Rotary Bar and Diner

About a month ago we had a long overdue girls night out. Gossipping about boys over pints of cocktails and burgers are the best kind of catch ups, don't you think?

We went to Rotary Bar and Diner, which opened back in February on City Road, right by Old Street. I arrived first (as per...;)) and took a look at the cocktail menu 'The Big Six', which caught my eye...the anniversary fizz. Gin, Aperol, Lemon, Passion Fruit and Soda. In a pint. Yay. By which stage S had arrived...and we doubled up. Cheers.

Rotary Cocktail Menu

Two Anniversary Fizz, we're classy girls drinking from tankards

The name of the game here is burgers. Big filthy burgers. First up we ordered some starters to share. Chicken wings come either sticky or hot. Hot please. We also went for the Cornish Crab Salad with blood orange. Nice and conveniently everything is priced in batches and a big round numbers. Starters are £5.

Rotary Bar and Diner Menu

Hot Chicken wings - so good

Crab salad - not as good as the wings

Burgers are £10. Between the three of us we had a Rotary Burger (rare breed beef, bacon, cheese, onions, bun sauce) a Chicken Roll (with cheese and bun sauce) and a Veggie bun. now usually I am never tempted by the veggie options especially when burgers are involved but doesn't roast field mushrooms, Somerset brie, wild garlic and slaw sound ridiculously good?

Chicken burger and dripping chips

Chicken Roll with Cheese

Veggie Bun - Roast Mushroom

The Rotary Burger, with bacon and cheese

MMM Pickle 

The Chicken Roll looked the best

On the side it was dripping chips. Some of the best fries we've ever had. Up to Honest Burger standards (that is a high standard). Do you know what goes well with amazing chips...Holy F**k sauce. Hell yes.

Next door to Rotary Bar and Diner is now YUM BUN. At the time all we had was this teasing blackboard. We will be back for delicious buns. Yum

We'll probably be back. I don't usually have entree envy, but damn that chicken roll looked good. If they can take the hot chicken wings and put them in a roll I will be queuing around the block for that shiz. You can catch Rotary until the end of the year. Enjoy

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New York's Best Burger; Shake Shack

Meat Liquor, Honest Burgers, Hawksmoor, Lucky Chip - Some of London's finest burgers. My quest for the absolute best one continues, so why would I take a day off when in New York? On good authority, Shake Shack is one of New York City's best burgers.

My lipstick didn't last...

A reasonably sized 'shack' in Madison Square Park houses the original Shake Shack outlet. One has recently opened up further in Midtown/towards the Upper East Side, but despite the weather we were going for the authentic experience. There is also a live camera viewing the queue so you can anticipate your wait before you head down! We hedged our bets and thought around 11.45 on a Saturday would be dead quiet - we were wrong.

Already fairly busy at 11.45am on a Saturday

The queue however was fairly non-existent. On ordering you are given a buzzer and wait for your freshly prepared burgers, fries and shakes. The Shake Shack menu is simple. Good burgers, crinkle cut fries and thick shakes - they also serve beer for the more boozy lunchers amongst us...

The Shake Shack Menu

I love seeing others taking photos of their food!

We opted for a couple of burgers and fries to share. As we were heading to Serendipity for frozen hot chocolate later on, we curbed the desire for shakes and just went for Coke...

Luckily there was a table under a heater free so we dived over and took a pew waiting for the shaking...it wasn't much more than 5 minutes before I headed over to the receiving hatch to collect our box of goodness. Being cold it obviously had to wolfed down immediately before the chips went arctic, but I managed to put M off long enough to snap a couple of photos.

The Shack Burger 

Smokehouse Shack Burger and crinkle fries

M went for the straight up Shack Burger, myself the Smoke Shack, this is similar to the Shack burger but with bacon and cherry peppers. It also packed a bit of a punch. I have bad memories of crinkle chips, probably from a misspent youth of school dinners and microchips, but these were delicious. Crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside and most importantly...HOT!

The burger? Well frankly within 15 seconds it was gone. All over my freezing hands, face but luckily most in my tummy! Quite a thin patty is seasoned perfectly, and the toppings are amazing. The bun has a satisfying glean. It held together well while I was tearing away at the 100% Angus beef and Niman Ranch Applewood Smoked bacon.

A squiffy Coke...

Savouring the last bite

M and I both agreed it was a damn good burger. For days after, however we did resist temptation to go again...so many amazing foodie places, so little time!

After we'd finished wondering around Madison Park is great, you are really close to the flat iron building and it feels very 'local', as it was the weekend the dog park was full of pets having a lovely day out...I wonder if any of them are getting a treat at Shake Shack afterwards.

A local squirrel enjoying the sunshine

The local dog park, loving this fuzzy bear dog

You can see the live 'shack cam' here

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Burger Breakout: Burger Pop-Up Reviewed

Burger Breakout - Hello

When Burger Breakout first started I was pretty excited - but two months in have only just managed to get down to The Old Crown and try it out. First though, we went to the most amazing bar - M had been here the night previously and recommended we should go again. What a good decision. Bold statement, but probably my new favourite bar in London.

Me looking totally normal, I always look like this...

Fun tables at Foundation

Amazing London Cocktail Bar

Foundation in Covent Garden - I know, I'm late to the party, but it is awesome. All drinks are half price until 7pm - including champagne. This makes a bottle of Moët even more appealing than normal. £26? Cheaper than the supermarket! And you get to sit in the most amazing chairs.

Considering it was so amazing it wasn't too packed for a Thursday night - which was great. As we were leaving however there were some burly bouncers outside and some ropes obviously planned for the queue.

So after Foundation Bar it was time for Burger Breakout. Stretchy pants at the ready. Once we found it (we both suffer from a directional disability) we crowded inside. It was busy. Through the night we would notice the crowd come and go in waves. Our table was along the back wall facing the rest of the room. Marvellous. Time to devour the menu.

Burger Breakout at The Old Crown

Right on New Oxford Street (note the bus)

The Old Crown Bar

A new burger - whose name had been crowd sourced on Twitter (my suggestion was quickly vetoed) was making it's debut - the 'we're gonna need a bigger bap' burger is a fish and chip burger WITH THE CHIPS INSIDE!! amazing. But we were on a meat mission.

'We're going to need a bigger bap' Twitter sourced burger name

Pulled pork is a personal weakness. Clearly the swine burger was a tick. We opted to share two different ones. The other clear winner was The Whiskey Beast. Here is a run down: The Whiskey Beast - aged Orkney beef patty, treacle cured bacon, Strathdon blue cheese and whiskey mustard. The Swine Time: Pork patty, 24 hour cooked pulled pork, a Dairylea slice and jalapeno mayo. Are you drooling yet?

Burger Breakout Menu

Our choices, Whiskey Beast and Swine Time

All burgers are served with a side of horseradish salted fries. We contemplated ordering more sides. We were glad we didn't...

Now let's not beat around the bush here - these burgers are freaking huge. I didn't even know how to get it in my mouth. We sliced them in half and both started with the pork (you honestly have no idea how much I love Pulled Pork, a love that started at Pitt Cue). How did it taste? Delicious. It was messy, all over my face, all over the table, dripping into my hands and I didn't care. There was more food to be eaten. We were like two people possessed 

Good god, look at that cheese

Burger sans flash

A Swine Time 'Cross Section' if you will...

Seriously big pulled pork burger

The horseradish fries? Completely amazing. Some of the best fries I've eaten (Honest Burgers are a comparison to deliciousness). Too bad I couldn't finish them, as there was half a Whiskey Beast waiting for my attention. If 'treacle cured bacon' didn't sound good enough before the taste was completely out of this world. The Best Bacon I've Ever Eaten™.

A Whiskey Beast

The Burger Challenge

The Best Bacon In The World™

Bacon: Good, whiskey mustard? GOOD! It packs a bit of a punch and there are some really strong mouth fulls. It is hot and good and filthy and you will love it. However...we both preferred the pork. Now a regular sized burger and fries meal, I can polish off without any problems. This was a mountain. The fabulous fries - or the totality of the burger could not be surmounted.

We caved - burger defeat

What to do with completely full tummies of burger-y goodness? Order something sweet of course. Hard shakes are pretty awesome. Hard shakes with chocolate buttons in? Forget about it. (Do your best Joey from Friends accent). We went for a 'your snickers are showing'. Did we manage to order this without a snigger? No of course not.

Hard shake menu

Inside said 'your snickers are showing' (snigger) there is white rum, peanut butter, chocolate buttons, Dolche de Lechce, Vanilla ice cream. Both calorific and delicious. It looks quite innocent when it arrives, with two straws (we're very romantic).

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Buttons got married and their baby tastes amazing

Drink Me

Was it good? Yes. Could we have done one each? Probably. Did we feel quite drunk by now? Yes. Great night.

Atmosphere: 3/5 - it was a bit cold!
Food: 4/5
Drink: 4/5 - have a milkshake
Overall: 4/5

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