Beer & Buns

3 Appold Street

London 

EC2A 2AF

PattyG and I found out that this little pop up bar above K10 in Liverpool Street has pinball machines, and that on Monday night they are free. So the first Monday we were free, we got ourselves in there to play pinball to our heart's content (with a bit of free foosball thrown in as well). There are only two pinball machines, but that was completely fine as there were only two of us. Interestingly, most of the other people at the bar seemed interested only in the food, which meant we had very little competition for the machines. But this is a food blog - so I should mention that the fried chicken wing were crisp and meaty (though a little sweet for my liking) and the buns are soft, pillowy and tasty - I'm not sure I'd go there again without the pinball attraction, but it was certainly a fun night out. Oh, and they have my favorite draft beer (Asahi).

Hoi Polloi

100 Shoreditch High St 

London 

E1 6JQ

Hoi Polloi is in the Ace Hotel in Shoreditch - I meant to see if I wrote about this the first time around (my birthday last year) but I am too lazy and this meal was amazing enough to write about it again anyway. This time it was A's birthday and he was excited to come back - we had some fabulous cocktails to start, along with a few oysters, and then jumped into giant main courses. My duck breast with a pearl barley risotto was so full of duck flavors - I think every bit of the risotto tasted of duck as well, I almost risked licking the plate clean. A went with a special - the enormous rib eye you see above, which was superbly cooked and juicy as hell. He just about got through it though it was not looking possible for a little while - I had to help him out (poor me). I still love the ambiance of this place - perfect for a slightly special occasion. It may become our go-to celebration spot.

Stokey Bears

129 Stoke Newington High St

London
N16 0PH

On a nice rambling walk up to Stoke Newington, A and I stumbled across Stokey Bears, a new burger and beer restaurant that resulted from a collaboration between Bear Hug brewery and Burger Bears. We were trying to keep enough room for a big dinner plan, so we decided to split a burger and fries. It was pretty excellent and I was a little sad I didn't have my own. That gorgeous brioche bun was perfect for the cheeseburger and the fries were thin and crisp, just as they should be. I'm thinking this place might be a good way to bribe A to go for more walks in Stoke Newington.

Sasa Sushi

422 Saint John Street

London 

EC1V 4NJ

I've passed by this place hundreds of times but never stopped in even though I love sushi. After finding out that an event we were going to go to was actually in the diary by mistake (bad A!) we had to quickly come up with an alternative plan, so I seized the opportunity to try it out. We had a sushi set - salmon roll, shrimp tempura roll, and then five pieces of assorted nigiri. Sadly the tempura was quite mushy - as if it had sat out too long - and while everything else was okay, it didn't really inspire me to order anything else. I should note that a few weeks later I went to a birthday party and there was a large tray of sushi from Sasa Sushi that was very good - so not sure if we just got a slightly off meal there or not, but I'm not in a big hurry to return.