Berners Tavern, Central London

Berners Tavern had been on my list for AGES. Both my flatmates seem to be dining there worryingly frequently, plus I had heard great things from many friends and acquaintances, meaning I was practically itching to go and spent the entire week before going lusting over the menu. By the time I had got there I had pretty much memorised it and read about 123,456,898 reviews on trip advisor. I could identify what the other diners were having just by a glance.. "oh you went for the Lake District Chateaubriand for two, £80? Indulgent choice"… needless to say I was looking forward to it.

A Jason Atherton restaurant situated inside the London Edition Hotel, the decor manages to be both decadent and cosy at the same time. The menu focuses on modern British cuisine, and nails the tricky line between inventive and traditional, making it a great place for a birthday or special occasion.

To start off proceedings, we ordered a cocktail each whilst perusing the menu (totally unnecessary for me as I already knew exactly what I was having but I like to think I played the part well). Freddie went for something typically resembling a milkshake and I got something citrusy and refreshing and as always I had ordered better and he wanted to swap.

It was around this time that we got chatting the to waitress (there service here is impeccable by the way)  after Freddie spotted some rather large gay guy who was once on Strictly Come Dancing.. a famous astrologer apparently- which sounds like a bit of an oxymoron to me. HOW Freddie spotted and knew this guy is worrying enough, but thats by the by because the waitress then let slip that Kylie Jenner was staying in the very same hotel. I was trying to act cool like "oh I don't really watch the Kardashi- OH MY GOD is that her??!… It wasn't.

Anyway, onto the food. To start, we ordered the beef tartare and the foie gras to share.

Both were presented beautifully and tasted amazing. I know foie gras seems to be a slightly morally ambiguous area but both of the dishes were very tasty with a great balance of flavours and textures.

Onto the mains and what I had really been waiting for…

The Macaroni and Cheese. Captilised for emphasis. With braised ox cheek, brioche and bone marrow crumble. Oh. My. Word.

I'm going to have to take you on a little journey here.

Here is me, optimistic and excited before taking on this beast of a dish:

And here is me, after trying to conquer it and failing miserably:

I think I actually look visibly fatter in the second photo.

Now this dish is amazing. But it is literally one of THE richest things I have ever eaten in my entire life. And it's huge. I managed maybe about a third of it and I really regret not taking the rest home. To be fair the waiter did seem pretty dubious about my chances when I ordered it but I was blindly optimistic and ending up failing miserably. But as I said, it was delicious.

Freddie had some chicken garlic and mash thing. In his words "the best chicken I've had… but still just chicken"

The couple next to us did in fact order the chateaubriand to share and left HALF OF IT THERE! This was literally a travesty in our eyes. We were getting very close to giving it a new home aka our bellies but decided against it as this seemed to be very much a taboo and we would actually like to come here again.

All in all, a delicious and deliciously expensive meal. I would definitely recommend Berners Tavern and the rest of Jason Atherton's restaurants are well and firmly on my list. Next stop City Social. Should probably inform Freddie he's taking me there for my birthday!

KERB Clubhouse- Hackney

Now I must admit I was dubious when our Uber pulled up outside this place. Its very much "off the beaten path" and I did wonder if we'd even got the right place. Luckily we spotted the KERB sign outside and once we ducked in past the bouncers and curtain we knew we were definitely in the right place.

KERB Clubhouse is run by the same people as KERB in Kings Cross, and whilst that is a more day time affair, a selection of their traders come to Hackney on the weekend evenings to provide food alongside bars and DJs. 

Hosted in an old converted mirror factory, it can get a little nippy but the atmosphere inside is great. Theres a whole host of different trucks to chose from, fully stocked bars, and long communal bench style seating. Often the temptation with places like these on a Friday night is to load up on the drinks and end up too trollied to bother eating (just us then?!) but I was adamant this wouldn't happen. After grabbing drinks, we headed straight to Capish? (the question mark is part of the name, not a rhetorical question) and loaded up on food instead.

I got the "Fat Tony" which was a steak sandwich in a brioche bun with chips on the side.

Garlicy, cheesey and succulent, the burger was a big hit in my book. Not all of my friends were equally as impressed, but what was not to be argued about were the chips...

Essentially chips with lasagne minus the pasta on top... they were INSANE. So rich, but in such a good way. We may have got a second portion to share later on in the evening...

The food in my opinion was great and my only regret was that I was too full to try anything else!

The place closes at 11pm so it's not an all night thing, but for drinks and some dinner it was definitely a cool place to try out. I'm not really that up on the latest in street food, but luckily my friends are much cooler than me and I'm glad we managed to get there. It was very reminiscent of Street Feast in Dalston which was awesome in the summer. Unfortunately it has now closed but will apparently be back in May which is not that long to wait. 

Before we left, we obviously had to take a photo with the sign... girl band alert. Also check out my socks with ballet flats move, so chic.

See ya in May!

Grain Store, Kings Cross

This is one from the archives... I actually took Freddie to Grain Store for his birthday just before Christmas. I had been meaning to go to both Grain Store and it's neighbouring restaurant Caravan for a while, and after facing a two hour wait the one time I tried to go to Caravan, luckily with Grain Store I had more luck.

Located in an old grain store (see what they did there?) in a newly developed and now trendy part of Kings Cross, this restaurant aims to showcase vegetables in a way that is original and basically not boring. Although not a vegetarian restaurant, there are plently of options if you do swing that way so you might want to check it out. The menu at the time was very Winter themed and quite unusual- steak and chips this ain't.

Inside, the decor is both modern and cosy, with an open kitchen and bar area

To start, we had foccacia with dukkah and olive oil, which disappeared in approximately 7 seconds...although I did manage to get a quick snap before Freddie snarfed it all. Look at his hands ready in anticipation!! It was good, as good as bread before your dinner can be. You're basically just eating it to preoccupy yourself until the main event starts... or in my case consuming half a loaf of bread without realising. Senseless carbs!

For the main, I went for squid steak au poivre with roast potatoes, garlic confit and pumpkin puree. I chose it partly because I have never had squid in steak form before and was quite curious to see what it was like, partly for the roast potatoes. OK mostly for the roast potatoes.

It was actually really delicious and really original. The pumpkin puree was a surprise hit and I think the dish could have benefited for a bit more. Freddie had a special that I can't remember the name of, but was basically sausages and mash.

He reported that it was "unexpectedly good". High praise indeed. Because we were clearly rather hungry we also shared some chips with a very very lurid green garlic mayonnaise, which were actually amazing. Got to love chips on the side... totally unnecessary but totally good. 

It was around this time that I noticed that I was blending into the wall hanging... awkward.

Cool bathroom vibes too... see I told you, funky vegetables!

Last but by no means least we got a pudding, something which had caught my eye much earlier. Sweet potato donuts!! Whaaaaat! Served with citrus curd and dill and vodka ice cream. Double whaaaat!!

Unfortunately they just tasted like normal donuts with slightly weird ice cream. Probably not worth all the commotion. But still, cool concept. Using avocado/sweet potato as the base for sweet treats seems to be all the rage these days and I don't hate it.

All in all, it was a really tasty meal. Original concepts done really well. Would I come back? Not sure... it wasn't cheap and there are SO many other places on my list to try. I would recommend it however and definitely wouldn't object to being taken here again. Cos obviously I get taken to restaurants all the time!