Salvos Salumeria, Otley Road, Leeds

Hey ho, I’m still unbelievably poor as I’ve got a pending trip to London planned this month. However my mother has turned up to take me out for lunch with my sis Hurray.

We visited Salvos Salumeria which is found in the Headingley area of Leeds, It’s a small café which is next door but one to the main Salvos restaurant. For those of you who don’t know Salvos is the crown jewel of Italian dining in Leeds. Its awards include Salvo’s, voted the UK’s Best Neighborhood Italian Restaurant by Gordon Ramsay on Channel 4’s the “F Word and has received an AA Rosette in October 2010, 2011, 2012 and hopefully 2013

The Salumeria is an intimate dining room come deli, showcasing some fine Italian produce alongside serving classic Italian dishes. The restaurant features special dinner evenings, from musical soirees and wine tastings to regional dinners showing the best in Italian regional dishes. These themed evenings come highly recommended and offer tremendous value consisting of a ten course tasting menu using genuine and artisan ingredients, typical dishes and traditional specialists of a particular region in Italy. Accompanied with wine and at only £33.95 per person!!! This really is stonking value.

Requesting a table is recommended as these evenings are popular.
Before I get onto the review of the food I have to mention the tinned tomatoes they sell. They’re the same they use in the restaurant for the pasta dishes and not to belittle the chefs to much, but you can’t really cock it up when cooking with these beauties. I think they’re about £1.80 a tin but the tin is around 1kg in size and so much better than anything else you’ve ever tried trust me. They’ll make any pasta dish 10x better for minimal effort.

So the food. The service is attentive and fairly informal, it is only a café after all. We started with an Italian meat platter with fresh bread and olives and bottle of wine. The meat is of the highest quality as you’d expect I’d also especially recommend  the fennel salami, it was so delicious we bought some from the deli along with about 10 tins of the aforementioned tomatoes. The wine list is fairly extensive for such a small place this venue really benefits from its bigger brother 2 doors down.

Second course was a round of pizzas for my family and a Caesar salad for me. The pizzas were probably the weakest aspect of the meal, there very good just nothing special. If you’re dining in the main restaurant I’d recommend getting something a little out of your comfort zone, Last time I had liver which was the best I’ve eaten. The main restaurant excels with some very accomplished fine dining, if you’re after a pizza just go somewhere else.

The Caesar salad was huge and very tasty with large juicy pieces of chicken breast and massive croutons, maybe a little strong on the anchovy for some people but I can’t get enough of the salty blighters so I was happy.

We finished the meal off with some coffees, also pretty good. The bill came to about £70 I think, I can’t remember exactly because my mother paidJ.

I would highly recommend a trip into Headingley and spot of lunch at the Salumeria, The staff are really friendly, the guy that runs the place is always really helpful and they sell some simple food which is of the finest quality and the quality speaks for itself really.

8.5/10


107 Otley Rd
Leeds,
LS6 3PX

0113 275 8877

www.salvos.co.uk/salumeria-restaurant/

Forkly, Food App

Seeing as I am skint, I’ve decided to tell you about my favourite food related App. Some of you may have noticed that most of the photos used in my blog, contain a small fork followed by the words “Forkly”. This is because most of the photos I use, I have usually uploaded to Forkly beforehand and use them later in the blog.

So what is Forkly and why is it so amazing. Forkly is a free food rating app from Brightkite founders Brady Becker and Martin May which lets you Taste and discover other dishes. Released in 2011 the App has had relative success and now has a hardcore fan base of daily users, myself included. Although similar to competitor Foodspotting , Forkly’s emphasis has been more on rating food items, not just taking pictures of them. There is also more of a community feel to Forkly, once you get to know the regular users in your area.

On Forkly, add a "taste" to say what you're eating or drinking and what you think about it. The app presents you with the option "Loved It," "Liked It," "It's OK" and "Not for Me" options. You can choose to add a photo or comment on the dish, and share the bite-sized review with friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Your tastes are posted to the activity feed. Other users can follow along and indicate that they want to try your tastes, and also gain you influence points in the process. Think of it as Twitter but for food J

The discover tab is used to find out what's popular at nearby places, as determined by other Forkly users' tastes. You can also specify if you’re wanting to look for Breakfast, Desert, Drinks etc.

The App offers an easy way to look at specific dishes of restaurants in your Local area or further afield. You can also look for dishes you have “wanted” in your local area which is one of the best features of the app. I have used this feature religiously when in London and deciding what to do for lunch on the spur of the moment to great success.

 The app also provides you with a daily dose of “food porn”, I find myself most evenings spending 5 minutes to scroll through my feed of followed users and ogle at the tasty things they’ve eaten or cooked recently and the “Want” tab saves anything you want reminding you to eat it later on.

Bringing pictures of beautiful food right to your doorstep and providing an easy insight into the best pig out spots in foreign territory Forkly really is a top class app for true greedy guts.

Or to quote their website “Forkly makes it ridiculously easy to match your taste buds with the food and restaurants around you. Capture and share your tastes while dining out, and Forkly will help you discover a new dish around the corner, the best burger in town or your favourite cocktail in a new city.”

BOSH

Bahn Mi, Brick Lane

A friend took me for a trip down Brick lane a little while back and took me to the Boiler House Food Hall for some lunch. Think of it as an indoor market, but with only the food stalls.

Its here I had my first taste of a Vietnamese style Baguette or Bahn Mi as its more affectionately known. Bahn Mi typically consists of various Vietnamese cold cuts, such as sliced pork or pork bellies with the liver pate and vegetables.I can’t remember the name of the stall so sadly I can’t credit the producers of this lovely little number.

I ordered the “Special Dong”  . . . .  yes I know. Which came with predictably some form of pork and pate. The accompaniments being  pickled carrot, white onion, cucumber, fresh coriander  and chilli sauce. All served in a crusty roll.

Fab, I’m converted. The same friend who brought me here had recently visited Vietnam and told me that practically the only thing he ate whilst in the country for 2 weeks was Bahn Mi he liked them that much and I would have to agree with him. This may not have been the finest sandwich ever to leave Vietnam but as a starting point I was pretty pleased. The pickled carrot in particular marries great with the greasy pork and the layers of flavour definitely surpass your average baguette.

So next time you’re going down Brick Lane on a weekend pop in and grab one of these babies. . .  Just avoid the Chinese stand its crap.

7/10

http://www.boilerhouse-foodhall.co.uk/

The Old Truman Brewery
152 Brick Lane,
E1 6RU London

Crathorne Arms

I’m back at home (Aka Teesside) so as it was my lady friend’s birthday I took her to the Crathorne Arms in Crathorne village, North Yorkshire.

The Crathorne arms is under new management as of 6ish months ago and has had a refurb and new menu to boot.  I decided to go here based on the amazing pictures of the food on the restaurants new website. They’ve obviously spent a bit of money of food photography here because the dishes all look great and seeing as this is the only reason I went, I’d say its money well spent.

The venue has a rustic farmhouse appeal with polished dark wood floors, high beamed ceilings and plenty of country charm in a formal setting.

We skipped a starter with dessert in mind and ordered our mains, (once the waitress had stopped talking to another table across the dining room).

First up I had fillet of cod with gnocchi, battered muscles, cockles, samphire and creamy caper sauce. The fish was cooked perfectly as was everything else on the plate except the cockles which were like bullets. The dish was very rich and missing a squeeze of lemon or some more acidity, perhaps a little on the salty side as well, or is that just the sea I can taste?

 The second dish was Pork with black pudding and vanilla sauce. This was a woeful effort, dry pork, burnt caramel on the apple and an overly sweet very strong vanilla sauce. Pork and black pudding ice cream anyone?  . . . . . . . No? I didn’t think so. We called the waitress over to let her know about the burnt caramel and she said that is how the chef cooks this dish. Once we got the waitress away from her table of friends, we paid the bill and left.

This place has classic Tees valley syndrome when it comes to fine dining in the area. Just because the food offered is considered fairly up market it must be delicious by right and the clientele must be gob smacked by the occasion even if the food is shoddy and the service crap.

There are some decent venues to eat out in Teesside but they’re few and far between when it comes to exciting food. This place highlights the problem with many independent restaurants in the area.

5/10

Crathorne Village
North Yorkshire

TS15 0BA

http://www.crathorne-arms.co.uk/

In other news Brew Dog’s new Leeds bar is open WOOO! It’s tucked in behind the corn exchange next to Pizza express, I walked past last week and had a peer in and things looked far from finished but low and behold it opened last night. I shall be visiting in the next few days and let you know how it goes.

Almost Famous, Manchester

Let me just start this review by saying I was massively hung over/Still drunk when I visited place, because I didn’t get to be till about 6:30am after going to the Warehouse project  on Trafford wharf road in Manchester.

With one massive hangover I headed into Manchester city centre and ended up queueing outside a nondescript door in the Northern quarter which houses Almost Famous one of the best burger joints in Northern England. Once the queue had reached about 30 people a bouncer appeared and ushered up the stairs. This place has been around for about 2 years now I think and you can expect to queue most days to get in, but trust me it’s worth it. I’d stand in a line for half an hour to eat here any day.

I’ll be honest I cant remember to much about what the place looked like, I think I was still some way off being declared sober. I do remember it was light airy and pretty simple and that the bar was cool, that’s about it for the venue I’m afraid. I suffered pretty bad tunnel vision once the food arrived.

So the food. It’s not cheap and it’s not expensive, I ordered the DD burger and a flashy imported beer (Cos I’m a lad and drinking is cool) and shared some chili cheese fries with a friend and I don’t think it was much more than £10? (Once again I can’t remember, sorry).

The Food was absolutely bloody amazing. Possibly because every knows deep fried food taste 10x better when your hanging or possibly because it just was bloody amazing!! I think it’s the latter. The burger was great, 2 smallish patties combined to give just the right amount of beef loads of cheese fried onions and a toasted shiny brioche bun Yummmmmmm. The beef must be decent quality because it was beautifully flavoured and let’s not forget the all important burger sauce.

My mate ordered the Triple Nom burger which is 2 patties and pulled pork, I can’t comment on what it tasted like but he seemed to enjoy it quite a lot, he went back again the week after if that says anything.

The chilli cheese fries were the highlight for me though. A mixture of sweet and normal potato fries, topped with chilli, cheese, jalapeños and fresh red onion. They were huge and bloody awesome. The chilli was full of flavour and refreshing red onion helped cut through some of the grease, I say “some” its all pretty greasy. The fries had managed to stay crisp underneath all the stodge which speaks volumes for the speed of the service, Fries would go soggy in about 60 seconds with chilli con carne on top, you do the maths. The fries had been tossed in some type of seasoning so no added salt was required and I love salt. It was all just too much for my little hung over heart to handle I had to have a nap after to recover, before unsuccessfully trying to persuade my friends to come back again on an evening.

I was blown away by this place, I heard it was good and when my friend suggested going to “this awesome burger place” I was quite surprised he’d even heard of it but the cats been let out of the proverbial bag along time ago in Manchester and deservedly so.

MESSY, TASTY, HONEST FOOD. Don’t let people put you off by saying its gimmicky or pretentious to have a bouncer for a restaurant, its just totes amazeballs.
The people behind almost famous have recently opened up there latest business venture “Luck, Lust, Liquor & Burn” serving Mexican dishes. I haven’t been here yet but initial reviews sound good, if Almost Famous is anything to go by it’s probably a knock out.

9/10

100 High St
Northern Quarter
Manchester

http://almostfamousburgers.com/

Boring

I’m getting pretty bored of the food scene in Leeds, it’s probably my ignorance but there’s no where about at the moment that’s got me that excited to go. I still haven’t tried friends of ham partly down to my girl friend who says it’s just overpriced cured meats. But Friends of Ham apart there’s not anywhere I feel I’m really missing out on. Hopefully something might crop up in the new Trinity shopping centre set to open. Their website says the Trinity kitchen will be “Taking its cue from culinary trends emerging in major international food capitals, such as London, Paris and New York”, I really doubt this. I bet its just the same old mish mash of chain restaurants that’s in all the other big shopping centres, but kudos for trying something different. Apparently there having some form of street food as well? But it will be inside . . . hmmm. Crêpeaffair has signed up for a stall so at least my missus will be happy.

If anyone has any suggestions of exciting places around Leeds please let me know? I’m also back down in the capital in 10 days time and In need of inspiration

Here’s a quick list of places in Leeds I hope to tick off in the next few weeks:

• Fuji Hiro
• Safran
• Friends of Ham (once I’ve persuaded my other half its not so overpriced)

Now I’m all done whinging I’ll write up a review from the last time I went to Almost Famous in Manchester. OMFG yummy, I should be going back to Manchester one weekend soon just to go back to this place or there latest creation. . . .  more about that to come.

Boozy Brunch

Last weekend was pretty banging, I had a boozy brunch at Anthony’s at the Piazza in the Leeds corn exchange and followed it up with a backwards Otley Run (Pub crawl if your not local) out of town towards Headingley. I’m showing my student roots here.

The brunch deal we had at Anthony’s was bought off living social for £17 a person and got you; one breakfast, toast, hot drink, juice and a bottle of prosseco between two. I normally only buy deals of these websites if I’ve been to venue in question before so I know its not some greasy spoon masquerading as a Michelin starred restaurant.

The Food was good as ever at the Piazza, I’ve had breakfast here a few times and this place currently has my award for best eggs Benedict I’ve ever eaten. This time seeing as we’d already paid upfront and I’m a massive scruff at heart I got the most expensive thing on the menu which was the full English breakfast.

To start we had fresh fruit juice, which was ok. I opted for orange it was nothing special and not even a patch on a carton of Tropicana. This was followed by a glass of prosecco de dolci colline.  I don’t know much about wine or fizz, but I was expecting something which had fallen off the back of a van to be given to lowly living social deal customers. I was wrong it was nice plonk and I’ve had a look online and apparently this is a good value bottle of fizz from award winning, Claudio Manera? Whoever he is? It tasted great even if it was a bit early in the morning for alcohol.

With my head now suitably dizzy, breakfast arrived. Everything was nice; good quality sausage, tasty black pudding (the British kind, not the posh French boudin noir) and bacon which had been shown a bit of love. The baked beans were particularly good, which surprised me as i'm a bit of connoisseur when it comes to beans thanks to my dad’s obsession with them. You’d be amazed the variation between baked bean brands.

So seeing as it was all going so well, its time for me to have giant moan about one of my pet hates when it comes to fried eggs. Brace yourselves because this really pisses me off (I might suggest skipping this paragraph if you’re in a rush). The top of my yolk on my fried egg was translucent and raw, which in my opinion ruins the entire egg. You have to faff about scraping off the gelatinous mass just so you can dip your toast and by this point I’m normally in a bad mood. I once had a friend who told me he didn’t like fried eggs because they were raw on the top. When I asked him why he didn’t just cook the top he replied by telling me that he didn’t know you could do that with fried eggs (you know who you are)! This seems to be a recurring theme with me and breakfast, for heavens sake will someone just splash a bit of fat on the top or flip the thing over for 10 seconds, I don’t want my yolk cooked within an inch of its life, I just don’t want raw egg on the top.

Phew, rant aside everything else was lovely. The end of brunch was wrapped up with a cappuccino to perk me up, which was definitely required because I was falling asleep having drank half a bottle of Prosecco.

In conclusion everything was pretty good, as I said before I’ve eaten here for breakfast a few times and it’s always been good, you seriously need to try the eggs Benedict (I put some pictures up from the last time I went below). The venue is nice for an informal special occasion in the grandeur of the corn exchange or in my case to start of an impromptu pub crawl at 11:00am. No I don’t have an alcohol problem. Do I?

 

7/10 would have been 8 if not for the egg

anthonysrestaurant.co.uk/piazza

Corn Exchange
Leeds
LS1 7BR

0113 247 0995

The Kiss of Death!!

Ironically after my last review of The Leeds Kitchen, it seems I have the kiss of death as the Alea casino is closing down along with the restaurants; The Leeds kitchen and The Bird by Vineet.

A statement was issued on the casinos website last night which read “London Clubs International, owners of Alea Leeds Casino (including Leeds Kitchen and The Bird by Vineet) regret to announce that the company will be suspending trading as of today. We have reluctantly taken this decision following continued difficult trading conditions at the Clarence Dock development.”

I’m a bit devastated about this if I’m being honest, partly because I just reviewed one of the restaurants last week and secondly because the food was bloody good in The Leeds kitchen.

When I visited the restaurant had plenty of people inside and I have a hunch it’s mainly the casino that’s been loosing business. I could be wrong though.

Anyway I’m sad  L , not only will I not be able to go this lovely restaurant anymore I’m also one giant bad omen for any venue in the food industry I review.

So watch you better watch out establishment owners, I’m coming for you!!!

Leeds Kitchen by James Martin

Whooop wooop, ever since my mum went on Ready Steady Cook with James Martin (yes that’s right my mum is officially a TV chef) she loved him so much it’s rubbed off on me. So naturally I was going to pay his fairly new (2 years old?) restaurant a visit.

Its situated in the Alea casino in Leeds, which is part of the Clarence dock development that bombed pretty badly during the recession, fortunately this place remains as one its redeeming features.

So the venue is nice looking and fairly small, I reckon it only seats about 40 people max? Apparently James was there the night before we dined, but he was definitely absent the evening we showed up, I promise you I checked. I was hoping for a little swoon as he walked by.

Both of us opted for the set menu of 5 courses and a glass of house wine for £30. Absolutely Spanking value! However this option is only available Monday to Thursday, 6-9pm. I think it’s been updated now to 6 courses for the same price, as if you needed another reason to go.

Now for a little confession, I did expect this place to be pretty average. I like Mr Martin and his cooking I’ve seen on the big screen, but I was expecting a much more rustic classic “Yorkshire grub” approach. Like really well done pub food, or that’s what I was expecting anyway. What I got was quite the opposite, a delicious meal of beautiful sophisticated food with impeccable service. .  .Oh except the waitress not giving me my change back, but it was smaller than the tip we would have left anyway, so we bolted.

I’m getting ahead of myself, on to the food.

First up was a amuse-bouche consisting of a tiny mug of delicious frothy thick creamy pea soup. Second course was some chicken liver parfait, creamy and morish but not enough bread to go with it.

 The fish course was the most beautiful little fillet of mackerel I’ve ever had with blood orange and micro coriander. This was seriously tasty and definitely the best course of the meal.

 The main was a trio of pork loin,  pork cheek and sausage roll. Yes the sausage roll made an appearance as if just to keep us grounded and remind us of where James Martin’s food loyalties lie. My rapture at the inclusion of a sausage roll was a rapidly brought back to earth when I realised it was just a sausage roll and didn’t taste much better than something I’d knocked up in my own kitchen. However the rest of the pork was perfectly cooked and the cheek was exceptionally tasty.

 By this point I was getting pretty full and it was time for desert. Dessert? I know a friend from university who wrote an entire exam answer about the prehistoric expansion of desserts in Northern Africa, ooops. Dessert was a chocolate mousse served with a berry compote. I thought it was ok but my partner liked it and to be honest dessert would have to contain some bacon for me to like it anyway.

That’s it done. All in 2 people £60, bargain if you ask me. I was really impressed with the cooking here, simple food done well, no bells and whistles required. So get yourself down to Clarence dock you wont find the same quantity or quality of food in Leeds for £30 anywhere else. :)

8.5/10

http://theleedskitchen.co.uk
Alea Casino,
Clarence Dock,
Leeds

Chadwicks Inn, Maltby, Teesside

A few weeks ago I was back in the North East and decided to visit Chadwicks Inn in Maltby village for lunch. Allegedly “the only 2 AA Rosette Gastro pub in the Tees Valley” or so it says on their website. Chadwicks used to be found on Yarm high street but moved about 2 years ago to Maltby site a few miles away.

The restaurant has a country pub vibe tastefully decorated with dark wood furniture and a log burning stove in the corner. This owes to the fact that it used to be pub not so long ago, but I wouldn’t come here for a cheeky pint nowadays.

We booked in advance and were promptly shown to our table and offered the menus. We both picked off the set lunch menu which was 3 courses for around £15-20, I forget the exact price.

First up was Pea soup with a poached egg and smoked bacon dressing. The soup was delicious, velvety smooth and fresh and the egg beautifully runny in the middle. However I didn’t get any smoked bacon from the dish, to be honest id be quite happy to just put two crispy pieces on the top. Bring on the bacon!!

My partner opted for the smoked salmon with quail’s egg and young onions. Which I’m told was very good, the young broad beans scattered about the place were a nice touch. This course also came on a slate which is pretty edgy for the Tees Valley. I bet the locals weren’t impressed? So far so good.

The final course was Pan fried sea trout with orange and fennel salad. The trout was cooked perfectly soft and moist in the middle with a lovely crispy skin but the salad seemed to have been dressed in water and there was no appearance from Mr Fennel, maybe they’d ran out? This really let the dish down. I love fennel but could have dealt with just a mixed leaf salad if it had some form of dressing to tie the dish together. Anyway the fennel was gone so I made do and quenched my thirst on my moist salad.

All in all I like this place, it’s about 1 mile from my parents and the lunch menu really is reasonably priced. I’d recommend it for those in the area that are after more than a trip to Frankie’s and Bennie’s, it’s probably slightly cheaper than most of the other “fine dining” alternatives around as well.

7/10

High Ln, Maltby
Middlesbrough

TS8 0BG

www.chadwicksinnmaltby.co.uk

Red’s true BBQ - Leeds

So apparently some people have viewed my blog already!! How they found me I’ll never know? On to post number 3 then I guess.

Seeing as I live in Leeds I thought it was about time I talked about somewhere that was actually in Leeds. The venue in question is Red’s True BBQ which opened in September 2012 and has been mental busy pretty much since it opened. I only went after it was recommended on the Leedsgastroguru.blogspot seeing as I’d managed to walk past it twice without noticing it had even opened.

As ever it was crazy busy and this is another place following the current trend of not taking bookings. Hence I only made it into the venue at my second attempt of trying after being turned away on the first for turning up at 6:30 on a Tuesday evening.

We were a party of two and were sat on the end of larger table, be prepared to share your evening with some other diners. The décor in the place is modern and quirky with the lights turned fairly low. The whole place is pretty smoky thanks to the open kitchen but you are going to a bbq restaurant so what do you expect.

The menu is made up of the usual culprits, ribs, burgers, pulled pork that kind of thing which you can get with a combination of sides. There were some exciting looking cocktails and a range of shakes and non alcoholic options. I went for the iced tea which was made with good old Yorkshire Tea. Very nice and refreshing it was to, with a pleasant mix of sharp lemon sweet tea and a bitter finish.

For food I opted for the cheese burger (naturally) and my dining partner got the pulled pork and slaw.

The burger was good, nice tasty beef, cheap cheese etc.. but the beef portion was a little small and dwarfed by the stodgy bun. On the topic of the bun I personally love a toasted brioche with my burger I like that light crispy shiny surface. However this bun was of the cakey cob persuasion like you get everywhere in Derbyshire. So if you’re going to have the burger, go double.

To the pork. My dear Mr Red what have you done? The pork was beautifully tender and could be eaten with a spoon but it tasted of thin air! Apparently this problem extends to the beef brisket as well which I’m reliably told was equally tender but bland as out. The pork was garnished with some pork scratchings which was a good idea but scratchings are a bit of a kop out if you ask me. Some warm fresh crackling would have been better than cold scratchings. The slaw served with the pork was good, I’m not adverse to a little mayo free slaw every now and again and it cut through the fat in the pork perfectly.

The sides that came with the meal were the highlight of the night. Onion rings were crisp, red hot and rather on the large side and the deep fried pickles were gorgeous. I’ve been meaning to try these deep fried vinegary slices of heaven for ages but not got round to it, I’m glad I did.

On the hole then this place did alright. It’s not expensive and once you finally get in the its pretty lively and service swift. I wouldn’t rave home about it, but the concept is fairly novel and new to Leeds and the punters seem to be lapping it up.

7/10

Cloth Hall Street

(nr Corn Exchange)

Leeds LS1 2HD

truebarbecue.com

Patty and Bun, London

On a recent visit to the capital I found my self near Bond Street and decided to visit Patty & Bun to see what all the fuss was about.

I’d like to take this moment to talk about a recent point made on Chris Pople’s blog (cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.co.uk) about his trip to the Electric Diner on Portobello Road. Chris pointed out that although many of you bloggers and critics etc in the Big City are getting a bit fed up of the whole sloppy burger craze, “this thing is still a relative novelty to most people”.

Now I know you’re all sick of sloppy American diner experiences and queuing for an hour to eat a burger! But in the North of England there is virtually no where to get a decent burger and the few places that do exist have “mostly” only sprung up in the last 12 months or so.

Rant aside, this leads me back to my excitement at being down “south” and popping in to the much talked about Patty & Bun.

The venue in question has fairly plain “wipe clean” Décor, but was nice enough all the same and the staff were pleasant and punctual. I ordered the Ari Gold burger, which was about £8-9 for the burger alone.

Anyway there it is, she’s beautiful isn’t she. Sadly that’s about as far as I got to the bedroom with this burger. It had all the right ingredients; good quality beef (so I’m told), oozy cheese, sexy bun, burger sauce mmmmm. But what it left in my mouth was a watery mouthful of blandness. The beef was under seasoned, fairly tasteless and the whole thing underwhelming. The Ari Gold has got all the right components, it should be great... but its not.

This is starting to feel like an overly negative post, especially as it’s my first review. So I’ll try and place said burger into context. Out of every burger I’ve ever eaten in my beleaguered culinary existence in the North East of England and Yorkshire, this ranks in the top 10%. The problem with Patty & Bun is the “hype” I was expecting Nirvana but it didn’t happen. My advice is go somewhere else, Dirty burger is cheap if your in Kentish Town, Almost Famous in Manchester is good (love that place) or if you like a burger beautiful on the outside and plain in the middle, go here. I know plenty of men that would settle for that in a woman.

6/10

54 James St,

London W1U 1EU 

www.pattyandbun.co.uk