Southbanks Street Food

When living in London you can never get bored, there is always something going on somewhere. Whether it's a festival, market or show there is never a dull moment in London. And this weekend was no different.

Southbank is one of the many places, itoffers something everyday of the week,  Sunday happened to be a Love Festival and a street food market. Despite the original weather report, Sunday ended up being very hot and very sunny. 

White Sangria 

After spending a good twenty minutes walking around trying to make a decision on which stall I should approach, considering there was a fair amount of choice, from Indian, Lebanese, Korean, French and British. 

Firstly I had to quench my thirst, with a nice glass of white Sangria a nice change from the usual red, which as I'm not much of a red wine drinker never really appealed to me. 

Nice Sangria Lady

I decided on a Moroccan spiced lamb and chickpea tagine whole-grain flat bread, filled to the brim it was possible one of the best food choices I have ever made, the spiced lamb was seasoned perfectly and matched the chickpea tagine. With a slathering of mint yogurt and a hand full of tomato and chili salad it was a combo made from heaven. 

Spiced Lamb

There was a slight downside to this master piece. The flat bread was too small and so when i got half way through the wrap it exploded.... This is one of the faults to street food, in practise it should very urban and cool but in reality it just ends up in a big explosion of Moroccan spiced lamb mess. 

The Wrap

I did find a perfect spot to eat my flat bread, over looking the entire market and watching everyone else having a similar street food explosion going on. 

Southbank 

All in all though, Southbank is the perfect place for lunch or if you're simply stuck for things to do on a sunny weekend.

Annie's Burger Shack.

Living in London it's hard to find a good new place to eat that isn't branded as 'trendy' or an all American diner with a twist. Yawn. London is saturated with burgers everywhere you go. There's Meat Liquor (I am still desperate to try) and Shake Shack (hasn't had fab reviews), as well as dozens of others. It's the new 'in' thing but I'm actually already bored of it.

However, this isn't the case in Nottingham. Nottingham doesn't have anywhere new and burgerfabulous. But anyone who lives in Nottingham knows the wonders of Annie's Burger Shack. From its humble beginnings at the Navigation pub (just like Meat Liquor started at a pub) last year, it has now got its very own home in the Lace Market.

Everything about Annie's is amazing; the atmosphere, the beers and the burgers are so good it's hard to explain! Everything is fresh, and what's better is it hasn't got the traditional American Diner feel to it, no red leather booths or black and white floors  it’s very... wooden. It has been referred to as the  New England in the Old England.

The bar has a huge selection of beers, most of which I am ashamed to say I didn't know what they were. We had a little wait for our table as we came a bit early, so I had a pint of Bitburger – a German lager. I actually really like having different beers instead of the standard.

We booked our table as, since it has reopened, it has literally been mission impossible to get a table by walking in, and if it’s for more than two people, make sure you book well in advance. (A sneaky tip: if you go in and look lovingly at the staff during the day they, tend to squeeze you in somewhere.

There have been a lot of complaints about the waiting time at Annie's - it is about half an hour until you get your food. BUT, even though Annie's Burger Shack is a typical 'burger joint,' it is by no means a fast food restaurant. Everything is made fresh to order - even the burgers - and so even though there is a bit of a wait it is definitely worth it.

The burgers... well there are 30 different types and you can literally have anything on them from a roast dinner to a pizza with a number of sides. But I do recommend the curly fries! On my previous visit, I had the Fajita burger which was amazing.

Surf and Turf 

This time I opted for the 'Surf and Turf' which didn't disappoint. The burger was cooked to perfection and it came with several king pawns, onion rings and thousand island sauce. You might thinkit would be easy for the pawns to be over taken by the beef burger, but in fact, it was all perfectly placed.

Jamie Blackmore was the other burger at the table, which comes topped with eight hour slow cooked BBQ'd pulled pork, melted red Leicester cheese and salsa.  This was welcomed with equal happiness. 

Jamie Blackmore 

I must say, I was starving by the time the burger came and do think I ate it within record time, which meant that I was bursting by the time I'd finished!

My favourite thing about Annie's is that it doesn't bore me like all the others. Yes the burgers we both had were very 'American' but others they have on the menu aren’t like the roast dinner burger so there is something for everyone.

What I'm really looking forward to is seeing what they do for their v day menu... What stops can they pull out for this?!

I really need to go back, and to be honest, I’m secretly planning on working my way through the entire menu! (Minus a few like the 'Elvis Presley' which is slathered in Peanut Butter – death in a burger)

My advice - definitely book yourself a table!

http://www.anniesburgershack.com/

The Living Room Nottingham.

Once again my lack in blogging has a lot to do with how empty my purse is and how busy my third year life has become! I no longer have time to eat out and enjoy all the wonders of the world. But have no fear in six months time I will be a graduate, with more time on my hands than I would like!

So because its been a while since we ventured out for a date night, me and my man friend decided to take a little trip out and with 50% off food until the end of January at the Living Room where else would we go?!

This wasn't my first time to the Living Room in Nottingham (there are loads of them all over the UK) but there is something about it that I really love, it has a really good vibe to it. There is a massive down stairs bar with very friendly bar staff. On my first trip to the Living Room there was even a piano player which is always a nice treat and the bar is both a good pre drink and post drink area when you're too full to contemplate getting in a cab just yet.

Because of the amazing offer that was available the restaurant was super busy so our table wasn't quite ready when we got there - a perfect excuse for a quick glass of wine!

Once our table was ready a very friendly waiter came and took our orders, we had mini spicy chorizo in cider and olives - the chorizo literally exploded flavour on to my tongue!

After a very tough decision making process, I ordered cured salmon with rye bread and wasabi creme fraiche not my usual choice but I had a huge craving for salmon and it wasn't a bad choice at all! It came on a slate slab and by putting balsamic vinegar on to the lemon wedge it was a really good combo! It was actually really nice to have a cold/fresh starter as I normally opt for really rich things and then by the end I'm super full! However because of the rye bread being a bit dry it would have been nice to have more of the cream fraiche.

We had to go for separate wines, as I am yet to discover the delights of red wine much to the delight of many, I went for the house white which I was expected to be really sour like house whites often are. Restaurants have now developed this idea that house wines are the cheapest when in actual fact they are supposed to be the best as they represent the house - clever little fact there for you all. Next time you ask for it ask the waiter if it's the best!

I had already made my decision for mains before I'd even left the house... this is what happens when I don't get to eat out often! I went for Gressingham Duck with pickled pear, buttered kale, duck fat chips and red wine sauce. The chip were amaaazing super crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside.

However, I had massive food envy when it came to my duck although it looked perfectly cooked on the inside, it was tough and majorly lacking the usual rich flavour that I find duck naturally has and it needed more red wine sauce to make it stand out, without these there was no flavour, and I was actually really disappointed.

My food envy was towards the lamb across the table. Roasted Rump of Lamb, with basil, olive and tomato braised lamb shoulder and creamed broad beans. The lamb was tender and rich and delish! We bought a side of creamy mash potato to share and it lived up to expectations - but it is hard to get mash wrong!

I have been being super good recently, not eating chocolate and sweet etc and going to the gym loads along with all the other januray gymers, however I couldn't resist something sweet to finish off my meal. We went for the Grande Dessert which had a selection of all the desserts but in miniature. It had ice cream, sticky toffee pudding, Eton Mess and a slab of chocolate goodness!

The Living Room is currently taking bookings for valentines day, and the Nottingham Living Room is getting a face lift at the end of Febuary so make sure you get yourself down there before then! Apparently it's going for a more Burger effect, which I really hope it isn't burgers are literally taking over Britain at the moment!              

http://www.thelivingroom.co.uk/

Gaucho Leeds.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love steak. But there's nothing worse than a bad steak, which can ruin everything in life. This steak however made everything in life amazing.


This weekend I was taken to Leeds for a surprise little trip. It is very sad to say but I'm one of those Londoners that didn't realise there was anything other than London until I came to University, so much so I didn't even believe I had an accent until I met a few Northeners. But Leeds lived up to all it's expectations. Not only was it my first trip to Leeds but also my first time  sleeping in a four poster bed (I'm a very lucky girl! - definitely not spoilt at all)

After being told that I had to "dress nicely" I was a bit concerned that I would be over dressed - this certainly wasn't the case. My little black dress and heels was the perfect decision; ladies don’t fear that you'll be over dressed, unless of course you go in your biggest ball gown.
Gaucho proved to be a hidden little treasure. After walking straight past it, we finally found it. Walking down into the depths of the basement, we were greeted by a very happy hostess, who lead us toward the candle lit bar which was the perfect excuse for a cocktail! I had a Gran Alvear - Gin, pineapple and sparkling wine. With the deadly cocktail trait of not being able to taste the alcohol, it proved to be very refreshing.

Gran Alvear

We were shown to our table right by the kitchen (so we could see all the action), by a very lovely waitress, who told us our waiter would be a long shortly. We ordered the sausage platter to share, which came with chorizo, chorizo picante (made with picante peppers)  black pudding (morcilla) and grilled red peppers.

Sausage Patter 

While waiting, we were given a little basket of bread, including, flat bread, a rustic brown and a cheesy crusty roll, accompanied with butter and chilli oil dip. The flat bread and crusty rolls were still warm and they all went perfectly with the chilli oil.

Bread Basket

Our waiter brought a wooden board will all the steaks available, including rump, sirloin, ribeye and fillet. All the meat at Gauchos is Argentinian, and that is something that the style of the restaurant tries to recreate.

He explained to us the various ways that they season and cook them, some have been marinated in parsley and garlic for 48 hours, others have been infused with chilli and of course they are all available cooked to how you like it. For me, steak has to be  medium rare, and I think well done steaks are just upsetting.

We both went for medium rare 300g sirloins with peppercorn sauce. Double fried chips and a mixed salad come along with the steak, but we also ordered spinach, sauteed with garlic, olive oil and lemon and sauteed oyster mushrooms with shallots and garlic as well. Everything was perfectly cooked; however the mushrooms were a little tasteless and needed something to give it a little wake up call.

Of course red wine goes perfectly with steak, however I haven't yet found the love for it just yet, so our waiter recommended me a rose, explaining that the fuller bodied the wine is the better it goes with the steak. He recommended the perfect match and so my steak and wine went very happily into my tummy.

If you ever end up taking a trip to Leeds Gaucho would definitely be a place I would recommend, the food and staff are both helpful and keen, without being over the top. It makes a very good night out, but be sure to book, we saw a very sad looking couple get sent away for not booking a table!
http://www.gauchorestaurants.co.uk/