Week Fourteen
What a truly superb week of new places this was. Only two to report but
both were fantastic and I highly recommend either to anyone. One was a lad’s
meal at the Roadhouse in Covent Garden with the other being a birthday meal for
Bex Murphy at the cleverly named Jak's.
Special guests include: Hayter, Dico, Kroegs, Jake, Goldy, Lefty, Oli Grove,
Arthur, Tariq, Breester (the organiser), Anna, Flick, Jagger, Malak, Webby,
Jordane, Nix, Tedstone,and of course the birthday girl Bex Murphy.
Summary of Roadhouse
Name: Roadhouse
Type: Late night bar / American Diner
Location: The
Market at Covent Garden, 35 The Piazza, London, WC2E 8BE
Date Visited: 09/04/14
Price: Best
value for money meal ever
Rating: 3.7/5
Review
I tell you what, if you have a taste card and you enjoy beers or cocktails then
make sure you get down here midweek for one hell of a feed. This place nails the American diner theme with it being underground, has live music (or
so I am told as none was playing on the night), dark lighting (always works in
my favour) and a great atmosphere with the background music set at the perfect volume to
ensure that you can hear yourself speak and yet avoid the awkward silence moments you can get if the music isn't loud enough. You know what I mean
The service I am afraid was absolutely woeful. It took them an age to
serve us drinks, the food didn't arrive for a good 45 minutes after ordering
and when the desserts were ordered that took a further 45 minutes to arrive.
We got there at seven o clock and were under strict instructions from the establishment that we
would have to vacate after 90 minutes. By the time we finished desserts and the bill arrived it was almost 10pm. To long in my books. Maybe because we
had the 50% off taste card we were not their highest priority.
Charlie went solo on the platter for two. Professional Rugby player this guy.
The best part of all this was that for a starter, a main, 4 beers (midweek
drinker!?) and a dessert came to £12/£13 each. Unreal value for money. On
closer inspection they did miss off the desserts on the bill, the drinks were 2 4 1 and the
taste card got you 50% off all the mains. Even so that is exceptional.
The place looked like it was going to kick off long into the night and my people on the
ground tell me it's open until 3am all week long. In effect this bar, which reminded me of the
bar from the Sopranos has got everything. Everything apart from good
service (Oh snap).
The Roadhouse table of good looking lads
Summary of Jak's
Name: Jak's
Type: Mediterranean Restaurant and Bar
Location: Jak's
Kings Road, 553 Kings Road, London, SW10 0TZ
Date Visited: 12/04/14
Price: Very
decent
Rating: 4.7/5
Review
Due to the well chosen name for this establishment, I was
already thinking positively before arriving. However no bias was needed
as this place, big statement to follow, is the best new place I have been to
this year. The place is situated underneath Embargoes and is where Public
used to be. It is once again underground and it is sort of split into two
rooms. One room is the restaurant and the other is the bar area and they
are both of substantial size.
We were here to celebrate Bex Murphy's birthday and had a
table for 17 in the middle of the place. There were only 5 guys and 12 girls so
there were few complaints from the guys and the 5 guys there all had electric
banter so the girls were chuffed to. Once a few glasses of wine (oh
stop it) had been drunk it was time to go up and choose your food, which is already cooked and
displayed buffet style. My kind of style and I can tell you that you are spoilt for choice.
I went for my usual safe bet which is the lamb shoulder and accompanied it with an excessive amount of mash potato, green beans (you've got to be healthy eh) and some broccoli.
It wasn't the smartest looking plate of food but it worked. One person
commented that it looked like a school dinner. Who has lamb shoulder for
school dinners? We were in Fulham so maybe that comment isn't too alarming.
The table of exceptional banter at Jak's
After dinner was wolfed down there was more wine,
jagerbombs, champagne and various other alcoholic beverages (do you guys drink,
oh my god you are so hardcore). Now one of the great things about this
place is that yes you do sit down and eat your food but once that's done you are able to get up
and mingle around the table without feeling like it’s a bit weird as everyone in the place does it.
What really added to this place was that the inside decor was great, it was big open space giving it a good atmosphere and there was some decent live music involving a very serious looking drummer and a chilled saxophonist. Now I usually hate live music because it usually means you can't hear yourselves think and involves shouting all night (Durrell Arms on a Friday night for instance) but once again Jak's had come into their own as it was the perfect volume so no complaints there.
What really added to this place was that the inside decor was great, it was big open space giving it a good atmosphere and there was some decent live music involving a very serious looking drummer and a chilled saxophonist. Now I usually hate live music because it usually means you can't hear yourselves think and involves shouting all night (Durrell Arms on a Friday night for instance) but once again Jak's had come into their own as it was the perfect volume so no complaints there.
Not much I can say here about our good friend Tom Goldwater
The bill arrived and came to £50 each. That is
fantastic value for money considering we had a good amount of food. Don't
even get me started on the amount of drinks we had. (WHEY!!! PARTY ANIMALS!) To
be fair Alex Jagger was falling asleep while standing up (impressive effort), Breester couldn't stand straight and was swaying from
side to side while unsuccessfully claiming to be dancing and the birthday girl
Bex was finding it difficult to speak with her sentences making no sense.
After the bill had been settled it was time to move next
door to the bar area to bust some moves and crack on with the rest of the night.
The music in there was decent and the wait for drinks wasn't bad so again no complaints.
Highlights of the evening included Malaktos having a irrational
fear of toasts (the raising glass action rather than the bread), Anna being scared of potatoes (a bit of a mental fear that one), spotting David Ginola and Ugo
Monye on a night out together?!?, the smoking area being in a cool courtyard, the
food of course being decent and the biggest highlight of all....was the whole night itself (Soppy git).
Malaktos' worst nightmare. Good arty photo this.
Why not a 5/5 I hear you ask? No cloakroom, the place wasn't
quite world class which gets you that coveted 5/5 rating and it is only
open until 12.30 which is a great shame.
Inspired name for an inspired place. Best place yet.
Poem Advice
In the tourist Covent Garden
Wanting drink and meat
Then the roadhouse is for you
Wanting drink and meat
Then the roadhouse is for you
The value for money you can't beat
Jak's the great named restaurant
The best place I've been this year
Great food, lots of drink, good atmos
Well priced so do not fear.
Only two places it may have been this week but I have to say they both were
fantastic. Next week sees the return of the financier who will be
desperately trying not to do another accidental selfie. More importantly it is
the Partyman's birthday which is celebrated globally. Thanks
again for reading guys always appreciated.
See you next week fans
VIVA LA BLOG!
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