21st Feb 2015: White Lyan, London, England

Approx 8pm - 10pm
White Lyon

153-155 Hoxton Street, London N1 6PJ

http://whitelyan.com

This is probably one of the weirdest yet most intriguing cocktails bars I have ever visited!

Walking in we felt like we had walked into a scene from A Clockwork Orange - it was very sparce and had a black and white theme throughout. The table we were seated at felt like an executives table, which gave off an 'interview' sort of vibe!

What's most interesting about the cocktails at the WL is that they are all mostly prepared in advance - so no more waiting 10 minutes to get your drinks! Once your drinks are ordered, we waited on average 2 minutes to receive all of our order - No complaints there :)

What was also great was the service - the staff were very attentive, and once the cocktails were at our table they took the time to explain how each cocktail was made and what unusual ingredients were used.

The menu had a good selection, and it was nice to see some experimental ingredients and combinations - I'm all for cocktails with strange and unusual flavours, and this menu had a section dedicated to that!

I chose to sample two cocktails from the Heaps Mad Shit section of their menu - both of which were of very good quality.

Lada Lada: Tequila, vodka, elderflower, lager syrup (this was great - a very tequila-y aroma with a delicate, elderflower taste)

Ribs: Bourbon, chipotle, mint tea, rosewood (another great cocktail for those who like bourbon)

Overall, this place was BRILLIANT! Couldn't fault any of it. And it was so much fun! We all had a great time sampling each others drinks, and discussing the interesting flavours. I will definitely be back to sample the rest of the menu!

ThymeTip: Best Cocktail of the Night: Purple Paint

Food: N/A

Drink: 9/10

Service 9/10

Fun-ness: 8/10

21st Feb 2015: Street Feast, London, England

Approx 6pm - 8pm
Street Feast at Hawker House

260-264 Kingsland Road, London E8 4DG

http://www.streetfeastlondon.com

For someone who has never been to a Street Feast event before, this was something truely special! An old, disused office block had been converted into a haven for foodies, cocktail lovers and party-goers. The event was spread over 3 floors, and hosted a large number of food and drinks stands from popular London eateries/drinkeries and also from top-notch food vans across the capital.

I arrived with my group at around 6pm, and by then it was already busy. To get a seat/sofa, be sure to get there early! At 7pm it got extremely busy and a little too overcrowded and noisy.

There was a great selection of different foods to choose from. I chose to go for a pork bun from the Yum Buns stand - this was very nice - the bun was very light and fluffy. The price was a little high though at £4 for one bun and £7 for two.

I also was bought a sample of chicken liver nuggets (I unfortunately don't have the name of this stand), and these had good flavour, and they were not too strong. The pot was mostly filled with salad and onions - few more nuggets would have been preferred.

An interesting feature was from the whiskey stand - you pay £8 and then you spin a roulette wheel. Whatever number you land on relates to a whiskey on their board. With this, you could luck out and bag yourself a shot of £40 whiskey, or you could end up with cheap (but still nice) whiskey with a price lower than you paid! I came out even with a £8 shot, but the night is now pretty hazy and the name of it escapes me.

There were many other stands to try, selling foods such as smoked meat, wines, cocktails (from Milk and Honey), caviar and Caribbean style cuisine. 

We left the place at around 8pm as it started to get busier. Overall, a really great event - something there for everyone. I will definitely be going to the next one, and I will be arriving even earlier!

ThymeTip: For this days event, entry before 7pm was free (£4 after that)

Food: 5/10

Drink: 5/10

Service: 5/10

Fun-ness: 9/10

FIRST POST! 21st Feb 2015: Pitt Cue Co, London, England

Welcome to my first post!

As well as this being a good place to store my thoughts on my culinary/tipsy travels, I hope for you (the reader) it will provide an interesting and non-biased place to visit for if you want to try something a little bit different. I'll also provide any little tips and tricks I pick up along the way for you to bear in mind if you choose to visit any of these delicious spots!

So, yesterday (21st February 2015) was a pretty busy day for me, and here is the first place I visited (I shall mention my other visits on a separate blog post)...

Approx 1pm - 2pm
Pitt Cue Co
1 Newburgh Street, London, W1F 7RB
http://www.pittcue.co.uk

Pitt Cue Co is a place that I have visited a couple of times before, and every time is an absolute pleasure. In short, it's pretty hipster-y, and EXTREMELY popular, and once you make your first visit you'll understand why (because it's awesome).

The first thing to bear in mind when visiting PCC is that there is no booking - you simply have to turn up and queue. And, when I say queue, do be prepared to do this if visiting at peak times! My visit yesterday was just for lunch, and I managed to get a seat at the bar straight away. However, for tables
of 2 or more who wanted to dine downstairs there was a wait of up to 20 minutes. Lunch and dinner opening times can be found on their website.

Here's a litte sneak-peek of their food menu:

They also have a pretty impressive selection of decent Bourbons and cocktails (if you've arrived there expecting a vodka and coke you probably won't get one!). I went for a Rhubarb and Rye cocktail, which consisted of rhubarb, rhye, blood orange, sweet vermouth and bitters. I found the rye to be quite overpowering, and not much rhubarb taste came through, but it was still pleasant.

From previous experience, their cocktails are of a good quality, and their Picklebacks are a must!

For food, I decided to go with one of their specials, which was smoked duck neck. Overall I was a little disappointed with this - it came out dry spare-rib style, and there wasn't much meat on those bones. The taste however was nice, and the meat was deliciously crispy. And, of course, for my sides I just had to go for the bone marrow mash and the green chili slaw - if you do go to PCC, you cannot leave without trying these two dishes! Thee bone marrow mash is soaking in the most wonderfully savory gravy and butter - probably in my top 2 mash's ever (I know my mash!), and the green chili slaw has a really pleasant kick.

My bill for all of this food came to around 25GBP, and as the service was pretty good I was happy to pay their optional service change.

Overall, a great visit to Pitt Cue Co - highly recommended!

ThymeTip: GET THE MASH!

Food: 7/10

Drinks: 6/10

Service: 8/10

Fun-ness: 7/10