Burger and Lobster: simple concept, great for lobster lovers

Burger and Lobster is a chain of five restaurants in London focussing on - you guessed it - burgers and lobsters.

Choosing your food at Burger and Lobster is pretty simple and there are just three things on the mains menu: [1] lobster in a brioche roll (lobster roll), [2] cooked whole lobster (grilled or boiled) and [3] beef burger.  All dishes come with fries and mixed salad.  So the concept is pretty simple.

Seeing as everything is £20, I felt the obvious choice was to order one of the two lobster dishes. I went with the lobster roll, while the girlfriend ordered the grilled lobster.

The lobster roll was excellent. Cool (as in not hot) and tasty chunks of lobster were neatly tucked into a soft yet robust brioche roll - the slight sweetness of the brioche working well in tandem with the lobster.

Lobster roll.

The fries were very crispy and nicely seasoned with salt, while the mixed salad was simple and lightly covered with parmesan.

The girlfriend's grilled lobster came complete with shell cracker and pick, plus a plastic bib! Extracting all the meat from a lobster is always enjoyable - much easier than crab meat.  The girlfriend really enjoyed it.

Grilled lobster.

As the restaurant does not actually have a menu, we had not realised desserts were available. Again, it's a simple choice. You can either get cheesecake topped with what appears to be broken Oreo biscuits, or an Eton Mess.

I really enjoyed the simple concept of Burger and Lobster and I'll certainly want to go back to try the grilled lobster. While the restaurant is extremely busy - even on a weekday - service and arrival of food is pretty quick, no doubt helped by the simple menu.

Nearest Tube: Bank or St Paul's

 

Pilpel: fantastic falafel and houmous bar in London

I don't usually post entries about my fast food lunch, but this time I've made an exception.  A colleague, JC (not the one from N'Sync), recently took me to a falafel and houmous bar called Pilpel, located in the St Paul's area in London.

I was promised two things:

1. A tasty lunch.
2. Large portion.

Living up to this promise, I got both.  I ordered the houmous and aubergine - deep filled with falafel, salad and chilli inside a soft wholemeal pita. Sometimes, falafel can be a bit dry, but Pilpel's falafel was tasty, crispy and not dry in the middle.

It wasn't practical to take this apart to show the inside, but there was lots of salad, falafel, aubergine and houmous...

Sadly, there is no banana to show scale, but it was pretty chunky and I was definitely full by the end!

If you're in the area and you like this kind of food, check out the menu and head in - you won't be disappointed.  There are three other units at Spitalfields, Spitalfields Market and Fleet Street.

Closest Tube: St Paul's
Address: Unit 5, Queens Head Passage, Paternoster Square, London, EC4M 7DZ

The Chancery: modern European food in the City

The Chancery is a modern European restaurant tucked away in Cursitor Street - a small side street near Chancery Lane, London.

As with many other areas of the City on a weekend (which is when I visited), Cursitor Street and the surrounding streets can become quiet. This is maybe why there's a 'Saturday night' toptable deal offering 50 per cent off The Chancery's 'limited a la carte' three-course set menu, normally priced at £39.50 and which I took full advantage of.

Menu - pick an item from each course.

I started off with the helianthus artichoke velouté - or soup in layman's terms. I wasn't even 100 per cent sure what I had ordered but I had no regrets; it was a great start and the soup was flavoursome and with a nice consistency. The parmesan also gave a nice crispy contrast to the soup. This was the type of dish I would happily have again.

Helianthus artichoke velouté, parmesan crisp and truffle oil.

The next course was perhaps the dish of the evening. Pork fillet is my favourite part of a pig - usually moist, tender and full of flavour - and at The Chancery it did not disappoint. The BBQ cheek was also good and fell apart easily, as expected. I'm usually not a fan of creamed vegetables but this seemed to work well with the contrasting flavour of the meat on this occasion - and crucially was not too creamy.

There was also popcorn on this dish. I'm not convinced it added (or took away) anything from the dish from a taste point of view, but I guess it makes it look a bit different!

Roast pork fillet, BBQ cheek, heritage carrots, and creamed savoy.

Onto dessert, I usually avoid poached pear (a personal preference). But the lure of cinnamon ice cream and a crumble sucked me in. I hadn't expected crumble on top of a pear and this made it quite interesting from both a taste and visual point of view.

However, I would have preferred a bit more ice cream (which tasted very nice and full of cinnamon), plus it had also melted a bit more than I would have liked.

Baked pear, cinnamon ice cream, hazelnut crumble.

I need to also give a special mention to the peanut butter chocolate tart. Being a peanut butter fan, I very nearly ordered this; it's not everyday you find this on the menu. My fellow diner said it was very rich!

Peanut butter chocolate tart, peanut brittle and crème fraiche ice cream.

What do you think? If you like what you see, check out their toptable page for the latest offers.

Closest Tube: Chancery Lane

 

Come to Fora for excellent Mediterranean & Turkish food in London

When I visited Turkey a few years ago, I remember the food being enjoyable and the people being hospitable. So when I found a toptable deal for highly-rated Fora - a Turkish and Mediterranean restaurant near Liverpool Street and Aldgate in the City of London - I booked a table.

As part of the deal, you get all the cold and hot mezes on the set menu, plus a choice of one main course. A free glass of sparkling wine is thrown in, too - all for £17.50.

The feta borek was new to me; basically it's a bit like a samosa but with cheese in the middle - very tasty. My friend said, "this is the best samosa I've ever had" - even though it's not a samosa. The falafel was crispy on the outside, yet moist in the middle.

Hot mezes: spinach & feta borek and falafel.

Cold mezes: tabbouleh, kisir, hummus and manca.

The girlfriend and I had the centik special (grilled cubes of lamb, chicken and kofte on top of thinly sliced potato fries, and topped with yoghurt). Ignoring the fact that the yoghurt looks a bit like a poached egg, this was a delicious dish. The sauce was wonderfully seasoned and all the meats were wonderfully cooked. Despite the small dish size, there was plenty of meat here and I definitely felt full after.

Centik special.

The mixed grill looked awesome and, judging by how quickly my friend ate it, it clearly tasted good too!

Mixed grill.

The restaurant also had a nice atmosphere. This was helped by the live guitarist, Faruk Ceviz, who plays evenings Tuesday-Saturday. He played a mixture of new and old songs throughout the evening, including Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson, which I did not expect! It sounded very good and made the evening more enjoyable as a result.

In fact, our table got chatting to Faruk - a friendly chap - and it turns out he is also a composer (some of his work can be found on his YouTube channel).

Faruk Ceviz.

Efes definitely reminds me of my holiday in Istanbul and Antalya, Turkey! I think I had this every day with most meals.

Overall, I have to say that Fora is an excellent restaurant with good food, atmosphere and music - all backed up by friendly service staff. Would definitely come again.

Closest Tube: Liverpool Street and Aldgate
Address: 34-36 Houndsditch, London, EC3A 7DB

 

Old fashioned pub in The City of London, old fashioned (and crap) food

London has many wonderful shops and restaurants that are hidden away in little side streets. Finding them can be part of the fun of walking around London.

Unfortunately, The George and Vulture* located in a small alleyway by Cornnhill (near Bank) is not so wonderful. I don't have any problem with the small and cramped nature of the place - that's just how old buildings are. I also don't have a problem with the efficient staff that some people would interpret as rudeness. What I do have a problem with however is the horrible overpriced food they serve. Let's take a look.

Pate and bread for starter. Hmmm I was literally given toast and probably some supermarket pate. Nothing wrong with that at home (in fact I DO eat it at home), but not what I expect when paying for it in a dining pub.

Check out this steak and kidney 'pie'. It didn't look nice and it tasted worse. The flavour was non-existent and the pastry tasted like a biscuit.

So for these two awful courses plus chips (that's extra) and a glass of wine, I wouldn't want to spend much more than £10 (and even then I would feel ripped off). Yet somehow my fellow diners and I somehow paid on average £37 for our various two-course meals. That's right, 37 British Pound Sterling. Regardless of the price, this was my worst meal in a pub or restaurant ever. The price just made the pain worst.

Definitely avoid.

Address: 3 Castle Ct, London EC3V 9DL
Nearest Tube: Bank

* Not to be confused with this place: http://www.georgeandvulture.com/