MEATliquor

MEATliquor

The best thing about a restaurant located just off of Oxford Street is that it is located just off of Oxford Street. The perfect face-filling location after a full-on day of high street trawling.

Not only is it located within spitting distance of Topshop, H&M and Zara, but MEATliquor also offers the PERFECT dinner when you've worked up a huge appetite after being on your feet all day. Full fat, cheesy, chilli burgers, chips, deep fried whatever-takes-your-fancy and a menu full of tasty desserts too!

I must say, if you don't want to be queuing round the corner of the street for (yes) around 2 hours, then you should definitely arrive early. MEATliquor is a popular place and they don't take reservations - its a first come first served kinda place!

Decor is Gothic; blood, werewolves, bears, strange smiley pigs and a lot of black, red and white sprayed all over the place, with graffiti messages like "I do not live in the world of sobriety."

To start, Sophia ordered some extremely naughty deep fried pickles that came with a tasty dip. Apologies for the darkness of the pictures... low level lighting would be an understatement... 

Sophia AKA Meat Madam / Chief Burgerette sucking on a Battered Pickle

Deep Fried Deliciousness!

There's also a variety of cocktails which had to be sampled - it would have been rude not to! I went for the 3 rum Grog on recommendation!

For main courses, I went for the bacon cheeseburger, Sophia had the philly-cheese-chilli-steak-heartattack-mountain and we both opted for some chilli cheese fries... just in case we'd under-ordered!

Perfectly timed as we finished dinner, one of the waitresses appeared with a tannoy announcing the bravest man of all men, Will, who was about to take on the 10 minute challenge! Managing to overcome paralysis-by-over-indulgence, we scooted over to join in the cheering as the restaurant accompanied Will's friends in banging fists and shouting 'You can do it Will!!!'

The challenge is that the contestant must polish off 3 hot chilli dinners in under 10 minutes. If they manage it, the £20 meal is free, and should they finish the platter in close to 3 minutes, they're added to the leader board just to prove their utter eating amazingness!

 I was also thoroughly impressed with the toilet signage - because everyone loves a naughty word...




























On top of the excitement of Will coming in at under 10 minutes and getting his whole meal for free, there's also a photobooth for hours of fun at the end of the evening, when one has over-indulged in rum cocktails!

BB Bakery County Hall

Naughty but Nice

On strolling through London in the sun, we happened (by chance) to stumble across a little sanctuary that has definitely been added to my Little Black Book!

The BB Bakery, County Hall. Where every cake / biscuit / chocolate / tart / pastry lover's fantasy can be a reality!

The bakery itself is a little haven of quaint tables and chairs, cake stands, amazing macaroon towers, Baroque photo frames and much more besides - the majority of which (you'll be delighted to know) are for sale. But the true delights are in the edible treats!

After umm-ing and ahh-ing over the homemade pizzas, pastries, foot long baguettes and other savoury snacks, we ventured over to the cake counter and spent about 20 minutes trying to decide which piece of art took our fancy. Reluctantly, we managed to keep to one each:

Lemon Meringue Tart - the husband-to-be's and I didn't get a look in!

A piece of art - Apricot Jelly, White Chocolate Mousse, Brownie Base and a Macaroon Topper! Delicious

Traditional Chocolate Eclair - with the added surprise of a chocolate cream inside

Red Velvet - with one hell of a topping! (Not that ANYONE was complaining)

As we were in a bit of a rush we had our cakes boxed and bagged and took them home to devour over a cup of tea. Bliss!

Jambalaya Night

A Taste of Cuba...

Whenever I'm cooking for a larger group, I always find it easier and more sociable to cook a gigantic pot of something tasty, that sits on the stove for people to help themselves as and when they fancy.

On this occasion, it was for the boyfriend and me, plus the 'rents, who were over from Spain for the week... so no need to impress with haute cuisine!

Reminiscing about childhood holidays in Cuba, where my family and I would sit on the beach by day, and tuck into a rich, spicy Jambalaya in the evening, got me in the mood to create an old family favourite. This spicy, rice dish originated in the Caribbean Islands. The Spanish culture mixed with the native foods and created what we know as Jambalaya - a mixture of meat, vegetables and seafood topped up with stock and plenty of rice. If you want to make this dish you'll need:

(serves around 8)

• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 450g skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 450g smoked pork (I used gammon steak)
• 900g long grain rice
• 20 odd prawns, raw
• 2 tins plum tomatoes
• 500g tomato puree
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 4 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 1/2 pints (2 litres) chicken stock
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1tsp dried oregano
• 2 bay leaves

If trawling to the supermarket doesn't appeal to you, buy these ingredients online here.

In a large pot, brown the chicken cubes in the sunflower oil, seasoning with salt and pepper. Brown on all sides - about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Do the same with the gammon or smoked pork, (no need for salt and pepper) The smell of the cooking bacon may warrant an early taste.... just make sure it's cooked through! Set aside with the chicken.

Add chopped onions, celery and red pepper to the oil left in the pot. Cook for 5 minutes until onion and celery turn transulcent.

Add tomato puree, and stir for a few minutes. Then add the tins of plum tomatoes, the stock and scrape any tasty sticky bits on the side of the pan into the liquid, stirring until smooth.

Add cayenne (2 tsp is pretty spicy, you may want to start with 1 and see how you go), a bit of pepper, oregano, thyme and bay leaves.

Return the chicken and pork and then add the rice. Stir, cover and cook with the lid on for about 20 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure the bottom isn't burning.

Once rice is tender and most liquid has been absorbed, add the prawns and cook it for another 10 minutes. When they're perfectly pink, grab some plates and forks, call in the crowds and enjoy!

Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days. This dish gets tastier by the day as flavours marinade.

Duck & Waffle - Breakfast with a View

Not recommended for those with a fear of heights!

So Sunday just gone consisted of heading into London with husband-to-be, Mother and Mother-in-Law, to view the Queen's Chapel (our wedding-venue-to-be) following its recent refurbishment works.

Of course one can never start such a task without devouring an enormous fried breakfast, and it seemed like the perfect excuse... I mean opportunity... to test the new Duck and Waffle at the Heron Tower.

This quirky new restaurant is on the 40th floor of the tower, which is somewhere near the top of this...

Thankfully there was a lift!

On flying up to the 40th floor at a rate of knots in a glass, OUTER FACING lift, we were greeted with a breathtaking view of London just as the 9am haze was clearing:

We were first in the restaurant and had a choice of table, so opted for one by the window. The menu was as equally pleasing as the view, and it was a difficult choice between the full English or the chocolatey waffles!

 

As you can see, I went for the take-no-prisoners-fry-up, and boasting a giant mushroom, black pudding and plenty of crispy bacon it didn't disappoint! 

 Those watching their waistlines opted for something on the healthy side, but which looked equally as tasty

After gaining a few more pounds, and the restaurant had rapidly filled up, we had another quick wander admiring the decor before making our descent!

The bar area - pretty sure this vast collection would include your favourite tipple!

Light feature

Great view of the Gherkin

Viewing point

Not wanting to put any budding visitors off, but have a look at the video below to see just how quickly you descent from floor 40 to ground... the flickering isn't poor video quality, its the metal frame flying past us as we continue downwards!

The Duck and Waffle is also open for lunch and dinner.