even consider buying again. Very cheap but little actual value. I think that overall Sainsbury were bottom of the pile as their beers were no better and often worse than the Tesco equivalent and more expensive. Frankly most of them tasted pretty stale. The Carlsberg beers were fault free, but pretty dull. If I needed to buy beer in Tesco or Sainsbury I would pick up cheap Brewdog, Sierra Nevada, Goose Island etc and ignore their own labels.

I wasn’t massively surprised by the quality of the beer on offer here, but it is disappointing that the introduction to craft beer for many people could be via such a disappointing range of beers that offer little of the quality that you can quite easily find from good microbreweries.

Craft Nerd vs Supermarket Beer - Part 1

My friend Ian kindly volunteered to write up this experiment and I for one salute his commitment to taking one for the team and sorting the wheat from the chaff for all hardened supermarket beer buyers amongst us. If you'd like to compliment his hard work (or send him abuse of any kind), he can be found on twitter or untappd and i'm he sure would welcome a chat with you. It's all Ian from this point onwards:

Craft Nerd vs Supermarket beer

There’s no doubt that the last few years have seen unprecedented growth in the UK craft beer scene, going against the general trend of a declining beer market, so of course the beer shelves of our supermarkets now look very different to even 3 or 4 years ago. Aside from the availability of beers from the better known craft breweries such as Brewdog and Thornbridge, the supermarkets are also trying to sell craft beer under their own labels. In a recent discussion with fellow “enthusiasts” we picked this as an area of the market that is likely to grow further in 2015. So this seemed like a good time to sample a selection of what is currently out there…..

I set myself the challenge (I realise not that much of a challenge….) of only drinking supermarket label craft beers for a week, with a minimum of 2 beers per evening. My beers were a pretty even split between Marks and Spencer, Sainsbury and Tesco. Would they be a decent set of accessible craft beers at a competitive price or just a cynical attempt to latch on to a growing trend?

Day 1 – Friday

Marks and Spencer Sovereign Golden Ale – Elgood and Sons – £2 as part of a 3 for £6 deal – 500ml

I have to admit I was more optimistic about the M&S selection as they use a number of different breweries to produce (mainly?) bespoke beers for them. This was a surprisingly distinctive beer, with a very dominant bubblegum flavour on top of a biscuit base. Sounds slightly odd, but it worked well. I would definitely buy this again at this price. Rating 7/10

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference IPA – Marstons - £1.66 as part of a 3 for £5 deal – 500ml

After a good start I have to say this was back to earth with a bump. If I hadn't been writing this up it would have gone down the sink. Virtually no aroma, a bland beer with a dreadful metallic taste. This was a clear bottle and I wonder whether it was past its best. Why do breweries still put beer in clear bottles? Rating 3/10

Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Celebration Ale – Black Sheep - £1.66 as part of a 3 for £5 deal – 500ml

After the previous disaster I wasn’t overly optimistic opening this. This stout seems to be well regarded and it was certainly an improvement, although pretty light in flavour, more like a porter for me. Drinkable but not one to seek out. Rating 6/10

Day 2 - Saturday

Marks and Spencer Greenwich Red Ale – Meantime - £5 – 750ml

This was easily the most expensive beer, so became my Saturday night “treat”. It’s a well made beer, but at 4.0% I think it is too weak and lacks a bit of body. It needs to be better than this to justify the high price tag, so on that basis I wouldn't buy it again, something like Moor RAW is a much better beer in a similar style at a lower price. Rating 6.5/10

Metropolitan Brewing Company Big Bad Wolf – Greene King - £1.25 - 330ml

The second shocker and a truly depressing beer all round. This is the most obviously “craft” of the Tesco own brand beers in terms of labelling and description. Described as having “huge hoppy character”, this actually tastes like a standard UK bitter that has gone a bit stale, no aroma, no hit of hops, no real flavour. Bordering on deceitful, this could put you off craft beer if you were trying it for the first time. Rating 2/10

Day 3 - Monday

The Bee 17 – Backyard Brewery/Carlsberg - £1.50 as part of a 4 for £6 deal – 330ml

The first can, which seems to be another growth market for 2015. Not strictly supermarket own brand but Carslberg’s attempt to cash in on the craft market. It’s not bad, a hoppier version of something similar to their standard lager, but I don’t really understand why anyone would buy this when Brooklyn Lager is so widely available at decent prices. Rating 5/10

Revisionist Rye Pale Ale – Marstons - £1.50 as part of a 4 for £6 deal – 500ml

This is Tesco’s other craft range and after the Greene King effort I was ready for the worst case scenario. It was actually a pleasant surprise, with all the flavours you would expect from a rye pale ale. It was just a bit watery which makes it difficult to recommend wholeheartedly, but at this price it is a decent introduction to something a bit different. Rating 6/10

Day 4 – Tuesday

Revisionist Hefeweizen Wheat Beer - Marstons - £1.50 as part of a 4 for £6 deal – 500ml

By this stage I have to say I was beginning to crave the serious flavour hit that I get from the sort of beers I usually drink. This beer didn’t give me that, it was similar to the previous beer in that the profile was right, but it was watery. There are lots of top hefe weizens available for £2 or so, such as the classic Weihenstephaner or Franziskaner, so no need to buy this even with a 50 pence saving. Rating 5/10

Marks and Spencer Southwold Winter IPA – Adnams - £2 as part of a 3 for £6 deal

Another beer with a bit of pedigree from a good brewery. This had the most flavour of any beer I sampled, a pretty serious bitter hop hit, not the most subtle drink in the world, but a damn site better than much of what I drank this week. I’d buy this again for £2. Rating 7/10

Final three days to follow

Northern Monk Brewery / Grub and Grog Shop - Leeds

There’s certainly something in the water in Leeds at the moment, resulting in a new wave of original and independent food and drink businesses popping up all over the city. As a city to visit for the weekend it’s up there with my favourites in the UK. It seems like there’s always something food and drink related happening in the city and something I’d say only London can compare with. As of late August, Northern Monk joined the party by opening their new brewery premises just a short distance from the city centre.

Having seen no photos of the premises before I visited it’s no exaggeration to say I was pretty staggered by the whole thing. The building itself (a converted flax mill) looks incredible - the first sight of the branded banners with their impressive artwork hanging from the front of the building framed by a dark bleak Yorkshire sky really is a sight to behold. As a package it's certainly the most impressive restaurant and tap room combo I've visited - in the UK it's pretty much unique (I'm certainly struggling to think of anywhere).

As you enter the building you’re greeted with sneak peaks of the brewery itself through the large glass windows throughout (just my luck I chose to visit on a day that no brewing action was taking place though, unfortunately). The taproom is up on the first floor is made up of a large room with exposed beams, original brickwork, local artwork and filled with a mixture of smaller bar style seating and large 10 person communal seating. As a brewery taproom, it’s pretty much my idea of the perfect place to sit and quaff a few quiet pints. Beer wise we’re looking at 16 keg options and 4 cask options – heavily focused on Northern Monk but with some cracking guests (Bad Seed, Magic Rock, Kirkstall, Red Willow amongst others on this visit) as well as a small but well curated UK focused bottle shop.

The good news is that the booze is more than well complimented by the "Grub and Grog shop" who are also based on site and provide breakfast, lunch and dinner in this ‘refectory’ area. I hadn't heard a lot about them so did a bit of reading in advance and was immediately impressed by their imaginative menus. I loved having a read through their 'Friends and suppliers’ section of a website and which in this case links to a selection of suppliers who were all impressively local.

The menu on the day of the visit was different to that on the website. This is something i'm always keen to see in a place that serves smaller dishes as it typically suggests an imaginative chef making the best of seasonal ingredients and pushing themselves rather than serving up the same old dishes day after day. On this occasion I got stuck into the following:

“Ox tongue hash, celeriac mash, pickles, kale, hop syrup and stout gravy”

This was a good looking plate of food indeed. The tongue with the mash and stout gravy was just fantastic, think rich and with a mountain of deep flavour. The kale was roasted and added a great crunchy texture to proceedings, pickle had been finely sliced and was mild enough that when mixed in with the other ingredients it didn't overwhelm anything. On a day in the height of winter when it and absolutely freezing cold outside, this was a perfect winter warmer of a lunch. 

“Yorkshire fries”

A generous portion of red hot freshly roasted seasonal vegetables served with a dollop of reassuringly stodgy home-made mayonnaise. The veg involved resulted in a mix of textures, some extremely crisped up and others more part baked resulting in an enjoyable mix of consistencies, a great little take on a boring old side of fries. Really enjoyable.

“Stuffed Mutton in Ale, glazed beetroot, sautéed sprouts and puy lentils”

I didn’t actually dig into this one myself but I was being so enthusiastic about my dish that my friend offered me a spoonful of his. The mutton was cooked well and full of flavour - the sprouts and lentils as a base made for another great hearty dish, one that seemed just as impressive as the one I was tucking into.

I don’t have enough good things to say about the Northern Monk Refectory; offering the holy trinity of excellent fresh beer in stunning surroundings and with delicious well-priced original food could not have impressed me more. It’s right at the top of my very favourite places to visit in Leeds and you’ll be sure to see me propping up the bar tucking into beer and food in here at every opportunity I get whenever I'm over the Pennines in the future.

Junkyard - Nottingham

My first impression of Junkyard was 95% eye-roll, From the name (though I suppose the British equivalent "Rubbish Tip" wouldn't quite appeal on the same level.), through to the wording on their awning (which tries to tempt in "beer geeks, caffeine junkies, grazers, oenophiles, cocktail sippers and soda slurpers" all with no capital letters of course) it's very clear that in setting this place up they've worked through every single square on the 'let's try and appeal to absolutely every current trend possible all at once' bingo card. Let me also file the following as evidence - exposed brickwork, beers only being served in two thirds (PINTS? *Scoffs*), menus printed on brown kraft paper, labelling themselves as a "pour house", food menu headed as "Junkfood", sides being served in camp fire tins....i'm struggling for many more current clichés from the past few years they could have steamed into.

The first time I dropped in it was entirely for beers and on that front they entirely deliver. They have a chalk board with a range of 15 keg beers to choose from. The focus is heavily in favour of American beer, with a real focus on breweries that don't seem to appear very often elsewhere in the UK - Ruhstaller, Uncommon, North Coast and Acme featuring both times I've visited. On this front, they're at least they're offering something new and not an endless list of Brookyln and Anchor options. On this visit there was an increased showing of British breweries over imported beer (which often suffers on a freshness front due to the sheer mileage involved). Price-wise (remember the prices shown below are for 2/3's) there was only one beer cheaper than £5 a pint making them a shade expensive compared to other similar bars across the UK.

As well as the draft board, they they also offer 4 fridges that cover more US beers as well as an interesting range of UK beers (including lots of the bigger hitters: think Kernel, Bad Seed and Pressure Drop). They also offer a short cocktail menu and 20 plus wines as well as a range of coffees and teas so drinks wise we're all pretty well covered. 

The food menu is based on a choice of 10+ small plates and half a dozen larger sandwich options. There is also a daily specials menu that adds a couple of starter options and just one further sandwich. Range wise it's a mix of US comfort food staples such mac and cheese, pastrami sandwiches, various fries, hot wings, short ribs etc. - there was certainly plenty from the short descriptions that sounded like they could be worth trying. I indulged in the following...

Fried Pickles - plump and juicy pickles which had been deep-fried whole. The batter was crispy and each mouthful was just so damn pickley that there must have been vinegar or pickle juice in the batter which made them incredibly enjoyable. I can never resist ordering this delicacy on any menu and the extra vinegar hit elevated them to the same level at MeatLiquor. I could easily have gobbled down a couple of dishes of these without them touching the sides, I liked the mis-shaped pieces - it gave the impression they'd not been shipped in pre-sliced ready for the frying.

Padron Peppers - for the price, this was an appropriate sized portion of grilled padron peppers. They hadn't been grilled over charcoal which often gives them that extra blistered skin and tasty smokiness but they were well seasoned and a good side to pick at around the mains. 

Mac and Cheese balls with Arrabiata Sauce - the sauce was rich with a great kick of heat. The mac and cheese balls were excellent - dense and with a perfect crispy outer, they held together extremely well and didn't just crumble as I dug in,

Pastrami on Rye - This looked worryingly light on meat initially but i'm glad to report there was a good stack of salty slices tucked away beneath the bizarre choice of gem lettuce which didn't crush down due to it's weird stem, making the sandwich a little difficult to handle. The bottom layer was stuffed with pickles which had been sliced thickly so they retained the crunch. Lashings of hot English mustard and sauerkraut brought everything together well - gem lettuce aside this was about all I could ask from a pastrami butty. The small side pot of seasonal slaw had a good mix of salad but the overly sweet dressing left it too soggy for me.

The "BLGT" (one of the specials of the day) consisted of  bacon, more of the unnecessary baby gem lettuce, Gorgonzola cheese and roasted tomatoes - all served up on focaccia. A mini twist (at least not one i'm familiar with) on a BLT whereby they'd melted some Gorgonzola onto the bacon. I'm sure there'll be traditionalists that would argue you shouldn't mess with a  BLT but this was right up my street, adding a nice kick to the flavour. Even the gem lettuce getting in the way and serving it on Foccacia over my preferred white loaf slice couldn't ruin my fun here.Although, the sprinkling of parsnip crisps over the top was a slightly odd addition which added nothing, in fact they tasted slightly soft as if they were fried in batches early in the day before being sprinkled over sandwiches throughout the day. 

This Sloppy Joe was a course that I didn't eat myself so I can't really add comment flavour wise. My friend tucked in (and thoroughly enjoyed it). It consisted of a giant hot dog, thick crunchy onion rings, pulled pork and a giant roasted pepper. Let's take a moment to admire that sprig of Rosemary.

Dessert wise, the only option was a chocolate brownie with fruit compote and vanilla ice cream  aka ultimate chefs cop out. This seemed a shame as i'd have happily tucked into a sundae or something similar to close the meal but given the lack of choice we swerved it altogether.

Drinks wise, we shared a Pressure Drop Pale Fire from the bottle which was as reliable as ever and I wrapped up with an Americano which was black, strong and tasted fresh enough. 

Despite all signals pointing to this being a cash in on as much trendy nonsense as possible, you can definitely consider me pleasantly surprised. It turns out I can forgive a total lack of originality (after all, "there's nothing new under the sun") for well cooked, fairly priced and quickly served food in a bar where I can get a good beer and I had a genuinely enjoyable if not life-changing lunch in Junkyard and whilst not worth a special trip, I would definitely go back.

As a quick aside, I enjoy that when you click the link to their twitter on the website it takes you to "http://www.twitter.com/junkarydnotts" and then when you re-word it yourself to "junkyardnotts" yourself they only follow 5 people and have an image of the default egg. Then you search some more and figure out it's actually on there under "Junkyard Poho" @jydpoho. It's 2014, come on fellas - this shouldn't have to take detective work.

The Lockhart - London

Fine-dining is all well and good but sometimes you want to go for a meal that you really know about afterwards, where you're so tempted by everything that's on the menu and you're struggling for choice. Well, for once I let the pressure gets to me, gave in and ended up over-ordering and had to be almost rolled away from the restaurant afterwards regretting nothing because i'd eaten such glorious food. After eating at the Lockhart I came away feeling like Henry the Eighth, albeit it having gorged on their take on southern US cuisine rather than just eating giant legs of ham straight from an open fire.

I digress and to be honest that's because I've been struggling writing this for some time now. I certainly have plenty to say about the food and how fantastic it was but trying to get over just how enthusiastic I am about this place without just hammering down a stream of adjectives has proved more difficult than I ever imagined.

The Lockhart is on a quiet street behind Marble Arch (in the opposite direction to Le Gavroche so completely away from tourist hell) and from the outside looks like 500 other restaurants in London, a discrete logo emblazoned on awnings, a couple of token tables sat out front and a plain printed A4 menu hidden away in a holder by the door.

In the end we did take one of the tables out the front as it was a baking hot day but the inside was absolutely gorgeous, it reminded me of a more authentic version of Barnyard (that i'd been to 24 hours earlier) with stunning wood floors and farm house style tables but nothing here felt forced or gimmicky. You could close your eyes and day dream that the bundling through one of the fire exits in the back of the restaurant could open up onto a huge field of corn (rather than the dingy little office that was actually out the back).

I started with a Margarita which was reassuringly proper, with the glass salted on one side and served in a substantial heavy glass tumbler which added a nice classy touch. The booze was generous and the tang perfect.

The food that followed was just fantastic from start to finish.

"Pickled quail eggs"

I've eaten pickled eggs more in the past 6 months than in my entire life previously (it's the effect of the move to the North). These were delightful, tasty little snacks to whet my appetite – rich vinegary white and moist yolk. Could easily have sat and picked at a jar of these throughout dinner.

"Chicken Oysters"

These are a delight hidden away on the back of a chicken near the thigh, they're darker than a lot of the typical meat you'd be recovering from the carcass and supposedly slightly oyster shaped (hence the name). It was a great experience to have a small bowl of them dished up and not have to be fishing about after roasting a chicken in the oven to find them only to be immediately craving more. The meat is slightly firm to the touch but oh so tender and juicy to the bite and they made an absolutely perfect dish for a starter to share. The meat itself was almost overshadowed by the sauce, a delicious rich mustard with a hint of lemony citrus.

"Mufuletta"

Not ashamed to admit this was a totally new one on me, I had done a little research ahead of the visit when I saw it on a menu on the website and had wrongly assumed from photos that it would be similar to a shooters sandwich (essentially a squashed cold sandwich stuffed with meat). It actually consisted of quarter of a giant sandwich which was served warm and deep filled with a variety of cured meats and cheese as well as chopped olive salad. The bun looked like a McDonalds sesame bun but the bread was lovely and dense and had some real weight to it. This was verging on life-changing - it was so to my tastes I feel I've been wasting my valuable eating hours without knowing this existed until now. It came with a side of home made salt and vinegar crisps which were the crispiest crisps you could ever imagine - they looked almost overdone colour wise but were incredibly flavoured with salt and vinegar but without creating a hint of soggy texture. The sort of course where you really know you've been eating and immediately start loosening the top button of your trousers as soon as it arrives in preparation. Fantastic stuff.

"Shrimp and Grits"

Rich cheddar, creamy grits, prominent spring onion, tender mushrooms, little bit of heat, topped off with fat juicy prawns. Just perfect homely comfort food, filling but without even a hint of grease or blandness throughout. A really special bowl of food. 

Sides - "Collard Greens" and "Tomato and Cucumber" salad. Both were solid renditions of what I expected when ordered, not a lot to add.

"Corn bread with honey butter"
This was served up still sizzling in the red hot metal tray it had been cooked in, soaked in a mini oil slick of honey butter. The corn bread was cooked perfectly throughout with no hint of a soggy dough centre and the hint of sweetness in the corn was emphasised by the honey butter but still stayed on the right side of savoury to work perfectly as a side for the mains. This accompanied with the Mufuletta was seriously no joke, bordering on an insurmountable mountain of carbs (yes, I finished everything)

"Lemon ice box"

I was utterly stuffed by this phase due to my over-indulgence so far and was determined not to have a dessert but this was one of those meals where everything that had preceded had been so good I was forced to change my mind when I saw the options and went for the lemon ice box. The burnt crust on the outside of the meringue came away like the outer of a marshmallow roasted on a bonfire as a kid. All served on a base of Graham cracker, lemon curd and with lemon ice cream hidden away inside. This was on a par with the tobacco banana chocolate dish that i'd enjoyed at A Wong for the best dessert i've eaten all year thus far. Coming from a non-dessert person this is very high praise indeed.

From the snippets of conversation I couldn't help but overhear, lots of people in there were clearly regulars, a few even mentioning "see you again tomorrow for lunch" which was exceptionally positive to hear but having enjoyed the food on offer I can completely understand why. This is up there with the best places for comfort food i've eaten at in the UK, in fact I almost feel guilty using that description given the level of cooking on display and such great quality - especially for the reasonable prices. I can't even name a highlight here and find myself day-dreaming about being sat out front in the sun tucking into all this again constantly, it's absolutely at the very top of the list to return to next time I'm in London and I could easily see myself joining their list of regulars if I didn't live at the other end of the country.