Beach Blanket Babylon

The reviews weren't exactly complimentary.
But the place looked stunning through the fancily decorated windows, and we had an hour and a half to kill until the live music kicked off at Loungelover around the corner, so we decided to give Beach Blanket Babylon a go.
If nothing else, we thought, we could spend the time sipping on cocktails while admiring the OTT decor and pondering as to the reasons for the bizarre name (on the latter, I am none the wiser after a visit to their website - anyone any ideas?).
While Loungelover and Les Trois Garcons (Did I really forget to review that place? Well, in a word, it was stunning.) are of the old-school grandeur, filled with things you might find in your granny's attic, the OTT-ness in BBB is all shiny, new and fake.


Still, it's quite something to look at and we had a good view from a rounded banquette table facing the room. We had time to spare, so decided to take it slowly with some cocktail aperitifs. The place wasn't exactly full but it took the waiter about 10 minutes to bring our tumblers of tap water. He re-appeared after about 5minutes later to take our food order, and brought some slices of dry, butterless bread after a further 5 minutes. We were still decidedly cocktail-less though, and starting to feel a bit miffed.
On his next visit, the waiter surprised us by bringing our main courses. But we'd ordered aperitifs, I protested. We wanted to have those first, then order some wine to go with the food. The waiter seemed to entirely miss the point, plonking the food on the table and saying that the cocktails won't be long.
It took several attempts on our part to persuade him that, no, we really did not want to be served the food just yet. Throughout there was no hint of an apology. Eventually he took it away, and brought the cocktails – a Purple Blanket and a Redcurrant and Thyme Martini (both at a not-too-unreasobale 7.90).


They were very pretty and tasted quite nice, I especially liked the red currants in my one even if I couldn't really taste the thyme. As soon as we'd taken the last sip the waiter re-appeared with the food which had clearly been sat under the hot lamp all this time. We asked for a couple of glasses of wine (from 5.50), and he disappeared again. We were in danger of finishing the mains before the wine made an appearance, but luckily managed to flag down another, more obliging waiter who brought it immediately.


As for the food, despite being a bit cold, my foie gras burger was luscious. There was a generous topping of the pate, which melted into the rare burger. I've never tried this combination before, but it seems to be flavour du jour in London at the moment and I have to admit it beats the hell out of monterry cheese. The chips were nicely crispy too. For 16.50, it was not exactly cheap (though a pound cheaper than in their Notting Hill branch according to the website!), but with the inclusion of the foie gras did not feel too much like a rip off - unlike the husband's 15.50 sea bream. It was a small slice, overly crispy and underwhelming. The accompanying pile of fennel salad was quite unusual and refreshing though.
At the end, we asked Fabio the waiter to deduct the service charge, which he duly did, but were then surprised to be offered a second opportunity to tip by the credit card machine. (We declined.)
So would I recommend it? Well, it's an opulent setting for cocktails if you like that sort of thing. And the burger was damn good, but not good enough to over-ride the service.

Beach Blanket Babylon Shoreditch, 19-23 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA; Tel. 020 7749 3540; www.beachblanket.co.uk; Tube: Old Street

Marks & Spencer's Cafe Revive

I don't normally review sandwich places, but I was very impressed with my lunch today so I thought I'd mention it. As well as the usual array of posh ready meals (and basics like miniature tins of dog food for the strange people who do their entire weekly shop there!) some of the bigger food sections of M&S have a cafe section offering hot food. Setting wise, of course, eating inside a supermarket is a bit of bizarre experience. At lunchtime near Moorgate, I'd say the hustle and bustle was probably to manic for chilled people watching, and there was a longish queue for the food (you pay, get given a number receipt and wait). But, in a world of cold sandwiches and the odd jacket potato or toasted ciabatta, they offer a refreshingly diverse selection of hot meals. There's various burgers, pizza and specials which today included a red thai curry and a chili con carne. For me though, it had to be the cheese burger. For under £4, you get a nice, chunky roll with a good crust (none of your namby-pamby burger baps), filled with fresh tomato relish, salad, cheese and, of course, a burger. For an extra quid, the meal deal also adds in some luscious, crispy-coated, hand-made-looking and -tasting chips and a drink. That's not far off what you might pay for a McDonald's or Burger King, but taste-wise it's miles and miles away. My only quibble was that the burger could have been a bit less well done, but overall it was much nicer than most specimens I've sampled in gastropubs for twice the price or more.
Marks & Spencer's Cafe Revive, 70 Finsbury Pavement; London; EC2A 1SA; Tube: Moorgate or Liverpool Street (and other branches, including Canary Wharf)

Gourmet Burger Kitchen - pricey patties

The eating options in Canary Wharf are (surprisingly) pretty limited, so I was perhaps unduly excited by the opening of the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. (Though judging by the length of the lunchtime queues in the week before Christmas, I wasn't the only one.) It occupies a cave-like, window-less space under Wagamama's in Jubilee Place, the posher of the two shopping malls. The dark-wood tables and black-cad waiters help keep out any notion of daylight, while giving the venue a brisk, canteen-style aura. You order at the bar, which I guess is handy for bill-splitting. The A3-sized laminated menu focuses heavily on burgers of every possible incarnation (though whether a portabello mushroom or a piece of chorizo really counts as a burger is debatable), but there are also some salads if you are feeling healthy. I went for the bog-standard cheese burger (£6.75). The Aberdeen angus patty was juicy and flavoursome and the default "medium" cooking left it with a pleasant pink hue in the middle. The bun also featured ketchup, lettuce, tomato and raw onions. I am not sure what kind of cheese it was, but it was nice and definitely not of the luminous orange American variety. Chips, however, were a whopping £2.55 extra, plus another £1.45 for a small pot of sauce such as garlic mayo or sour cream. They were thick-cut, and not sufficiently crispy for my liking. The GBK chain was founded by a couple of kiwis, so New Zealand beers feature on the menu (I had a bottle of the rather pleasant Macs Gold ale for £3.05) and the more wacky section of the burgers menu includes a "kiwi". This concoction combines the humble beef patty with a fried egg, pineapple and..... wait for it.... beetroot. To my utter amazement, my colleague wolfed down the whole lot, shovelling away with a knife and fork as the "kiwi" was too tall to bite into. He did admit though that the beetroot may have been unnecessary... The service was very quick (especially given that most tables were occupied) and pretty cheerful. And despite the beetroot, they also do pretty decent offerings catering to those of who stick to the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy on burgers. They also do takeaway, though at these prices I'd say it's far too steep for a regular lunchtime jaunt. If I had the choice, I'd prefer a nice pub which does good burgers but also a wider repertoire of other dishes, and feels less canteen-like. But as I happen to work in the area and have yet to find such a venue, I dare say I'll be back.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Unit 24 Jubilee Place, Canary Wharf, E14 5NY; Tel. 0207 719 6408; Tube: Canary Wharf; www.gbkinfo.com

The Bountiful Cow

Ignore the garish neon lights, and duck in to a small, cosy dark bar. The highlight, according to other reviews, is the landlady, a one-time doyenne of Ronnie Scotts and sadly absent during our visit. The young waitresses were perfectly helpful though, escorting us to the more spacious restaurant down some hard to find steps. The dinner came courtesy of toptable.co.uk, paid for with loyalty points accumulated from far too many expensive lunches and dinners over the past 12 months, and consisted of two courses from a very limited menu. My salad came in a huge bowl, piled high with tomatoes, onions and chunks of feta cheese. My companion braved the liver in a bid to overcome an aversion that dates back to horrific school dinner experiences. It turned out all creamy and pate-like, with some rather nice toasted bread. For mains, we both opted for juicy burgers, topped with cheese and served in huge buns with chips and salad on the side. The meat was juicy-pink in the middle, and yummy on the tongue. The generous side orders defeated us, leaving no room for deserts. For a free meal, it certainly got my seal of approval, and was nicely washed down by some drinkable house white (£11.50).

The Bountiful Cow, 51 Eagle St, WC1R 4AP. Tube: Holborn

$

This bar on the edge of Exmouth market has been around for about a year and sells itself on cocktails and burgers. The latter rather put me off - any two-bit gastro pub these days serves up 'gourmet burgers' - and I delayed my visit. But on Sunday night it is one of the few places open in the area, so we braved it. And were very glad we did. Our table gave us full view of the small open kitchen and the three large lobsters staring out from an ice-filled glass cabinet which separated us from the cooks. Having overdosed on cocktails the previous night, we left sampling Dollar's selection for another time - though it looked good. We sampled fish stew (£9.95)with good strong flavours, a little reminiscent of a Bouillabese, and generous servings of different sea food including muscles, clams and prawns. The 30-day hung Argentinian Fillet Mignon (£16.75) was a good cut of meat but the accompanying sauce (including blue cheese butter, apparently) was odd and not entirely pleasant. The highlight was monkfish (£12.50), served with a creamy, lemony prawn-studded sauce and fluffy mashed potatoes. Next time may be we'll go for lobster. The burgers looked pretty impressive too - and huge. The place has quite a romantic feel to it, but would also suit a larger night out with a touch of glamour. The food is pretty good too, though perhaps some dishes are clearly better than others. But after a few cocktails you may not notice anyway. Service charge included in the bill.
$, 2 Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4PX; Tel. 0207 278 0077; Tube: Angel or Faringdon