The great gin gathering that is Junipalooza returned for its 5th year last week. Back at Tobacco Dock over the World Gin Day weekend, it gave gin fans the opportunity to taste gins from all around the world and meet the people behind them.
London
Graveney Gin
DrinkOne of my local gins also happens to be one of my favourites. South West London’s Graveney Gin has its home in Tooting Market, and it’s there where you’ll find their small but perfectly formed gin bar.
National Burger Day 2017
Food
Thursday 24 August is like Christmas for fans of all things meaty. Mr Hyde’s National Burger Day hosted at Street Feast’s Hawker House in Canada Water was back for another year, celebrating the finest the burger world has to offer. Launched by Jamie Klingler 5 years ago it’s become a bit of a staple in the foodie calendar.
Plot, Tooting
Food
Plot is new to Tooting’s booming scene. Sandwiched in the Broadway Market it spreads out into the usually bustling walkway to serve some of the finest small plates of seasonal British produce. At just 15 seats it’s about as intimate as they come, so make sure to book.
Junipalooza 2017
Drink
On Sunday we visited the Tobacco Dock in East London for this year’s Junipalooza event. Unfortunately we missed celebrating World Gin Day itself there on the Saturday but we were able to benefit from the Sunday’s slightly longer session which meant we could fit more gin in! Every cloud.
Kerb presents Alchemy
Uncategorized
I couldn’t say it better than this man’s apron. Indian food is the most incredible combination of flavours and textures.
London street food kings KERB brought together the finest traders to coincide with the Southbank Centre’s (where this is based) festival on South Asian culture and arts.
We visited our favourites, Horn OK Please, whose dosas are so simple, but so delicious with an amazing combination of textures and flavours, and then went on to The Cheeky Indian for shredded crispy lamb with plum and mince lamb with peas. Not forgetting fragrant chai, smooth and creamy mango lassis and crispy bhajis that we also somehow found room for!
The market does tend to be a little short on seating but if you don’t mind exploring South Bank you can usually find a spot to make your own. It’s worth going down even when this particular festival isn’t on, as for the rest of the season it’s the turn of the Southbank Centre Food Market which has some equally stunning food from all around the world.
I already can’t wait until next year’s festival!
The Jolly Gardeners, Earlsfield
FoodTime Out recently did a feature on Garratt Lane, a road close to where we live in south west London. As part of this, they listed all the trendy places you must go along this road, in order to stay cool.
The Jolly Gardeners is a local pub with a restaurant headed up by Masterchef 2010 winner Dhruv Baker. It’s a real hidden gem with a compact menu, allowing the chefs to focus on delivering some truly stunning plates of food.
We opted to go straight into mains and, having been salivating since reading about it in Time Out, had to go for the pork belly. The pork was beautiful, proper melt in your mouth. It had incredible flavour from fresh chimichurri over the crispy crackling skin. Sitting on a bed of buttery, silky spring greens, roasted beetroot and carrot and cardamon puree it was as much a treat for the eyes as the tastebuds.
My wife had the daily special, perfectly pink roast lamb with dauphinoise potatoes that were the ultimate decadent complement to the meat.
I’m kicking myself knowing this has been on our doorstep since we moved to the area years ago, but now we’ll most definitely be back for more!
Boom Burger
UncategorizedMeetings in West London aren’t all bad. Having borrowed the Brand Museum for a team meeting we decided we needed some kind of reward. Time for a little slice of the Caribbean in West London: Boom Burger.
As it was my first time there I opted for their classic – the Boom Burger, a cheese burger with bacon jam. While unfortunately overcooked, the meat itself was flavoursome and the and bacon jam really brought out the best of it.
I’m not normally a fan of tomato in burgers as they can tend to make the bun soggy but the beautifully toasted brioche held together well with the salad and the sweetness and texture really complemented the burger.
The atmosphere was great and plantain fries are always a good addition to transport you to more tropical climes.
While it didn’t blow me away I’m definitely going to be back to try the Jerk Boom (their chicken burger) and Fish Boom, which looked incredible.
(3/5)