Seeking America - MEATliquor

Sometimes it happens and there's just nothing you can do about it.  A new club, restaurant or venue opens and everyone proclaims it to be the greatest of its kind, ever. It's happened before while I've been here and no matter how much I and others have said the other location is by far more superior and more authentic, the establishment with all the marketing money comes off as being the better venue of its trade.

This, I feel, is the story of MEATliquor.

I went during a weeknight, immediately after work - no problem with the queues that everyone keeps going on about. Don't show up past 7, or don't leave it to be a Friday night meal.  Obviously that's when all the eager trendy people start flocking to what they only heard was the next best thing.  I got there around 6.30 or so and it was fine.  Get in, have a few drinks (and by few I mean 1 - £4 for a small can of beer, £9 for a mason jar of what was effectively a margarita) and browse over the menu.

Don't be upset that you can't see the menu on the website, that's just part of MEATliquor's disappointing charm to get people wanting more.  They have 4 or 5 different burgers and a few other American type sandwiches.  I went for a Philly Cheesesteak, because again, I'm craving all things that I never ate that often at home, and as always the boyfriend went for the thing that I would otherwise get if I wasn't skeptical of the place (a burger).  We also had wings as a starter.

MEATliquor - Hot Wings

MEATliquor - Philly Cheesesteak, burger, fries

The Good: those hot wings were pushing on hot, so that was good.  French fries were pretty tasty.

The Bad: I have never, in my life, seen a Philly Cheesesteak look like that. I didn't realise it was OK to just pass off steak as mince meat (ground beef).  I must have missed that memo. And FFS that's an ungodly amount of green peppers. I pulled about 1/3 of them out but there were still too many to find the actual meat section of this sandwich, making the peppers really over powering.  

With the wings, though it was labelled as bleu cheese dip, I know they just went out and bought some ranch dressing. Don't mess with me and these wings, world!

So I feel the cheesesteak served is one of those 'Expectation/Reality' moments. I was expecting something closer to below

mmmmm I miss steak-umms

Notice the thin slices, not chuck ground beef.

The Interesting: All this being said, it is an interesting venue to look at inside. I'm not really sure why they painted it the way they did. It looks like a cross between a slaughter house, and the house of someone that wants to slaughter people.  Weird scribbles on the wall, red drips of paint everywhere, very odd.

The Worse: Normally if I have a part of my meal that I didn't enjoy, at least I know the bf has enjoyed his. In his words, 'It was alright, but nothing worth queuing for'.

And there you have it. 

As we left the building, a queue that did not exist only 2 hours prior was indeed wrapping around the block on a weeknight and we were half tempted to tell them it wasn't worth it.  But there wouldn't be any point, the media monkey has turned his tricks and enough people are intrigued by the place to keep it in business for a while.  Maybe that'll give them enough time to suss out what American food is, and I'll try the standard any-country burger instead of the American 'delicacy' next time.

MEATliquor can be found at:

74 Welbeck Street

W1G 0BA

Nearest Tube: 

Bond Street

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North London - Camden - The Camden Head

During my quest for the awesome-est pub in North London I decided that the route from Camden High Street to Junction Road would be the best place to start.  Camden is about a 20 minute walk from my office on Tottenham Court Road, making it even easier to decide on a whim that going to a pub on a Tuesday night is a brilliant idea.

I feel a bit old (like my parents) admitting this, but I absolutely love comedy nights, which The Camden Head puts on Monday and Tuesday nights.  Comedy here will set you back a mere £3 or £5 for 2 tickets.

We came quite early so grabbed we a pint and some food first. Even though I'm the American and the BF is the Brit in this equation, my pub meal of choice is always fish & chips while his is a burger. (WTF?)

Fish & Chips, £7

Classic Burger £7

Now in honesty, for a pub menu some of the items are taking the piss (wild boar & apple burger, pies that replace meat and beans with leak and butternut squash) but I will fully admit I am a repeat offender for their food.  So much so, that when Whitney Dunlap came to visit me from Ohio, I made sure to take her there.

Inside The Camden Head 

It's a beautiful pub with wooden interior and deep sunken sofas, books and board games for entertainment making this pub resemble a family lounge. And it's no wonder that it felt so cosy and comforting - The Camden Head was voted as having the best staff in 2010!  There's also a great photo of Camden High Street on the wall from 1903. 

You may have noticed that I've gone on for a bit about the food and neglected the comedy night.  I've only gone to their comedy night once, and maybe I came on an off night, but it wasn't that great of an experience.  We spent £5 to sit in a crowd of maybe 7 people, 3 of whom were the acts for the night.  I've been to free comedy nights that were astoundingly better.  

I love The Camden Head; the food is delicious, the atmosphere is relaxed and the cider on draught is crisp and refreshing. Definitely one of my must-visit pubs.

The Camden Head can be found at:

100 Camden High Street

London

NW1 0LU

Nearest Tube: Camden Town