Casita - Cotton's Rhum Shack - Beagle - Red Dog Saloon - The Macbeth

First of a few very brief round ups of all sorts from July:

Casita, Shoreditch - Casita is a teeny tiny Mexican bar, tucked away in the back streets of Shoreditch on Ravey Street near the Book Club.  It's just one room (a fair amount of which is taken up by the bar) so most people spill out onto the street.  They have a cocktail menu including the Casita G&T which contains neither gin nor tonic - instead it has ginseng and tequila!  There is a  fun and friendly atmosphere, with customers suddenly becoming bartenders and everyone being treated like a regular - Liverpool Street seemed a million miles away.  I rushed off to something else, but I have no doubt that Casita is an awesome place to spend an evening.  The Team List point goes to flatmate Maggie this time around.

Cotton's Rhum Shack, Box Park Shoreditch - Cotton's is a very lively Carribean bar and kitchen, hidden on top of Box Park near Shoreditch High Street Overground.  Walk past the more standard looking bar, down a corridor and you reach the covered but open air rum haven, overlooking Bethnal Green Road.  My visit was again brief, popping in for a quick drink to say farewell to Team List regular Harriet who is moving to Vienna, but it was very lively whilst I was there.  The food menu is enticing, and with 250 rums behind the bar, you can't really go wrong.  Head there for happy hour which, I believe, runs from 5-8 every day.

Wednesday 24th July - The end of the evening was already planned with an intimate (squashed) Snarky Puppy gig at the Macbeth in Hoxton, so I met Cassie early for some drinks and food.  We started at Beagle which is right next to Hoxton station, underneath the railway arches.  I first came across Beagle with List Leader Natalie at Feast all the way back in March before they had opened, where we tasted some delicious buttermilk fried rabbit.  It is still on my list to visit for food, but this time around we just had a drink. Beagle has separate archways for the restaurant and the bar, similar to Ev near Waterloo which is one of my favourite spots in London.  I grabbed a pint of Pale Ale from the new Redwell brewery, and headed back out to the pleasant front garden.  The local draught beer selection is excellent, and the cocktail list is refreshingly original.  They also open bright and early with a tiny coffee shop at 7am, making use of beans from Hackney locals, Climpsons and Sons.

We moved on, and popped our heads in to the Red Lion pub to check out their roof terrace.  It's a lovely little spot, just far enough away from the Hoxton Square crowd.  Well worth a look, especially for £2.90 pints on Mondays!

We were in need of some speedy grub before Snarky Puppy, so we wandered over to Hoxton Square to survey the options.  I was tempted by another trip to the wonderful Meat Mission (read more here), we decided to try out Red Dog Saloon since it was on The List.  Red Dog Saloon is an "Authentic American BBQ", housed in an attractive and well placed space on the corner Hoxton Square.  We sat at the bar as there weren't any tables free, but it's arguably the best place to sit anyway as you always get great service from barstaff.  We quickly munched our way through some tasty pulled pork buns with Magaritas and Schooners of Samuel Adams on the side.  The award winning hickory smoked ribs also looked wonderful as they went past.  For the brave and hungry, there is The Devastator Challenge - three 6oz patties, 200g pulled pork, 6 rashers of Applewood Smoked bacon, and 6 slices of American cheese in a bun with all the trimmings, plus coleslaw, chips and a milkshake on the side, all of which needs to be devoured in 10 minutes. Anyone managed that yet?

The Devastator Burger

The service was noticeably better than most other places I have been, which is impressive as it is always busy there.  Full up, we moved on to our last stop - the quirky pub / gig venue The Macbeth on Hoxton Street to see Snarky Puppy, who I mentioned in my previous Notting Hill post.  It was absolutely rammed so we settled in for a sweaty evening - I recommend grabbing a place at the back end of the bar where you can see everything, and get served quickly, though be prepared to take some drinks orders for people you don't know!  The drinks are fairly standard, though there are frozen magaritas on offer.  The decor and layout are pretty nutty - halfway up the stairs is another good vantage point!  Most importantly, the sound quality and atmosphere are top notch, and as a result The Macbeth constantly attracts popular bands across all genres who want to give their fans a close-up, authentic live music experience.  Keep an eye on what's on and try it out!

Cassie gets 3 more List points for our Hoxton jaunt, whilst Maggie and Harriet pick up the other points mentioned above.  I'll leave you once again in the capable hands of Snarky Puppy - enjoy!

BOOM Burger - Trailer Happiness - Mau Mau Bar

Thursday July 25th - It's really hard to catch up with blogs when you keep going out, but I can't help myself.  Thursday was a particularly fatty day, starting with lunch at the wonderful Flat Iron in Soho with my friend Mary.  Read about my first visit a few months ago here.  Going at lunch on a weekday was a totally different experience as we were seated and served straight away.  The steaks are still as fantastic as ever - I can't bring myself to order the Flat Iron burger incase I get steak envy.  Anyway, a few hours later, having walked off all of the steak-based calories of course, I met my friend Stu at Westbourne Park to try out some places in Notting Hill.  Our first stop was BOOM Burger, which is currently located in the Earl of Portobello pub.  Check out their website as it is a work of art!

BOOM Burger started life in the garden of Joshua de Lisser, a burger afficionado who grew up in Jamaica. He has combined his foodie experiences in Jamaica and London to create a burger menu that manages to stand out from the crowd, with inventive ingredients and great flavours.  We ordered the BOOM Burger (beef, cheese and bacon jam - that's right, BACON JAM - BOOM) and the Jerk BOOM (jerk chicken with fried plantain, mango sauce and paw paw sauce) with a side of Plantain fries.  Be aware, it's a cash only service, and you are going to want to eat everything so come prepared.  The burgers came, and then quickly went into our tummies.  The Jerk BOOM was ever so slightly the winner, thanks to its slightly spicy sauce, but the BOOM burger with its bacon jam was still delicious.  The plantain fries were BOOMin' lovely - deep fat fried to perfection, and a welcome alternative to french fries.

We squeezed along our outdoor table to make room for some local BOOMtown rats and entered into a fair amount of BOOM banter.  They figured that I might be a blogger after reeling off way too many burger alternatives, and Nataliya from Peckham said "Are you a famous one? Are you Burgerac?".  Sadly not, but if you want all the latest burger news, read his blog here.  Stu and I got food envy as Griff from Hammersmith and Joe from Portobello tucked into their burgers, so we ordered some BOOM Wings for seconds.  They were outstanding again, with a tasty sauce on the side.  The food was some of the best that I have had since starting the blog - up there with everything that Street Kitchen produce, and the Lazybones pulled pork sandwich.  Make your way over there as soon as possible!

Our next stop was the delightful little Tiki cocktail bar and kitchen, Trailer Happiness, on Portobello Road.  The food menu including Porno Prawns and Tea-Smoked Duck is tempting but after a steak and a burger, it was a step too far.  The atmosphere is fun and relaxed, with a little DJ hatch playing some great swing tunes. Most importantly, the drinks are of the highest quality.  Corn & Oil is a drinkable rum twist on an Old Fashioned, and Om Nom Rom & Pom is a refreshing combo of spiced rums, lime and pomegranate - both beautifully made by one of the many excellent bartenders.  Rum is the order of the day, and I will need to return for their legendary Rum Club on Mondays - free events with talks, tasters and mischief.  See picture below for flaming the copper lined ceiling!

Our seats of choice

Our final stop of the evening was Mau Mau Bar, also on Portobello Road.  We were here to see the annoyingly talented pianist Corey Henry playing with members of Snarky Puppy (the best band in the world) on the tiny stage, all for £7 thanks to Jazz Re:Freshed.  It is ludicrous that you can watch guys like this perform close up for under a tenner, and I find it hard to spend £50 on stadium gigs when you can do this instead.  The bar itself colourful and quirky, and has its doors wide open with people spilling out onto the street most of the time.  The pool table is usually out, but as the gig gets close to starting, people pitch in to move furniture out of the way.  Two guys were lucky enough to bag seats on the sofa that was put on top of the pool table giving them a comfy vantage point.  The atmosphere was electric throughout the gig, and the barstaff worked very hard to keep everyone happy on the drinks front.  Prepare to get very sweaty, as it's a small hot room - it's totally worth it.

I'll leave you with a Snarky Puppy video - it doesn't compare to seeing them live (put it on your bucket list) but it's a good start - is there anything better than a Moog solo?  Notting Hill has many other delights, some of which I visited last time I was in the area - read more here. Thanks to Mary for steak and Stu for BOOM, rum and sweaty jazz times.