Bee's Knees Barnyard...

Barnyard in a nutshell is small but perfectly formed, when I come to think of it a lot like Mini Mouse! Serving up oh-so-delicious grub with a first come, first serve policy so no ridonkulous two-month waiting lists to sit out.

Chef, Ollie Dabbous’ second venture, his first being the notoriously hard to get into but utterly impressive, Dabbous. Myself, Mini Mouse and two fabulous friends, were lucky enough to bag ourselves a table at Dabbous when it first opened and were blown away by the tasting menu – I knew I was in for something a little more low-key with Barnyard but none the less I was pretty excited to taste-test Dabbous’ latest foodie creation!

Located on bustling Charlotte Street, I headed there on a Thursday night with a few work pals for a much needed team night out! Apparently the queues have been pretty out of control but we were lucky enough to be seated immediately on the upper mezzanine level, ideal spot for people watching!

So décor - we’re talking industrial chic meets rustic barn vibes – peeling wallpaper, bricks, corrugated iron walls, low hanging metal lights and chunky distressed wooden worktops. Basically my dream kind of interior. 

The restaurant does show its softer side too with jugs of beautiful flowers scattered around the barn... 

First up and most importantly … a strong drink! We were instantly drawn to the fun sounding shandies, from the ‘Barnyard’ made up of homemade lemonade, gin and abro larger to ‘Hedgerow shandy’ which was a pink grapefruit, tonic, sloe gin and wyld wood cider concoction! We all opted for the shandy of our dreams and merrily kept them coming! 

Their also offering a seriously impressive array of boozy milkshakes - strawberry and elderflower, popcorn, malt and blueberry pancake to name a few, all of which come spiked with a good dose of alcohol from bourbon to tequila – my kinda shake!

The menu is made up of lots of small plates to share, all grouped under food type e.g. cow, beef, eggs etc. – always a winner if the portions are big enough as it means that you get to taste a little bit of everything, escaping the dreaded food envy feeling! Thankfully the portions were on the manly scale so no rationing necessary! Our dishes all pretty much arrived at the same time – a big fan of that – and were beautifully presented in blue and white enamel dishes adding to the casual dining experience Dabbous is shooting for.

We ordered up just about everything on the menu. Starting with warm cornbread that came presented in a brown paper bag stamped with the date – heavenly buttery bread that had us all oohing and ahhing. A good sign of what lay ahead…

Then the food just kept on coming and coming from seriously moreish homemade sausage rolls with piccalilli…

…to grilled spring lamb with mint sauce, peas and radishes… 

Green asparagus with soft boiled egg, chervil & sunflower seeds… 

We also devoured crispy chicken wings with smoked paprika, garlic & lemon which were, in true KFC-style, finger lickin’ good, corn on the cob with gorgeously salty butter and of course good old fashioned French fries!

After all of that we were about ready to pop but we couldn’t leave without trying some of the puds on offer so we waved our waiter over and ordered up a few potions of the naughty but nice popcorn ice cream with smoked fudge sauce and then Eton Mess which is always delish! 

One word – epic. Add this gem to the little black book pronto – go, immediately!

Barnyard 

18 Charlotte Street

Fitzrovia

London 

W1T 2LY

020 7580 3842

Trade-Made for Life...

Last weekend I celebrated my birthday - no divulging my magic number fellow mice!!! To mark the occasion myself, Mini and four other pals headed to Trade-Made on Commercial Street in Shoreditch for a slap up brekkie! We had spied this hidden gem on Emerald Street a while back and had kept it earmarked to taste test and report back to you all. 

Dressed up in my laid back birthday outfit, I trotted off ready to eat for England - why not, calorie's don't count on your birthday...



Passing through Brick Lane as we went, I took a snap of some astronaut, knife, butterfly graffiti / craft work of art - random but beaut...



10 minutes later, with rumbling tummies, we arrived...



First impressions ... surprisingly spacious - from the outside Trade-Made doesn't look much but when you step inside, the space magically expands spilling out onto an pretty little outdoor terrace. A table of weekend papers entices and warehouse inspired lighting hangs from the ceiling...



The contrast between the sparse white walls and wooden panelling works beautifully...

With charming details everywhere drawing you further into the nook...

But onto the star attraction - the food is kind of a big deal! A killer menu which will leave you undecided as to where to lay your hat - yes everything just sounds so darn tasty! The meats come from an artisan supplier in Devon, the eggs are flown in from Italy, the bread from a range of local bakers and the fruit and veg is delivered every morning from New Spitalfields Market. They even have a small smokery in the back yard where they produce their Trade-Made Pastrami and a variety of other deli meats - nice touch! 

I opted for a piggy portion of scrambled eggs (oh-so-yellow-and-yummy yolks) piled on sourdough with a side of smoked salmon and smashed avo, which was a concoction of avocado, feta, mint, chilli and lemon - DELISH...

Post-brekkie we were all smiles and suitably stuffed...

But we couldn't stop there! We pushed ourselves over the edge by indulging in orgasmic chocolate and salted caramel brownies - one word - heavenly...

Trade-Made please accept a BIG thumbs up - we heart you and we'll be back in a flash!

Trade-Made

47 Commercial Street

Spitalfields

London 

E1 6BD

+44 (0)20 3490 1880

New York Food Scene...

Another day another blog solely about food - yes if you hadn't already noticed, us mice are a little obsessed with good food ... we'll have to change the name of the blog to '3FatPiglets' soon! 

So the New York food scene is today's hot topic. It's not all mammoth burgers, street food trucks and giant pretzels, the Big Apple boasts some seriously amazing restaurants. As with any city it's always a job finding the real treasures especially when there are so many options to choose from ... 23,499 in NYC to be exact! Well with a bit of pre-trip research and the help of some top notch recommendations, I had the pleasure of dining out at three AMAZING restaurants which i'm going to share with you all...

Top of the pops for me was ABC Kitchen on lower broadway. The restaurant is organic in everything it does from its recycled paper menus to its locally sourced delicious produce. The vibe is laid back too with low-hanging soft lighting, beautiful wild flower arrangements and the waiting staff all sporting Converse-style trainers. The detail in this place is what really struck me...the white washed sanded floor boards, the hand crafted wire light fixtures and the clay rustic-style plates and dishes. Stunning. Oh and how could I forget to mention, the restaurant in based in the ABC Carpet & Home department store which means you can combine great food and shopping! What could be more perfect?!

Family style seems to be very common in NYC, where you share as a group which we did for our starters and desserts at ABC. I'm a big fan of this as I am partial to suffering with FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) when it comes to food, this way you get a taster of everything, omitting the dreaded food envy feeling! 

So lets move onto critiquing the all important food. To start with we demolished portions of Heirloom tomato toast, roasted carrot and avocado salad with crunchy seed and sour cream and last but not least pretzel dusted calamari, mariana and mustard aioli - wow what a way to start...

Next up - main course! We were given the sumptuous choice of...

* Homemade ricotta ravioli, herbs and tomato sauce
* Slow baked hake, summer squash and nasturtium vinaigrette
* Grilled chicken, corn and tomato salad, watercress and chilies

I opted for the ravioli and it was quite possibly the best of my life...

The dessert was then wheeled out and boy oh boy what a pud! Sundae with salted caramel ice cream, candied peanuts and popcorn, whipped cream and chocolate sauce... 

If that wasn't enough we were also treated to a cookie plate with a lemon ricotta bar with blueberries, choco chip cookie, marshmallow bar and a ham filled cornmeal shortbread...

ABC Kitchen

35 East 18th Street

New York

NY 10003

(212) 475-5829

Up next the Wythe Hotel, boutique sensation in trendy Williamsburg. Housed within a restored industrial building, the hotel is packed with tons of character and design spirit. We ate at the Reynards restaurant which was superb. Its interior was rustic in appearance with exposed brick walls, intricate muted mosaic flooring and cast-iron columns and piping. 

We had heard that the hotel's rooftop city view was to die for so tried with all our might to persuade the hotel manager to let us up there but apparently you need an appointment. To be honest, I wasn't very impressed with the way in which this was handled, the manager was rude and stand-offish leaving a rather sour taste in our mouths. The food however didn't disappoint so I shall focus on that!

We didn't stop for a full blown meal but instead ordered some picky bits to satisfy our rumbling tummies.

The devilled eggs were to die for...

As were the apples, ricotta and sage honey pudding. At face value the dessert seemed like an odd combination but not at all, the flavours complimented each other beautifully - yumsters infact! 

Wythe Hotel

80 Wythe Avenue

Brooklyn

NY 11249

(718) 460-8000

And last but by no means least... Acme.

Refurbished and re-opened in January of this year, Acme is only for the seriously cool. This restaurant holds a lot of history, 20 years to be precise, previously a Southern Cajun restaurant now of Nordic cuisine. The sign above the restaurant still remains the same though which adds to its overall charm - a lasting memory of the former joint if you like. Expect to wait weeks for a table though as this is the hot cake in NoHo right now!

The food - winter cooking through and through. You know the type to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, coupled with a giant glass of red and all's good in the world! 

Whilst we waited for our food to arrive, we passed the time sipping on a seriously strong but oh so good, 'Fair Lady' cocktail made up of aperol, gin, lemon, st germain, honey, orange bitters and champagne.  

Image via photo-hungry.com

So onto my favourite subject - FOOD! We opted to eat family style again so we could try a bit of everything. Here's what we went for. Apologies in advance for not getting any snaps, the restaurant was so dark...

To start:

* Country toast with nectarine, caramelised onion, brie and honey

* Market salad with walnuts and blackened lemon

* Salmon tartare in a jar with pickled vegetables 

* Heirloom Tomatoes with pickled watermelon and flowering herbs

* Lobster with wild mushrooms and sweet corn

* Pan-roasted bass with pickled green tomatoes, cardamom and vanilla

For our main course:

* Chicken and eggs with new potatoes

* Rib-eye Steak, glazed carrots and dill

Puds:

* Beer and bread porridge with salted caramel ice cream

* Goat and sheep's milk sorbet with pepper rose and mint

My conclusion... to start there was a clear winner, the Salmon tartare for sure, next up the chicken and eggs combo and to finish, there wasn't really any competition, the the porridge won hands down! There are no words that can truly sum up how mind blowing this dessert was!!!

Acme

9 Great Jones Street

New York

NY 10012

(212) 203-2121