dinner by heston

Coming soon

Dinner by Heston

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, 66 Knightsbridge, SW1X 7LA | 020 7201 3833 | www.dinnerbyheston.com

Overall:

Exceptional

#meateasy

On the 6 December 2010 The Meatwagon was stolen.

Thank God it was because it prompted the man behind it all, Yianni Papoutsis, to open a pop-up burger joint called #MEATEASY above The Goldsmiths Tavern pub in New Cross.

The concept was simple. Once you had actually managed to find the place, ascended the metal steps round the back the pub, and made it past the door staff, a girl with a larger than life smile greeted you and handed over a raffle ticket. The rules were:

• One ticket per person
• One ticket entitles you to order up to three items off of the menu
• When your number is announced on the megaphone, you are able to place your order at the till

Oh yeah. And you had to sort yourself out with a table.

Before we entered the place we got talking to a guy outside. We thought he worked there but he didn’t. It was like he was high on burgers and seemed to know everything about the place, probably because he had read everything about the place on the numerous blogs that have fallen in love with The Meatwagon, and now #MEATEASY. He was able to recite the menu word-for-word, taste-by-taste, and spoke of the 5 min 42 sec record for eating a Dead Hippie, a chilli dog and a bowl chilli cheese fries as if it had been set not 20 minutes earlier.

Afterwards we were the same.

Our group arrived just after they started taking orders at 6.30pm and we had to wait a little over an hour before being able to place ours. Ample time to hook ourselves up with a beer or cocktail from the bar and scope out a place to sit. Considering that the main emphasis of #MEATEASY is on burgers and food, the bar staff were exceedingly competent, friendly and efficient. Deliciously good cocktails were being mixed across the length of the bar, with many of them served in jam jars – as seems to be the case in many places these day. It was cool.

Until you sit down it is very much like being in a very trendy, very popular bar. The atmosphere was insane. It was like everyone was there to see their favourite band, only the headline act was a cheeseburger and the support group was a girl with megaphone announcing “Dave #21, Tallulah #22 – please place your order at the till!”, usually proceeded by quick and liberal use of the megaphone’s siren feature.

Stunning.

The sense of camaraderie was truly great. There was an unwritten rule that you would give up your table once you had finished eating and it would always be given to those next to eat. Exactly how it should be, but executed very well here. People actually cheered and clapped once it was announced that someone could order. It was like an award ceremony and I almost felt like giving a speech once I had worked my way through the crowd to the podium.

Tables were a mix of tables, chairs and stools, all at varying heights, each equipped with every imaginable condiment imaginable and at least two rolls of kitchen roll. Food was served on cheap paper plates and by an interesting mix of waiting staff who seemed more ‘glammed up’ than your usual. Apparently, the staff were volunteers who were able to actually reserve a table on a future night in return for a shift. A striking blond girl wearing a very evening-y cocktail dress and gladiator sandals carrying a megaphone in one hand a bowl of chilli cheese fries in the other was a sight to behold.

None of this distracted from the food though. We went for a selection of cheeseburgers, Dead Hippies (two patties, cheese and their Big Mac-esque special sauce), chilli dogs, fries, chilli cheese fries and buffalo wings. As you can imagine, all were amazing, although the reason we were there were the burgers and they will be why we hold the memory of that night dear in our hearts.

I devoured a Dead Hippie with such devotion and glee that everyone truly believed that I could smash the aforementioned 5 min 42 sec record without breaking a sweat. In the minute or so it took me to put it away (I wish I was kidding), everything else in the room disappeared and all that remained was me, the burger, and its deliciousness.

The chilli cheese fries didn’t last long and were suitably tasty. The chilli was rich in a good way, but if I was actually on the clock I may have struggled with a whole chilli dog (I was glad to be sharing one at this point).

The buffalo wings were only ok.

A lot of thought has gone into Yianni’s burgers and it pays off. Without question it was the best burger I’ve eaten in the UK, and only bettered by the one I had in the lobby of the Ace Hotel in New York. But that’s because the food in the hotel lobby of the Ace Hotel in New York comes from kitchen at The Breslin next door.

In this case it wasn’t only the quality of the food that stood out, it was the quality of the place itself, the idea and the execution. The whole thing was amazing. But it’s not there anymore.

At least The Meatwagon‘s back.

Apparently v3.0 of the wagon is called Florence after The Florence pub in Herne Hill and Florence Nightingale. It’s summer residency for 2011 will be at The Rye in Peckham (address below). I suggest you go.

#MEATEASY

It used to be upstairs at The Goldsmiths Tavern, 316 New Cross Road, SE14 6AF | http://www.themeatwagon.co.uk

The Meatwagon at The Rye

31 Peckham Rye, SE15 3N | http://www.themeatwagon.co.uk

Overall:

Legendary