The Big Easy, Covent Garden

Hello! Apologies for not blogging in a while, I know you all missed it so much and have been eagerly awaiting the next instalment, constantly refreshing your Facebook pages... I've been busy guys!

Anyway, last week, Freddie and I went to the Big Easy. There's two branches- one on the Kings Road and one in Covent Garden. We went to the Covent Garden one and could actually only get a table for 9.30pm (to be fair we did book literally that same day) but turned up earlier in the hopes of bringing it forward. This didn't work, but we did manage to grab a drink and some snacks at the bar to speed up our wait. The atmosphere is very buzzy- low lighting, live music, cosy booths. Actually, it's reminiscent of a much trendier and upmarket version of TGI Fridays, with better food and less random paraphernalia.

We grabbed some popcorn shrimp and a few beers whilst we waited for our table. The shrimp was tasty and served with a spicy tomato sauce which I went to town on, but to be honest I probably could have eaten my own arm at this point. We also managed to get some pretzels by me spotting some and loudly saying "who do you have to kill to get some pretzels around here?"which was actually quite embarrassing and not something I'd recommend.

Finally we got shown to our table. Now I'm not going to dance around it, the major draw of the Big Easy is their Thursday night special. I have actually been before and it cost 20 pounds, now it costs 22. Inflationary gripes aside, for this you get half a lobster, a sirloin steak, garlic butter, house salad, chips and your choice of a beer or a "slushy" cocktail. Pretty good deal hey?!

We both opted for this, although last time I had the burger and that was amazing too. There was also an option to get pretty much the same with no steak and extra lobster that I was leaning towards and would probably get next time. I'm always surprised by how little lobster you actually get out of the buggers and wanted more!

Now the food here is good. Really good. Both the steak and the lobster are of good quality, which I was surprised by as the cynic in me thought that the steak would be pretty average and just there to pad it out. It was nice to have both to break the meal up a bit, but I think the main draw is the lobster and as I said I would probably opt for that next time. The chips are amazing and in my mind nothing compliments a meal like garlic butter so I was happy!

I'd definitely recommend the Big Easy and having already been twice would go again. The atmosphere is fun, and I think (on a Thursday at least) the food is good value. Lets just hope the price doesn't go up any more...!

Flat Iron, Soho

Flat Iron is somewhere I have been wanting to check out for a while. I mean.. a place in town where the only item on the menu is a steak for 10 pounds... its what our American friends would call a "no brainer".

On Wednesday evening I met my friends Emily and Mat after work at about 6.30pm. Having known each other since our early teens we actually reflected that never thought we'd do something as grown up as meeting for "after work drinks and dinner". Reminiscing aside, this is another place that you can't book so I would actually advise going after work, and as early as possible (I arrived a sweaty mess about half an hour late but hey the intention was there!). We waited for around 45 mins but it wasn't too unpleasant thanks to some reasonably priced gin based cocktails. The atmosphere was also really good but this was probably enhanced by aforementioned cocktails.

 Shortly after we were shown to our table where they served us POPCORN in little mugs to go with our drinks- at this point I was sold already before even ordering. I am obsessed with popcorn in all of it's forms.

As I mentioned, the only main on the menu is steak. There is also a special (also steak) but I can't for the life of me remember what it was so for simplicity's sake lets just say there was one steak. Here is an obligatory shot of the menu...

And my dinner dates.. Don't they look fun?!

We all went for the steak and ordered an assortment of sides; spinach, two portions of chips, and the roast aubergine. We then got one of every sauce AND the "special sauce" (does that remind anyone else of Superbad!?) which the waitress informed us about probably after realising it would be an easy sell. It arrived promptly and my my, what a feast...

Everything was delicious but of the sides what really stole the show was a dark horse- the roast aubergine. It was incredible and something I am going to try to make (and likely butcher) at home. For anyone really interested, the sauces ranked as followed; 1. Special sauce (some kind of garlicy awesome creation although the waitress wouldn't tell us what it actually was- so "secret"), 2. Fred's sauce (cue jokes about how I would like it), 3. Peppercorn, joint 4. Bearnaise and Horseradish. If I'm honest, the last 3 were all really good versions of what you would expect, but no surprises.

Now onto the main event, the steak...

Sliced really thinly and served with a novelty knife, this steak was goooood. It was cooked nice and rare and was exceptionally tender. Portion size was fair if not massive but for a tenner I wasn't complaining. Now it wasn't the best steak I've ever had (Namibia 2013 I'll never forget it) but it was very good and exceptional value, washed down nicely with a few glasses of red. It was after a few glasses of said red that we all decided it would be an excellent idea to sign up to the London Triathlon.... but thats another story.

Last but by no means least, desert. I am adamant that I am not a desert person at all and wasn't even interested in looking at the menu but luckily Mat persisted, and we ordered a portion of the only desert available- caramel and chocolate mousse served with salt. Now hear me out, this doesn't sound great but ohmygosh... it was incredible. So much so that I did a totally 180 from not wanting desert to pretty much scoffing the whole thing...

I was literally sprinkling the salt on as if it was going out of fashion and it just kept getting better and better! Highly recommended and only 2.5-.... man I'm salivating just thinking about it.

All in all, Flat Iron was excellent and comes highly recommended. I would 100% go again and had a great evening- delicious food, good atmosphere and amazing company. Now I guess i'd better go and buy a wetsuit...