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Restaurant Review

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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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    Food

    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

    The Diner on Urbanspoon

    The Diner on Urbanspoon

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    Food

    Bubbledogs

    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
    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.

    Bubbledogs Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

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    Food

    The Big Easy

    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
    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).

    Big Easy on Urbanspoon

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    Food

    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.

     


    Burger & Lobster on Urbanspoon

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