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    The Builders Arms 

    The Builders Arms pub is a *potential* hidden gem on a small street near Kings Road but at the moment is a bit of a diamond in the rough. Just past the boisterous Sydney Arms (great to watch a game, but gets very packed) you can have a more civilized Sunday roast in a place that has an actual ‘press for champagne’ button – however, nobody ever comes.

    I’d been many times before, but this particular time, I didn’t inhale my food immediately and remembered to take pictures. Although, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the addition of live music.

    One thing is for sure, you will never want for food at this pub. The Sunday roas was HUGE. Far more than a human woman could possibly eat. So, go hungry!

    I had the burger and was very impressed with the fact that I managed to eat the whole thing, bun included without it looking like a five year old ate where I was sitting. It was very tasty as well.

    The one hiccup in the food quality were the carrots. We ordered a side portion and nobody ate them because, well, look. They are sad and bruised.

    I highly recommend the dessert. I normally skip it at pubs because the offer is almost always boring and/or sticky toffee pudding. We had the apple and rhubarb crumble which was easily big enough for the whole table and the cornflake ice cream which was essentially breakfast but in the best possible way.

    The service could use some work, though. I repeatedly had to flag someone down and at no point did anyone come and check on us.   As long as you’re not in a rush and waiting ages for things like your drinks and bill doesn’t bother you, the food is quite good.

    I also think the pub might need some training on learning when someone has had too much and shouldn’t be served. We left the bar and there was a man slumped over on one of the tables outside with a full beer. We managed to wake him up, but he clearly had too much to drink and shouldn’t have been served that last pint. And, as you can see, the service was such that nobody noticed him outside.

     

    The Builders Arms

    13 Britten Street

    London

    SW3 3TY

     

    www.geronimo-inns.co.uk/london-the-builders-arms

     

    The Builders Arms Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    Dirty Burger

    Don’t go to Dirty Burger Kentish Town on a first date, unless you met through a messy eating fetish site. In that case, it’s exactly where you should go. This genius burger bar is from the same people who brought you Chicken Shop, Egg Break, Pizza East and of course, Soho House. Hot dogs next, please!

    The hidden entrance .

    We went out to this particular Dirty Burger because the hubs and I were on our way to a Method Man and Redman concert to party like it was 1999 (RIP Prince). The Kentish Town Dirty Burger is located around the corner from Chicken Shop and Pizza East. Perfect opportunity to eat yourself into an early grave.

    They don’t even have a menu at Dirty Burger, just writing on the wall, which I like. One less thing to take up room in your eating space. There were only 4 burgers to choose from (Props to them for calling the veggie burger the dirty cop out). I had the plain cheeseburger because I wasn’t convinced the bacon would be crispy. The burger is messy enough without taking a bite and having the entire piece of bacon come out.


    Top Tip: Keep the paper wrapping on to save getting sauce all over your lap.


    The service was a little slow, but you can’t rush perfection. You order at the counter and they call your number when it’s ready. Your meal comes on a well-used tray and you can perch on a bench. The non-alcoholic drinks are self serve in an unmarked fridge. It took us a little while to figure it out, but eventually we found it under the sign warning us we were being watched on CCTV.

    Dirty Burger is one of the better burgers I have ever had, not just in London. The bun is soft, burger juicy and cheese melty. We added the onion rings, which may have been a little too battered, but still delicious.

    If you’re craving a burger, this is the place to go. If you don’t feel like leaving the comfort of your own house to shove a Dirty Burger down your throat, they are on Deliveroo!

    What to wear: something you don’t mind getting burger sauce all over.

    Who you’ll see: Deliveroo drivers and people inhaling meat.

    Dirty Burger

    Kentish Town

    79 Highgate Road
    London
    NW5 1TL

    Dirty Burger Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    Dirty Bones

    Dirty Bones is f&*king glorious. Let me add a small caveat to that statement: I was (conservative estimate) 8 drinks in by the time I got there.
     
    I hope when I die my heaven is dirty bones except that I don’t get morbidly obese from eating it every day for every meal. But if I’m honest I hope heaven is also me giving like, -7 f&*ks about what I look like.


    We were there for a private party in the back and my (genius) friend decided to have it 90s themed.  My husband beat me to the ordering but started strong with chicken wings and the Dirty Dog.  I don’t like to eat meat off bones because it makes me feel like a cave man, but considering how fast they went, I’m sure the wings were delicious.  The hot dog… well, it’s going into my top 5. There were crispy shallots and two different kinds of pork.  TWO. Crispy bacon, which is the only way to have it, and pulled pork.


    We were still hungry so I went big and ordered the Yankee Dog, the Mac Daddy and the Dirty Fries, because you know what? I don’t go half way down a rabbit hole.


    The Mac Daddy has mac and cheese on it (enough said) and I almost bit my husband’s finger off for the last bite of the Yankee Dog.  Like I said before, this place is f&*king glorious. I gained at least 12 lbs eating here but cool with it because IT WAS DECLICIOUS.


    I also had more drinks. This is an actual conversation with the bartender:
     
    Me: 70% of me wants to order an interesting cocktail from you but the other 30% of me is a skinny bitch and wants a vodka soda.
     
    Bartender:  I like the 30% of you.
     
    Bringing me food in the state I was in was like feeding a pack of hungry dogs. The staff were really nice and super accommodating. As soon as I lose the weight I put on, I’m going back to start this vicious cycle again.
     
    Dirty Bones (Kensington)
    20 Kensington Church Street, London, W8 4EP

    Dirty Bones Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    The Orange

     It was a Thursday night so my friend Michelle and I decided to go scuba diving in white wine. We started at The Orange, a gastro pub and hotel on Pimlico road. I’d been there before this summer but didn’t eat. I did, however, almost get my phone stolen by dodgy guys who came into the pub and tried to sell us birthday cards. After failing to blag our way into the dining room, we sat in the pub area at a small round table with great food lighting and ordered our dinner. Upon initial perusal of their new menu, my initial reaction was that this food was a bit stuffy for a pub. The special was a burger, which in my opinion should be a staple.

    I ordered the calamari to start and was super relieved to see that it came with just the rings. I don’t like to associate calamari with what it actually is. To me, it’s essentially round French fries with protein. It was very very crispy, actually I’d say it was crunchy and the rings weren’t rubbery. Overall, pretty good.

    My friend had the pumpkin soup, which she said was delicious and looked fantastic.

    For our main, we moved to another table because we had some friends joining. By this time we were almost a bottle deep in the wine (which they didn’t open at the table… ew). I ordered the burger with sweet potato fries because they both had bacon on them. The burger was mediocre. It was cooked well, but a bit dry and the brioche bun fell apart easily.  The bacon was just barely cooked and too chewy for my taste.  On the upside, there was a nice spicy tomato relish on the burger.

    The sweet potato fries were excellent, but it took the waiter a really long time to bring the bacon aioli they came with. Unfortunately, this meant the sweet potato fries started to get soggy by the time it arrived.

    Our friends joined and ate most of my fries and wanted to order another.  It was 9:59 and apparently one kitchen had closed. She could, however, get an entire pizza.  That just didn’t make sense to me. She ordered the pizza anyway and they seemed to enjoy it.
    Verdict: Overall the orange was a good way to begin our night but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat there again.
    What to wear: I was dressed as a chic and expensive 1960s prostitute. Everyone else was in jeans.
    What you’ll see: Good looking men with cute dogs who are ‘waiting for their girlfriends’.
    The Orange
    37-39 Pimlico Rd, London SW1W 8NE

     

    The Orange Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    World’s End Market

    World’s End Market, despite its name and the feeling of many Chelsea residents is not at the end of the world, just the end of Chelsea. When I first moved to London, I actually lived across the street so walking to Worlds End Market was not only a fond trip down memory lane, it also reminded me there is an amazing Oxfam near by.

     
     
    When I arrived at the restaurant Wednesday during lunch, it was fairly empty but that just meant I had my choice of seat. So I nestled into the corner near a window and spied the staff kitted out in grey shirts and burgundy braces.  The whole place felt a kind of hipster/Hoxton, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when everything else nearby is so Sloaney.



    After two seconds into looking at the menu I knew what I wanted. Buffalo mozzarella with artichoke and pesto to start and the truffle burger as a main. I tend to have menu blackout when I see cheese and truffle so I really couldn’t even tell you what else looked good.  But here is a picture of the menu anyway.


     
    My starter arrived just as I noticed the music was sounding a little too W lounge for my tastes, and almost as soon as I thought of it, the music changed to the song from Romeo and Juliet where Claire Danes and Leo start flirting so all was forgiven.  I probably would have preferred burrata to mozzarella but it was still fantastic without being too filling.



    I asked for my burger to be medium well and that was my bad.  It came cooked like a brick.  I probably should have stuck with the suggested medium. The burger had a delicious bun and actually only used truffle oil slightly disappointing if I’m honest. But, 80% of taste is smell, right? I found the caramelized onions to be too much and far too sweet with the brioche that it mostly drowned out any truffle or mushroom taste that was left. However, I was pretty stoked that it came with both fries and salad.


     

    That was, until I had a fry. On a scale of 1 – Fresh McDonalds fries I’m going to have to give these a 4. They looked fresh cut but were lip and fairly soggy. The ketchup was essentially marinara sauce. Heinz and crispy fries are an absolute must if you’re going to serve a burger so World’s End Market, get on it.

     


    After my meal I had a little walk around to get a better look at the seafood.  Then just about crapped myself when the lobster I was taking a picture of walked towards me. The seafood is fresh, I’ll give them that.

     
    Overall, World’s End Market is a nice addition to a relatively forgotten part of Chelsea. I’m not sure I would go out of my way to dine there again, but if they sort out the fries, I may give them another chance.


    What to wear: Its fairly casual, I had on jeans, Marc Jacobs flats and a white t-shirt.

    Address: 459 Kings road, London SW10 0LR
    Phone:020 7352 2150
    To book: http://www.theworldsendmarket.com

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    The Diner

    My boyfriend and I had been looking forward to The Diner since Black and Blue shut down.  We were hoping a great new restaurant would open and prayed it was one that didn’t only cater towards tourists, like most restaurants on Gloucester Road.  It got to the point that when we saw the sign go up, my boyfriend went and asked the builders outside when it would open.
    Then it finally did, and hungover one Saturday we were ready.. only to find it closed.  Apparently it hadn’t opened properly yet.  Take 2, the boy had golf and my head hurt from a long night before at Brompton Club and Bodos Schloss.  So I ventured out on my own.
                              
    First visit:
    The staff were very nice and sat me at a table near the window.  I didn’t really notice the decor or the atmosphere because I was in a corner.  But, at the same time that worked for me, as I didn’t feel like being stared at while I inhaled my brunch alone.  I obviously ordered the Eggs Benedict and toyed with the possibility of also ordering a corn dog, because I love me some corn dog, but thought that was a bit much.
    They were super quick to take my OJ order and brought that straight away but unfortunately took their time coming back to take my food order, so eventually I flagged someone down.  She took it, and my food arrived fairly promptly but unfortunately they didn’t bring cutlery.  So I waited for that as well.  It was pretty delicious but the bacon was a bit chewy for my tastes and the hollandaise was a little too buttery and not quite tangy enough.  Also, be careful with the pepper.  It’s super fine and in a container with large holes so I basically ended up dumping it all over my meal.  I’m a big fan of pepper, but it kind of ruined things for me.
    Visit 2:
    The very next day my boyfriend wanted to go, so there we found ourselves again.  We were sat at at a middle booth so I could admire what they did for decor.  My favourite part are the walls which look like they were put together from old gymnasium floors, love it!

    I ordered the Eggs Benedict again, but this time asked for extra crispy bacon, which I got and I highly recommend they serve the dish like that as a staple.  The hollandaise was also better this time, with the right amount of tang.  I also used the pepper more cautiously so all in all, this was a much better Benedict.  It was £7.

    I wanted a root beer, but was told that the kitchen staff drank the last of it the night before and were in very big trouble.  Can’t hold it against them though, root beer is pretty awesome.  My boyfriend ordered a cherry coke instead and I drank half of it.  It was yummy.

    We also ordered the wings which were a bit of a disappointment.  They were kind of breaded and deep friend and not spicy.  They should work on those, and until they do, I wouldn’t order them.

    My boyfriend ordered the Grab burger which was USDA beef.  Don’t order any of those burgers on the menu because he said they tasted like a frozen patty.  I imagine the other hamburgers are better as it says on the menu that they are hand ground scottish beef which are made daily.  Next time we will probably go for that option.  He also said the bun was too bready which looking at it I’d have to agree with.

    One thing I found distracting was one of the waitresses was wearing booty shorts and a backless t-shirt. She was basically naked and it felt awkward because it was 2 o’clock on a Sunday afternoon and there were children in the restaurant.  It would have been more appropriate if it were Saturday night.  Her outfit just seemed weird and I feel like staff’s clothing shouldn’t be the stand out thing you remember from a restaurant.

    Overall, this is probably one of the better dining choices on that part of Gloucester road (but keeping in mind, it’s competition are a steakhouse and italian place geared towards tourists and a Burger King).  I am pretty keen to try other things on the menu, they had a toasted cornbread with eggs that sounded delicious, and of course the hot dogs.

    Another suggestion would be to change the shakes a little.  I was going to order the oreo one until I read the description and it doesn’t look like there are actually oreos in it, but nutella and chocolate instead.  I don’t like nutella.  They should make a regular oreo shake and I would eat it every day.

    In total we ordered:  Margarita (pretty small), Cherry Coke, Orange Juice, Grab Burger, Wings and an Eggs Benedict and it was £35.  Service isn’t included which is kind of nice as I find it annoying when restaurants add it automatically.   We left £5.70 tip which is more than the usual 12.5% added.  Other restaurants, take note.

    I would recommend a try if you are in the area, but I wouldn’t necessarily venture out to eat there.  They have other locations around London as well.

    To book:

    Web: www.goodlifediner.com

    Address: 105 Gloucester Road, SW7
     
    Phone: 02072447666

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    The Diner on Urbanspoon

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    Burger and Lobster

    After seeing it on several sites/magazines, one drizzly Tuesday my girlfriends and I decided to take the plunge and try Burger and Lobster.  

    First things first, send one person from your party as early as humanly possible to put down your name. My friend Malin managed to put our name down at 6:30.  Undeterred by the projected 2 hour wait time we headed to Hakkasan in Mayfair where I had the Hakka cocktail which not only came in a beautiful bamboo shaped glass, it also provided a decent buzz for the wait.


    Venue: Hakkasan
    Location: Hakkasan Mayfair, 17 Bruton Street, London, W1J 6QB  
    Cost: £11.50 for a cocktail
    Look out for: tables full of cute men in suits on business dinners

    After an hour at the bar in Hakkasan we moved on to meet the other two ladies in our party at Babble (59 Berkley Square).  Where I had a £4.50 Vodka soda and was asked to have my picture taken with a random woman in the loos. We left shortly after that.

    At 8:30 we were called by the manager Alex and told to make our way to Burger and Lobster.  When we arrived there was a further 45 minute wait but we had the reasonably priced house wine (A Sangiovese red) and got drunker while leering at the table of gorgeous men in the booth by the window.  

    When we finally sat down at 9:15, a lovely Irish girl took our order which was made simple because you have 3 choices:  Burger (with or without cheese and bacon), Grilled Lobster with butter or garlic and lemon butter, or a Lobster Roll.  All come with chips and a salad.  I thought about having the burger (all prime cuts of meat, buns made in house) but Malin insisted that “Nobody goes to Burger and Lobster to have a burger, we could have just gone to Byron.”  Fair point.  

    Now, I’ve been to Maine and had several Lobster rolls, so I was willing to give this one a shot and compare it directly.  There are no words to describe how good this was except to say it went from this:

    To this:

    In like, 14 minutes.

    The rest of the girls had grilled lobster which was equally as mouth watering and the main point of conversation.  This was my favorite piece:

    Kim (who is new to eating lobster): “How do you know which part to eat?”
    Cat (Canadian and eats loads of Lobster): “Just put it in your mouth and if it tastes good swallow.”
    Me (clearly raised in a barn): “That’s what he said.”

    We followed on with dessert and again there were only two choices:  Bailey’s mousse (as Kim said to the witness: “You had me at Bailey’s”) with salted caramel or vanilla cheesecake. We ordered both, and both were amazeballs.  

    Vanilla Cheesecake

    When we finished we asked the waitress to send over Alex, the manager and gushed for a solid 10 min abut the food.  He offered to take us downstairs and see the kitchen and the brothers and sisters of the Nova Scotian lobsters we just ate.  

    He totally looks Canadian, right?

    So to recap:

    Venue: Burger and Lobster 
    Location: 29 Clarges street, Mayfair London W1J 7EF
    Cost: £35/each for four girls with wine and dessert.
    What to wear: Something sexy and stretchy.  I had a food baby well into the next day.  They also provide chic bibs we all wore.
    Look out for:  Cute Welsh rugby players who will walk you to the tube and invite you all out for more drinks.
    Verdict: I never thought I’d say this, but Burger and Lobster is worth the 3 hour wait.

     


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