Tag Archives: cheap

Pizza Union, King’s Cross

Posted on by

pizza union 1pizza union 2pizza union 3

King’s Cross is booming with new food and beverage outlets. Pizza Union has just joined the crowd, an industrial style restaurant with neon lights and Italian tiled tables. Despite its recent opening the restaurant is already popular with locals. The Pizza Union team pride themselves on offering super speedy service and incredibly fresh food so it is an ideal lunch choice for those working nearby. I took along two of my most discerning foodie friends to try out the extensive pizza menu.

pizza union 4pizza union 5pizza union 6

We barely had time to say hello… Within 5 minutes of ordering, three delicious pizzas were in front of us and the prosecco was poured out. The 12 inch pizzas are thin-crusted and generously covered in the toppings of your choice. We tried a few different varieties, but it was the Calabria that we all fought over. A luxurious pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella, mascarpone, n’duja spicy sausage and rocket. It was a lovely combination of creamy cheese and spicy meat, topped with fresh peppery rocket leaves. If you are a meat fan, the pepperoni is also nice with a plentiful scattering of pepperoni. There are accompanying salads, should you desire a little extra greenery, and we also tried the indulgent sauces (creamy garlic is the best), which are ideal for dipping crusts into.

The staff were keen for us to try a pudding pizza. This consists of a warm dough ring filled with Nutella and mascarpone. As you cut the circuit a gooey creamy chocolatey interiors oozes out… we thought we were full, but obviously not as we were soon staring down at a clean empty plate. It is a delicious and simple dessert, but if you have had enough dough for the day opt for a pistachio or salted caramel gelato instead.

pizza union 7pizza union 8

Pizza Union is a cheap and cheerful venue to enjoy great pizza and prosecco, it was the perfect setting for a girl’s evening catching up.

More information about Pizza Union here: www.pizzaunion.com

Bleecker Street Burger Van

Posted on by

I literally stumbled across this ace burger van. Finding myself wandering around Euston, freezing cold and in desperate need of food I looked up my location on my trusty Burgerapp… Bleecker Street Burger was a nearby red mark throbbing on the screen. Little did I know I would have to enter the UCL university campus to retrieve my lunch.

Bleecker Street Burger is an NYC style burger joint on wheels. They zoom around the streets of london cooking up medium-rare burgers and crispy, salty fries. Look out for the big, black burger truck, as it may be coming near you… at the start of every week the website is updated with addresses of the van’s locations, the burgers are usually on sale two or three days a week.

The Bleecker beef comes from small farms across England, the buns used are light and slightly sweet, complementing the robustness of the meat. In the cheese department they go for tasty American cheese, gooey and delicious. The burgers are relatively thin, and a double can be chosen for hungrier diners. I was a little sad to notice the absence of tomato and onion in the burger, no gherkin either. Bleecker are minimalists when it comes to their burgers accessories adding only cheese, lettuce and sauce to the meat. But what is there is very, very good: quality ground meat, lightly seasoned and a wonderfully light bun.

The fries, which they adamantly insist are NOT chips, are handmade and fried in the van. Normal fries are on offer as well as Angry fries (with red chilli powder), sweet fries (sweet potato) or mixed fries (a mix of normal and sweet potato). If I’d been feeling more adventurous I would have gone for the mixed, but I just felt like normal. They were good, but far from the best I’ve tried. Soggy with a crispy edge they became cold very quickly unfortunately, though nicely seasoned.

There was barely a queue (hurrah) despite the burgers being very popular and the service was very quick and friendly. At £4.50 a burger Bleecker are surely the cheapest and perhaps the best burger van currently on the streets of the capital.

http://bleeckerburger.co.uk/

Flat Iron, Soho

Posted on by

There is something instantly appealing about the notion of a steak for 10 quid. Which is what Flat Iron offers, no strings attached.

Of course there is the no reservations policy but the queue is painless… you go on a list and settle downstairs with a drink before being called to your table, and it’s all very calm.

There isn’t really much of a menu:

Flat Iron Steak served with house leaf salad £10

Dripping cooked chips £2.50

Creamed Spinach £3

Today’s market greens £2.50

Sophie’s salad (blue cheese, candied pecans, lemon dressing) £3.50

Roast Aubergine (tomato, basil, Parmesan) £3.50

Sauces (Bearnaise, Fresh Horseradish Cream, Peppercorn, Fred’s Sauce) £1 each

Speciality Wagyu steak was also available (for the extra cost of £16) when I went along and I got the impression that luxury steak alternatives are often added to the standard list.

It was so simple and easy and yet so perfectly delicious. Lean, seasoned, sliced meat presented on a wooden board. A modest portion beautifully presented with a small glass of dressed lambs lettuce. The chips are insanely good too, medium thin, soft inside but crispy edged. Of the sauces, I would recommend the peppercorn with tiny flavoursome pieces of diced onion or the light and creamy Bearnaise.

Salted caramel mousse is the one and only dessert option… a squirty hand whipped cream machine is used to inject the tumblers with the airy sweet mixture. It was divine, life threatening perhaps, but just so so good. And even better with a sprinkle of sea salt on top.

I was impressed with the cocktails as well, Pound Sterling £7 (Chase English vodka, sloe berry liqueur, Tahitian vanilla pod syrup, lime and soda) and Rhubarb Aperol Spritz £6.50 (Chase rhubarb vodka, Aperol, lemon, sugar, rhubarb bitters, soda) were our preferred tipples. Both were served semi-long with perhaps a little too much ice as they soon became diluted. The ingredients though were finely matched to create delicious and unique drinks.

I loved everything about Flat Iron. But please don’t go, I don’t want to have to queue behind you as well.

More information here.

www.flatironsteak.co.uk/

@flatironsteak