Kyloe

Myself and Rachel got the train through to Edinburgh to have lunch with my good friend Natalie. Given that both Rachel and I are mostly Paleo these days we thought we would try out this steak place.

I had subscribed to their newsletter which gave us 20% off food which is a good thing as it ain't cheap.

Now I will have to compare it to the Hawksmoor and Goodman and did it measure up? No, not really. It has a lot of positives but I found it to be expensive for what you get. My meal came to £50 including the discount. I don't mind paying that at Hawksmoor or Goodman as what you get merits it, but not here. 

There were a lot of positives. 

It's a good looking place and the service was very good. The portions were slightly small although we still left stuffed due to the amount we ordered. The steak tartare was better after I added extra Tabasco and Worchestire sauce and oddly, my side salad had no dressing on it. My rib eye was medium when I had asked for medium rare (I later overheard a different waiter telling another table that due to the high fat content it was better medium rare,something I had not heard before). My Cafe de Paris butter was good but did not involve any liver. Rachel was very pleased with her fillet but Natalie found her plaice to be over cooked. The skinny fries were very good, and we were so full we didn't even eat the Portobello mushrooms we ordered. Despite this we still ordered pudding and my pineapple tart Tatin was very nice, the best of the puddings I think. Rachel chocolate mousse was more of a parfait and Natalie's chocolate fudge sundae was very rich and sweet as could be expected but not as sophisticated as it might have been.

We had a fun time but I don't know that we would go back.

Hawksmoor Guildhall Bar

UWhich Hawksmoor to pick? Will and Huw certainly don't make it easy with all 4 Hawksmoors having different menus. We have been to the Spitalfields bar twice and loved it, not only for its recycled decor but for its menu. Its the only one that has spicy on its menu and when you are consuming food that is so rich and meaty a little bit of heat can go a long way in cutting through the richness of too much meat. Despite this we decided to give the Guildhall a try, as it was a bit closer to us. We are glad we did. We got seated quickly and the service was quick. We had a cocktail each and the beef French dip, Stilton lettuce salad, Tamworth belly ribs and good fries. The perfect mix of meaty, savoury, light and crispy.

Hawksmoor burger

Finally, after much anticipation, I had the Hawksmoor burger. Annoyingly it is only served during the week, and you may recall my attempt to get them to serve it to me whilst pregnant and dining on a Saturday. I think it is the only time my sweet talking has failed, and contrasts starkly to the accommodating FOH team at the Harwood Arms.

Anyway, I digress.
The burger is that good.

I think it's a tad overpriced at £15, if it were £12.50 you would think you were onto a good thing. I had it with the Ogelshield. What can I say: the bun was maybe the weakest part of it, I don't like sweet buns, my personal preference is sesame seed. The cheese was salty and strong, the burger cooked perfectly, charred on the outside, adequately rare on the inside. The juices flowed. The meat was ground coarse enough and it was possible to taste the different meats used as well as the bone marrow nuggets.

It is therefore, now my favorite burger displacing the Stravaigin burger from top spot. Of course, that is until I can get back to New York and do my own top five burgers of NY throwdown: shake shack vs diner vs veslka vs five napkins vs burger joint. One can dream..

Hawksmoor.

After the wedding we planned on meeting up with our friends, Neil, Emma, Will and Nina for dinner at the Hawksmoor. Being pregnant the idea of eating an overcooked steak did not appeal so I had emailed them in advance to see if I could get special dispensation to get the burger instead.

But oh no, no special treatment for the pregnant lady.

It's the only time this ploy has failed. I was told via email that if they allowed me the burger they would have to allow other people the burger and then chaos would ensue, so they suggested that I have a rib-eye done medium well instead. To be dissed in such a way would normally result in me giving a place a body swerve, but, because it's HI's favourite place for cocktails and it was relatively convenient, I made the booking anyway.

So after a couple of very good handmade lemonades at Pinchito People we found ourselves at the bar at the Hawksmoor round about six. The nice barman noticing my prominent bump, straight away set-to whipping up a non-alcoholic cocktail for me, whilst HI plumped for a Millionaire.



My cocktail was lovely and refreshing-guava, lime and pineapple flavours came through.



It was followed by this strawberry delight



The others joined us at the bar and ordered some cocktails too, we were so busy catching up that we didn't actually take our table till seven-thirty. The place was not yet full but it is London, and it got busier round about nine. Our waitress was rather surly I have to say, I think she thought that her tip, which was added to our bill with out our asking, was going to be a paltry one when she heard that we were not having starters. She perked up a little when we order about 6 sides, puddings, coffee, and many more drinks. She had an annoying habit of asking my husband if he wanted another cocktail everytime she came to the table, which could be perceived as being attentive but if you know how potent these cocktails is a bit dangerous, and smacked of wanting to take advantage of a group of slightly tipsy people, of whom I was not one.

Anyway, griping aside, onto the food. I was disappointed by the chips, they are triple cooked but I found them to be a bit under done on the inside. Stravaigin and Crabshakk do better chips if you ask me. The others decided to try out the Porterhouses, one at 850g the other at 700g both done medium-rare. Much to my annoyance I did not take a photo of what looked to be a mighty fine piece of meat. The silence that ensued confirmed that it was as tasty as it looked. Will had order envy as he had gone for a rib-eye medium-rare which did not compete with the Porterhouse. I asked for my rib-eye medium-well as instructed only to be told that it would have to be done well-done, I think to avoid me having any chance of coming back and suing them for food poisoning, so I just ate what I was given like a good meek pregnant woman should.



It was ok, not too chewy but by then the fun had gone out of it a bit.
The puddings that followed were associated with happy noises but I did not part-take as I was suffering from protein overload. I do like the Hawksmoor primarily for the cocktails, but as I anticipated it's not really for pregnant people, but then again, not many places are.

Lounge Bohemia.

Having been to New York where secret cocktail bars are all the rage, Lounge Bohemia seemed like it would be worthwhile scouting out. It's not that hard to find but as the sign says reservations are necessary. HI phoned up asking for a table for three only to be told it was standing room only. You can imagine his confusion, when, we were shown to a table on arrival. What was that all about? he fumed. We assumed it was a sense of humour. The interior took after the Mos Eisley Cantina school of design, furnished with random seventies furniture. It was dark and cosy and very civilised and there was a hostess lady who comes and takes your order, who looked as if she would scold you if you stepped out of line.



Not the sort of place you go and get really drunk in, or at least not that you would show it. It is kind of like the East Room in that respect, a place to sip and ponder your drinks whilst in like minded company. As you know we are big cocktail fans with HI having a soft spot for Audrey Saunders of Pegu Club fame and whilst in New york we sampled what was on offer at the Pegu club, Bemelmens, Death and Co, and PDT. We are always therefore keen to see what Cocktailians this side of the Atlantic have to offer, our favourite place in London at the moment being the Hawksmoor . I think HI was a bit disappointed. He started off with a promising tobacco infused whiskey based cocktail that was interesting in its presentation alone, let alone its taste. It worked well. The next cocktail the Lab Test



was disappointing. The idea is good you pick your base flavour either sour, sweet or something else and they make up a cocktail for you. We thought that each tube would have a different cocktail based around the sour note, but it was that same cocktail poured into 5 tubes! Bit of a gimmic if you ask me.

I was more than happy with my non-alcoholic drink



which was just like drinking a lemon sorbet, tart and refreshing.

I came away thinking the place was more hype than substance. I still think the Hawksmoor is better for cocktails and more relaxing, in that the bar staff give you a bit of chat, without checking to see if you are cool enough.