I think im in love...

Today was my girlfriends first day of her new job since leaving uni, and what better way to celebrate than dinner and cocktails. She doesn't eat meat so obviously i took her to the infamous MEATliquor.
MEATliquor is located just off Bond st on Welbeck St. I've heard a lot about it, and read from a popular burger blogger that their burgers are fantastic.

We got there at about 7 and we were greeted by a very small queue inside. These no bookings kind of places are renowned for a horrendous queue ie, Burger Lobster. The queue quickly grew after we arrived so i'd say try and get there before 7 if you can.

As soon as we walked in, i was in love. Maybe because they were playing The White Stripes really loud, the smell of meat or maybe it was the brothel style lighting. Who knows, but i was hooked from the start.

We were asked if we would like to wait as the bar, but the girl came over after 2 minutes anyway and seated us. It was all really quick and the waitress was friendly. The bar reminded me of Total Recall, maybe another reason i was so into it already.

Their website doesn't show a menu so i thought id be so kind as to blog it for everyone.

The decor is awesome, and theres something interesting and bizarre to look at where ever you're sitting. The music was primarily classic rock or for some reason all my favourite bands. I dont think at any point i was going to have a bad night.

 I went for the chicken wings and hot sauce, Dead Hippie burger, onion rings and a Meatjito (mojito). My girlfriend went for the "Rabbit food" mushroom and halloumi sandwich (burger), and deep fried pickles with blue cheese sauce + one of their own gin based fruit cocktails.

The cocktails and starters arrived really quickly and one after the other pretty much. The deep fried pickles are fucking amazing, and the chicken wings in hot sauce made me weep in happiness. Everything so far was fantastic.

Then the burgers arrived and the HUGE onion rings. I was really in my element here. The only way to describe the Dead Hippe burger is if a big mac was actually good. I think it's their dead hippie sauce. The whole thing was rad, 2 patties, big slices of pickle, chopped white onion and lettuce. My girlfriends burger was a pretty straight up halloumi and mushroom burger but she very much enjoyed it. She probably would have been happy eating the deep fried pickles all night and drinking cocktails. The cocktails arrived in jam jars, which im into and they were made perfectly.

I was so excited i had to tell my friend Craig.

All i can say to you is GO TO MEAT LIQUOR. The dead hippie is by far the best burger i have ever eaten and all together the bill was £54 for everything you can see here plus 2 more cocktails. I dont think meat liquor can be beaten...

Note the large kitchen towel rolls on each table, i liked this a lot. This is really a place to get stuck in, and enjoy yourself. Couldn't ask for anything better. 

http://www.meatliquor.com/

BIG EASY BAR-B-Q & CRABSHACK

Okay, so i've been food blogging pretty hard lately and finally given in and made myself one of my own. My girlfriend and i spend all of our spare time eating out, and usually taking photos of everything we eat anyway, so why not blog about it too.

So we hit up Big Easy - Bar-B-Q & Crabshack in Chelsea the other day, i read that its fucking wicked and the closest thing we'll get to a real american restaurant here in London.

The location is a pretty long walk away from Sloane Square station, so i'd advise you to get a bus from whatever station you get off at (south kensington/Sloane Square) or wear comfy shoes. But if you walk, there's always a chance you might bump into a dog.

It was Friday at about 7ish and was pretty full already. The menu consists of the usual suspects, steak, chicken wings, burgers, ribs, lobster etc. The fact they're called a crab shack would imply their menu would have far more fish mains but theres only 6 consisting of lobster, crab & shrimp, which is cool for me but my girlfriend doesn't eat meat.

I had the Bar-B-Q Ribs and Chicken (£15.90), which was a half rack of ribs and a quarter chicken. When i ordered it the waitress promptly suggested i pay an extra £2.99 for breast rather than leg and thigh. I declined as i prefer leg & thigh meat. Which turned out to be tough and chewy anyway, so i guess thats why she was so eager, or she just wanted her sales mix. The rib's were wicked though, they're hickory smoked in house which is cool and makes for a great taste. It came with creamy coleslaw & home made BBQ beans both in very large portions and a lot of flavour. I also had chips & onions rings which were as good as they can be.

My girlfriend had the Crab Shack Combo (£16.90), which consists of Jumbo shrimp, mussels, fresh Atlantic crab claws & new potatoes served in a garlic white wine sauce. She got 3 shrimp, several mussels and 3 claws. She spent the most of her time breaking crab legs, which wasn't what she wanted to spend her night doing. All in all she liked the food, loved the sauce & left content but not full. I on the other hand, left full and stayed that way all night long.

My suggestion is to only go to Big Easy for their happy hours on food. Check the website for the mon-fri deals. Things like a whole fresh scotia/native lobster with fries, house salad and a free margarita or beer for only £14.95! Anywhere that's willing to give you a cocktail thrown in with the price deserves some attention.

Next time....

http://www.bigeasy.co.uk/