Wednesday 24 June 2015

Pigging Out At The Pig & Goose

Before I begin and tell all you FoodPunkers about The Pig & Goose, this awesome place that I went to, let me start by saying how I stumbled across this hidden little gem.

Most of us have probably heard about the news about Dave Grohl and his poor leg. Well last Friday, myself and a few other peeps were meant to have seen the Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium but because of Dave injuring his leg, they were forced to cancel their U.K and European dates. Yes it sucked at the time and anybody who has seen them live knows how much they bloody rock. But I'm not one to mope around about such things. Anyways I saw Faith No More and The Strokes the previous evenings, so I was content and had my live music fix for the time being. However I did bump into Dave and wished him a speedy recovery. No leg jokes from the picture below, I've already heard them.




So, like I said no Foo Fighters on the Friday but that didn't stop me from making alternative plans.
Sian and I met up with my "hipster" best friend Alex Reid (no introduction necessary) up in the Holborn area and with gorgeous warm summer weather in London, what better way to star the late afternoon/early evening off by having a few pints and talking about how awesome The Strokes were the previous night.

Alex has this app on his phone and I've totally forgotten what its called but basically it finds restaurants in and around London that has spare tables and you can book last minute dot com depending on how many people are in your party. Now this is where the Pig & Goose comes in. So we're sitting around in a pub called the George which is located in the Strand area and we're using this app to find somewhere to eat for dinner. We booked at this tapas place but we noticed something. The George had a new furnished restaurant on the floor above called the Pig & Goose. Therefore we asked the bar staff if there was a menu we could check out as well as if there was any chance of us hanging around for dinner. Thankfully there was space upstairs for the three of us to eat and moreover the menu looked frickin awesome (which you can check out below).













Alex and I are big foodies and if you have the pleasure of either partying hard or getting wet with us (we don't get wet, don't panic) then you will see that we don't scrimp around eating small plates. You either go hard or you go home.
As we all know drinking fine top notch alcoholic beers (Stella, Carling......I joke by the way) gives you serious munchies and I eat non stop, I don't go by the three meal a day routine. Therefore after having a few drinks we ordered perhaps something that would more than fill a hole. Check out these mofos below!!!






All of the food above was ace and was being sold at such a decent price. I mean three pounds for a pint of pork scratching's, seriously, other places need to take note. I was going to do a FoodPunk video on pork scratching's, finding the perfect one but I'm not going to do that now because The George Pub does the best I have ever eaten. Those bad boys certainly didn't lack on the crunch level, they would destroy any other pork scratching if we were to judge it on that basis.

The good old fashioned scotch egg is also worth mentioning and it was scoffed within seconds on being on the table. You couldn't really blame us as it was packed with loads of sausage meat and the yolk was still soft in the centre. That's what dreams are made of right there.
 Poor old Sian being a vegetarian was missing out on some banging snacks but I will say that she was happy having her cheese and customary large glass of Pinot.



There's some lessons that I will never learn and one of them is how much food I order. The old saying is true about your eyes being bigger than your belly and no matter where I go I always eat more than I bargained for. I'm not gonna lie, knowing that I was going to eat dinner within the next hour, I probably didn't need to order so much. But I was off work, I was downing or should I say mixing my drinks and the snacks were brilliant.


After our stomachs had settled we headed upstairs to the restaurant where we were greeted by a awesome chick called Jade. For a restaurant that's meant to be sophisticated and refined, she was one cool funny lady. It's great to see someone who makes their guests feel at ease and at home, having a bit of a laugh in the process. She was on top form and was always on hand to help and have a bit of a joke with us. She said that if we liked we could go on trip advisor to review the place and her customer service skills but screw that, I can do one better by mentioning her on my blog, so Jade if you're reading this you get the FoodPunk love.

As I just stated the restaurant leans towards the more refined side of things and on top of that it was an amazing looking place.









Now for the food and my God it was worth every penny!!!!!! I think we would all have gone for dessert but because of our snacking it just wasn't meant to be but the starters and the main courses were incredible stuff. If the pictures below don't get your taste buds singing, I honestly don't know what will. You got to be crazy or a fool not to be impressed with the food.



Sugar cured prawns, avocado, radishes, pea shoots, grapefruit
 


Because I was having meat for main, I went for the prawns to start with and it had a variety of balanced flavours. The sweetness from the prawns, sharpness from the grapefruit and the dashing of rock salt just lifted that dish on to another level.




Heritage beetroot salad, yogurt, cracked wheat

Crispy duck egg, dukkah, Vitelotte potatoes, truffle, radish cress

Dexter ribeye, chips, roasted red onion, smoked garlic and horseradish butter



 





 
 
 
It was a difficult choice to choose what dishes to eat but when it came down to it, I really couldn't overlook the steak. I know in the past I've had Hawksmoor steak and in all honesty nothing can beat that but the steak at the Pig & Goose would be up there. The portion size was unbelievable, a nice fat, juicy, succulent steak, with a mountain of triple cooked chips and a sweet roasted onion thrown into the party. It was incredible and cooked just the way I like it. The smoked butter and horseradish butter  just melted everywhere giving me the chance to mop it up with every bit of the steak. I wasn't messing around, I was going to town on it.
 
 
 
 

Buratta, courgette, spinach, asparagus, oyster mushrooms
 
 


Devonshire lamb, peas, baby gem, broad beans, Jersey royals

 
 
 
 
Both Sian and Alex enjoyed their dishes and couldn't fault it either and to be honest if you agree with what I said about it being hard to pick what dishes to have, you can see why. The lamb looked really inviting and was cooked to perfection and if you're not feeling a heavy dish such as the steak I had, then the lamb would be the perfect lighter option.
I've got to say though the beetroot starter that Sian had could easily be a main meal. It was HUGE!!!!! not that I'm moaning because obviously you don't want to be left short.
 
 
 
 
The Pig & Goose was a great find and a place that everyone should check out. Even if you're not up for having a three course meal, then the George is the perfect alternative and has plenty of great bar snacks to choose from and an impressive selection of boos. I'm already planning my next trip there :) I need to try out the other dishes they have to offer as well. The Pig & Goose, I'm coming back for seconds.
 
FoodPunk over and out.

Monday 1 June 2015

The Ribman Hangs Out With The Galvin Brothers

 
 
 
Before I expand on my next food visit, I would like to apologise for the lack of blogging recently. I have just come back from holiday needing a well earned break getting away from the city and to recharge my batteries. Also I've recently just finished filming my second FoodPunk YouTube video which should be edited and finished in a few weeks time.
 
 
 
 
Anyways back to this gig and if you're a real foodie/chef then you've more than likely have come across the Galvin Brothers. They are without a doubt one of the most notable chefs within the industry and their Michelin star background has led them to a number of award winning restaurants, in particular Galvin at Windows.
 
 
 
Just a little over a few weeks back myself and my partner in crime Courtney Gwatkin took a swift visit to one of Galvin's restaurants near Spitalfield , East London. And yes like I've said time and time again East London is where its at people and here's one of the reasons why.
 
 
 
 
The Galvin brothers hosted a small food festival just outside their restaurant CafĂ© A Vin inviting everyone walking by to chow down on some good honest food.
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Not only did they show off their amazing assortment of street food, they also had the ever popular Rib Man selling and enticing punters with his delicious, juicy pulled pork sandwiches. To be honest at the time I had never heard of him and there's a simple reason for that before some of you slap me around the face. Im a Spurs fan and he is a massive West ham supporter and he treats the fans to his funky ribs just outside Upton Park. But don't fear football fans, he also sets up his stall in Brick Lane every Sunday.
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 



 
 
 
 
After a few drinks, Courtney and I set off to eat a truck load of food, stuffing our faces with what the Galvin brothers and the Rib Man had to offer.
 
 
 
First stop was the Rib Man and with his charm and swagger, this was one cool dude and by meeting him you could see how much passion he has serving the best ribs in London. Because we wanted to taste what the boys next door were cooking, we decided to share a pulled pork burger and what a decision that was. He didnt hold back on the meat, he kept loading and loading and loading....................... and LOADING that succulent, tender mean ramming it in between the bread. It looked insane and Courtney and I couldn't wait to rip into that monster of a sandwich.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Ok so not only is he famous for his ribs, but he has also made a name for himself with his "Holy Trinity" of hot sauces. You gotta love the names of these beauties. (WARNING: PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT CONTENT) ;)
 
     
  1. Holy Fuck
  2. Christ on a bike
  3. Holy Mother of God
 
 
 
 
 
 Of course I had to buy all three!!! I love my spice and I can handle hot. So far I have only tried Holy Fuck and it made me sweat but not to the point where I was dripping. That's the mildest one of the lot so yeah I really need to prepare my body mentally and physically (Rocky IV style) for the Holy Mother of God. Maybe a FoodPunk video is in order?
 
 
 
 
 
 
Next door, Galvin's team of talented chefs were cooking up a storm with their take on some Asian and Middle Eastern dishes.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 



There was no way I was going to pass up on seeing a bundle of chicken deep fried and coated in a sticky sweet soy marinade. Oh man were they good!!!! It was just like home. The chicken was crispy and the sauce just had an explosion of flavours from saltiness to sweetness. It was absolutely banging.













 
 
 
The monkfish flatbread was an incredible bit of food. If you don't like monkfish, then shame on you. Its chunky, meaty, juicy and has bags of flavour especially when the chefs coat it and grill it in various spices, smothering it in smoked aubergine puree with some shredded wild garlic to give it that extra punch. 
 
 
 


 
 
 









I'm so glad I joined Courtney in doing this little adventure. Besides she's one of my close friends at work and outside.
It was great to see the Galvin Brothers use one of their restaurants, a place viewed in such high regard to offer the people of East London and share their culinary offerings as well as having the Rib Man to come and join in on the fun. This Is what makes food great and why more and more people get so involved. Fine dining, street food, brasserie style, gastro, it doesn't matter what it is, food is food and days like this just goes to show that as long as its delicious and looks great everyone will get stuck in. Its all love baby!!!!