M1lk - Bobo Social - Society Club

Sunday 31st August - After many a fine brunch in the States this summer, I decided to up my game in London starting with highly-rated M1lk in Balham, located on work-in-progress Hildreth Street.

The "no reservations" queue was in full flow by the time I arrived at 11.20, but their superb Workshop coffee was available and the sun was shining - so far, so Williamsburg.  The atmosphere was buzzing, and with good reason judging by the look of the food being brought out.  Before too long we had a table for five indoors and were eyeing up the menu and the striking décor.

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3/4 pint of Lois smoothie & pot of tea

Brunch isn't a meal for messing around sharing everything on the menu.  It's about getting a massive portion of something delicious (potentially with hangover cure benefits if necessary) and keeping it all to yourself. This led to three of us ordering the same wonderfully named Convict muffin (did I mention M1lk is run by Australians?).  It was a criminally good choice - English muffin, drycure bacon, m.moens sausage, burford brown egg, poacher hash, hangover sauce - £7.90. I don't know what hangover sauce is, but I want it every Sunday.

The Convict - English muffin, drycure bacon, m.moens sausage, burford brown egg, poacher hash, hangover sauce

Non-convicts went for Billy The Kid (Red Clover Honeycomb, Goat's Cheese, Sourdough, Flowers - £6.90) and Young Betty (Poached Eggs on Woodfired Sourdough, Drycure Bacon, Burnt Butter Hollandaise, with Young Spinach & Chinese Chive - £7.80 + supplement), both of which looked smashing.  Next time...

Billy The Kid - Red Clover Honeycomb, Goat's Cheese, Sourdough, Flowers

Many treats on display at M1lk

And brunch is as simple as that. No starters. No menu explanations. No small plates. Isn't it great? I should write about it more often, it's a lot less time consuming.  M1lk stands up to the best that New York & co. have to offer, and I expect I will be back again very soon, not least because there is a brand new beer & homebrew store round the corner called We Brought Beer.

One place that might soon compete with M1lk for my affections is Fields Café, their sister joint which is currently taking shape in the building next to the skate park on Clapham Common.  Get a load of these potential dishes:

- Coal-grilled sausage bao, kewpie, pickled shallot & iceberg

- Peat-smoked mutton & beans, garden herb butter & sourdough

- Smashed peas, hay-smoked goat’s curd, garden herbs & sourdough

- Sticky rice pudding, apple, soured cream ice-cream & sake

- Banana bread, Nesquik mascarpone and salted panela

Exciting.  Keep track of their progress on Twitter.

N.B. M1lk is open 8am-5pm Monday – Saturday, and 9am-5pm Sunday - so brunch isn't limited to the weekend! No reservations.

Tuesday 2nd July - Just over the road from upmarket hot dog establishment Bubbledogs, Bobo Social is setting out to do something similar with burgers, envisaging more of a 3 course affair with patties in the middle where they belong.

Ushered downstairs, we settled in with a bottle of Buxton SPA and a Guava & Rosemary Margarita.  The cocktail list didn't excite me hugely, but good on them for keeping prices under £10 in Fitzrovia.  Black Basil Cosmopolitan and Café Old Fashioned would have come next but I moved on to beer for the remainder of the meal.  Décor is nice enough, a bit of a mishmash of hipster lighting (a bit orange for any budding Instagrammers) but a room without natural light is hard to pull off.

Impressionist Bobo Social 

First came a couple of small plates - Salt & Pepper Crispy Squid with Pickled Cucumber, Rocket, Sweet Chilli & Lime Jam (£6.50) and Sea Bass Ceviche with Pomegranate, Rocket, Chilli, Chive & Lemon Dressing (£7.50).  Salt & Pepper Squid never fails to delight, and chilli & lime jam was a clever accompaniment. The greens weren't an afterthought either  The ceviche was less impressive, lacking the acidic kick that we were craving.

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Salt & Pepper Squid with Sweet Chili & Lime Jam

On to the main event, burgers cooked in their Kopa Charcoal Oven with silver birch (they rotate which wood they use to enhance the flavour).  Felix's Peanut Butter burger (£11) made use of Dexter beef, though this is also changed regularly. 

"No, we didn't kill a cow called Dexter", replied the waiter to Felix's witty enquiry.

Dexter was swiftly devoured and given the thumbs up.  Pink, juicy, and a sensible size given the expectation for ordering more courses.  The B branded buns are a nice touch.

6oz rare-breed beef, peanut butter, Monterey Jack, and maple drizzled cured bacon served in a buttermilk bun with lettuce, tomatoes, charcoal roasted onions and Bobo sauce

I knew what I was ordering before I walked through the door. Debauchery.

£20 worth of Wagyu beef, Ogleshield cheese, confit shitaki mushrooms, bacon mayo, truffle & onion compote, shaved truffles, described by Fay Maschler as "sort of a breakthrough burger".

I enjoyed it thoroughly but most of London's best burgers can be bought for under £10 and this wasn't in a world of its own.  Wagyu beef is a treat worth paying for every now and then though, and who doesn't love bacon mayo? Quiet veggies.

Wagyu beef, Ogleshield cheese, confit shitaki mushrooms, bacon mayo, truffle & onion compote, shaved truffles

Sides of Sweet Potato Chips with Truffle Salt and Apple Slaw with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds hit the spot. Skin-on, Beef Dripping Chips and Deep Fried Pickles with Spicy Buttermilk Dip wait in the wings for next time.

Sweet Potato Chips with Truffle Salt

We finished with two small but rich dessert pots, fresh from the fridge rather than the kitchen.  Dark & Milk Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel was the better of the two, though a lot denser than we imagined (I've been waiting to use "over-egged the pudding" but I don't really know what I'm talking about).  White Chocolate Cheesecake with Lemon & Ginger was fine but uninspiring.  A bit more innovation or presentation might be needed for the desserts to leave an impression.

Dark & Milk Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel

I do like the sound of their Experimental Burger Society nights, held every Monday.  It's £25 per person to create a brand new burger with the Head Chef, making use of Alligator, Ostrich, Kangaroo and Venison if you so wish.  The best burger goes on the menu for the week.  The price also includes a welcome drink, and you get to eat your creation of course.

Felix and I both agreed, there was plenty of enjoyable food, served with a smile, but the burger section leaves the rest of the menu without a real focus, leaving you with a quite random selection of dishes to choose from.  The prices are reasonable and the Debauchery burger is bound to be talked about, but in my opinion, Bobo Social needs something else to tie it all together, and perhaps a stronger drink offering too.



We left very full and in need of a good walk, marching off in the direction of Soho with no real destination in mind.  We walked past Soho Grind (on my to-do list), but it's currently only open late on Fridays and Saturdays.  Look out for Holborn Grind opening soon too.  Instead we wandered down to the other end of Beak Street to find The Society Club.

The Society Club was recommended to me some time ago by a reliable source as one of Soho's best kept secrets.  It's a tiny independent bookstore, gallery & café by day, and relaxed cocktail bar and Soho refuge by night, with regular book launches, poetry readings (not poker evenings as I first heard), talks and workshops.  By the looks of the piano and guitar (extra points instantly) there is live music occasionally too. It's also very much dog friendly.

However, I should have gone a lot sooner as I fear it is just about to switch to a members only system in the evenings which would be a shame.  Annual membership is £175 (effectively a pledge to buy books) which will grant you access to their Bohemian sitting room bar after 6pm.  

We stuck to two classics, a Negroni and an Old Fashioned, both well executed, and soaked up the atmosphere as regulars wandered in and out, always warmly greeted.  It captures that drinks after a dinner party vibe perfectly, with jazz playing softly in the background and classy characters chatting away in cosy corners.  If  The Nudge / Barchick decided to send out an email alerting everyone to a bookstore / gallery / café / cocktail bar in  the heart of Soho, the place would be awash with hipsters in no time.  Maybe it's for the best that it doesn't remain open to everyone.  Does anybody want to lend me £175?

Negroni & Old Fashioned at Society Club

Barnyard - When Mac Met Cheese - Gin Sin

Tuesday March 25th - Is anyone else disappointed that Ollie Dabbous didn't choose the United Arab Emirates for his second site and call it Abu Dabbous? No? Just me then.

Instead, Ollie has followed up his Michelin-starred restaurant on Whitfield Street with Barnyard, a totally different kettle of fish (or barn of meat?) on Charlotte Street round the corner.  He's not cooking there himself, but he's heavily involved as is master mixologist Oskar Kinberg who run's Oskar's Bar beneath Dabbous.  

You supposedly can't get a table for months at Dabbous, but Barnyard has a no reservations policy, so I went along when it opened at midday for lunch with my Dad (who wrote about Dabbous on The List a while ago).  There was no queue, though I don't expect it to be this way for long.  Hopefully everyone will continue to be distracted by Bubbledogs round the corner.  

The décor at Barnyard is fun - white picket fences, indoor trees, oil drum chairs and more kept my eyes wandering throughout the meal.

I'll start with the booze, because that's exactly what I did when I went.  Alongside some interesting bottled beers (available as boilermakers), there are tasty shakes (£4 straight or £6 with bourbon/rum) and bargain £6 "shandies" (cocktails with beer/cider in).  It was a tough choice on the shakes front with the likes of Tahitian Vanilla, Popcorn & Blueberry Pancake on the menu, but I took the bartender's advice and happily ended up with a delicious Malt Shake, cutely served in a milk bottle.

The shandies list is also impressive, with the likes of Barnyard Iced Tea (English Tea, Pink Grapefruit, Lemon, Agave, Scotch Whisky, Mica Beer) and Dandy Shandy (Almond, Cinnamon, Orange, Lemon, Mandarin Liqueur, Wyld Wood Cyder).  At £6 each, it won't bankrupt you to work your way through all of them in an evening.  Apparently, Oskar likes to head off in to the forests of Sweden to drink beers with mates and invent these turbo-charged shandies.

The low prices continue on the food menu.  The superb Cripsy Chicken Wings with Smoked Paprika, Garlic & Lemon for £4 and Broken Eggs with Mushrooms, Garlic & Parsley for £6 are just two of the many bargains to be had. We also enjoyed Barbecued Grain-fed Short Rib with Homemade Dill Pickle, Mustard & Black Treacle and Roast Beef on Toast with Watercress Salad and Warm Horseradish Buttermilk (though we personally would have liked a bigger horseradish kick), but the standout for me was the Bubble & Squeak with Black Pudding, Apple Chutney & a Fried Egg.  Make sure that you get a bag of Warm Cornbread for the table too.

Crispy Chicken Wings with Smoked Paprika, and Bubble & Squeak in the background

Barbecued Grain-fed Short Rib with a bag of Warm Cornbread on the side

Roast beef on toast, watercress salad, warm horseradish buttermilk

Rooting around for the last few pieces of cornbread

Four equally tempting £4 desserts round off the menu, and we opted for Apple & Cloudberry Crumble with Clotted Cream and Popcorn Ice Cream with Smoked Fudge Sauce.  The crumble was enjoyable, although my Mum's version still holds the crown and the cloudberry wasn't very noticeable.  The smoked fudge sauce on the popcorn ice cream was pretty special - I can imagine it will catch a few people off guard whose eyes lock straight on to the word fudge and nothing else.  Next time I'm in, I'll have to go for Lemon posset with marjoram and Warm Acorn Flour Waffle with Chocolate & Malt.

Lovely cooking, friendly staff, great drinks, funky design and ridiculously good value - I'll be back at Barnyard soon.

Saturday 22nd March - Most Saturdays I trek to the far East to tick off a few things that have been building up on my list, but for once a pop up decided to turn up somewhere slightly more convenient.  When Mac Met Cheese (aka Sammy Shon, one of my favourite street food vendors) has temporarily set up shop in between Bayswater & Royal Oak, and helpfully opened up for the first time on the same day that I was working only a few roads away.

He has only got the place for 3 months (before hopefully moving more central), but hasn't held back on design with some very cool art from Benjamin Murphy adorning the walls, and massive film set lights propped up in the corners.

The menu is simple and short, a perfect excuse to eat everything.  We started with some oh-so-healthy Macancinis, glorious deep fried mac and cheese balls with a spicy jalapeno kick to them.  You will want at least two each.

Next up, choose your Mac&Cheese (currently three options though I expect some more will be added) and add a topping of bacon lardons or mini pork & veal meatballs if you so wish.  Did I mention that all of this is being cooked up by the ex-sous chef from The Ivy? Slight overkill perhaps, but I'm happy to take my Mac&Cheese seriously.  Did anyone notice when we stopped saying Macaroni Cheese by the way? I'm frequently getting into arguments about this, which says a lot about my life as a food & drink blogger. 

Anyway, I digress.  Mum's Classic was pretty darn good, and the Cheesy Green Afro with vintage stilton, mozzarella & broccoli was a hit, but the winner for me was Carlos the Cactus (who turned up in the Macancinis) with cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes and rocket. Awesome.  We washed all of these down with some reliable Kernel beers as it seemed a bit early for cocktails, though a Cucumber & Mint Martini probably would have slipped down.

So far, so good. But wait, what's that at the bottom of the menu?

DEEP FRIED OREOS.

They were everything I had hoped. Gooey, sugary, delicious and just 2 (hundred) calories! 4 for £3 is also great value, as is everything else at When Mac Met Cheese.

Sammy mentioned that more things may be turning up on the menu soon, but the 3 month clock is already ticking so get over there soon before it's too late!  Please note that opening times are quite specific - it is shut Mon & Tue, and open Wed-Thu 6.30pm-10pm, Fri 6.30pm-12am, Sat 12pm-12am & Sun 12pm-5pm.

And now for something completely different. On Sunday 16th March, at Megaro Bar in King's Cross, Maverick Drinks assembled 5 of London's best bartenders for a cocktail competition involving barrel-aged gin, and they called it Gin Sin & 5 Soaking Barrels.

Each bartender was given a different bottle in advance to come up with something special.  Here's the line-up:

Matt Whiley, Talented Mr. Fox - Professor Cornelius Ampleforth Cask Aged Bathtub Gin

Nico Piazza, Megaro Bar - New York Distilling Chief Gowanus New-Netherland Gin

Jim Wrigley, Made in the Shade - Few Barrel Aged Gin

Matt Fairhurst, Callooh Callay - Smooth Ambler Stillhouse Collection Barrel Aged Gin

Gareth Evans, Blind Pig - Filliers Barrel Aged Dry Gin 28

I've written out the cocktail ingredients & measurements at the end, thanks to Difford's Guide and Master of Malt for the details!

Matt Whiley kicked off proceedings with his bonkers Bublé Bath - Cask Aged Bathtub Gin and Sweet Vermouth (made with a Horlicks & dark chocolate distillate), with a Marshmallow & Chamomile bubble bath & candles on the side. Then he whipped out a full sized Michael Bublé cardboard cut out (which was a big hit with the judges) and pumped Feeling Good out of the speakers.  We were off to a good start.

Matt Whiley's Bublé Bath

Bublé with the "judges"

Next up was Megaro's own Nico Piazza who mixed Stout Bitters, Benedictine & Contratto Vermouth Rosso with his NY Distilling Chief Gowanus New-Netherland Gin to create his tasty cocktail, A Cluster of Hops, Hopped in the Glass.

Then there was Jim Wrigley.  I met Jim a couple of weeks before at the launch of his new bar, Made in the Shade, and it was apparent then that he was entertaining, but I didn't expect the nutty theatrics of his "Nuclear Few-Gin" presentation.  

After emerging in a fez and rambling about time travel and Quantum Mixology, he added some live soul guitar from Made in the Shade colleague Jezza Thompson as he poured from his barrel of Few Barrel-Aged Gin, Ginger Liqueur, grapefruit juice, lemon juice & bergamot syrup into some funky boxes.  He also sprayed some cinchona bark / quinine tincture if I remember rightly, and most importantly zapped them all with his "sonic screwdriver" to create Schrödinger's Punch.  A hard act to follow.

Nuclear Advanced Flux Fewsion & Jezza on guitar in the background

Nuclear Few-Gin

Precarious pouring

Matt Fairhurst sensibly decided that trash-talking Jim Wrigley was the way to go to win some fans in the rowdy judges section.  That and some fireworks of course.  I'm amazed Bublé survived the experience.

Matt added Campari, Fino Sherry and Baked Orange & Beetroot Shrub to his Smooth Ambler Barrel Aged Gin, and also paired his Mack Daddy Beets concoction with some beetroot, orange & mackerel paté. And fireworks.

Beetroot, orange & mackerel paté next to indoor fireworks

Bublé feeling the heat - has he been gagged?

The traditional fire pour method

Last but not least was Gareth Evans who decided to go down the Belgian route having been given Fillier's Barrel Aged Gin.  This meant showing numerous pictures of Jean-Claude Van Damme doing the splits, before pouring in some mysterious JCVD Power Elixir ("Stella-aged" chartreuse), Power Protein (egg), brussels sprout syrup, and some lemon juice (never forget the lemon juice).  The "Muscles from Brussels" was garnished with a picture of JCVD kicking the Eiffel Tower in the face.

Photos of the versatile JCVD doing the splits in various places

Geoff from Maverick Spirits wondering what he had unleashed

JCVD Power Elixir - Stella aged chartreuse

After all that nonsense, the judges quickly and simply voted for their favourite, and comedian Jim Wrigley walked away with the big prize - the opportunity to create his own barrel-aged gin with his name and face (and fez?) on with Maverick Spirits.

Maverick are ones to watch at the moment, bringing some of the finest small batch craft spirits to the UK.  It is pretty impressive that they already have 6 barrel-aged gins in the portfolio, alongside a whole host of other wonderful spirits including several brands that weren't on show at Gin Sin.  Big thanks to Geoff & co at Maverick, and Ben & Nico at Megaro for hosting such a ridiculous event on a Sunday night.

The facts:

Matt Whiley - Bublé Bath

35ml Bathtub Gin 

35ml Sweet Vermouth - Cocchi do Torino with a Horlicks and dark chocolate distillate.

Nico Piazza - A Cluster of Hops, Hopped in the Glass

25 ml Chief Gowanus 

25 ml Contratto Rosso Vermouth 

15 ml Benedictine 

4 dashes stout bitter.

Jim Wrigley - Schrödinger's Punch

50ml Few Barrel Aged gin 

12.5ml Domaine de Canton Ginger liqueur 

37.5ml Fresh grapefruit juice 

12.5ml Fresh lemon juice 

10ml Bergamot syrup

Matt Fairhurst - Mack Daddy Beets

50ml Smooth Amber Barrel Aged gin 

15ml Fino sherry

15ml Baked orange and beetroot shrub 

5ml Campari

Gareth Evans - Muscles from Brussels

40ml Filliers Dry Barrel Aged gin 

10ml Jean-Claude Van Damme power elixir

10ml Brussels sprout syrup 

20ml squeezed lemon juice 

15ml Power protein (egg)