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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Jubilee Extravaganza Day 3 - Lahore Kebab House

So far, we've ticked off festivals/drinking and how we spend our downtime nursing hangovers with some primetime telly.  Now it's time to move on to what we're eating.

Curry - right then.  This should be a known fact for most of you out there, but for those that don't know - Indian food is more popular than fish n'chips here in the UK.  So on Bank Holiday Monday, whilst Tom Jones took the stage outside of Buckingham Palace, I took a seat in a Whitechapel restaurant called Lahore.

A few things; as much as I've embraced British culture since moving here I still can't get that excited about curry.  I'll have it, but I won't crave it the way some people seem to.  Also, I use the term 'restaurant' quite loosely. It looks a bit more like a cafeteria you would've had your lunches in around age 10.  That being said, this seems to be one of East London's gems with people proclaiming their love for the cuisine. Not to mention, it's BYOB so drink up!

We have some friends that live out this way so we've been here before, but I think this is the first time I had eaten there. As they were quite clued up on what to eat and how to order it, someone shouted for mixed starters and papadums and our waiter returned to the table with about 8 plates of food.

While I don't go for curries that often, hands down my favourite part is the papadums and the 'lil dips you get with it. There was heaps of mint sauce on the table but he didn't bring out the mango chutney, I nearly cried inside.  If finally arrived and I tore into the crispy treat and had a few bits of chicken kebab that was mixed with lamb kebab.  Now World, I'm quite terrified of eating lamb - and I'm not one to say no to trying different food.  I normally cant even bring myself to swallow it, but this place managed to keep the little lamb chops in my belly.  Success - but I probably still won't eat the lambykins in the future.

Bottom line is we had a delicious meal, but I won't bang on about the food much as I didn't take any pictures (was having a 2 hour asthma attack without my inhalers on hand - stupid!). I will say however, that this adventure sparked a new treat for my fellow Seekers out there.

Now I know many of you don't use Foursquare in the UK but there are some really handy features for those that do!

New look on Foursquare

I've created lists of some of my favourite places to help you through London

Follow me and check-in to a place I've been before or a place near to where I've been before and my tips about the location will appear on your phone!

This post is releasing just in time for Foursquare's new look so if you don't have it or you haven't used it in a while, download it and follow me to get tips and suggestions while you're out seeking London.

Lahore Kebab House can be found at:

2-10 Umberston Street
London
E1 1PY
http://www.lahore-kebabhouse.com/
Nearest Tube: Whitechapel, Aldgate East, Shadwell (DLR/Overground)

North London - Angel - Sangria

I have a very scary addiction to Tapas restaurants.  It mostly has to do with me not being able to eat whole meals in a reasonable amount of time, so eating multiple tiny meals seems to make up for that.  If you're ever strolling around Angel on Upper Street, you'll notice that there are numerous eatery options all waiting for you to explore.  I was getting a bit overwhelmed with choosing a place to eat so I normally fall on my defaults at this point: Tapas, Italian or Chinese.

There were a few Italian places but they seemed more like Pizzerias (call me un-American, but I'm not that fussed over pizza) than pasta joints, and I'd already walked past the one Chinese place they have between Angel and Highbury & Islington stations.  I noticed a sign, jutted out onto the High Street that said something along the lines of Authentic and Spanish and Tapas so I was intrigued. It had a main seating area and a small outdoor terrace seating area down an alley on its side which looked really nice.  I like things that look a bit different, and aren't your same-old High Street establishment...boy, did I fall into a massive trap.

When I sat down at our table (I was with the bf), I almost instantly regretted our decision. The waiters fluffed about for a bit before one decided to host our meal experience, and clean off our table - our very wobbly table. I'm not sure about you, but 30 tapas plates on a wobbly table doesn't sound like a great idea. I suppose at this point we could've chosen to go inside, but we had already committed to being there, may as well commit to where we were seated at this point!

If you read my post on The Real Greek in Covent Garden, you'll know I wasn't impressed with their food. My vist to Sangria occurred the next day :( and I seemed to be having a strike-out weekend in London.  I can easily say that Sangria is my worst tapas experience, ever.  We ordered:

• olives, which tasted like they had been fermented in garlic for 3 months too long
• mussels which came out lukewarm and were cold about 5 minutes into the meal
• a £10 cheeseboard that had stale, plastic-like cheese from being in open air for too long 
• and a small plate of chorizo which is pretty hard to ruin so that may have been the one saving factor to this meal

We debated ordering Sangria but a jug would set us back at least £18.  I've seen other reviews for the restaurant and perhaps this was a matter of us picking the wrong things to eat - I hear they have a delicious paella. 

Overall, I wouldn't recommend Sangria for food at all, it's far too expensive for the disappointing quality. The do have a deal on paella during the week and that may prove to be worth the visit if you're hungry.  On the other hand it did seem like a lovely location for a few drinks and nice buzzing atmosphere for when the sun goes down. Also, this door was cute.

Sangria can be found at:

88 Upper Street

London

N1 0NP

Nearest Tube: Angel  

Central London - Covent Garden - The Real Greek

On a sunny (yea, I'm surprised as well) weekend afternoon in London, some friends and I met up in Covent Garden for a much overdue lunch.  I don't typically go out of my way for Greek food as it doesn't fit my Chinese or Italian obsession, but we landed at The Real Greek.

As expected in Central, it was quite busy from the moment you walked through the door. Not that there was an overflowing amount of restaurant-goers jumping at the chance to go to The Real Greek - but because the two or three servers couldn't keep up with their tables.  It's not exceptionally large inside, and the seating arrangement feels more like a big family dinner where you share your tables with distant cousins and crazy uncles.

It took us about 5 minutes to read through the menu and decide what we wanted for lunch.  It took the staff about 25 minutes to finally take our order.  The portions were served in a tapas style, with smaller plates that could potentially be for sharing - lending more to that feeling of a large family dinner. As they are cramped for space, the servings are brought out as plates on a tall rack rather than several plates that will further clutter the table.

Dishes ranged from about £4 - £7 each, so if you have a big appetite and a small budget make sure you go with a larger group so you can share each other's portions. I ordered a red pepper and feta dip with pita, some olives and a pork skewer. I may not be the best judge of Greek cuisine, but the best thing I had that afternoon was the £14 carafe of rose we ordered.   The olives were far too salty, the skewer (yes £5 for one small skewer) had lost all of the juicy qualities that meat should have, and you could barely taste the feta in the dip.  At home I frequented a place called The Happy Greek only for their delicious red pepper and feta dip: Kopanisti. The Real Greek's version did not deliver on my expectations.

I'm not one to dine in Central, and it did feel a bit more like a chain restaurant which is another disadvantage for most of my dining experiences.  I more than likely wouldn't come here again for a meal, definitely not for an intimate meal as there isn't much privacy.  I feel I keep finding places that don't impress me, so I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer.  However, I do feel that Greek food should burst with vibrant flavours that is as colourful as their dishes - and £15 later, that just didn't happen for me at The Real Greek.

The Real Greek can be found at:

60-62 Long Acre
London
WC2E 9JE
Nearest Tube: Covent Garden

www.therealgreek.com/coventgarden.html