Lucky Fried Chicken at The Grafton: Clucking Brilliant

Lucky Chip are known for their top quality burgers with celebrity inspired names. What you may not know is that they have also started doing some pretty phenomenal fried chicken. The bad news is that they are only doing it till the end of this week. You can find them at the Grafton Arms, however don't be a twat and simply Google the pub and end up somewhere near Warren Street like I did. They are based in the Grafton Arms near Kentish Town tube.

The Grafton itself is one of those vast expansive pubs that likely seem very lonely during the day when its half empty. Fortunately full with punters the atmosphere was great and it was slightly surreal seeing dozens of sober people calmly tucking into family sized buckets of chicken. Upstairs is a smaller space with beautifully tiled walls and comfy booths while  above the bar is the traditional back-lit takeaway menus complete with retro 70s font. As for choices, the only real choice is what size bucket you want your chicken to come in. Alongside your bucket you get some authentic Southern sides: mash slathered with gravy, slaw and hot rolls. Fries are a optional extra. They also have two burger options but these were unfortunately off the menu the night we went.

Picture says it all

A Little Slice of History: Ben Spalding @ John Salt

A lost post of 2012, a wonderful evening at John Salt with Ben Spalding at the helm. This is probably the most pointless post of the, still young, year. Why post about a restaurant, whose head chef was usually mentioned in the sentence before his employer's, when he there anymore? Well, two reasons. Firstly, for preservation: to carbonite the evening in space. To 'Han Solo' Ben's cooking if you will. The main reason however is to show people a glimpse of what Ben's cooking is about and that like his Stripped Back street food joint proved, a chef doesn't actually have to have some fancy digs to be a great cook. As I write, this Ben is publicising the first of a series of events on EventBrite.

As was announed late last year, Ben and John Salt parted ways pre-maturely, leaving those with bookings a bit miffed I'd imagine (although provided with a very reasonable 50% discount). That being said, Neil Rankin who best known for wearing the gloves at Pitt Cue, has taken up the rather large mantle and by the look of my twitter feed doing a damn fine job. I'll be going along as soon as I can and I'm as excited as I was the first time around. This post wont go into the reasons why Ben left and frankly, I do not care. That's only half true. I don't care why he left, he is talented enough to pop-up somewhere else soon enough. I do care that I have to wait for that. See, beneath all the crowing and beard-stroking about his techniques, passion, skill and obscene work ethic (he produced his own salt for gods sake), Ben does indeed understand why things should be on a plate. Sure there are some air-balls - kiwi scallops and caramel covered bricks were duds. But there are also some wonderful little gems in things as ridiculous to see on a menu as 'rotten mango juice'. His is a talent that could no more be ignored than that guy who insists on trying to continue the conversation inside a lift.

Weekday 9 Course Menu

Wenlock and Essex: 30 Very Good Reasons

Burger season is upon us it seems and in a bid to out-do each other some of the Big Names have stepped up their game.

The latest to throw their hat into the ring is James Morgan of the Wenlock and Essex. Some lucky people may remember him as the kitchen behind the Two Nights Only events that created the infamous 40 Burger early this year. That burger supposedly involved 100 people in its conception and even the pickles were hand collected from Boston itself. Excessive food-miles if there ever was, but so worth it for a few extra inches to sea-levels. Recently he has unleashed the 30 burger. Thirty day dry-aged beefyness with a 30% fat content and only available for a month. Although its nearing the end of its run, the point of this review is to publicise the quality of James' cooking and his knowledge of how to deliver a great end product. There's even rumours of another special burger in the works so keep an eye on this one.

30 Burger - Oh the joy

London Markets Tour: Kerb, Berwick, Real Food Festival

Working as I do over in Canary Wharf, I am in a street-food wasteland. There is one Wahaca van and a market once a month that is so full, crowd surfing above a sea of suits ad ties is the only way to get across it. In general, the only time I get tasty lunchtime treats are on weekends. Enough was enough and I took Friday off work in order to partake in a bit of a London tour and visit some of the major markets in London.

Kerb was the first on the hit list with some great traders due to be serving that day. The better half and I neglected breakfast in order to make the most room for the feast that awaited. Unfortunately a freak issue with power meant that when we arrived at 11:30am, we were told that it wouldn't be until 12 that we could eat. Safe to say I wasn't the most popular boyfriend right then.

Everything we ate was between £3-7. Overall it was a pricey day but then again most people don't eat like I do. For the experience, extra engagement with traders and friendliness of everyone we met, the value is superb.

We started off with  fiodena from the fabulous Gurmetti boys. A toasted and crispy foccacia with wafer thin wild ham and onion jam. Such a great sandwich on a cold day like this. The ham had bags of flavour and the fatty slivers that hung out the sides were gobbled without mercy. The onion jam was sweet and so moreish. Sharing was difficult. A photographer for the Evening Standard was taking pictures of London markets and yours truly may be in the paper next week receiving the below beauty from the boys from Parma and Turin (UPDATE: I wasn't :/).

Fiodena.

Gurmetti boys

Trullo: A Highbury Gem

Trullo is a wonderful little gem, one of those truly great locals: its just a pity it isn't mine.

As is often the way with the food-bloggerati is that a year after a place opens there is little interest (unless its really special like Dinner). So this Monday I was heading to Trullo and looked for some reviews. I couldnt find a single blog post dated after 2010 and even the latest timeout post was back in October 2011. So, I feel it is my duty to give this little diamond a little loving.

From the outside it could be mistaken for one of the infinite coffee houses in north London; but stepping inside you are greeted by a simplistic design style, the tiled kitchen spilling out across the floor. This is one of those places that knows what it wants to be: good solid Italian fare without the pomp and circumstance. Its pedigree is clear with Tim Siadatan of Fifteen fame manning the kitchen. This is seasonal food, cooked simply. It is what great Italian cooking outside of Italy should be. And at these prices, that's a real bargain on a rainy October Monday.

The food overall was excellent with only a slight hiccup in the middle. The three of us ordered antipasti, primi, carne and dessert. Typically for me I ended up ordering three meat courses and the protein was fantastic.The real pleasure though are the basics. Pasta was butter-yellow and cooked right to the edge of too soft, the sauces deeply flavoursome.