London's Best Burger: Wenlock & Essex

Mission: to find London's best burger's. This is Carrie vs Food.  The best bit? Being able to eat burgers and not feel guilty because it's 'research'. Tonight my research took me to Wenlock & Essex on the Essex Road in Islington. First thing, I absolutely love living within walking distance of these fantastic areas and restaurants.

Having followed them on Twitter I was aware of their burger offering. It wasn't until I briefly clocked the menu that I noticed the burger had pulled pork IN THE BUN...WITH THE BURGER. Try and keep me away. I didn't even look at the rest of the menu...I'm sure there are other relevant things on here...

We arrived around 7.15 on a gorgeous evening and the outside benches were packed. Luckily we managed to grab an inside table by a huge window...the best of both worlds if you ask me. The interior of the pub is really nice. It has a good mix of lovely big wooden tables and some leather sofas. The huge bar is more than adequate at keeping the queue moving fast. You also order your food at the bar.

Our view

There are optional extras you can add to your 'plain' old burger which already comes with pulled pork, dill pickle, roasted tomato and sauce, oh and the side of fries. Being the gluttons that we are we added blue cheese and jalapenos respectively.

The reveal: Ding Dong.

Drippy blue cheese (front) jalepeno (back)

First thing, the fries are really nicely textured skin on beauts that are not just secondary to the burger. There is also a lovely tangy chili.mustardy dip to both dip your chips and slather on your burger...if you didn't have cream cheese that is. You see the cheese was MELTY! In a good way but also in a really drippy, sauce all down your arms kind of way.

This is obscene, how will I fit this in my mouth?

Drippy out of focus...

Drippy in focus

The taste of the burger was really good. The tangy pickles went great with the medium rare meat. The only downfall, I couldn't detect the pulled pork. In all honesty in my burger fuelled excitement I had forgotten about the pulled pork until half way through. I picked off the lid (what was left of it) and inspected to see if I could see it. Nothing that resembled pulled pork at this stage but it was also reminiscent of a car crash...mess.

Also, for the price (£10 for the burger and chips, extra 50p to add cheese or jalapenos) this is great value. By the time we had finished the sun had set and the place was buzzing. I've been here before for drinks but I will definitely come back at the same time and eat first. Maybe on a different night of the week however as they take tastecard int he week for 50% off...amazing.

Completely non-strategic sign placement

Not up to the Honest Burger / Lucky Chip standard of burger, but a bloody good contender in a really fun atmosphere.

Atmosphere: 4/5
Food: 3/5
Drink: 3/5
Overall: 3/5

Follow them on Twitter @Wenlock&Essex

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Carrie Travels: Tivoli Copenhagen

My first trip to Copenhagen, as a work trip I wasn't expecting to get any time to do anything other than watch lots of TV...(due to the fact it was a TV Festival, not because I was getting any time in my room) so it was a really pleasant surprise to get to Tivoli Gardens.

Having read about it beforehand I knew of the short previous time we had this and a walk along the river would be two things to do. We were really lucky with the weather, even on the first night eating about 10pm outside was a nice treat, so on the evening of our Trip to Tivoli we had a lovely old time!

The entrance way is pretty nice...

As were the jazz band among these lovely flowers

Chinese restaurant and bad ass roller coaster

Cute

By night

Concert hall

Once we'd had a good walk around it was time for dinner. We had been recommended the Promenaden restaurant which turns out has amazing ribs...

They come with a bucket and a bib? My kind of food

Hand for scale...did we really need the side of fries?

Bucket o' bits

Sweet interior

We stayed soaking up the atmosphere until we were the only ones left

I'm not sure we made the most of the 100k entry (around £10 per person) but we made up for it in the ribs. They were completely delicious. I ate them ALL, and could have had more. The BBQ sauce was like nothing I've tried before. You'd think they would get boring after eating so many, but they really didn't and were so meaty delicious. Highly recommend if you are in Tivoli.

The next day we even managed our stroll along the river and a perch in a deck chair...we work so hard after all!

Before we knew it it was time to head back to the station and come home. I'll be back, and this time for the whole weekend.

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Restaurant Review: Giant Robot

Checking somewhere off my most wanted list is pretty satisfying. It's also pretty torturous when you are trying to be good (read healthy) and end up at a place that serves Lucky Chip Royale's with Cheese. How unfair.

Working practically opposite Giant Robot it's bizarre we haven't eaten there until now, we have drank at the bar of course but the meatballs and sliders have evaded us, and thus continue to do so. I absolutely love the decor and feel of this place. As it was a sunny day the 'pavement' seating was full so inside it was. After perusing the menu / trying to find something healthy yet satisfying I opted for crab spaghetti. Call it a hangover from Strada where they have the calories on the menu and the seafood linguine is one of the lowest calorie things on there. The others opted for flavoured piadine's. After a quick Google turns out these are flatbreads. I was expecting something like a pizza, which it was not.

On the side of my small crab spaghetti I ordered green beans, figuring again to be healthy. Best intentions can be a minefield, the beans had been well cooked in something delicious (cue fattening) and were lovely and garlic-y, making me think they weren't all that good for me at all. When the crab spaghetti arrived for a small it was sizable for lunch time. I could also tell immediately it was in a pretty rich (cue fattening) sauce. It was however delicious. There wasn't loads of crab but there was definitely a decent amount. The piadine's (spicy lamb and egg plant respectively) looked absolutely delicious. As I felt like I was restricting myself I had food envy, although generally a seafood pasta would be my first choice.

The above is completely redundant if you are in a place that serves the most delicious burgers ever as well as gorgeous looking sliders (the tables around us were super lucky).

The decor is super cool, and as a sucker for the small touches I love that there are retro tea towel's as napkins. I'm also a sucker for iron work and cool lighting...

The food is good, next time I go it's burgers all the way.

Atmosphere: 4/5, such a cool place
Food: 4/5, you can't go wrong with lucky chip
Drink: 4.5 great selection of cocktails, and the water comes with finely sliced cucumber in...so nice
Overall: 4/5

Love you, I'll be back x

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Glossybox: International Superstars Edition

It only seems like 5 minutes since my last Glossybox arrived, so I was pleased to see the dispatch notification yesterday (time flies when you're having fun). It was satisfyingly heavy again so I could barely wait to ring around the office and get the customary crowd to ooh and ahh.

I was excited to see international superstars on the insert - although as ever I do not read this until I've had my eager mitts on the actual products. Here is your overview of August's Glossybox...

The first product that stood out (from it's sheer size) was the eye shadow palette. I didn't realise first off that the green corners were shades, I figured this was the design of the set, it wasn't until I read the card and seen  'a selection of 10 different colours' that I counted! These are all totally wearable shades. I tried on a couple of the deeper browns, which went on easily and were satisfyingly bold on their own. Often when I'm blending eye shadows they all merge into one, whereas these remained pretty independent.

Next up was the deep cleansing oil from DHC Japan. On initial inspection I though this was a hair oil, I have had similar products to this previously. Turns out it's a facial cleanser! I would have never have thought an oil could cleanse your face.. the card claims it's 'a revolutionary water-soluble cleanser that is better than any other make up remover you've ever tried'. My current packet of Johnson's make up wipes came to an end last night, so we shall see!

On opening the box there was an overwhelming smell of what I thought was t-tree. It turns out it is 'a soothing blend of mint, lavender and chamomile'. These scents make up the 'all for eve' lip balm. It had a pleasant consistency on my lips. Always useful - will probably live in my desk drawer.

Lipcote was the next thing that appeared through the tissue paper. I was expecting a lipstick but to see a clear nail varnish-y type affair greeted me. One of my colleagues who has previously used this product verified it is indeed a really good thing to keep your lipstick on, shame I'd just slathered them in all about eve balm.

Another product that did look like nail varnish is the Alessandro pro white brightening effect nail polish. I have never received a product like this, and was sure I had checked against receiving nail products in the options. I never have my own nails so there isn't much I can do with this. I will pop it with my collection of nail polishes for the next time I'm un-pedi'd as there is no reason your toe nails can't be radiant white!

I thought this was it, about to throw the box out when I took my customary final rummage among the black tissue...what was lurking within? A small black tube that looked suspiciously like a Glossybox branded lipstick. I then thought it may be a retractable make up brush. On inspection, it was...a lovely matt pink lipstick, full size. After popping it on, it was a really flattering colour. Now the balm had worn off I was also able to top it with the Lipcote to see if this has the desired staying effect.

The Lipcote was really strong tasting and a bit tingly on the lips. You have to keep your mouth open while it dries, which was really hard as it was making my mouth water! On drying the finish was really natural. As for the staying power? I'll let you know tomorrow...

And apologies for the dreadful picture quality, I'm iPhoning it today...

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