Food - Burger at the Prince Arthur

Who/what/where: The Prince Arthur Pub

This was a bit of an unplanned one, having some time to kill between showing lost visitors to London around and waiting for people to arrive I figured I would get some prep in for the London Burger Bash next week by sampling a stray burger and giving it a review.

The venue chosen for this one was a pub near Euston known as The Prince Arthur.

There's always a risk when attending various food events and trying dishes of good quality or higher that it will spoil you for regular meals. Generally for burgers they will fall within the strata of "gourmet burger" (a frequently overused term) to cover your special burger offerings, "pub burger" or equivalent, which will actually scoop up a lot of restaurants too, and finally, the "fast food" or equivalent, which will cover a variety of burgers available,
I admit, I've never been one for pure chain fast food burgers as, to be honest, most of them are pretty nasty and wouldn't even qualify as a fast food burger. I've always liked a decent burger, though having done some really good ones in recent months I've started to be a little harsher in my judgement on things like overcooked meat. Luckily, as pub burgers go, this was actually a pretty good one. There were several options which could be added - cheese, bacon, egg, mushroom, so naturally I went for the "with everything" option, because that's the sort of thing I do.

Once the burger arrived there was a brief "I may have made an error" moment as it was a pretty hefty plate of food that arrived.

One the top of the bun was applied it was evident that this was not going to be a hand-held burger.


The chips were nicely done, and the onion rings were fresh, with real onion. I confess to picking out the onion rings from the burger to ensure that the meal could be consumed by hand - doing so flirted with breaking the yolk on the egg.

The layer of cheese helped hold the bun together while eating, and protected it from going too soggy from the yolk. Despite this extra protection the structural integrity of the bun could have been better (you'll note there was already a crack which had been filled with cheese) and I would argue that it was the weakest part of the burger - while good, and perfectly serviceable, it was not exceptional. It seems to be quite common that the bun is the weakest part of the burger - certainly this is something I have found in several venues. It's shame to spend a lot of time and effort on good meat and accompaniments and then skimp on the bun. This bun wasn't anywhere near as much of a contrast as that, a little extra stability wouldn't have gone amiss, but it's really a minor niggle in what was a surprisingly food burger.. It held together well enough and at the end I was still eating meat surrounded by bun, so that's always a plus.

The mushrooms were sliced to be small and were tasty, though a couple of them did escape while eating the burger.

The meat itself certainly gave the impression of a hand-ground patty in terms of shape and texture. It wasn't just pure meat, but everything added to the dish. The meat was leaning towards medium to medium-well done, which is a little more than I might go for myself it makes a change from the common pub tendency to aim between well and very well, with the odd occurrence of "charcoal" or worse.

Overall a pleasantly pleasing experience and one I'd go for again, though I'd definitely make sure I was the mood for a hefty meal before doing so.

Food - Babka breakfast

Who/what/where: Babka breakfast, youngandfoodish Coffee Saturday, MacIntyre Coffee

Pop-up event masters youngandfoodish were this time responsible for the first non-burger event I've been to in a little while, featuring three tasty dishes and a fine cup of tea, for I am afraid I am not a coffee drinker.

The tasty baked goods were provided by Sarit Packer of Honey and Co while the coffee/tea was prepared in-house by the venue, MacIntyre Coffee.

Babka is a yeast cake, best imagined along the lines of brioche. The version of the dish served today was a step away from traditional Polish Jewish roots. I admit I have not had other versions to compare to, but these ones left me suitably impressed. Honey and Co themselves do not list these as babka on their site, but rather as chocolate hazelnut cinnamon loaf - a term which will make much more sense to the average Londoner.

I arrived a little early while the cakes were whole and very tempting looking.


The advantage of being early meant I got to witness the cutting of the cakes and smell the freshly-sliced babka as they plated me up.

The plate of tasty goodies.


There were three types available, everybody received one of each.
First up, the white chocolate and tahini - this is one not on their regular menu, it's light, fluffy and very tasty.

Next was the sour cherry, pistachio and raisin - a second entry not on the regular menu, and a complete contrast to the first, this was a much denser dish, filled with all sorts of flavours. This was my favourite of the three and one I hope they will consider selling on a regular basis.


Finally there was the chocolate and hazelnut offering, the only one you're currently able to get from their menu. This ticked pretty much everything you'd expect containing swirls of chocolate and nuts.


To accompany my tasty baked goods I had a cup of tea, in a well-presented glass "pot" or equivalent.


The rest was eating, talking, and generally having a fine loiter before moving on.

Theare - Into The Woods

Who/what/where: Into The Woods, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre/Digital Theatre

Digital Theatre is a clever little company that has arranged with certain theatres to film particular performances and put them online to rent/buy. Unlike most of the other digital versions of shows I own, this is not one I had seen before. As it was easily available, and was a Sondheim (which automatically makes it more appealing) I figured I would give it a whirl. The performance was filmed back in 2010.

For those of you who've been to the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre before, it's a fairly open stage. In this case they've done some pretty extensive set-design, with multiple levels and various other features.

The show is a retelling of various fairy tales intertwined within each other. The baker and his wife (Jenna Russell, cropping up in yet another musical, and another Sondheim to boot, because, well, she can, and she's very good at it too) serve to link much of it together - they're one a quest to collect certain items to lift a curse so they can have a child. Along the way they meet and interact with Cinderalla, her prince, Rapunzel, Jack (of "and the beanstalk" fame) and his cow, an interesting take on Red Riding Hood, and so on. Over the course of three nights they help each story along, advising Cinderalla, buying Jack's cow in exchange for magic beans, and so on.

The first act largely resolves itself nicely and serves as a self-contained story in and of itself. The second act builds on the events of the first though is set some time later, everyone is within their "ever after" lives, but not everyone is happy, especially not the giant (voiced by Dame Judi Dench) who has turned up (via some clever set use) to extract revenge on Jack for stealing and killing and all the things that fairy tale heroes get to do with impunity. The cast try to offer the narrator as a sacrifice, which is a nice touch. Eventually the surviving characters work together and best the giant and, once more, things appear to end happily.

As a musical, some of the tunes are not as catchy as we've seen in other Sondheim works, but there are a couple of gems along the way. Though it's not like "Merrily We Roll Along" where I had snippets of "Opening Doors" in my head for weeks afterwards, though part of that might be that I've seen that show more than once.

Theatre - A Doll's House

Who/what/where: A Doll's House, The Young Vic/Digital Theatre

The way Digital Theatre works is that they organise with certain theatres to film particular performances and put them online to rent/buy. While I am personally a big fan of seeing things live, this is really handy if you miss a show, or want to retain a copy. In this case I fall into the latter camp

I've seen this version three times now, once when it opened at The Young Vic, again at the West End transfer, and finally the digital version, which was filmed from the Young Vic run, although the transfer was a pretty solid "lift and shift" job, taking along the cast, set, etc.

Ibsen has a bit of a reputation for depressing plays, though in some ways this is at least an oversimplification, if not missing the point entirely. While I'm not saying that his subject matter is mirth and hilarity all the way, A Doll's House is actually an amusing play - there is a lot of comedy wrapped within it, which is a necessary contrast. If a play is simply dark throughout the audience becomes depressed and eventually builds a tolerance to the darkness, their night vision if you will. Throw in some moments of light and they don't adjust as easily, it makes the dark moments darker and the bright ones lighter. And that is part of what makes this play work.

It was written in the late 19th century, and, while some things have changed in that time, there is a suprising amount which has not, which (aside from the writing) will be one of the reasons this play still gets performed even now - in fact, only a few years ago it was awarded the distinction of being the world's most performed play.

Depending on the performance you can take quite different things out of the characters at different times - Torvald, for example, has provoked responses varying from "what a horrible, horrible man" to "he simply just does not know how to function in the world" and all sorts of stances in between. In many ways this is a good thing, showing how much of a difference the actor's performance on a given night and your own mindset going in can make to your experience.

The entire play takes place set within the small apartment of Torvald and Nora Helmer. Typically it takes place in one room, but in this version they'd hade an entire, cramped, apartment and st it up to revolve on stage. It both expands things out, allowing for a little more movement, and at the same time really shows just how claustrophobic an enviroment they live in - there's a scene with a conversation which now takes place in the corridor, again showing how little freedom and privacy Nora has within her own home. It's a fantastic bit of set design, and while I find internal windows a little odd, I am willing to run with it as either something I am simply unfamiliar with or just better from a setting perspective.

Nora, mother of three, wife of Torvald is our principle character, and, in many ways, that's the limit of her identity for much of the play, which is the entire point of the plot. She doesn't know who she really is, and is largely kept by her husband, who calls her various nicknames as if she were a pet, or, in fact, a doll. In the events leading up to the play she has, through fraudulent means (though she doesn't truly understand the consequences of her actions) obtained a loan in order to take the family away so that Torvald could rest and recover. She's been paying this back in secret, including using any money Torvald gives her for herself. Torvald has recovered and is doing well - he's going to be promoted at the bank in which he works and things are looking up for him.

Kristine Linde arrives seeking her old friend Nora, and Nora agrees to find her some work in the bank. Rather "forunately" Torvald has a role in mind, that belonging to an employee called Krogstad. Torvald dislikes Krogstad, in part because of his manner, but primarily because of a deed her performed in his past - he forged a signature, and has been paying for that mistake ever since, slowly trying to atone, build himself back up and restore his reputation for the sake of his children. The man is condemned by Torvald for a deed remarkably similar to one that Torvald's wife has committed.

Krogstad comes to blackmail Nora into getting him his old job back, and it is ony during this exchange that the enormity of what Nora has done, if not the realisation that it was a wrongdoing in the first place, begins to sink in for her.

Dr Rank is the other major character of the play, a family friend suffering from illness who is waiting on tests that will tell him just how long he has left to live. During the play he reveals his affections for Nora, and, perhaps because of his circumstances, he is one of the most honest and forthright characters in the play.

Some of the second act, after the Tarantella, is chopped off during this version, but it makes sense to do so, leaving on a dramatic high for the interval. This is also the one scene where they take advantage of the being a digital performance and make clever use of the camera.

In the second half of the play things escalate further, Nora's crime coming to light and Torvald taking it poorly. Once his rant is complete a letter from Krogstad arrives, releasing Nora of the debt, having reconnected with Kristine Linde, and hopefully living what passes for a happily ever after. Torvald's reaction to this is particularly telling, as it's all about "him" being saved, how "he" has escaped the grim fate, and how he forgives Nora for her misdeeds. It's after this exchange that Nora realises Torvald is not who she thought he was (and neither is she who he expected) and leaves Torvald, explaining that she needs to figure out who she is, while he is completely unable to grasp the events that are unfolding or to understand how selfish etc he appears to an observer.

As a product of the time it would not be common to look at the prevailing view of marriage in such a critical way, and this was the subject of controversy when it was first performed. While many things have progressed since then people are still people, there are still relationships like this out there, and many of the themes are as relevant now as they were then.

Food - Burger Monday with Dan Doherty

Who/what/where: Dan Doherty, youngandfoodish Burger Monday, Andrew's

For those of you unfamiliar with events from youngandfoodish, these tend to be one-off offerings that typically involve taking a chef out of their usual environment and setting them loose cooking food they wouldn't normally prepare. Tonight was one of those nights, at the fairly regularly-used venue of Andrew's on Gray's Inn Road.

Dan Doherty, of Duck and Waffle, took a look at the "classic" cheeseburger and came up with some creative alternatives for his meal. In addition to being busy in the kitchen he came out to each table while the food was served to talk about the dishes and generally be an amazing chap.
If you don't like a bit of sriracha (a hot sauce commonly associated with Vietnamese cuisine, though also common in the US etc) then you're probably onto a bit of a loser with this menu, luckily I have grown quite fond of it since first encountering it and found it a fine addition to today's dishes.

To start us off we had a Morgon as the wine for the night, it's a Beaujolais wine and is a fairly fruity offering that works particularly well with burgers and the like - especially ones such as these. For those of you who've seen Sideways, it does have a vaguely Pinot-related taste rather than Merlot-related, but I imagine most people have moved on from using the filn to drive their wine-buying habits by now.

I've also included a shot of the Young & Foodish branded placemats, just for good measure.


BBQ Spiced Pig's Ears
These were served in a bag, were still warm and were fresh and crispy. Imagine, if you will, an extremely tasty thin pork scratching and you'll be on the right track for texture etc. It would be perfect for wandering around munching on if so inclined.

Some of the crispy, tasty, pig product on the side of my plate.


Korean Pig’s Head & Devilled Duck Eggs
The pig's head had been brined for 72 hours, gving it a wonderfully soft texture. This is a dish that you should eat slowly - the strong flavours demand to be savoured and you'd be hard pressed to wolf it down regardless of how hungry you were.


The Burger
Doherty's burger was several steps away from the traditional American style cheese burger. The meat was aged Turner & George Blue Label Dexter beef, shaped into fairly stable patties and served with buta no kakuni (Japanese braised pork belly) with confit hen’s yolk, pickled Tokyo turnips, and Fontina cheese inside a sesame glazed brioche bun.
On the side were tater tots with sriracha mayo, and a little more egg - egg and equivalent of chips being a homage to the cafe which was serving as tonight's venue. Tater Tots are a very American dish, a relative of the hash brown or the rosti - then again, I suppose all shredded, fried potato products are going to bear some passing resemblance to each other. These were good potatoes, but were eclipsed by the main dish.
The burger itself was cooked wonderfully, remaining incredibly juicy and with a nice pink hint to the inside of the patty - you should be able to see this in the pics below. The pork belly was pulled, and, to be honest, was so tasty that I would have happily had a meal comprised of just that if given the option. The turnip was an interesting addition to the burger. A fairly thick slide of Fontina cheese served as the top layer inside the burger. The cheese is a semi-soft cow's milk cheese and makes for a fine burger topping - yet another layer of tastiness in a spectacular dish.
The bun was a good solid container for a very juicy meal and maintained structural integrity throughout, despite getting soaked in various juices as we ate. It remained stable throughout and withstood everything we threw at it.
I think the whole experience was best summed up by one of the girls on our table when she took her first bite and uttered the words "oh my god, that's fucking awesome" - and she was right.





Double Ducker Sundae
Named to give reference to Doherty's Duck and Waffle origins, this dish was inspired by the Double Decker chocolate bar. The dish itself was a fairly sweet dessert (no bad thing from my viewpoint), but, as a counterpoint there was a salty, savoury element in the form of crispy duck skin on the top. Salt caramel is an increasing trend across the dessert world, providing that balance to various sweet components in dishes, but I think replacing that with tasty meat product is an excellent choice and something which I would like to see dabbled with in more dishes.
The rest of the sundae featured chunks of chocolate rice crispy squares, chewy pieces and ice cream, so pretty much everything you'd ask for in a sundae.
Excuse the fingers in some of the pictures, there was a last-minute cancellation from someone within one of the groups on the table, so there was naturally some sympathetic snap-taking of the "here's what you could have won" variety with raised fingers in the background.


And that pretty much covers everything you need to know about Dan Doherty getting dragged out of his usual haunt within Duck and Waffle and cooking for a cafe full of burger fans. I'll certainly be attending the next Young and Foodish event he's cooking at if I get the opportunity.

Theatre - Urinetown

Who/what/where: Urinetown, St James Theatre

What's on Stage do several group outings over the course of the year, usually offering a reduced-price ticcket and some goodies. In this case it was a drinks voucher and a post-show meet and greet with the cast.

The St James Theatre is a fairly new venue, and sits outside the West End. It's close to Victoria and, having only opened in 2012, is a very modern theatre. The main theatre has capacity for a few hundred with some very steep seating. Unless the person in front of you is about three feet taller than you, you are unlikely to have an obstructed view. Below the main theatre is a studio venue, capable of seating a smaller number of people, but proving to be a nice environment for the smaller, more intimate, shows like Barbershopera.

Urinetown is not your typical musical, and therefore, despite how good it is, it's not one you get to see very often - this is the UK premiere of the show in fact. Part of the reason for this will be covered in the spoilery section of this article. The setting is fairly dark, a dystopian world where water is a scarce resource and one man, Caldwell B. Cladwell, holds the monopoly on public toilets, charging for these earns him a fortune and he has a scheme to become richer still. Plus there's a bit of blood, which may put off some audience members.

The public object to the fee increases, and soon a full-blown riot ensues, led by the hero of the piece, Bobby Strong, who feels gulty over his actions earlier in the show. Naturally, there's a love interest, in this case Hope Cladwell, the daughter of the show's antagonist.

The show is more than capably narrated by Johnathan Slinger (in his first musical role) as Office Lockstock, a deliciously cynical character who provides several moments of self-referential humour, giving exposition while at the same time criticising musicals that give lots of exposition. Several of these scenes take place with Little Sally, explaining information to her, and through that, to the audience.

There is a lot going on, and the two wardrobe people must have a hell of a job performing quick-change acts on a cast of around twenty. There's a fairly elaborate set, the show frequently taking place on one of two levels on stage, sometimes both. And, as an added bonus, part of the stage can revolve.

The show is presently in previews, having been open only a week and a half when I saw it. It's due to run until the 3rd of May and I absolutely recommend that not only do you get yourself a ticket, but that you get me one too as I could definitely cope with seeing it again. The night I went to see it was a sell-out. We had a last-minute cancellation and returned a ticket about 45 minutes before the show and they managed to sell it without a problem. As such we ended up next to and chatting with a lovely American girl who was studying musical theatre.

Here beginneth the spoilers.
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There's a couple of plot twists which are relatively expected, such as the identity of Hope's mother, but it's a rare show which will kill off the main character two-thirds of the way through the show. At that point Hope takes over the rebellion, leads them into killing her father, and allows free peeing for everyone. Unfortunately, that doesnt end so well as the water dries up thanks to this unrestricted usage, and pretty much everyone ends up dying anyway. So not the happiest of musicals, but they do warn us of that, and it is very fitting for the show.
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In short, go see it.

Food - Burger Monday with Bea Vo

Who/what/where: Bea Vo, youngandfoodish Burger Monday, Ozone Coffee

For those of you unfamiliar with events from youngandfoodish, these tend to be one-off offerings that typically involve taking a chef out of their usual environment and setting them loose cooking food they wouldn't normally prepare. There are, however, some exceptions, and, in a way, this is one of them.

Bea Vo, of Bea's of Bloomsbury, is a name most closely associated with baked goods, particularly given the recent duffingate scandal whereby another company tried to trademark the name "Duffin" with regards to doughnut-muffin hybrids. This summer she'll be opening a burger joint of her very own called Stax, assuming things work out well, tonight's menu served as a small preview of what we can expect.

I like Ozone Coffee as a venue, it's clean, open, you can see everything, and, especially if you have counter seating, you get to really watch the chef work.
We were at the first seating, and had the pleasure of the counter seating, which meant we got to watch Bea and her team in action, she seemed to be tiny, lovely ball of energy, running around doing all sorts of things, a veritable blur of onion-frying, ice-cream scooping activity.


Super Buttery Spiced Popcorn

There's an increasing trend for "gourmet" popcorn out there, with even supermarkets getting into the game and offering savoury treats in unusual flavours. This was very tasty, and quite possibly some of the finest popcorn I have tasted. It was fresh, buttery, spiced (as you might expect given the name) and jolly enjoyable. As you get to about halfway through you can feel a slow build of spices, but it's very mild - more that it lets you know there's warmth than anything else. I could have happily just chained that if left to my own devices. One piece was overly-covered in the topping and was spectactular.

Bea’s Stax Burger - Willowbrook Organic Free Range Beef, grilled onions, American cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato.

The patty had been hand-minced, it was a loosely-packed mince which gave a crumbly, flakey texture - primarily juiciness with a hint of crunch. The meat just about holds together a you eat it, though I did see a couple of people having difficulty.
The battered gherkin on the side was a nice addition.

Blooming Onion
The Blooming Onion was Bea's favourite junk food while growing up, so here's her own take on the dish. For people not versed in the dish, it's an onion that's been cut, opened up into a flower, battered and deep fried. So obviously a healthy dish. This was accompanied by a very tasty sauce.


Duffin Sundae - Baked doughnut muffin with Gelatorino fior di latte gelato, fudge sauce, salted caramel sauce and whipped cream
Ah, the duffin, this was probably capable of serving as a dessert in and of itself, but where would the fun in that be? Instead we get to layer toppings onto it, before ending with the obligatory cherry on top.


And, as if all that wasn't good enough, Bea was kind enough to provide some Stax pancake mix, complete with link to a tutorial video, enabling us to make our own American-style pancakes at a later date.


So, when summer rolls around, and a final venue for Bea's burger endeavour is declared, go sample the delights for yourself. Just make sure you order plenty of popcorn if it's available as you will end up munching through it pretty swiftly.