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Stephanie

Food

Bubbledogs

March 20, 2013

My love of hot dogs is well documented, mainly here, and I have been looking forward to this post for a very long time.

I tried to get a reservation at Bubbledogs for a group of us in November, but they didn’t have anything till February. In February I called again and they didn’t have anything until the end of March, which so happened to coincide with my early birthday get together. So I booked for 10 girls, two of which couldn’t make it last minute.

We went down the street to the Charlotte Street hotel for drinks first which I always love. The room is big enough so you don’t feel claustrophobic and has a great crowd. house white wine was £8/glass though so beware.

Then we moved to the main event! We were shown to our table(s) near the back right away. They asked if they could seat another two with us, which I awkwardly said no to because it was my birthday party and it would have been like having two complete strangers hanging out with us.

Then came the exploration of the menu. They (as advertised) have loads of champers and hot dogs to choose from which posed a very serious problem for me. We wanted to order our champagne first, because it was taking ages for hot dog decisions, but the waiter was nowhere to be seen. In fact, it took over half an hour for us to get our champagne.

Le Menu

So, by the time the waiter came around, I basically didn’t decide. I ordered the Horny dog (corn dog) and the Breakie.

All of my favorite things together!

Turns out, getting everything you’ve ever wanted all at once isn’t as awesome as it sounds. I love breakfast food and I love hot dogs so in theory i should love a breakfast hot dog. In truth, the idea of it is far better than the execution. For all the dogs you have a choice of beef, pork or veggie and I decided on beef for all of mine because I felt a pork hot dog wrapped in more pork was a bit much. But because there is so much going on in this one you couldn’t really taste anything individually. Like putting all your favorite paint colors together and getting a brown sludge. Not my favorite Don’t get me wrong though, I still ate the whole thing.

Horny dog (that’s what she said)

Horny dog was really really good. Corn dogs are just a regular dog, covered in corn meal batter and deep fried. even tastier than it sounds because the salty dog and sweet corn go great together. I have mine with both mustard (it’s American mustard!) and ketchup. If I had one criticism, it would be that it wasn’t quite crispy enough on the outside. for corn dogs, there is about a 3 min window from out of the deep fryer that they need to be served in order to keep the crispyness. We did not make that window.

All dressed up

My friends ordered a variety of things (veggie and pork as well). Here are pictures of those things. The girls all seemed very pleased with their meals.

Jose (avocado, salsa, sour cream, jalapenos)

New Yorker

Mine again (getting acquainted with the champagne washing them down)

You can also order tater tots which are these little hasbrown-y things I used to eat almost daily as a kid. They are awesome.

Tots

So all in all, The service wasn’t amazing, but we did have a very good time.

Hot Dog Massive

I would recommend booking a group of 6 or more, otherwise you’ll be waiting in line for a few hours. Their phones are only open for reservations 9:30am – 11am Tuesday to Saturday. Not the most convenient but you can also book through this email: info@bubbledogs.co.uk. Not instant, but they do get back to you relatively soon.

B-room

One other cool thing was that the bathroom walls are papered with posh restaurant menus like Nobu, Hedon (DON’T order the pigeon there… it comes with FEET attached), Noma and the fancy NY restaurant Per Se. I asked the waiter about it and apparently it’s places the head chef has liked or worked at. In fact he once worked at Per Se. Now he makes posh hot dogs. I would prefer the latter as well.

Bubbledogs

Where: 70 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4QG

Website: www.bubbledogs.co.uk

Phone: 0207 637 7770

What to wear: See above photo. It’s pretty low key, we were going out after.

Cost: Dogs are about £7, with champagne for all of us to have a dog (I had 2 dogs) and share tots and sweet potato fries was about £22 each.

Food

The Big Easy

March 6, 2013

Stephanie

The one thing I crave the most from home is BBQ. In Canada, we had a barbeque if it wasn’t torrential rain or a blizzard. For real, in the winter we just dig a path through the snow and put on a pair of boots to flip the meat.

London has a few options, but on the most part, they are imitations of what English people think BBQ is. But it’s not all bad. I’ve been to the big easy several times. The Big Easy has great waffles and good deals on lobster. You’ll also never walk out hungry.

On my last visit, it was a lazy hangover Sunday and I wanted boneless chicken wings, which are essentially chicken tenders tossed in hot sauce. It’s not as weird as it sounds a fairly widely available in the US. So, knowing I was being a massive pain in the ass and they weren’t on the (huge) menu, I ordered them anyway. Bless him, the waiter tried to understand what I wanted and did try hard. To be honest what he brought was close enough anyway, which was tenders, a massive bowl of hot sauce and the blue cheese dressing. It was delicious (and only £6.95)!

But I also ordered the mac and cheese (£3.45). It wasn’t delicious because the thing is; it was more like mac and cheese soup. The cheese was a bit too salty and there probably needed to be 50% less cheese and, if I’m really picky, I prefer my mac and cheese baked.

My boyfriend ordered the lobster roll (£9.95). Whatever you do, don’t do that. What came was a non toasted brioche roll filled with everything except lobster and the piece of lobster was laid on top to prove there was some in there. Far, far too much mayo was involved in the whole thing.

The Big Easy ‘Lobster Roll’

What a lobster roll is supposed to look like from Burger and Lobster (to be fair this one is twice as much as the one above).

Even though service can be very slow, they have fairly decent margaritas, prices are reasonable (for Kings Road) and the atmosphere is good, so The Big Easy is a fun time. But whatever you do, don’t judge American BBQ and crab shacks by their standards, it’s nothing like the real thing.

The Big Easy

Address: 332-334 Kings Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 5UR

Website: www.bigeasy.co.uk

Phone: 020 7352 4071

What to wear: To be honest, I threw on jeans and brushed my hair after a night out. But I also saw someone from the made in Chelsea crowd in full hair and make up (it was a dude).

Food, Travel

VooDoo Doughnut: Yes I did

February 22, 2013

Stephanie

So, I went all the way to Portland to eat a Voodoo Doughnut. Just Kidding. Sort of. My best friend got married in Portland and Instead of going a million miles just for the wedding, My BF and I went on a whirl wind adventure through Idaho, Portland and Seattle. This is about my food adventure in Portland.

So, from my point of view, the main things to take away from Portland are: There are loads of homeless people on crack/bath salts, hipsters and seriously awesome doughnuts. I also lit my hair on fire in a bar when leaning in for a bridal party picture 2 days before the wedding, so I was talk taking away a little less hair than I came to Portland with.

I saw an episode of Simpsons (coincidentally) right before I left where all these hipsters came to Springfield and this guy was making weird doughnuts and I was all like, wouldn’t that be amazing? And then my BF was like, it’s a real thing and we go there next week. So the whole trip all I could think about was how, between all my bridesmaids duties, was I going to be able to wait in line for 3 hours to eat a doughnut with bacon on it. I honestly didn’t think I’d make it, but thanks to jet lag, I was up stupid early on Saturday morning, the day of the wedding. I went to the gym in a vain attempt to preempt that 8 zillion calories I was about to eat and then got so excited, I left early and ran to VooDoo Doughnut at 730 in the morning in my work out gear, sleeveless in barely above freezing weather. Worth it.

I only had to wait in line for 30 min and when I was almost at the front some obnoxious woman with her 25 kids let them all go individually. Listen, I love kids. I like to entertain them, that’s why I work in kids TV. But, when there is a line around the block to get something, please don’t make said line a million times longer just because your kids wants to hand the lady a dollar. You and your children are not the only people on earth and the group of yummy mummies with their kids in front of you were nice enough to get their s^&t together and order as a group. Rant over.

Needless to say when I finally got to the register I was presented with this:

I basically had my small order in my head and was planning my run back (because at this point I was running half an hour later for my hair appointment, but come on, bacon doughnuts. Priorities.) when I suddenly wanted everything. So I ordered:

A cock n balls – huge phallic doughnut filled with cream. (with the brides name artfully written across the shaft).

One covered in Fruit Loops because in University the bride and I made a regular habit of eating dry cereal pretty much all the time.
One covered in Oreros because… well it was covered in Oreos.
Two little ones that looked like boobs because it was funny.
A Wookie, which is their signature shape (a VooDoo Doll, see what they did there?) but decorated as a Wookie.

I ate it’s arm.

Two Maple Blazer Blunts. One was for my BF, and was my second favourite (after the bacon doughnut, obviously). They cost $4.20. See what they did there again??.
A Portland cream, which is exactly like a Boston cream but they paint two little white eyes on it.
And finally, a maple bacon doughnut. It was definitely the best thing I’d eaten in Portland. It was just a regular maple glazed bar. WITH BACON. I can’t emphasize enough how awesome it was. We had bacon and eggs that morning as well (so in total, I basically ate 7 pieces of bacon in the space of about an hour) and it was the first doughnut gone.

Our wedding day spread

I think I may have over estimated how much seven girls will eat right before they have to get into fancy dresses because there were a few leftovers which I delivered to the groomsmen.

In total I spent about an hour getting them and $20. It’s a must if you are in Portland, along with going down to the cost and seeing The Goonies beach… but heads up, don’t wear wedges because you have to hike down and your boyfriend might get mad at you for having to carry you.

Goonies beach

Info all right here, they have 3 locations: www.voodoodoughnut.com

Heads up, they only take cash… hipsters for ya.

Food

The Delaunay

January 28, 2013

Stephanie

BRUNCH!!! My favourite meal. Ever. It’s breakfast, but you don’t have to get up stupid early to eat and it’s not only expected that you drink, but the drink should be sparkly or contain vodka. Best thing ever in life. So, it has been my mission to become an expert on brunches wherever I go. The reason there aren’t many brunch posts on this blog is because, if I’m honest, most of the time I scarf down my food and forget to take pictures. You’ll just have to trust me on this, I’ve had brunch pretty much everywhere.

So, where does The Delaunay rank? Well, it’s not bad actually. I have two rules when it comes to brunch: Order Eggs Benedict/Florentine/Royale/Whatever they decide to call eggs on a muffin covered in hollandaise sauce and accompany that with prosecco/Champagne.

I met a group of my girlfriends on a snowy Sunday and I have to say, I love the location of the Delaunay. It’s not too close to Covent Garden to be annoying and full of tourists, but it’s close enough to still have that busy hub vibe. I also walked by this awesome place on my way, so it got extra points.

Happy Go Lucky Funeral Parlor Seriously.

The bubbles were great, but let’s be honest, it’s not hard to get decent Champagne in London so i’ll move on.

The girls ordered lobster rolls which I am never eating again unless it’s at Burger and Lobster and we were having brunch so I had to stick to my rules.

I felt that I needed some iron after a relatively late night out, so I went for the Florentine. If you want eggs Royale, they call it Arlington at The Delaunay. I don’t know why and when I asked, they just explained what it was, not why they decided to change the name from the accepted convention. I didn’t order it, so that’s all I can really comment on.

My Florentine however, was actually quite good. not too soggy (which can happen due to the wilted spinach) but I will say the hollandaise wasn’t quite tangy enough for me. to much buttery, not enough tang. It was also a little thick for my personal preferences But to each his own. I still ate the whole thing.

I also had an excellent cappuccino props to the person who made it, excellent presentation.

My only criticism would be that it’s a little stuffy in there. The atmosphere isn’t super welcoming and it felt like they were putting on airs as if they were The Woseley They aren’t, although they are owned by the same group who also do Colbert in Sloane Square. They also make an excellent Florentine. But If I had to rank out of this group, it would be The Woseley, Colbert (amazing Atmosphere) and finally The Delaunay.

The Delaunay is about the same price as the Woseley, so I would go to the latter if you have a choice, but either way, both are going to cost you about £30/head with a drink.

If you’re interested in The Delaunay you can book through their website: www.thedelaunay.com

Food

Bodo’s Schloss: Apres Ski Without The Dislocated Shoulder

January 8, 2013

Stephanie

So I finally made it inside Bodo’s Scholss! I was pretty excited when I heard about this place because I heart me some apres ski, and I have dislocated my shoulder snowboarding in Kitzbühel, which makes the apres part not so fun.

I tried to get into Bodo’s Schloss before Christmas, but mistakenly went at 1:30am only to witness a girl being carried out by security sans shoes screaming about being from Essex. Kinda strange when you are in Kensington. Either way, they closed the doors and I clearly wasn’t drunk enough to be there.

Take 2, my boyfriend and his friends book a civilized dinner table for 5 and I invite my hot Swedish friend Malin. She fits right in there BTW, most of the girls that work there are pretty and blonde. Anyway, we ordered a pretzel as a starter, and this teeny tiny pretzel shows up for all of us to share. If anyone actually wants a piece, you might want to order a few. As far as pretzels go, it was alright but that’s probably an unfair assessment. I have pretty high pretzel standards as demonstrated by the best pretzel I’ve ever had, which was fresh out of the oven on a random lake in Austria. It was so good I battled aggressive swans and wasps to finish it.

Worth it, picture to prove it.

Anyway back to Bodo’s and it’s apres ski feel. It’s pretty cool because you can go dressed like this:

Or like a regular person in a Chelsea club. But if you wear some type of ski-like clothing/mountain wear/lederhosen, you get into the club without cover, so I would recommend that if you aren’t going for dinner. Personally, I wore my Edmonton Oilers hockey jersey and the next day the NHL and players reached an agreement to end the lockout. Just saying maybe people should send me thank you notes/chocolate/bacon.

I ordered the chicken Schloss Wiener Schnitzel, however I was told this is sacrilegious by the German guy we were with. Apparently it should really only be Veal or Pork. Mine was pretty tasty though and not a bad price at £13.50. They are also huge, more than enough for two girls to share, if you’re into that kind of thing.

My Wiener

Bodos is owned by the same peeps that do Mahiki and Whisky Mist, so the music is decent (the DJ booth is a gondola!) and at least the people know how to run a club. Although, based on what I saw outside the first time I was there, they should be a little more selective at the door. They also need to sort the air con if they expect anyone to show up in the summer because it was pretty warm in there and they encourage ski wear. That can lead to some pretty bad smells/looks.

For more info and to book a table, this is their website: www.bodosschloss.com

I highly recommend a go. It’s not a gourmet restaurant by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a fun night out but probably best to have dinner there first, you know to line your stomach for the shot-skis.

Food

Beard to Tail

December 13, 2012

Stephanie

So, my boyfriend managed to get me to go to Shoreditch again to eat america BBQ even though our first attempt was an epic failure, (you can read about it here). This time we were to venture out to a little place called Beard to Tail. Now, I’m not a massive fan of restaurants that are so explicit about the food you are about to eat (the mains are called Into the Pig and Into the Cow…TMI) but I was willing to try. And what animal has a beard anyway?

We waited 45 min to be seated and the hostess was nice, but we were hungry. Sat and had cocktails first and I drank the only one on the menu that was vodka based. It was ok. I forgot to take a picture of it when it was full, but you can use your imagination.

Anyway, cut to the chase, right? The menu had loads of meat on it so (obviously) not a place to take a vegetarian on a first date. It looked promising although the starters were a little blah, and didn’t seem worth the calories. I wanted the burger, but they didn’t have it (I know, seriously they had like 5 things on the menu) so my boy thought it was a good idea to order the 800g steak AND a rack (or several) of ribs. It looked like something out of the Flintstones.

It was tasty, but it took an hour for our food to arrive, so caveman meat was looking pretty good when I was personally ready to gnaw off my own arm. The sides were the best part though, I highly recommend the cheesy cauliflower.

The best part of the evening? The fact that I was actually able to witness two people getting busted for trying to bump nasties the wheelchair bathroom. Ya, that’s right, I got to see that in real life. A larger than average girl wearing a sequin black and white dress (not exactly the most discreet outfit when you are planning on doing something like that, but I digress) snuck into the bathroom, whose door faced the entire restaurant. She was followed shortly by a short skinny boy. 30 seconds into it they were caught by the manager who continued to bang on the door until they came out, which was about 2 min later (poor guy). Then the manager told them off in front of the whole restaurant. It was amazing, and they weren’t at all embarrassed. In fact, they owned it, and then did more shots.

All said and done, there are definitely better meat places in London. If you want steak, Gaucho is usually my favorite. They are all over the city and kind of a chain, but they have consistently decent steak and great wine.

Where: Beard to Tail, Shoreditch http://www.beardtotail.co.uk .

Cost: Really expensive for pretty lame service and average food.

Go for: People watching, particularly those trying to do it in public bathrooms before midnight.

Wear: Well, it’s Shoreditch so I wore my Levis jean shirt, black jeans and knee high boots accessorized with my Mulberry clutch. But it’s a kind of anything goes place, our waitress was wearing a backless bodysuit and black lipstick.

I’ll leave you with a pic of the dessert, it was tasty!

Stephanie Wahlstrom

Hey! Cute top! Flattery gets you everywhere, right? Seriously, though, I like what you've got going on over there. Anyway, my name is Stephanie and I am a Canadian writer living in London. I like to eat, travel and make people laugh. The Accidental Socialite is the name of my debut novel and this blog where you'll find tales of my mishaps and far too many references to bacon. Enjoy!