Food: Dalston Street Feast

Hartwell Street

Dalston

London

E8 3DU

So a friend from work suggested the Dalston Street Feast and I'm so glad we went, what a gem! Georgia, myself and the crew from work headed down there a few days ago and I nearly died with excitement after looking the place up on the train there. The place is only about every Fri/Sat 01/02 May - 25/26 Sep and had a huge queue when we arrived! It's £3 entry after 7pm and we queued for about 5-10 and boy was it worth the wait. The venue is an abandoned warehouse type place with an awesome refurb. As well as a bunch of awesome food places there are plenty of bars and places to relax, it was night time and the open fires made it super cosy. Unfortunately by the time we arrived and got in it was really dark and quite poorly lit so a lot of the photo's I took ended up being no good, I plan to go back in the day light! 

It was so hard to chose what to eat here, I really felt I could have eaten from every stall. Georgia and I started on the buffalo wings from The Orange Buffalo. Super fresh hot wings covered in a really good and quite buttery style buffalo sauce. Very messy, very tasty. A few of the gang grabbed a bunch of soft shell taco's, including fried fish and chicken. Although I didn't try these, they looked amazing and I am assured they were delicious. 

I spotted somebody with some epic  looking fried chicken that literally stopped me in my tracks, after doing some investigating we found the place, Mother Clucker.  The queue for this place was all over the place, and we ended up waiting a while for our food, however we worked out why. Every piece of chicken they sell is marinated, coated and fried to order. Easily some of the best fried chicken out there, it had such a deep smokey flavour and was steaming hot, served with some sort of chilli mayo. 

As I was being such a fat boy, I couldn't resist getting more, so I headed over to Bleecker St. Burgers. I got a double cheeseburger with bacon, feeling heavy at this point. Although I was a bit gutted the burgers were not served on brioche buns as I'm a huge fan, the burger certainly did not disappoint. The patty was juicy and bloody, just how I like it, and the bacon just topped it off. Epic burger, gutted It was too dark to get a decent snap. Now craving some sweet goodness we headed to You Doughnut! The queue was HUGE for this place, again, worth it. All of the dough was being made in front of you and every batch made to order, with each order customisable. We had vanilla sugar, salted caramel sauce, sprinkles and vanilla ice cream. HOT DAMN these doughnuts killed it. I scooped every bit of it out of the box.

I cannot urge you more to visit one of these street feasts. We went to the Dalston market however there are spots in Lewisham and Shoreditch. I'll post the website below, check out some of the food there and I promise you won't be disappointed. You may catch me at one, I can't wait to get back.

http://www.streetfeastlondon.com/where

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

Food: Schiller, NYC

 131 Rivington St,
 New York,
 NY 10002,
 United States



Schillers was another place on our list whilst in the big apple, It was a recommendation from a friend of Georgia's actually! We'd contemplated the menu for the first couple of days of being there and I'm so glad we actually went! Really understated from outside but such nice décor. Inside it had a kind of industrial feel and all of the furnishings had a real shabby/reworked look, we loved it. Throughout our time there we felt the staff to be super attentive and maybe borderline too much, but I think that's a bit of an American thing (more in my upcoming post on NYC dining). All of the staff seemed super friendly and happy, although there did seem to be a lot of them for a fairly empty restaurant. I found this quite often whilst there, that a lot of restaurants seemed quite overstaffed, who knows if that's a good or bad thing!

Don't be fooled by the ''Liqueur Bar" signs, this place has a serious food menu too. The brunch menu had a really nice mix of your standard brunchy things like Eggs Benedict to a more extravagant steak and eggs. Georgia went for the blueberry pancakes with bourbon syrup and I chose the Huevos Rancheros. The found the portion size to be really realistic in comparison to some of your more gargantuan US sized portions (no offence!). We both really enjoyed our food, and as per I polished off what pancakes Georgia couldn't finish, the bourbon syrup was amazing! With the pancakes at $12 and Rancheros at $13 I found it awesome value for money. The coffee had a real nutty/oaky taste to it and was nothing to shout about but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Overall I would definitely go again and recommend you do if you're in the area. It's situated right near a whole bunch of other café's, coffee shops and shopping locations so swing by, I hear their cocktails are amazing too!

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

Food: Buvette, NYC

 42 Grove St,
 New York,
 NY 10014,
 United States




Another snippet from our trip to the big apple! We ventured to West Village to a little place we'd heard of called Buvette. This quaint little building was unfortunately covered by scaffolding when we arrived but a lovely plot nonetheless. The maître d  took our names and wrote it in chalk on the door frame whilst we waited outside in the glorious sunshine for a table. We only waited about 5-10 minutes, do dramas. The inside is quite small as are the tables, cutlery and just about everything else, but very cosy, there was a very French atmosphere that I really digged.

We both grabbed latte's that tasted pretty damn good compared to a lot of the coffee we'd had on our trip (sort it out NY!). I opted for the Croque Madame, which was a first for me and Georgia went for the fresh waffle and berries. I have to say, I'm a HUGE breakfast guy, maybe working at The Breakfast Club has done that to me, and my Croque Madame was honestly one of the nicest things I've ever eaten. I could not have been more impressed. Georgia was slightly more underwhelmed by her waffle, as it was fairly plain and a bit pricey for what it actually came to, although I am a fan of quality over quantity. The price was definitely something to consider, with the waffle at $16 and madame at $17, which I was happy to pay.

The service was great inside and regardless of the queue of people outside we were not rushed in the slightest to leave, although we were given our bill without asking, something I'm going to come to in a blog post soon on my general dining experiences in NY. I would recommend going here even if it's a bit of a travel from where you are staying, I'm certain it will not disappoint.

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

food: penelope, nyc

  159 Lexington Ave,
  New York,
  NY 10016,
  United States



So back in 2011, Georgia and I were lucky enough to be taken to New York as part of a business trip at 6th Form. Part of this trip involved us heading to Penelope's for breakfast, and we fell in love instantly. We have both just returned from a 5 day trip to NY, which seems to be becoming our home from home and this place was first on our list. As you enter the first thing you notice is the lovely décor and friendly atmosphere, along with the warming smell of fresh coffee. Georgia and I visit here every time we are in NYC and the food and service never ever disappoints. The menu is fairly simple and not too big which I love as when it comes to breakfast, too much choice can be frustrating. The pancakes are an absolute must for us every time, so Georgia chose those. As I know work in a place that serves up hundreds of pancakes a day, I opted for something savoury (although I still got a seeing to the leftover pancakes). I chose the chorizo egg sandwich, with chorizo, scrambled eggs, roasted peppers and cheddar served in either an english muffin or toasted croissant. I went for the croissant as I'd never had a savoury one before. Georgia had a latte and I tried their filter coffee (all the rage in NY), neither disappointed. The latte was actually the only decent coffee with milk we had in our time in NY.

When it came to paying our bill we where happy as usual as the menu is quite reasonably priced. The buttermilk pancakes are $12 and the chorizo egg sandwich was $11. Service wasn't included in the bill which I love as I think that tips should be earned. Our service was great so we were happy to leave a nice tip. 

Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area, don't forget to give the dog a pat as you leave.

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

food: flat iron, beak st.

FLAT IRON.
17 BEAK ST,
SOHO,
WIF 9RW


A little while ago, Georgia and I went on a date night to Flat Iron, Soho. Upon arrival we joined a kind of strange disjointed queue and eventually let the waitress on the door know we wanted a table. We were told that the wait would be approximately an hour and a half which was a bit disappointing but understandable as we could see that the restaurant was fairly small and very busy. We were offered to wait in their underground bar which we went for as it was cold and we didn't fancy waiting outside. The bar downstairs was super cool however pretty dark and dingy and also very hot. We grabbed a couple of drinks and I bought a hand filled apricot jam donut which was really fresh and tasty.

When we eventually were called upstairs, we sat on a joint table with some other customers which I had no problem with. The restaurant is really nicely set up and the table had awesome cutlery and complimentary beef dripping flavoured popcorn. This was very funky, felt like a heart attack but really good. The menu is very basic and have the one "Flat Iron steak" along side a few sauces, sides plus they have specials on every now and then. We opted for a steak each and a Flat Iron steak burger to share. The steak was perfectly cooked and really tender although not that hot (understandable as steak should be rested before eaten). The burger really stole the show for me, made from ground steak and served in a brioche bun with béarnaise sauce. Deep fried in beef dripping, the burger was packed with flavour but did feel very heavy, however there was no guilt whatsoever on my part!

In conclusion, I'd love to go back to Flat Iron but wouldn't be happy to wait for an hour and a half again. With that in mind, get there early and keep an eye out for their amazing specials, it's worth a visit as a one off for sure.

JIM

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

18


17 Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW17 Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW17 Beak St, Soho, W1F 91RW17 Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW17 Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW17 Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW17 Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW
11717 Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW7 Beak St, Soho, W1F 9RW

coffee: timberyard, old street

Timberyard

61-67 Old Street

London 

EC1V 9HW

So to kick things off I'm going to tell you about my trip to Timberyard last week with my girlfriend Georgia and flatmate Olivia. You will find Timberyard on Old Street on the main road heading into Shoreditch next door to a cool little bike shop. The first thing you see and feel is the workplace vibe it has, with plug sockets, free wifi (standard coffee shop procedure these days) and iPads on their bars. Nevertheless the place looks awesome inside, as you go to the counter you are greeted by a mountain of mouth watering cakes but also plenty of fresh fruit and healthier snacks.

We managed to grab a table despite it being pretty busy inside and there is table service once inside. We ordered a yummy coconut and raspberry cake as well as a flat white, latte and a matcha latte (WTF!?). The coffee didn't come too quickly which I actually thought was a good sign of love going into our drinks. My flat white was lovely and required no sugar at all with nice creamy milk. Olivia went for a matcha latte which is new to me and was described as a green tea-ish latte, it's next on my things to try! I could smell nice food and so investigated. It seems most of their food is made daily and they were out of a lot of things by the time we got there (around 4). I ended up with an egg and cucumber toasted sarny, it was great considering it was all they had left.

Overall it's definitely somewhere to check out, especially if you're planning to chill and get on with work as they accommodate so well for this, they even have a meeting room downstairs! Nice chilled atmosphere and decent grub, would definitely recommend a visit if you're in the area.

Jim

Instagram/Twitter: @whatjamesate

A little introduction...

Hey friends! Just a little introduction to the blog. I'm James, also known as Jim or Jimbo. I'm a recent graduate of Southampton Solent currently working at The Breakfast Club and playing drums in my band Ghostless, generally loving life.

The idea of doing a food blog has been in the works for years but I've always been way too lazy to get going with it. This blog will be a mixture of good food, travel, lifestyle and mucho coffee. I'm a huge foody and game for beers and burgers anytime. London is crawling with amazing food and drink so hopefully I can show you a few places you've not experienced yet. Feel free to let me know any places I should check out next and I'll be sure to get down to them!

Jim