Les Deux Salons, Covent Garden

Paris brest

Despite being a food blogger with acute restaurant obsession disorder, my friends always pick better restaurants than me. I'll spend hours researching the perfect place, invite a gaggle of friends and brace myself for the imminent praise of my unbelievable, sleuth-like knowledge of all that is hot on the London restaurant scene. Without a doubt, said restaurant will serve up a mole that looks and tastes like a festering cow pat or the waiter will call someone's new girlfriend "sir" - and the dream goes crashing out the window.

Determined to bring this to an end, I booked a table for 4 at Les Deux Salons - a new French brasserie by the brains behind Arbutus and Wild Honey, which has been welcomed to the fold with near universal praise.

Sadly, it turned out to be amateur hour.

First of all, they lost our booking that I had made weeks before and confirmed a few days earlier. But they sat us up at the bar, where we swilled on martinis while overlooking the hubbub in the atmospheric dining room - so all was easily forgiven.

Then an unsmiling maitre d' led us to our table. And led us, and led us.... Until we found ourselves in the cheap seats in a slightly separate, empty room overlooking the good bit. Strike 2.

Fortunately, our partners in crime are always a party on legs, so the occassional passing of tumbleweed didn't matter nearly as much as it could have done. We moved on and ordered our wine.

Unfortunately, LDS no longer sells the 2005 Savigny-les-Beaunes advertised on the menu. Our waiter suggested swapping for the 2006 which, as he pulled the cork (I kid you not) he assured us was not nearly as good as the 2005 but was just about a pass...*trails off, shrugs*. The commentary had all the effect of adding vinegar to the glass - nothing like starting a bottle of wine with the feeling that you should be drinking something better.

The food was (overall) ok, but nothing more. Best of the bunch among our starters was a warm, sweet onion tart with crumbled goats cheese and beetroot (£6.95) - it was beautifully caramelised, with a fabulous goats cheese and just the right amount of softness and crunch.

We couldn't really see the point of the bland quinoa salad (which we'd only ordered on the back of an earlier review) - the mix of broccoli, preserved lemon, italian sweet and bitter leaves and grilled rapeseed oil (£6.95) made little impact.

The foie gras terrine (£13.95) was all a bit "meh", but redeemed by a gorgeous ravioli of tender rose veal, fresh goats curd and cavolo nero (£8.95).

Our USDA rib eye for 2 (at just under £48) - was an average piece of meat, with no sides. When it arrived looking rather lonely, we ordered a lovely creamy, gratin which was quickly delivered. But it would have made sense for the waiter to point out the need for greens or potatoes earlier. And while I don't object to spending a small fortune on a magnificent steak at Hawksmoor or Goodman, the only respect in which this one was in the same league was the price. Nice enough but not really good enough.

The burgers were much better, but even these were not without a hitch. The chef cooks them medium-rare (which would suit me), but our waiter declined to allow our friends to order theirs well done. They did ask, and I suppose they could have forced it if they really insisted, but should people really need to fight with a waiter for their preference? Over a burger?

Anyhoo, the burgers were excellent (juicy and flavourful) and came with thin fries and a generous green salad for £12.

We finished with an enjoyable Paris brest and a very vanilla-ey creme brulee which was a bit sloppy and ho hum.

My excitement about Les Deux Salons didn't match up to reality - what was all the hoo-haa was about? Perhaps they were having a bad night, but life is short - I'll take my chances elsewhere next time I'm picking the venue.

Les Deux Salons, 40-42 William IV Street, London, WCN2 4DD (Tel: 020 7420 2050)

Malmaison Hotel & Brasserie, Farringdon - & one of the best burgers in London

Donald Russell 35 day aged entrecote

During a week when snowfall in London brought flights to a painful standstill, our city weekend break at the Malmaison Hotel in Farringdon was a little piece of utterly relaxing bliss. The fact that it houses the largely undiscovered gem that is the Malmaison Brasserie was just another bonus along the way.

I love staying in hotels. I love the fact you can mess the bed up and someone makes it for you while you're off having breakfast. I love the big fluffy towels that I don't have to wash. I love any shower that isn't our crappy shower at home. Our night at Malmaison was just a brief change, but it felt like a rejuvenating holiday - without having to spend the night sleeping at Heathrow under space blankets wondering when we'd get on the next flight out of there.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

The view from our room at Malmaison, overlooking Charterhouse Square

Best of all, the Malmaison Brasserie is just downstairs. The only thing I recalled about the brasserie before going there was that its burger made Young & Foodish's list of top 10 burgers in London (at number 4). Of course we had to have it.

The brasserie's location right by the Smithfield meat market is a clue to head chef, John Woodward's, passion for quality, local sourcing. All beef is sourced from Donald Russell who selects only grass fed, naturally reared beef, which is matured for a minimum of 28 days in Aberdeenshire. Cheeses are sourced from La Cave a Fromage and oysters are from Maldon Oysters. The list goes on.

Salmon & fried baby squid

Boudin noir with crispy poached egg

My seared, marinated salmon is perfectly cooked and moist, with ringlets of tender, fried baby squid and roasted hazelnuts (£7.25). TPG has the rich boudin noir with silky champ and crispy poached egg (£6.95). Both dishes are immensely enjoyable and the quality is clearly there.

The 250 gram entrecote is dry aged on the bone - tender, pink and sweet, it even came with some rich bone marrow on the side, and a smashing bearnaise (£20.95).

The excellent Mal burger

Which brings me to the excellent Mal burger - a 250 gram patty of ground beef with Gruyere, bacon, pickle, tomato and onion on a toasted sesame bun. It comes with homemade fries for £13.95. Lovely, pink and juicy on the inside, crunchy and well caramalised on the outside; it is indeed one of London's best burgers. Terrific stuff.

Creme brulee with a madeleine

Baked white chocolate cheesecake

To finish, a creamy vanilla creme brulee with a spiced madeleine combined 2 of my favourite sweets - both elements were quite lovely on their own, although putting them together doesn't really work as a combination. A very decent baked white chocolate cheese cake was sweet, smooth and dense. (Both desserts are £5.95).

The decor lacks some character. Despite that they've gone for dark tones and subdued lighting to create a slinky, stylish look, the brasserie has not quite shrugged off that feeling of being in the basement of a boutique hotel. But it's ok. And service is of a friendliness and quality to match the food. The private butcher's block room, with its exposed brickwork and long wooden table, would (I imagine) be a great nook for a large dinner party.

The brasserie also offers a set price menu - any 2 courses from the a la carte menu for £21 or any 3 such dishes for £25 (only very few dishes carrying a supplement).

  

From there, it was just a short toddle upstairs to our spacious room complete with fluffy carpet, chaise longue for reclining with a good book, dressing table (I totally want one), flat screen TV, wifi and a lovely, deep bath. The powerful shower with its big shower head is also great, and the toiletries at Malmaison deserve a special mention - they smell divine. Even better that the packaging requests that you take them home, so we happily obliged. There's also a decent little gym downstairs, which I tried for about 5 minutes and TPG for longer.

Any criticisms? There are no fluffy dressing gowns. This is a not a small thing for me - I love a big, fluffy dressing gown. If I had one, I'd be wearing it right now. And the mini bar is not amazing, but I never use it anyway. These quibbles are all I can think of - I loved the hotel, and the brasserie, and the location is terrific, with the Smithfield meat market, St Johns, Vinoteca and North Road Restaurant all within a few minutes walk. The short break has inspired me to do the whole city break thing more often - a change can be as good as a holiday, without all the travel hassles.

If you feel like some of the same, I recommend the Malmaison hotel, but I also recommend trying the brasserie for the steak and burger in particular, regardless of whether you're stumbling back to a bed upstairs.

Malmaison, 18-21 Charterhouse Square, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M 6AH (Tel: 020 7012 3700)

Greedy Diva was a guest of Malmaison, however room rates generally range from £205-£250 per night, with suites from £295-£475.

Hawksmoor, Seven Dials - Covent Garden

The kimchi burger - it's no oil painting,
but you can't fault the meat

The new Hawksmoor, Seven Dials in Covent Garden is a shiny, brassy counterpart to its more pared back Shoreditch mothership.

Located in the old Watney-Combe brewery, the front bar is dark, stylish and sophisticated. This is essentially a steak house (and a mighty fine one - I'll get to that later). But in the domain of proven bar man extraordinaire, Shaky Pete (who has moved over from the Shoreditch branch), we sip well made marmalade cocktails in martini glasses (£7.50) and some excellent lagers while making the most of Hawksmoor's superb bar menu.

I've sung the praises of the extraordinary Hawksmoor burger before, its juicy, loosely packed meat laden with fatty marrow to give it extra richness. Rob orders it here and gives it the thumbs up - it looks every bit as good as those I've had at Shoreditch. Now, there's also a choice of the Burger Van Burger (a stripped down version of the classic Hawksmoor burger) or the Kimchi burger. For something different, I go for the latter and it's certainly an eyeful. The meat is fantastic (no surprise there), and it's huge. However, I'm not a massive fan of the kimchi (a Korean dish of fermented cabbage and spices). Rich and tangy, it's nice enough on its own - but I find it quite overpowering with the burger. If I'd never met the original Hawksmoor burger, I would be writing home about this one now - it's good. But we've met, I'm smitten and so it's the original burger all the way for me.

The burgers come with a choice of thick, crunchy beef dripping chips (my choice - they're fantastic), triple cooked chips (both sorts of chips come with a gorgeous Stilton hollandaise) or a refreshing green salad. The latter may not sound as sexy but is terrific as far as greenery goes. (Burger and chips/salad is £15 - but, oh, it's worth it).

Lobster roll

TPG's lobster roll is a fine thing - generous pieces of sweet lobster are heaped into a long, warm, toasted brioche bun with garlic, hazelnut butter and mayo. Apparently, it's stuffed with a whole Dorset Blue. Strangely, there's a side of bearnaise which is excellent in its own right but I'm not sure what it's doing there with a lobster roll. The clincher is this baby is quite small for £25 and doesn't come with the side of chips or salad. In New York this week, I ate the lobster roll of my life (at Luke's Lobster, East Village), made with huge chunks of fresh lobster from a sustainable source in Maine - it cost me $14 (£8.73, review to follow). It may not be fair to make direct comparisons of two such different operations in entirely different continents, but it has to be said that the Hawksmoor lobster roll is hair raisingly expensive.

But that's pretty much where my quibbles with anything about the Hawksmoor end.

I also ate in the larger dining room during the soft opening period. Exposed brickwork and dark pillars give an industrial edge to the sleek room, which is perfectly conducive to the task at hand - consuming large quantities of tremendously good steak.

All steaks are from Yorkshire Longhorns reared by The Ginger Pig and dry aged for at least 35 days.

My preferred cut is the fatty bone-in prime rib (£6/100g), although they're out of that and the rib eye (400g, £25) by the time we order on the first night of the popular soft opening period. Our lovely waiter arranges for us to have a large chateaubriand for the same price (normally £12/100g). It's quite easily the tastiest chateaubriand I can remember, the dry ageing giving a great depth of meaty flavour. It's gorgeously tender and cooked to perfection on the Josper charcoal grill. There's a satisfying charred crust while the middle is lusciously pink and juicy. The delectable bone marrow gravy is our sauce of choice and we don't regret it.

We share the excellent, crisp and fluffy beef dripping chips and a serve of creamed spinach (£4 each). TPG is tempted by the macaroni cheese, but we save it for next time.

And now I have an admission to make. Before our ginormous steak, we also ate a serve of lamb chops. And it certainly taught me a lesson - just because you're out for steak, do NOT ignore the chops. They're grilled with a mint and caper salad which adds salty, zingy flavours to the deep, juicy meat (£10). Sublime. We also enjoyed the excellent prawn cocktail (£8.50).

  

In the end, it's really hard to choose between dishes - so much appeals.

The mini sticky toffee sundae (£4) is delicious with gloopy bits in the sauce at the bottom, although TPG's custard tart is a little bland (£6) - we regret not opting for the sticky toffee pudding which comes highly recommended.

Your bill at the Hawksmoor will stack up - it's not cheap. Dinner for 2 with drinks is likely to cost around £100 (plus service). However, it's a joyous place to indulge in great quality meat with some classy cocktails on the side. If you haven't been already, add it to your list.

Hawksmoor Seven Dials, 11 Langley Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JG (Tel: 020 7856 2154)

Bob Bob Ricard - The burger

I may have already mentioned that I'm quite partial to the fabulous dining extravaganza that is Bob Bob Ricard.

BBR has recently opened its beautiful downstairs bar, Bobby's Bar, to the public and I stopped by for drinks - red booths, low lighting, fun, fun, fun. Apparently there's also to be a piano. (There's currently a special deal throughout October - 10g of caviar, blinis, sour cream and a shot of Russian Standard Original Vodka for £15.50.)

Bobby's Bar

Back up in the restaurant, since my previous rant, I have fawned over the gorgeous quail egg starter, not to mention the amazing onglet which made me the best friend of every scavenger on the table (just do it).

I still need to try the lusciously pink lamb which, until now, I have only been making amorous eyes at from across the crowded room.

But it's the BBR Scotch Beef Cheeseburger that I'm having a moment about for now. I have adopted a concise new template below for occassions such as this.

Can it hold its metaphorical head high on a plate with the most esteemed burgers in my little black (burger) book?*
* Shake Shack, Eastside Inn, Little Owl, Bar Boulud, Hawksmoor, Goodman and Byron?

Yes, yes, oh my Lordy, yes.

Meat flavour (out of 10)

9. I have to leave some room for movement.

On the juicy to dry scale?

Way up there at the gorgeously juicy end of the spectrum

Charred on the outside, pink on the inside?

Perfectly, wonderfully so.

Toasted bun?

Char grilled on the inside. With sesame seeds.

What else is in there with the patty?

Choice of Montgomery cheddar or Kraft cheese slice. We tried both. Lettuce, tomato, pickle, red onion come with, as does a dainty little water bowl on the side. (Or maybe we just looked messy.)

My only quibble is that I'm not sure I like having my burger served split in half as pictured.

Cost?

It's a premium burger with a premium price tag. £13.75 with cheese. Add £1.50 for bacon and £1 for fried egg.

Do I have to wait more than an hour for it?

No. It's fast. And you can sit in beautiful surrounds drinking a cocktail while you wait. (I have no problem with the cocktail - burger pairing.)

Other important notes:

A fancy pants contender for another of London's best burgers. Highly recommended. But perhaps one for pay day.


Bob Bob Ricard, 1 Upper James Street, Soho, London, W1F 9DF (Tel: 0203 145 1000)

The Meatwagon, British Street Food - the quest for a great burger in London

There's a lot of hype about The Meatwagon. In many ways, it's deserved. Yianni Papoutsis is making some of the best burgers in London, in a style which is as close to my spiritual burger of worship at the Shake Shack in New York as can be found this side of the Atlantic. Yianni's burgers have been inspired by his travels around the USA, sampling all that its street food scene has to offer - and it shows.

But I waited OVER 2 HOURS for it. Out in the OPEN AIR. For a burger. And not even a Shake Shack burger with amazing fries and a salted caramel milk shake on the side.

The facts: I queued for around 30-40 minutes to place my order (having arrived 10 minutes after opening). Many, many people who joined the queue just after me missed out. They waited about an hour to find out - although it was surely obvious to The Meatwagon crew much earlier that the last 30-50 people were likely queuing for an hour in vain. It's one thing to queue and be rewarded (I've done it before - happily - at Shake Shack), but quite another for it to be a complete waste of time. I can't help but suspect The Meatwagon doesn't mind this - it adds to the hype afterall. However, the whole scenario gave rise to many unhappy punters who I am sure will not be queuing for the privilege again. What I didn't realise was that I would still have to wait nearly 2 hours after placing my order at The Meatwagon to have a burger in my grips. By this time, it was almost 10pm.



At least we had some entertainment, and beers to ease the pain.


Was it worth the wait?

Well, sort of. Certainly, for a burger fanatic, if you're one of the privileged few to score a burger. And if you're in good company to keep you entertained while your stomach feasts on your inner organs.

The burger is excellent and scores points for USA style authenticity. The knobbly, juicy (but crumbly on the outside) beef patty is nestled inside a toasted sourdough bun (Yianni has apparently worked with a baker to perfect the right recipe). The mix is completed with fresh crispy iceberg lettuce, red onion, melted cheese, ketchup and French's mustard - all of which work in perfect proportion and harmony for around £5. However, my burger was outrageously over-salted in parts and there was far too much butter on the bun - melted butter was dripping furiously onto my lap at one point and the taste of it was overwhelming at times. I haven't heard these complaints before, so perhaps they were a freak occurence - the foundations for a good thing were clearly there.

Others would agree - The Meatwagon recently won the British Street Food Award for Best Sandwich (2010).

The delay can (perhaps) partly be explained by the cooking method - the meat is placed on a very hot grill, squashed down to perfect patty size, flipped and then 2 wonderful slices of American style cheese are placed on top where they melt gloriously during the grilling process. The patty is also steamed under a metal dome over the grill during the process. Only a limited number of burgers can fit on the grill at once, and the process (it seems) is not to be hurried.

Would I do it again? Probably not. Not unless the van rolled up to the end of my street and threw me a bone to gnaw on during the wait. I understand why South Londoners have taken The Meatwagon to their hearts - particularly as it is usually positioned closer to home for them. However, I will not go out of my way for it again unless I overcome my sneaking suspicions that these guys are slightly taking the piss out of their customers - the "treat 'em mean, keep 'em keen" school of thought has never been one that works on me.

Particularly when it's almost faster to fly to New York and have a guarantee of the world's best burger with sides to go.


The Meatwagon moves around and, when I visited, it was one of the street food vendors (including the fantastic Brewed Boy coffee trolley and the delicious Choc Star van) present at the Eat St event near the Towpath Cafe. After my burger, I feasted on some superb chocolate truffles and rocky road by Choc Star which I highly recommend. Brewed Boy's coffee is a personal favourite - you can find him on Rupert St, Soho during the working week. You can check The Meatwagon's website for its next location.

The new best burger in London....

Ok, ok it's asking for trouble to say it's the best burger in London. Because we all like different things, don't we. We fight with passion and spittle over cheese properties, bun type, the great mayo debate and the presence of the humble gherkin. And that's before we even get started on the outrageous use of cutlery.

So I'll change that to - "it's my favourite burger in London". (Because it's the best.)

So far, my list of besties has been limited to:
1. Bar Boulud 
2. Hawksmoor 
3. Goodman 
4. Byron 

Yes, I'm nothing if not original.

But now the title goes to ... [opens envelope] ... the Eastside Inn bar.

Yes, I was heading to legless on their fabulous cocktails when I ate it. Yes, I washed it down with the brilliant sommelier's secret stash of indulgent decanted something or other. And yes, I did see the face of Jesus in the ketchup dribbles on my plate.

But trust me, Bjorn has cracked the jackpot with this baby. Given the man's skills, he probably does not want to be known as the burger king of Farringdon. So it gives me no joy to offer him the crown.

The meat is perfectly charred, juicy and flavourful - there's a secret ingredient in there and I can tell it's going to take quite a few more vodka cocktails to get it out of him. The bun is a grilled brioche [tick].

It's £10 (or £9 without cheese if you are a weirdo). Steep for a burger? Well what price heavenly bliss?

And it's cheaper than Goodman's and Hawksmoor's anyway (but I still love you guys and will be sleeping on your doorstep on a regular basis when you open in Covent Garden).

If you disagree with me about how good it is, I'll shout you a burger at Byron. 


(I won't really.)

I would tell you how perfect the chips are with a special salt all of their own but, at this point, you might not believe me and will think I am on a blinkered rant. Trust me. Go there. Sit at the bar. Get yerself a wee cocktail. Tuck in your napkin. See the light.

Aaaaaaaaaaaa.....

Eastside Inn lounge bar, 40 St John Street, London EC1M 4AY (tel: 020 7490 9230)

The Eastside Inn bar opened next to the restaurant on 26 June 2010. I am still working on them for home delivery of the burgers.  (Oh, there's other nice stuff on the bar menu too. Or you can see my previous review of the bistro here. The links to my reviews of the other top burger places in London are within the above list in this post).


Postscript 3 September 2010: Sadly, it was announced today that The Eastside Inn has closed. I look forward to hearing about the next act of the talented duo, Bjorn and Justine van der Horst. Let's hope it includes the burger.

Bar Boulud, London - French food, New York style in Knightsbridge

Daniel Boulud is pretty much a superstar of the USA dining scene. He can lay claim to being the chef patron of many an acclaimed restaurant and his 3 Michelin starred Daniel in New York (a darling of The New York Times - it has received 4 stars from 3 successive critics no less than 5 times since 1986) was recently ranked 8th in San Pelligrino's World's 50th best restaurants. (The Greedy Diva had a solid but slightly less dazzling experience there in 2008 - which I'm sure has The New York Times thinking twice.) And now Monsieur Boulud has pitched his flag in the heart of London. I had my table booked before you could say "steak fri...".

While M. Boulud was born in Lyon, which plays a heavy influence on the food at hand, Bar Boulud has a swanky, New York feel (the music on it's website says it all).

Sister to New York's Bar Boulud, the London bistro decor is intended to be a modern interpretation of a wine bar. Elegant, sleek and sexy, there's a zinc bar, oak panelling and wooden floors (intended to be reminiscent of wine barrels), chandeliers, and swathes of red leather (intended to "conjure the warm depths of a delicious Burgundy" - the hint was lost on me at the time, but I suppose I get it in hindsight).  Overall, the decor is fairly understated - it's not going to bowl you over before you taste anything.

The classic French bistro menu holds much to allure. We took longer than usual deliberating over so many appealing options - the Boudin Blanc truffled white sausage with mashed potato is calling me, but so is the beetroot with horseradish and hazelnut, the fish soup and the coq au vin. But then what about the signature charcuterie plates from renowned charcutier, Gilles Verot - such as the Lapin de Garrigue - Provencal pulled rabbit, carrot, courgette and herbs terrine? Tempting.

In the end, we opt for the £20 menu prix fixe (we'll come back again if we like it), before my deliciously oaky Marsanne steals the last shred of my decision making ability (Andre Perret, Marsanne, Vin De Pays Des Collines Rhodaniennes 2007 - £6.50 - absolutely lovely).

I start with the luxurious rabbit terrine with cornichons and cocktail onions, toasted bread and a hearty mustard. Elegant and wantonly good, the 2 Frenchmen on the table next door have a serve each, then order another to share. Oui.

The Peanut Gallery starts light, with the Salade de Roquette - rocket salad, garlic confit toast, stewed tomato, tapenade and buffalo mozzarella. Each element is nice enough, although, not surprisingly, there's nothing here to showcase the kitchen's real strengths. TPG is pacing himself. I'm still in some shock over his choice here, but if we're looking for that silver lining, it certainly gives us just one extra excuse to come back for a face to face with the Boudin Blanc. (Can you tell that it's still playing on my mind?).

It's hard to go past the chance to devour a New York style burger - it's been a while. We both order the DBGB Yankee Burger - a grilled beef patty, iceberg lettuce, tomato, sweet onion, sesame brioche bun, cheese pickle and fries (£13 with cheese on the a la carte menu). In this price bracket, it's got to compete with my beloved burgers at Hawksmoor and Goodman. It does.

It might be the messiest thing I've eaten for some time (think shredded lettuce in a train wreck), but this baby is the closest thing I've had to that much sought after, but highly elusive, US style burger in London. It's reminiscent of Shake Shake (and this, for me, is a mighty accomplishment). But it's loftier, even if there's a little too much foliage. The meat is loosely packed, moist and sumptuously flavourful and mine at least was perfectly cooked to the recommended medium. Surprisingly, TPG's patty was a little more well done than mine. (But I still didn't share). The accompanying thin cut fries were are good as they looked.

On the a la carte menu, the Frenchie Burger comes with confit pork belly as well as the beef patty and there's a Piggy Burger with a beef patty and BBQ pulled pork. While these other combos sound tempting, the flavour of the beef can really sing in the classic DBGB Yankee burger.

Quite satisfied, I could eat no more than 2 scoops of refreshing mint ice-cream and a decadent chocolate sorbet. More could be made of the sugary biscuit in between if they're going to bother at all.

TPG finished with the Gateau Basque - custard cake with brandied cherries (£6). The cherries packed a strong punch, but the custard cake itself was boring and dry with a hint of orange that didn't succeed in lifting it out of the doldrums. Disappointing.

Next time, I'll be trying the freshly baked madeleines (£4 - if they're the same ones we had at Daniel, they're divine) or the macaroons (£5) - among other things.

We finish with a sweet Domain De Trapadis, Rasteau 2007 (£9) (rich, grape juice flavours, although nothing earth shattering here).

Although there's a wine list fit for the snobbiest of vinophiles, with a particular focus on Rhones and Burgundies, there's also plenty to keep the rest of us happy at a reasonable price range.

Prices generally are reasonable, and surprisingly so given BB's location in the heart of Knightsbridge. Service was friendly, helpful and generally faultless. It will be interesting to see if the standards keep up once some of the staff return to M Boulud's New York ventures in the coming weeks. I'll be going back to just to make sure.

Bar Boulud, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, London, SW1X 7LA.
Tel: 020 7201 3899

Bodean's BBQ Smoke House: American BBQ in all its greasy chin glory: In London

If it's big meaty portions of chin wiping, greasy fingers glory you’re after, Bodean’s is not a bad option. It’s probably not Texas, but it might be the most convenient way to imagine you’re chowing through a good ol’ Texan BBQ in the heart of London.

We’ve been a number of times now, always at the desperate behest of The Peanut Gallery, when he needs his fill of American, cowboy hat wearing, testosterone filled, beer swilling, gut thumping stuff. Or when he wants to watch the football on the big screens.

On the ground floor is the casual deli/diner. Downstairs is a dark restaurant which looks like a sports bar. I prefer the ground floor bit.

I always go for one of the gigantic hot deli sandwiches (in hamburger buns) – usually the Pulled Pork as pictured (£5.25) with mounds of juicy pulled pork piled on a toasted bun, topped with BBQ sauce. There are also sandwiches with pastrami, burnt ends, brisket, coleslaw, slow cooked pork shoulder, or combinations of the above. The fries are good too.

TPG recently tried the beef hot dog (£4.95) – just like any junky-in-a-good-way hot dog to me, although he (being more of a hot dog man) seemed pretty happy with it (although it's not in the same league as Shake Shack's in New York). This was, of course, just a “side dish” to his BBQ chicken burger (£6.95). I consider it mandatory that all this be washed down with the beer on tap. Preferably while beating your chest and shouting at the big screen.

The pulled pork and ribs are the signature dishes. The ribs are enormous. Even the salads are heart attack inducing.

I also love the ample trays of USA condiments on offer – condiments make us happy.

You’ve probably been already (there’s quite a few branches – we go to the Soho one). If not, for decent quality cow or pig, when you don’t want to spend your weekly food budget on some of the limited places in London cooking top notch meat, I think it’s a decent goer. If you know a better place for American style barbecue, centrally located, I'd love to hear about it - I'll pass it on to The Peanut Gallery as his birthday present.

If you're prepared to pay extra for some of the best pieces of meat in London, go to Hawksmoor or Goodman - but you won't be able to watch the football and howl at the moon while you eat it.

Bodean's BBQ Smoke House, 10 Poland Street, Soho, London W1D 8PZ

Goodman: All hail, the great Goodman burger, London

"Should we go for a burger at Goodman?". Despite my better instincts, this was apparently not a rhetorical question.

I almost did not bother to answer, thinking the affirmation so obvious that I could just turn up. In any case, my tardiness in reporting back on the Goodman burger has more to do with a hectic schedule, cleverly belying my utter raving enthusiasm for what was a sensational evening.

Goodman is essentially a steak house. Not of the tawdry, checkered table cloth and grey chewy steak variety you see around Leicester Square - often frequented only by hapless tourists and dodgy stag doos - but a real, classy, clubby New York style steak house (but still with no frills like, say, tablecloths) widely reputed to serve some of the best bits of grilled beef in London.

I'm salivating just at the thought of it.

However, my visit to Goodman was of a different kind. I had teamed up with some other like minded bloggers and we had one thought in mind (some might even suggest we had but a single thought between us [how cruel]). Our mission: to devour the Goodman burger.

A good burger in London is a thing of rare beauty. Hawksmoor's is lovely (more on that in an upcoming rave) and Byron's is also good. But my absolute favourites are both in New York - at Little Owl and Shake Shack respectively. What would Goodman have to offer?

A bloody good burger, so it turns out.

Look at this baby. The hefty 1/2 pound beef patty is thick, dense, rich and smokey. The finely minced patty is nestled nicely in a glistening bun along with the essentials - pickles, tomato, onion and lettuce - I added cheddar. There are optional extras like egg (a la the Aussie burger), fried onion and mushrooms (but why detract from the glory of the top notch beef?), and we shared a side of Bearnaise. The thick cut fries (which some bemoan, but I adore) come as a package deal with the burger for £12.

For a price comparison, Byron's (very good) 6oz cheeseburger with fries will set you back £10. This makes Goodman's rather upmarket and sizeable burger, in a classy steak house setting, something of a good deal. (I know some will not see the value in paying 12 quid for a burger and fries, but they're probably unlikely to read my blog too often.)

We also shared some delicious creamed spinach with Gruyere, lest our heart rates might be taking it too easy.

I am not going to launch into a rating comparison with the Hawksmoor burger, since they are the apples and oranges of the burger world - and to do so would burden me with something of a Sophie's Choice type dilemma. Hawksmoor's burger is a looser and gloopier, unabashedly UK burger, including marrow in the mix. Goodman's half pound patty is extremely dense, finely ground and more uniform. It's more like a thick set version of a traditional US style patty. I loved it, and ate it all (naturally), but not without a subtle popping of the top button. If you can bring yourself to visit Goodman and not have a steak, you're going to be happy with your burger.

But the end product is not the only reason I fell head over heels in love with this place. The intense passion for their product, detailed back to front knowledge of it, and dedication to serving their customers the highest quality was the clincher that really won my heart.

Although we were not invited to dine, and booked without blogger ID disclosure, the Goodman crew caught wind that we were coming. Under the hospitable eye of manager David Strauss, they prepared for us a starter of beef carpaccio (creamy, melt in the mouth) and a couple of surprise In-N-Out (West Coast USA burger chain) style burgers to divvy up between us (knowing the current moans about the need for someone to adopt and perfect a basic US style greasy burger in London). What absolute champions. This one was layered with 2 thinner patties and oozing slices of melted "plastic" cheese (not Kraft, but along those lines). It was also delicious and was sided up with oodles of thin fries smothered in fried onions and thousand island style sauce. Yeah baby.

Although potentially heart stopping, it was of course still of the Goodman quality and had less of the grease factor of the greasy US chain burger (which you may or may not view as an ideal thing).

A fascinating tour of the kitchens with chef extraordinaire, John Cadieux, revealed the Josper charcoal grills at work, where gigantic, thick steaks were being grilled to perfection at the coal face. Inside the Goodman dry aging room, enormous sides of prime beef lined the shelves, some aged and decayed to the extreme. Walking into it was something of a "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" moment and I was feeling more like Augustus Gloop by the minute. There's both USDA beef, and Scottish grass fed varieties. I would love to back for the steak as soon as possible. John's knowledge of and passion for his subject is as infectious as it is fascinating.

We finished off with a completely-unnecessary-but-thank-God-we-did-it New York cheese cake (gorgeous, with crispy biscuit base) and the scrumptious chocolate chunky fudge sundae which I kept digging into just until reaching the point of physical explosion.

Our wines were also delectable, particularly the Simi (a Californian Cabernet Sauvignon) expertly selected by Denise (The Wine Sleuth).

The Goodman crowd was largely blokes, with the occassional gorging female among them - there's a fair amount of testosterone about. Our table, being equally weighted with women, was clearly at odds with the rest of the room.

Women of London, step up to the plate with your male brethren and get your iron fix. I can confidently recommend Goodman as a superb place to do it. And get that chocolate sundae while you're at it.

Goodman, 26 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London, W1S 1QH (Ph: 020 7499 3776)