Healthy dinner in preparation for #tacowars2

Ever since we were 2 of the 500 to get #tacowars2 tickets we have been counting down the days and trying to eat healthy and exercise so we can stuff our faces full of tacos!

Tonight we decided to give Nem Viets Vietnamese Pho kit a go as we bloody love Pho soup! The kit was super easy to use and comes with noodles, seasoning and additional sauce! What made this meal so good was how quick and easy it was and the fact there was no oil or frying involved! You simply add the noodles to hot water and then boil the seasoning, stock, beansprouts or spring onions and steak (or meat of choice) for 5 mins and then hey presto....Pho is served!! For extra flavour we added a bit of Sriracha hot chilli sauce which is a great accompaniment to many dishes.

Next we want to try their Vietnamese spring roll kit!

At £2.69 this is a relatively cheap meal and serves 2-3 people. So...see what you think and give this kit a go!

A night at the solicitors

Venturing to Brixton has always been one of our favourite past times.  However if a month a go you told me we would be eating in a solicitors office on coldhabour lane I would have laughed in your face.  Last night this is exactly what we did.  The premises has recently been bought by a lovely guy called Jason, who had the idea to put the place to good use while waiting for planning permission to be granted of turning it into a pop up restaurant.  Brixton Diner was born!!! We heard about this on twitter and straight away booked our slot.  Alex and Chris (@thepickledfork) take centre stage providing diners with a 3 course meal for £20 a head.
After taking our seats and getting acquainted with the other group on our table the starter was presented.

‘Barrier Block’ Buffalo Wings served with 4 British Sauces'
The sauces were pickled parliament sauce, Shropshire blue, SW9 Mayo dressing, south Devon chilli sauce.

The chicken was outstanding - crispy skin with succulent meat that fell off the bone.  These were devoured in minutes. The sauces were an amazing match and offered completely different dimensions to the wings. The parliament sauce was a tangy, fruity, HP style sauce, the Shropshire blue was an intense and creamy blue cheese sauce, SW9 mayo dressing was garlic infused and then you have the kick of the Devon chilli sauce.
The starter was followed promptly by the main

 'Brixton Brisket Bap, Wild Garlic Slaw, Keens Cheddar

Crisp, Fried Pickles, Corn on the Cob and Fries with Cheddar salt

After talking to Chris we found out that the beef had been locally sourced from Smithfield's market.....and boy could you tell.  We really enjoyed the combination of melt in the mouth full flavoured, perfectly seasoned meat,with the crunchy garlic slaw and cheddar crisp.  In recent times we have come to be great fans of any sort of deep fried vegetable and these little pickles did not disappoint.  Crunchy on the outside yet still juicy on the inside. MMMMMMMM.  The fries and corn on the cob offered a great accompaniment and we really enjoyed these coupled with the sauces.




Coldharbour Lane Banana & Clotted Cream Pie, Hob Nob Base with Peanut Butter & London Honey Cream"
This desert was a great end to the meal.  The hob nob base with peanut butter mixed with the clotted cream was a real triumph for us.

This pop up is an amazing little place, the atmosphere was very welcoming and laid back.  It was really nice to be able to speak to the guys from behind the scenes.  Some people may not enjoy the mixed group tables however we think that this only adds to the atmosphere. 
We've heard rumours that they maybe extending this pop up for another week due to popular demand so keep an eye out.  Here's where you can sort your reservation 
www.edibleexperiences.com  and search The Brixton Diner

Will you find the diner behind the blue door??

1 of London's hidden gems

We went to @peckhamplex last night to see the star studded Grand Budapest Hotel. As this cinema is a less than 10 min bus ride door to door we go Peckham Plex a lot and it is about time we share this London gem with you all! The cinema is set back off Peckham High street less than a minute walk from the station and if you weren't concentrating could easily walk passed it. From the outside it doesn't look much compared to the well known cinema chains which are lit up like Blackpool tower however despite the exterior the interior boasts 6 screens varying with 100-400 capacity. Last night is actually the first time we have seen the screen at full capacity which is great for the cinema but took some getting used to as we are a bit used to the solitude! Last night was 241 orange Wednesday so the queues were pretty long but moved very quickly and when you get to the till you are met by the cheapest cinema prices for miles - £5 per ticket with a £1 supplement for  3D...yes you read correctly...FIVE POUNDS!! Last night we paid £2.50 each and this low price was not reflexed in the quality of the film or cinema. The actual screens are very spacious with red velvet comfy seats and great sound and picture.

So why don't you make a night of it - pop down to Peckham, grabs some food from @thebeggingbowl, @peckhambazaar, @artusi or drinks from @barstory and go grab a film at one of the only remaining independent cinemas.

 

For more info check out their website www.peckhamplex.com

Dirty Sunday Afternoon

Sunday was one of the hottest days of the year so what better way to celebrate than go on a nice walk in search of a burger! We headed down to South Bank to see what they had to offer but after seeing the queue into the vintage car boot sale snake up and down the Thames we decided to head down to Vauxhall as @dirtyburger has been on our list for a very long time! The restaurant has a lovely charm about it and is more a shack than restaurant with a few stools inside and 4 tables outside. As the weather was so fab we grabbed an outside table and went to order. We’d worked up quite an appetite so went for the dirty bacon, the dirty special (bbq sauce, chorizo and brie), some onion fries and the special dirty shake (mint chocolate). The shake was the most refreshing milkshake I have tried with the overwhelming mint flavour shinning through, however, when we got to the bottom and tried to drink the chocolate squirted round the side of the cup all we could taste was harsh bitter coco. This milkshake was definitely more mint than mint chocolate and I could imagine being a great hangover cure (minus the choco at bottom!)

Both burgers were ample size packed full of toppings and sauce making them a very difficult messy eat. They were great value at £6.50 although unfortunately neither of the burgers were pink enough for us and we felt the thickness of the bacon and the amount of chorizo was a little overpowering. If the meat had of been cooked more medium they perhaps the flavours would have all come together a bit better. The onion fries on the other hand were a sheer delight and a welcome change to chips! The outside was crispy and the onions inside nice and juicy. Our meal was rounded off with complimentary hand wipes which were defs needed and should be given by more burger chains as the napkin just doesn't cut it!

Have you been to dirty burger in Vauxhall? Did their burger make it into your top ten?

Toughest hour of our lives

After seeing so many Facebook posts on this new craze called Cross Fit what better way to give it a go than in our local town Peckham. CrossFit defines itself as “Constantly varied, high intensity, functional movements" and we concur it is bloody high intensity. We went down to @theyardpeckham Sat at 10am for a free taster session and the guys couldn't have been more welcoming and encouraging. 

We started the session by being shown a few of the basics (squats, sits ups, push ups and the dreaded pull ups). What we found so great about cross fit was the diversity of the activities and how easy it was to scale down each activity if you were struggling. For instance after watching Gareth do a multitude of pulls up like he could swing there all day doing them we couldn't even do one, however...there were these magical resistance bands which you can wrap under a knee or foot and by god did they help and straight away up we went chin over the bar.  The session ended with what can only be described as the hardest 8 minutes we have ever done - 400m row, 40 squats, 30 sit ups, 20 push ups, 10 pull ups and 400m row. This was done in race style against each other and the clock for a place on the leader board. With the help of the guys we pushed ourselves beyond belief and got through it - we even placed midway on the table!!

Crossfit is something that we could definitely get into and even get addicted to! It is something we would recommend to anyone no matter what your current age, fitness level or work life balance is. Massive thanks to Gareth and Zade for really putting us through our paces, taking us out of our comfort zone and shutting Soph up for an hour!

 We completed the circuit in 8.12 and 8.17 mins - give it a go and see how well you do! 

For more info on how to get involved and memberships etc check out the website www.theyardpeckham.com

Pizza Pilgrims Virginity

We wrote this the morning after the alcohol pizza infused night before (just didn't manage to post yesterday)….. @pizzapilgrim were celebrating their 2 year anniversary in Greek street last night so we thought it was about time we lost our virginity to them and it was well worth the wait. Talking of waiting - when we arrived there was a substantial huddle of people stood outside drinking schooners of  Birra Moretti holding their post-it notes (If you drew a pizza doodle on a post-it you got half price pizza) and we got our name on the list and joined them. The beer was not one we've tried before and was so nice we had to have seconds!

We sat on benches outside the restaurant willing our names to be called and then finally our time came so we jumped up like we were excepting an Oscar and got inside! We've walked past Pizza pilgrims many times thinking it was just a takeaway but unbeknown to us downstairs is a cave of tables which were full of pizza lovers stuffing their faces! The atmosphere was great, the perfect mix of lively yet laid back with a great music playlist.  We decided to try two pizzas and do our own version of half and half – we went for Nduja (Margherita with spicy calabrian pork sausage) and Salsiccia E Friarielli (Bianca base, fresh fennel sausage, wild broccoli, fior di lattem parmesan, basil and olive oil). Both pizzas were on a doughy base which you could tell had been made with a lot of love and attention.  Another main difference between these Pizzas and the likes of their neighbour Pizza Express was the tomato sauce which smothered the pizza. Just by the colour of this sauce you could tell it hadn't just been poured straight out of a tin made in a mass produced factory and well the flavour...it was just so fresh and juicy which left a nice residue on the plate for dipping the crusts in! The brocolli pizza was on a bianca base and was topped with great tasting fennel sausage! Both the topping were delicious with the Nduja being our favourite - just the right amount of spice to give the pizza a real bite!!

 

We will ensure that we don’t wait another 2 years to sample the rest of the menu! Credit to you pizza pilgrims on your 2 year birthday, excellent pizzas and lovely welcoming staff.

Have you lost your pizza pilgrims virginity yet?

 

Support your local take 2

We never used to be market sort of people before moving to London and discovered borough market and now it seems that all we do in our spare time is trawl the internet searching for markets to go to.  So after waking up fresh on Saturday morning with the sun shining, we had a post run idea...@brockleymarket  .  The market is in a car park next to Lewisham College easily accessible by bus or overground. This market has already had so many nice things said about it “a smaller, cooler version of borough market” which is a statement we have really have to agree with as stalls vary from flower to cheese to meat and there is a lovely community feel about it.

As usual our noses led us straight for the burgers - @MotherFlipperuk to be precise.  We had wanted to try these burgers for A LONG time. 

 We went for a dirty Barbie (2 patty, American cheese, candy bacon, onion and bbq sauce) to share between the two of us.  The burger was massive and messy J with a strong hint of maple syrup. The patties melted in your mouth helped along with the gooey cheese. Looking at Mother Flippers stall you would think they were giving out money or free burgers with the hussle around them however, no, they were just churning out bloody good quality burgers. 

 

 

We walked off the burger with one lap of the market taking a look at the stalls, before we knew it we were stood back next to mother flipper perusing the chalk board of @cheeky_italian. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After listening to all the positive feedback of the ragu and pesto from punters around us we were intrigued by the potato 3 cheese croquettes stuffed with mortadella ham served with a red pepper dipping sauce also known as Motadella bombs and decided to give them a go. After a small vocational injury (burnt mouth) we soon forgot about the pain due to the crunchy, cheesy, hammy mouth explosion we had going on. These balls paired with the dipping sauces are a must try for all…these truly are the tastiest balls we have ever tried!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our main and side we felt that we needed desert and turned around and much to our delight discovered @Sugargrain.  These bakers specialise in gluten, dairy and sugar free baking. 

 There was so much choice however chocolate prevailed (as usual) so we bought some rocky road, and a raspberry and white chocolate brownie.  There is only one modern abbreviation to describe how we felt when both of these hit our tastebuds...OMG!! They were so so good with our favourite being the brownie which has to be the best we have EVER tasted.

 

We were a bit ‘fooded’ out by this point so decided to leave and go for a wonder around New Cross.

This market would definitely be my market of choice for a Saturday morning in the sun or rain and we will definitely be returning to try @spitandroast, @Van_Dough, @swinediningldn, @luardos and @mikeandollie

Chicken sweetcorn noodle soup

Being huge fans of Pho here's a really simple recipe that anyone can do...yes even you lot that struggle to boil pasta! Not only is this soup super tasty it is low in fat. We used red onion but would sub for spring onion next time.

 

900ml chicken or vegetable stock (we used knorr stock pots)

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, about 175g/6oz

1 tsp chopped fresh root ginger

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

50g rice or wheat noodles

4 tbsp sweetcorn, canned or frozen

2 spring onions, shredded

2 tsp soy sauce, plus extra for serving

 

1. Pour the stock into a pan and add the chicken, ginger and garlic.

2. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, partly cover and simmer for 20 mins, until the chicken is tender. Remove the chicken to a board and shred into bite-size pieces using a couple of forks.

 

3. Return the chicken to the stock with the noodles, corn, half the spring onions and the soy sauce. Simmer for 3-4 mins until the noodles are tender. Ladle into two bowls and scatter over the remaining spring onions, herbs and chilli shreds if using. Serve with extra soy sauce for sprinkling.

 

Have a go...who knew chicken would taste so nice boiled!!

Support your local

After many trips on the No 37 bus, and always commenting about how nice the flying pig pub @ED_FlyingPig on East Dulwich Road looked when we heard that @brick_brewery were going to be there…we just had to give it a whirl.

Here’s what we thought…….

Firstly I would just like to point out that we are by no means an expert in beer tasting let alone the difference between keg and cask beers. We did however learn a thing or two…the main thing being that these beers were all very enjoyable with our favourites being Peckham pils and Archway steam.

There were 6 beers on offer, 3 were cask and 3 cask keg

• Peckham Pils 4.8% (Czech style Pilsner lager)

• Blenheim Black 5.1% (Black IPA) – cask

• Archway Steam - cask & keg

• Kinsale Bitter 4.0% - cask

• IPA 5.9% - keg

After all our beer tasting the next thing we HAD to try was the food!!!

The menu had a lot to offer and after much deliberation we opted for The Spicy Pig an amazing collaboration of 100% Scottish steak mince, Pan-fried chorizo with a jalapeno & chili mayo and chips.  The burger was overall very enjoyable despite a few niggling imperfections such as the burger being slightly overcooked for our taste despite the pink middle.  Even so when you pair this burger with the amazing meaty taste of the chorizo and the fiery (not too hot) mayo with a perfectly toasted bun means this burger can be described as nothing but a joy.  We also decided that seen as we were beer tasting we should try some beer battered broccoli from the specials menu… u weren’t mistaken that really read BEER BATTERED BROCCOLI!!!! I was a little sceptical to begin with, however this was very very short lived.  There is just something about florets of broccoli and beer batter that REALLY works.

We could not finish this post without a massive shout out to the staff as the flying pig who were more than welcoming.  The atmosphere in this pub is wonderful, so chilled out and a great place to enjoy a couple of drinks.

We shall definitely be returning for chicken wings on a Monday evening very soon….