Food: Reds True Barbecue

Red's True BBQ
54-56 Great Eastern St,
Shoreditch,
London,
EC2A 3QR

After establishing a stronghold t'up north, boss's of BBQ have opened up in Shoreditch, London! I've wanted to try this place since they had a little pop up and opened up this super cool looking restaurant. Since my first visit a couple of weeks ago I've been back twice and it's been awesome every time! The decor is really cool, very rustic and warm. The downstairs bar area is set out like an old wood cabin with red drapes down the walls in the hallways.

Anyway onto the important stuff, BBQ! I have to admit I found the menu a little bit confusing to begin with, a bit long and I was scared I'd miss out on something amazing, although the super friendly and helpful staff immediately offered to explain it to me. We ended up going for the "Beef Long", which comes in a medium, large or extra large. We also opted for the burnt ends and hot wings. The Beef Long is perhaps the nicest bit of BBQ I've ever had, the flavour and tenderness of the meat was unmatched (I've had it every time so far). The burnt ends also lived up to the hype and had a much more smokey flavour than a lot of burnt ends you get at smokehouses that just taste a bit like roast beef!

Now let me tell you about the wings. When waiting staff usually ask if I'm sure I want the hot wings as they are really hot I always go for the hottest spice as it usually isn't THAT hot. I kind of regretted that at Reds. Who knows, perhaps I just got a particularly spicy batch, but daym those wings were hot! For pudding I had a peach, pecan and salted caramel cobbler with pecan ice cream. This was mouth watering and so tasty, I could maybe of eaten two.

As well as great food, It's almost worth the visit just for the great atmosphere and amazing service. The staff are truly lovely and very welcoming. We visited last night and the manager remembered us from our first visit, and one of the other members of staff remembered our friends from a time before which was lovely! He then took us to see the smokers (smelt ridiculously nice) and gave us a bunch of free meat marinates. 

Every time I've been the food, atmosphere and service has really been amazing. For somebody who works in the industry and can't help but judge every aspect of going out for food this takes a lot for me to say. If you're into your BBQ and meat you simply must check this place out

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

Recipe: Oreo & coconut mixed chocolate truffles

Truffles are something I've been keen to make for SO long! Super easy to make and really tasty. I'm a huge fan

You'll need:

- 500ml double cream
- Large knob of butter
- 1 bar of high quality (70%) dark chocolate
- 1 bar of high quality white chocolate (as high percentage of choc as pos)
- 1 pack of Oreo's
- 1 bag of dessicated coconut
- A little cocoa powder

Method:

Heat the double cream on a medium heat until hot (not boiling) then whisk in the knob of butter until melted. In the mean time break up your white and dark chocolate in separate bowls. Once the butter is melted whisk about 300ml of the cream mixture into the dark chocolate and stir until all of the chocolate has melted then set aside. I found that the white chocolate needed slightly less of the mixture so the remainder (200ml) should do fine, mix then set aside.

Pop both bowls of melted and mixed chocolate into the fridge to chill. The dark chocolate will only take a couple of hours but try and leave the white chocolate for a couple more hours. Whilst that's setting, blitz a bunch of Oreo's in a blender (or just bash them up if you don't have one) then pop that mixture, the coconut and the cocoa powder into three separate bowls

Once the chocolate mixture is hard to the touch, grab a melon baller or a teaspoon, scoop out a small ball and roll in-between your palms as quickly as possible to create a little ball before it melts in your hand, then drop it into your desired topping and roll it around. The white chocolate won't set quite as hard and was generally a pain in the ass throughout this whole recipe, so be swift when rolling and don't worry too much about making perfectly round balls (they all go down the same hole).

I found that the dark chocolate went nicely with just some cocoa powder on them and the white chocolate suited the coconut and Oreo crumbs better. This is a pretty easy recipe and the end result was honestly lovely. Give it a go and mix up your mixture's and toppings! Really good with a nice coffee or cuppa tea, enjoy!

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

Food: Milk

Somewhere I've been meaning to visit for so long now is Milk in Balham! We've driven past this place so many times and even tried to visit once but it was rammo! It was a bit of a spur of the moment thing so I didn't have the camera on me so forgive me for the phone pictures, I'm going to do a full review another time as the decor was amazing and it's hard to appreciate from these photo's.

Inside the place looks amazing, everything looks so clean and rustic. We were offered a choice of where to sit and ended up grabbing a table right by the big glass window that runs adjacent to the street.

Although the menu doesn't actually show any steamed milk coffee's (It just says white/black/expresso) they made us latte's that we really enjoyed, milk was not too hot which is just how I like it. I chose "The Convict" which consisted of pretty much all of my favourite breakfast things; English muffin, streaky bacon, sausage, scrambled egg, hash brown and hangover sauce! The sauce was awesome and resembled a kind of rich barbecue like taste. This was topped with freshly grated parmesan, something I've never considered for breakfast but was god like in taste.

I could go on about how great the food was (I was really taken back by it), however the thing that I really loved was the kitchen. The kitchen is right in the middle of the restaurant and no bigger than your average bathroom, with one chef making the meals. You could just tell that everything was so fresh, and this reflected in the taste of everything. Georgia went for a simple scrambled eggs on toast and the eggs were so creamy and delicious.

So typically I wasn't totally finished there, I went and had a browse at their cake display that we walked past as we came in. The staff seemed super nice and friendly and helped me out with what to chose. They had a really cool range of cakes with very different ingredients. I ended up gong for a hazelnut cake that was so damn good and went down great with another coffee.

This was meant to be a short review because of the pants pictures but I was honestly so impressed by this place I can't wait to go back any day now, I'm literally making excuses for the need of breakfast,

Get down to Milk in Balham, it's really easy to get to if you have a tube station near  and you won't regret it I promise!

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

Food: Urban Food Festival

Last night I was out partying for my little sisters 21st Birthday celebrations so today was very tender for me. So as a very hungover couple me and Georgia ventured out to Shoreditch to check out Urban Food Festival, a really funky little food market in set in a car park on Shoreditch high street. I really struggled to enjoy myself being so hungover which is a shame as it had a lovely atmosphere here, with live music and lots of really friendly staff, who gave us some bottle caps that gave us discount at the bar, which for obvious reasons I didn't take advantage of!

I didn't go so crazy this time. We grabbed a classic bruschetta from Bob Bruschetta that was lovely and fresh. Then after much deliberation I grabbed a monster of a burger from the Backstreet Diner that was a had a super fresh patty with pulled pork. Very messy but worth the sticky fingers. We then shared some really tasty jerk chicken from the Caribbean Smokehouse.

Although I struggled through today I would definitely head back there another day as there are so many other stalls I wanted to check out! Get down there

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

Food: Summer Tales/ Night Tales

Night Tales present Summer Tales fuelled one of my recent days off. I'd actually walked past this place a couple of times before and if you've walked through Shoreditch recently you probably have too. To be frank, it really didn't seem like much from outside. However as you go in you open up into a huge, awesome little jungle full of people, food, booze and music. I'm a total sucker for food markets (although I wouldn't call it that) and always end up trying most things there. It was a fiver to get in and had some awesome food and drink from around London.

After some instant food envy we started with a lovely little pizza from Pizza Pilgrims. I'd heard great things about this pizza and this was my first time. As big pizza lovers, it did not disappoint, especially as it took a matter of minutes to make. The staff were also super friendly and really chatty which was just great. I quickly moved onto a nice looking fish stall, Bonnie Gull. I had a spiced Cajun fish sandwich that really hit the spot and didn't bust my wallet.

So at this point I realised that sitting and drinking in the sun was going to lead to a lot more food. Next up was Nanny Bills. Their food was advertised with a big sign saying "croquettes" along side a menu of different sides. I was honestly confused by the menu and it wasn't until I ordered that I realised that I had gotten actual pulled pork croquettes. Something totally new to me and really blew my mind. Really gutted as Georgia took a video of me busting one of these juicy things open, which I stupidly deleted by accident. Take my word for it, they are AMAZING.

Lastly after a bit more food envy I went and checked out the Forza Win stand. The guys were super friendly and I loved the idea of an adults "happy meal" that came with a hard shake. This was some super simple, but serious chicken. Going to be hitting a store of theirs real soon.

If you can get down to Summer Tales, do! Really loved atmosphere especially with the amazing weather we are having at the moment. Don't forget to take cash as most stands don't take card!

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

food: burgermeister, berlin

 Back in February Georgia and I visited Berlin for my birthday, and naturally had to dig out the best places to eat. I'd heard nothing but rave reviews of Burgermeister so we had to visit. Three times in fact.
The restaurant itself is small and in what seems to be an old newstand or similar. It's hard to spot, with no signage or anything and just sticker covered perspex walls surrounding it. We actually walked right past it three times before realising what it was!
Inside is the same, a short queuing system and stickers lining every wall, with old beer crates as seats and a bar that ran around the edge of the small walls.
The menu is short but sweet. We went for The Burgermeister, as well as the BBQ burger. Both absolutely amazing, filled with a sweet sauce and really tender meat. On average, they were no more than 6 Euros.
We also grabbed chilli cheese fries, and a beer each. The beer was local and went perfectly with the meat, and the fries were a great guilty treat.

I definitely recommend visiting if you're in Berlin, don't expect a luxury sit down meal but it's 100% worth the wait for that burger!

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

Home cooks: Marathon training, a healthy w

So I may or may not have mentioned but I'm being sent to Tromso, Norway (the god-damn Arctic circle) today courtesy of my amazing workplace, The Breakfast Club, to run in the Tromso Midnight Sun Marathon. The run takes place as 9 in the evening this coming Saturday and as they have no darkness at this time of year  we are running through the night, in the daylight. Madness! TBC do so much for charity and as much as this is a huge personal challenge it is really about raising money for worthy charities. My dad sadly lost both of his parents to Cancer and I'm sure we all know someone effected by cancer, so I'm running in aid of Cancer Research UK.

I'm no runner. I've always been into sprinting, athletics and more fast past sports, so training for this marathon has been tough for me. As well as running I've been switching up the diet to shed a few pounds and become lighter on my feet so I thought I'd do a post of a few of the regular dinners we've been having to stay lean!

I won't bore with recipe's as they are pretty self explanatory but In short lots of greens, healthy carbs and fats alongside lean meats such as turkey and chicken breast. We use coconut oil to fry and bake everything, It's a super versatile and amazing product, I really recommend getting some!

I really can't wait to run alongside all my pals from work, it's going to be tough as hell but so rewarding running for a cause so close to the hear. If any kind souls fancied sponsoring me I'm going to keep the page going for a little while after I've (hopefully) finished the marathon!

Click me to sponsor me :)

Wish me luck!

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate