More Meat

#Meateasy, Goldsmiths Tavern, 316 New Cross Road, SE14 6AF

Bar Boulud, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA

If I were to open a new bar in London, I imagine that deciding how to set it up would be a fairly swift process: 

1) Unexpected location, preferably in something not originally intended to be a bar e.g. shoe shop, hotdog stand or pet shop? Check.

2) Cocktails in jam jars / petrol cans / anything but glasses? Check.

3) Subtle but diverting speakeasy quirks evoking downtrodden decadence of prohibition era? Check.

Even simpler would be the process of designing the menu, for what self-respecting hotspot could overlook that trendiest of food stuffs: the burger. Despite its humble associations, the burger continues to capture London's foodie imagination; with everyone from East London dive bars to the big names in grilled meat jostling for the crown of London's Best Burger. With such great variation between the offerings, comparison is almost impossible. Nonetheless, here goes my take on what makes a good burger: the big hype versus the big name.

Cookbook Challenge: January

The problem with New Year's resolutions is that they start to look jaded around the same time giving up rich food and alcohol starts to sound like not such a good idea after all. This year, it took me until lunchtime on New Year's Day to decide to head to the pub in search of beer and chips. So the prospects for my resolution were never great. Somewhat surprisingly, therefore, I managed to cook from eight of my many cookbooks in January, including three which had only ever previously been used as browsing fodder. What I have struggled with, unsurprisingly, is finding the time to chronicle my recipe-driven experiences. A change of tack is required: enter the monthly round up.

Moving on

At the ripe old age of six months, Get Forked! is moving home. We've bitten the bullet and bought the blog its own domain and given it a brief makeover in the process. 


The shiny new url is: www.getforked.co.uk


Comments, views and suggestions on the new format would be gratefully appreciated.

Breakfast with a Westminster classic

The Cinnamon Club, 30-32 Great Smith Street, SW1P 4BU

Breakfast: £13 on a special offer

Located in the former home of the Westminster Library, the Cinnamon Club has an inordinate amount of old world charm: beautiful architecture, walls lined with books and thick, white linen tablecloths. For ten years now, it has been a fixture of the Westminster culinary scene, serving up refined Indian food to journalists wooing politicians in the hope of an insight into the latest intrigue. Being neither hack nor expenses-fuelled parliamentarian, I had to wait for a Time Out special offer.

Something fishy

Wright Brothers Soho, 13 Kingly St, W1B 5BW

Meal for two: £65

It is not unusual for a fledgling gourmand to have a favourite restaurant critic, someone who writes in a manner that captures the not-so-secret desires of their fundamentally greedy soul. Last year, Gourmet Chick  wrote about her respect for Marina O'Loughlin. For me, it is all about Jay Rayner: a man who expounds the virtues of lard and generally shuns bland or faffy food and stingy, ungenerous cooks. It is not surprising, therefore, that I wish I had read his review of the new Wright Brothers place in Soho before I chose it as the place to celebrate a good friend's engagement. 

Just as Rayner observed, food was generally good, if occasionally overpriced, but the holes in the service were so big, a colossal squid could have shimmied straight through them. What he criticised in December had not been put right by January. And, as he speculated in his review, we probably lost out for being civilians and not well-known food writers.

Cookbook Challenge #3: dinner party French

Rick Stein's French Odyssey by Rick Stein: BBC Books, 2005.

ISBN 0 563 52213 5

Like many people with an unhealthy interest in food, I have an Amazon problem. It does not take much to tip me over the edge: an enjoyable holiday, a hot new chef or - as in the case of the latest challenge book - a random encounter with my mother's food magazines. Some years back, browsing her latest copy of Olive, I came across an article testing the usefulness for dinner party cooking of four different celebrity cookbooks. Back then, it was clear to me that the Rick Stein book was the winner; and that was all the excuse I needed to get online and order a copy.

Since then, the book has seen a moderate amount of use. Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to call it a favourite, it has been dusted off on a few occasions, more than one of the recipes followed and one dish (the squid below) has been made more than once. A far cry from the interested neglect meted out to the first two tomes. It has even been leant to my Ma and Pa who liked it so much that an intervention was required to return it to my clutches. 

Spain forgiven

Morito, 32 Exmouth Market, EC1R 4QL

Meal for two with beers: £60

When your family is spread across two continents, one of the most frustrating things that can happen to you is Christmas transport fail. For example, the childhood family Christmas punctuated by 24 hours in Abidjan waiting for a plane that could manage the rather crucial process of leaving the ground. When said transport fail is not your fault nor the act of a weather god or technical gremlin but is, instead, the direct result of airline incompetence, it is all the more difficult to stomach. 

A pox, therefore, on Iberia and all her agents of disappointment whose ill-judged overbooking and abysmal customer service saw me wandering round Barajas airport in the early hours of Christmas Eve searching for someone who could fix Christmas. Doom-laden times in the Fork household. However, whilst nothing can ever match up to a sunny Christmas with family, their incompetence meant I spent Christmas with Mr F and left me with a nice little pot of compensation courtesy of EU law - thank you Brussels. Unfortunately, it also left me vowing never to return to Madrid, scene of so much trauma. Which is a shame because it is actually a truly wonderful place, home to the magnificent Museos del Jamon. I knew I had to fight this feeling the only way I could: with tapas.