Chick'n'Sours Kingsland Road, Dalston, Hackney

Fancy fried chicken is now a *thing*. Since the opening of fancy fried chicken joint Wishbone a few years ago, the techniques for brining, marinating and coating chicken wings, thighs, drumsticks and breasts have become legitimate subjects for geeky discussion. I love the buttermilk brined chicken in a bun with Korean hot sauce at Spit and Roast, or the schmaltzed chicken with gravy at Rita's, but my all time favourite is Dante Fried Chicken in Los Angeles, who blows my mind with his approach to brining and crunch. His book is well worth hunting down.

For all the wonderful fried chicken, I've had some pretty bland stuff too and some claggy coatings that soak up all the oil. Jackson and Rye was one of the worst I've ever had, but even Foxlow's left me a little underwhelmed. 

When I heard about Chick'n'Sours opening on Kingsland Road, and that Carl Clarke was behind it, I knew to expect interesting things. I once made it to Disco Bistro and was blown away by the exciting flavours he incorporated into 'luxe' junk food. His reputation meant that Chick'n;Sours' soft launch was booked up in minutes, but I made it along in the restaurant's second week. 

It's a neat little restaurant, with no more than 40 covers, and views out onto Kingsland Road. Inside and outside is low key stylish. The menu is very concise: a selection of sour cocktails, a few beers, a few wines and a nice selection of soft drinks. The food menu consists of a house fry and a guest fry, a fried chicken burger, some interesting sides and starters, and a single dessert.

We kick off with a sour cocktail. My house sour has raspberry and chilli vinegar in it, giving it an extra aciditc kick. The flavours are complex and it has some interesting notes, but I find that the sweetness overwhelms the sourness, and it's a bit too gluggable. My friend's basil and strawberry is adorned with big, luscious basil leaves and black pepper. It's delicious.



Getting into the chicken swing of things, we start with a plate of wings, which can come in naked, sweet or hot. We go for hot and get six juicy, meaty wings covered in a red sticky sauce similar to buffalo sauce but with a bit more spicy bitterness. The sauce has real depth and a big kick, and yards above the gloopy sugary buffalo sauce you'll find in many other joints.



On to the main thing: the chicken. The house fry is a pretty classic take on fried chicken. You get a thigh and a drumstick, both super moist and full of strong meaty flavour, with a crispy, crunchy but not-too-thick coating. It's not oily in the slightest. The signature covering is a "seaweed crack" - a light dust of dehydrated (I guess) seaweed and other umami flavours, which makes this incredibly moreish. There are a number of other dipping sauces for £1.50, but we stuck to the house chilli oil on the table - and it's excellent lightly spread on the chicken.  The house fry comes with pickled watermelon, which provides a juicy, tangy balance to the salty, meaty, crunchy chicken.



My friend orders the guest fry, which, on our visit, is Thai style - topped with crispy shallots, spring onions, fresh chilli, thai basil and mint, and served with a chilli jam dipping sauce. It's great.

The sides are a big deal. You could even see the fried chicken as merely an excuse to tuck in to some tasty sides. I'd even encourage vegetarian (well, those tolerant of by-products) friends to come and pile up some tasty side and starter dishes. The fries are cooked in a rich beef dripping, and the generous serving is a steal at £2.50. We could eat them endlessly. We also enjoy a yam-bean slaw. Yam beans are a South East Asian member of the yam family, and here it's julienned along with red onion and something green, coated in a light miso mayo and topped with black and white sesame. It's fresh and crunchy and savoury and wonderful.



We also order a pickled apple and chicken skin salad, which is basically a super pimped caesar salad. Leaves of gem lettuce are loaded with creamy blue cheese dressing, crisp flakes of smoked bacon and the crispy chicken skin. Shards of pickled apple cut through the salty umami, giving a much needed freshness. My dining companion found the dish overwhelming, and I think a little less of the blue cheese dressing and a bit more of the apple might have reached a better balance.



Another highlight was the pickled water melon, coriander and peanut side. A perfectly balanced fish sauce dressing is sweet and savoury and just delicious with the roasted peanuts. If we'd had the space we'd have tried the Szechuan aubergine, which I've heard is great.

There is just one dessert: a Weetabix soft service ice cream. The ice cream tastes like malty Weetabix milk, and it's topped with crunchy bits of Weetabix. I like it; my friend does not. It's not very sweet, the maltiness has a slightly bitter edge. It tastes nostalgic, and I like the texture of the crunch with the cold ice cream.



We have a thoroughly good meal and feel well looked after by the team. I'm already planning trips back to try some of the other sides and also their brunch menu. It's certainly a cut above much of its Dalston competition, where new openings are mostly either contrived  and pretentious or generic and half-arsed. It's also refreshing to taste masterful fusions of Asian and Western flavours and techniques - there are too many David Chang pretenders who lack the care and know-how to pull it off. Clarke's team at Chick'n'Sours know how to develop stunning and dishes and price them well - you can eat well here for less than £20 per head.

Chick'n'Sours is likely to be popular - it was buzzing on a Tuesday evening in week two. Thankfully, it takes reservations through the week, but is likely to be walk-ins only on Friday and Saturday evenings. Get there soon, because most other fried chicken is a waste of calories.

Bad Egg, City Point, Moorgate

The City of London is a bit of a dead spot for decent eating, especially if you do not have a big corporate expense account. Bad Egg, situated in the semi-mall in the sanitised bowels of City Point, is a bit of an anomaly. With its stripped back industrial look and neon signage, it would be more at home in Soho or Dalston. But it's here, surrounded by Wagamamas and Pitcher and Pianos for the undiscerning City crowd.

Considering the buzz about it, thanks to its delicious sounding menu and the fact that it's owned by the Smokehouse's Neil Rankin, it's surprisingly not heaving on the payday Friday evening we visit. That said, it's only been open a month, it's a freezing cold January night, and they've only just started taking bookings in the evening. That's a good move - I imagine punters prefer the certainty of a table if they're heading to a neighbourhood with few other decent options.

Bad Egg is well worth the trip. It's a fancy, innovative take on the short order diner, with a menu of American, Mexican and Asian flavoured dishes. It's quite simple: there are eggs, burgers, ribs, fries, tacos and side salads, but every dish is a couple of levels above what you'd expect.

The ribs were incredible. The meat was slow cooked and full of deep flavours, then deep fried to give it a crunchy coated bite. One big rib is your portion, and there was lots of meat and not much bone. I ordered the buffalo rib, with a spicy peppery sauce and a blue cheese dip. A classic combination and well done. My friend had the Korean rib which was smothered in a sticky soy, ginger and gochujang sauce.





Korean flavour make a good few appearances on the menu. We order pulled pork and kimchi fries, which have big pulls of moist, smoky, pungent pork, coated in a kimchi dressing rather than discernible bits of kimchi. Very nice.



The selection of side salads was an impressive counter-balance to the salty, meaty dude food. A Korean slaw was a spicy, zingy kimchi-led salad, with a nice combination of textures thanks to the slimy kimchi and crispy cabbage. A kale and shiitake mushroom salad was our highlight of the plate (any 3 salads for £10), it came in a sweet gingery dressing and topped with toasted hazelnuts.



Neil Rankin has been keen to quash talk among pundits that this is some gimmicky egg themed restaurant. I've got this far without mentioning them, but the eggs are great and they make some stunning appearances in the dishes. The Bad Oeuf burger is a thick medium rare beef patty in a brioche bun, mustard and pickles. But a soft egg yolk and a cheese fondue on top of the patty elevate this beyond your wildest dreams. I'd become a bit jaded with gourmet burgers, but this was something special.



The nduja cheese and fried egg fries are a spin on dirty or chilli cheese fries. The yolk was deep orange and runny, and when chopped up and folded into the molten cheese was something special. The cheese was styled like that plastic Kraft cheese, but I suspect the chefs made it themselves from a carefully chosen combination of real cheeses. My only disappointment of the meal was that the nduja - a spicy, spreadable sausage from Calabria - was not more prominent. I love its strong flavour, but I didn't feel there was enough of it in the dish to really taste its unique fiery punch, especially against the strong flavours in other dishes.



On the Mexican side, my friend's chilaquiles - corn tacos loaded with a fried egg and generous quantities of, salsa, guacamole and goat curd, which was a mild offset to spicy peppers. Another friend's "chicken fried" fish tacos were tasty, but more a snack than a main dish.



Cocktails combine top quality spirits and offbeat mixers and result in surprising concoctions. My Argy Bhaji combined curried apricots, ginger beer and Kamms & Sons liqueur. The gin cocktail combined clementine and sage, and the fantastically titled Misplaced American Arrogance arrogantly mixed Illegal Mezcal and smoky liqueurs for an out of this world taste.

Bad Egg didn't plan on doing desserts, but a waiter said they were working on a dessert menu now. Wise, I think, as a salty, meaty gorging is neatly followed by a sweet kick to power you home, and a lack of decent options in the area means you will need to travel a couple of miles for something half decent. We enjoyed their dulce de leche and peanut butter milkshakes. One between two is certainly enough.

Weekend brunches start in mid February, and it will be worth making the trip. We loved pretty much everything about Bad Egg, and I'll be back to try more from the menu. Now that you can book in the evenings, I suspect more people will venture over for a good filling. We ate well and had a couple of drink each, and it came to £31 a head including tip, which seemed a fair price for the quality, quantity and location.

The Lockhart, Seymour Place, Marylebone

Living East-of-Centre you forget just how much the centre of London's gravity has shifted, especially when it comes to entertainment. It's now rare to go to a gig in Camden, to hear about an exciting restaurant in Kensington, or a street food market in Shepherd's Bush. We're not just talking East-East, but North-East and South-East too are the places where things happen.

When it came to choosing a restaurant to celebrate my birthday with my other half, my suggestion of the Lockhart, situated a block back from Marble Arch, was greeted with a frown... “but there are so many good restaurants in Hackney”. But I'd read good things about the Lockhart from some of my favourite food bloggers and critics, and their menu of southern states soul food done fancy, with a good American wine list, was too enticing to pass up.

Greeted into the light, open canteen-like room by denim-clad waiting staff, we got straight into the American vibes with a glass of sweet sparkling wine from upstate New York, served in a cute crystal glass. House bread was rich and dense, and served with whipped butter.

It's only looking back at the photos that I realised just how much we ate. A small portion of chicken oysters were so sweet, juicy inside, and nicely crisped on the outside, then on top of a 'secret sauce', which was like your classic burger sauce but done fancy – loads of depth to the flavour, a brilliant tang that led to every last smear mopped up.



A starter size portion of catfish gumbo could have satisfied many as a main course, with another deep set of flavours, bits of asparagus, and smoky ol' andouille sausage chopped up in it. I've had a fair few gumbo and this was one of the most impressive yet, especially with a liberal shaking of tabasco in it.



We were upsold a tomatillo ("just one?!") – I thought we were getting a special pitch, but then I heard the exact same pitch being given to a nearby diner. It was nice though – often they can be claggy and cloying, but not here: the pork inside was moist and flavoursome, the corn not too heavy.



The starters came quickly, and we ate them slowly to savour each taste. But the food kept on coming. The signature cornbread was one of the highlights, and filled any time that might have existed between starter and main. Oh it was good. Soft but firm, warm from the oven, served in the heavy cast iron dish it was cooked in, and oozing with honey and butter. One for the last supper.



The speed of service was now becoming comical - we still had some starters on the table, the corn bread had only just arrived and the mains started coming out. Wine was still in our glasses and we were being asked what our next glass was to be.

But when the shrimp and grits came out you could start to forgive them: this dish can be so disappointing, with bland, lukewarm grits and sad prawns. Not here. The grits were bursting with flavour – cheddar, parmesan, smoky bacon in abundance, spring onion adding freshness, mushrooms earthiness, and a nice broth keeping it from being too dry. The prawns were meaty and juicy and full of flavour.



The fried chicken was nicely done, crisp and not too oily, but not badass like the honey smothered chicken I had in a soulfood joint in Harlem, or packed with as many interesting flavours as Dante Fried Chicken in Los Angeles. But the collard greens it came with were in a lovely mustardy broth, and the tomatoes in the salad were just so sweet and fresh.

After we'd finished eating we had to ask to move tables. Something I've never done before, but the loud noise of two bankers at the table next to us talking about money quickly went from voyeuristic curio to crushingly awful. How much they'd spent on wine in Mayfair, how much their houses cost, who's getting promoted, and the reality check moment when one of them said - as though talking about barbarians - that the average wage in UK is £35,000 (I was tempted to pipe up and say it's HOUSEHOLD INCOME and it's £26,000!).

Look around and it didn't seem like the crowd you'd expect with such interesting food and drink menus. A group of wealthy late teens were popping out for smokes before and after each course, I overheard people moaning that they didn't fancy anything on the menu, getting sniffy about the lack of French wines on an amazing menu of American wines. It felt like a neighbourhood restaurant that could have been serving a neighbourhood that appreciated it a little more.

This, coupled with the hasty and upselly service, took the sheen off an otherwise delicious and enjoyable evening. I'd still say it's some of the best Southern food I've had in London, the service was still warm and pally, it's a nice spot and actually it's pretty good value when you account for the taste, quality, generous portions and location. Go! But maybe indicate early on that you'd like it paced gently and don't be afraid to be firm on the upselling.

Hackney 2013/14 and Rita's Bar and Dining

Hackney saw an amazing array of restaurants open in 2013, cementing the borough's reputation as a proper foodie centre in London.

While the Kingsland Road axis has seen all the focus in recent years, with Stoke Newington, Dalston and the lower end of Kingsland Road now well established eating out destinations, a lot of the more interesting places opening last year were on the easterly Mare Street axis.

Mayfields, just off Wilson Way, has had rave reviews, while Raw Duck got locals very excited with its small plates and excellent wine selections before it very sadly slid into the construction site of the Travelodge next door. RIP Raw Duck, Hackney hopes you fightback soon. Further down, we've seen a Mexican restaurant join Lardo on Richmond Road, and then past the long established Vietnamese and Ocakbasi restaurants before reaching Well Street junction where the well priced French bistro Bouchon Fourchette sits alongside accidentally controversial The Advisory and then Rita's Bar and Dining. And it was here that I had one of the best meals of the year.

Rita's, of course, made its name over in Dalston in 2012, where it was the first residency in the kitchen at Birthdays. It was a no reservations job, and swarms of haircuts and beards filled the bar and the street outside waiting to get a table. I went, and loved it, and so was delighted to hear the Rita's team had eschewed Kingsland Road for the more grown up, low key, harder-for-Claphamites-to-get-to Mare Street.

Its new venue is gorgeous. It is long and thin, with just a tiny little anonymous front onto the street, Inside it has high ceilings, white walls, and the space flows nicely back, past a bar, through to the kitchen, which is open plan to the rear of the restaurant. We were there on a Friday evening, and house-y beats were just loud enough to create a fun atmosphere. Downstairs, things are much cosier in a low-lit dining room.

Rita's was first noted for doing 'junk food luxe' or whatever you want to call it, but that doesn't do it justice. There are a lot of Asian influences - miso aubergine, Szechuan peppers here and there, hoisin sauce, Asian  vinegars, gingers and soys. The fusion of Southern comforts and zingy Asian flavours is a recurring theme among some of the more exciting food I've had recently - Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco, Dante Fried Chicken in Los Angeles (and his game-changing recipe book Ride or Fry), and Kimchinary's Korean style burritos in London.

We enjoyed Succotash, a dish cooked up by Native Americans originally, given a bit of a twist with edamame beans, pumpkin and some chilli and spring onions gave it a fresh and feisty Asian twist. Pork belly cooked in black vinegar, served with poached spring onion, aromatic herbs and chilli, played to a similar palate.

Due to my dining partner needing to 'carb up' for a bike ride the next day, we missed some of the lighter dishes that I fancied, but the signature mac'n'cheese topped with gauacamole didn't disappoint, and neither did the crispy fried potato.

But we did get to enjoy a massive plate of some of the best fried chicken I've had - made with crispy fried chicken skin ground in with the coating, following an old Central European Jewish technique. It was a whole chicken, cut into bits and served with maple syrup and a sausage-y, lardy gravy. They do that combo over waffles at breakfast too, which I had on a separate occasion and was delicious.

We finished with beignets - New Orleans style doughnuts - served with dulce de leche. We could have opted to have had foie gras with them, but we were so stuffed could barely manage the richness of the 'basic' beignets.

I've already been back once since my big visit, and with a regularly evolving menu, lots of interesting specials, and those pies still to enjoy, I get the feeling Rita's will be a regular haunt for 2014.

****

So if 2013 was about new openings in Hackney Central and the Mare Street axis, where is likely to see exciting new openings in 2014?

I expect that 2014 will see Lower Clapton Road and Hackney Wick as the places to watch for new restaurants. Rumours are abound in Clapton already, whose new offerings already include creative Latin cuisine, and with some more Modern British, a wine bar, and both traditional and fancy Turkish in the pipeline.

Hackney Wick has seen some great pop ups over the last year, and has noticeably become more of a nightlife destination. There are so many great nooks and crannies by the river, it's only a matter of time bebefore the Wick goes from pop up to perm.

Meanwhile, Stoke Newington could have its fourth wave, as some interesting places open on the High Street. Rents on Church Street are too pricey for innovative new restaurants to open, and too many of the newer openings are mediocre.

It will be interesting to see what's going on in North East London more generally. Will the likes of Walthamstow, Leyton and Tottenham, which are getting Hackney spillover (as it becomes too bloody pricey), see good new eating spots open? I look forward to seeing what foodie adventures our corner of London offers up over the coming year.

Last stop: Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a crazy town. For Olde Worlde Europeans like me, it needs to be seen to be believed. That sprrrrawwwwllll, sprawling out as far as the eye can see. Only mountains and oceans get in its way. The scene is stunning though: palm trees, clusters of skyscrapers in the haze, helicopters zipping from downtown to the beach cities, a backdrop of rugged mountains full of wildcats and coyotes and birds of prey.



The pollution didn't get to me too much, but you feel the dominance of the roads. The six lane roaring beast of West Sunset Boulevard is the central focal point for slacking 'hoods like Silver Lake and Echo Park, meaning an outside table at brunch comes with lots of hot metal ripping past at 40mph.

London's a sprawling city too, but it feels human scale - hundreds of small villages run into one another. There aren't too many parts of town that feel like no-man's land. In LA, each mini centre is miles away from the next, and you go through miles of nothingness to get from Central Hollywood to West Hollywood, or you go to complexes which exist in isolation of their surroundings.

This throws whole new dimensions into going out for a meal. First, you'll probably have to drive. Which means you'll probably need to find parking. And you won't want to pay for it. And you won't really want to drink, although driving is a bit easier at night. We purposefully stayed in Silver Lake, which proudly claims to be LA's most walkable neighbourhood, so that we didn't have to drive too far in the evenings, but you could easily see how much of an effort eating out might be.

Despite the endless driving, LA blew my mind and I'm going to have to find a way to live there at some point. Which is tricky when you work in politics and don't drive.




Dante Fried Chicken at Short Order
After tasting some Dante Fried Chicken at his book launch earlier in the year in London I was hell bent on having a full Dante meal when I was in his hometown. Dante works in Short Order - a upscale-ish, seasonal, locally sourced burger restaurant in the Farmer's Market complex (we're talking mammoth, with a mammoth car park to boot) in Central LA. On Wednesdays and weekend brunch he has a dish on the menu, usually involving his signature fried chicken - buttermilked, brined, and coated with more spices, herbs, seeds and nuts than you could ever imagine.



When we were there the Dante special was a fried chicken sandwich, served with an apricot crack glaze, topped with avocado. The batter was crisp and full of flavour, and the chicken was succulent as anything. We went a bit OTT on sides, ordering sweet potato fries, normal fries, and delicious griddled corn with avocado, feta, parsley and chilli- an excellent combination.

I have since acquired Dante's cookbook Ride or Fry, and it's blowing my mind. He calls his take on food as 'Transatlantic African Cuisine' with inspiration from his travels across the world, his Creole grandmother, life in multi-cultural LA. It's fun, exciting food - so track the book down, and if you'r ein LA - Wednesdays and weekend brunch over at Short Order.

Forage
On our first night in LA we were pooped. So I skipped up to Sunset to grab a take-away from Forage, a (posh) rotisserie joint serving up Ottolenghi-esque salads at the side. The clientelle fitted the deep-gentrification Silver Lake mould, all wealthy arty media metrosexuals (mostly men), mulling artfully over whether to go for heirloom tomatoes or kale, feta and breadcrumbs with their protein (chicken).



We opted for both, and some tasty beans, and a really good, yoghurty potato salad, and two very generous portions of chicken. All for $30, which is a lot less than you'd expect for somewhere so fresh, organic and on trend.

Cliff's Edge
Cliff's Edge is Silver Lake's destination California Cuisine restaurant, located behind an anonymous looking door (with valet attached, natch), then through a bar, and then, through the back, you're in a lovely covered, multi-level garden, with lots trees, the air filled with the chatter of well-heeled bohemian Angelanos. The menu is short, seasonal, local. We started with a Californian cheeseboard, followed up with delicious pork loin with beetroot and beans, and diver cough scallops with a fragrant carrot curry.



It was all about the desserts; namely a thick, cold, super sweet caramel custard served with a large butterscotch shortbread cookie. Oh, and topped with a dollop of mascarpone with honeycomb crumbled on it.



The most coma-inducing dessert I've had since Snickers Sundae back at Pitt Cue Co. It was probably our priciest meal of the trip, but top quality and deliciousness for it.


Bulan
After a couple of really greasy, unhealthy days of eating, we had to go all Angelano and go out for a vegan Thai meal at Bulan, a neighbourhood staple in Silver Lake recommended to us by our airbnb host. Our host promised that even the most committed meat eaters would go away full and satisfied with their meal. After delicious summer rolls, I had a dish of raw spinach, onions, cucumber, cashews and tofu served on a sizzling hot plate with hot peanut sauce poured over it.



It was so so good, I can pretty much still taste it two months on.

Cole's 
A classic LA eat is the french dip sandwich: roast beef, typically, smothered with mustard, in a sub, halved and dipped in gravy. Cole's is said to be the best place for it, deep in the belly of LA's weird and wonderful Downtown district, which is as stale and corporate as Canary Wharf on one side, has some wonderful art deco markets and buildings in the middle, and slides down to (the beyond edgy) Skid Row on the other side. Cole's is on the border of the latter two, with neon sides and a 20s gangster vibe adding to the seediness.

We were there for a late midweek lunch, and the place had a Lynchian vibe, all empty but for a few eccentrics propping up the bar. We drank unlimited ice tea, and enjoyed our sandwiches and the atmosphere, but it didn't quite compare to the ox cheek french dip at Hawksmoor Spitalfields.





Millie's Cafe
Our final brunch was at Millie's Cafe, a bustling pavement cafe on West Sunset, and perfect for people watching in Silver Lake. All of your favourite LA characters were there: the feminist bloggers dissing Katy Perry prefixing every sentence with "I'd never say this online or in print", the tattooed session musician, the model/actress, the posh English guy like totally cracking the LA scene, the small dogs - lots of them.

I had the best breakfast in a long time - a huge portion of  scrambled eggs, with Creole turkey sausage, cheese, guac, salsa, sour cream, served with a corn muffing. Flipping incredible. The service was warm and welcoming - the restaurant's been open for almost a hundred years, and they know their craft.

On the road in California

Driving all around California you realise how much local life and food culture revolves around the road. A whole discipline of marketing and architecture developed around luring drivers in off the road, and new iterations sit alongside original Googies all along the roads.

Household name chains - like Denny's, Wendy's, Taco Bell - all seem to mostly exist out in the middle of nowhere, on a cross-section, where its convenient for people to meet and, crucially, parking is free. Nobody likes to pay for parking.

The ultimate Californian roadside eating experience is the cult SW chain In-n-Out, serving up affordable and delicious burgers, fries and shakes decades before muppets like us were standing in the cold, queuing to get into MeatEasy. This is the real deal, and there's not a carefully-crafted beard in sight. Just regular families getting served by super efficient, politely scripted staff in pristine uniforms.

The official menu is short and simple - one burger or two (their Double-Double is the inspiration for MeatLiquor's Double Bubble), cheese or not, fries.

But their cult status rests on the loyalty of their customers who know about their "not so" secret menu. It's basically the same core ingredients, but varied up. You could have a triple burger, a grilled cheese (extra cheese, no meat - their veggie option), grilled onions instead of fried, or their Animal Fries - which is fries with their sachet sauce, topped with melted cheese and grilled onions.

We ate twice on the road, and once, late at night, we drove through the In-n-Out in central Hollywood for a surreal LA experience. It was packed at 1.30am, and we enjoyed their faultlessly polite and efficient service while teens hung by their cars slurping down milkshakes.



Motels are a big part of the scene too - outside the big cities and picturesque lodges in the countryside, tourist accommodation is centred on the idea that you're just passing through on your way between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The same chintzy accommodation could cost you £200 a night in ritzy-parochial Carmel-by-the-Sea but £60 100 miles down the coast in San Simeon. But the most famous of all lodgings is the incredibly kitschy Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo, midway between California's most famous cities.

It's like something from a Disney-drenched dream of fibreglass seashells, grottos and caves, swirly carpets, winding staircases, turrets and lots and lots of parking for people coming in off the motorway roaring past outside.



We stopped for lunch and had fittingly kitschy pineapple and chicken sandwiches, prawn salad with copious volumes of thousand island dressing, and pink champagne cake.





Fellow diners were retro roadtrip fans, local ladies doing birthday lunch, all served by vintage tattooed ladies. One of those "only in California" places.

Our final roadtrippin' destination was Santa Barbara, which is a well-heeled university town 100 miles north of LA. We shunned its fancy seafood, yachty seafood restaurants, for Los Agaves,  the city's top Mexican taqueira, by the coastal highway.



We had the best Mexican food we've ever ever ever had - mine was a shrimp and halibut enchilada, topped with pineapple, served with a mango salsa, red rice and local cheese. All for $13. Venture a little bit off the highway and you can avoid the dull chains and have some really good food at a very good price.

Hawksmoor Spitalfields Bar

I'm always tempted by the 'soft launch' offer, but rarely free enough to take advantage. So when Hakwsmoor Spitalfields had a 50% off food for the entirety of June, how could I miss that? They were launching the bar section of their easternmost outpost, and wanted to make sure they had their operation absolutely nailed by charging full price. A noble thing to do, and I suspect a luxury for restaurants with big names like theirs.

The offer, of course, was completely oversubscribed. We arrived at 6 and were promised a table at 7. People arriving at 6.30 were turned away – by then the bar was all booked up for the evening. We supped on delicious cocktails (mine: a marmalade cocktail with marmalade, campari and gin - tangy) and enjoyed the surrounds. The interior is incredible: a 20s speakeasy palace, rich turquoises, golds, peacock motifs, metalwork straight out of an art deco cruise ship.

At 7, as expertly advised by the front of house, we were taken to our table. I was really impressed that she remembered our faces from just 5 seconds of interaction an hour beforehand.

The bar menu is relatively short – some meaty things in buns, some sticky things as sides, some fresh tasting things to counter-balance all the sticky, greasy things. We had a bit of everything, obviously.

I had the Ox Cheek French Dip – a brioche roll, filled with slow cooked, melt in your mouth ox cheek. There was some cheese inside the roll, and a hint of kimchi. The best bit was pouring a small gravy boat's contents over the entire thing, the bread getting moist and making the meat moister still. Eating that was an incredibly rich treat. I had a bit of Pete's burger, and can confirm that Hawksmoor is up there with London's best.

Ox cheeks' made another more appearances in our meal. We had ox cheeks and cheese nuggets, lovely molten cheese blending perfectly with the dreamy ox cheek, and complimented perfectly by the fiery kimchi dip. XO chicken wings were perfectly fried, and deliciously sticky. We rated the chips very highly too, especially the lime pickle mayo they came with.

And then there was the pig's head poutine, which could well be the richest thing I've ever eaten. Poutine, in case you didn't know, is the Quebec national dish, comprising hand-cut skin on fries, a chicken gravy and curded cheese (somewhere between mozzarella and haloumi). It's becoming a bit trendy in London, and I should now declare that I had in Montreal back in 2006. So there. Hawksmoor's version didn't use curd cheese as far as I could tell, but the intense juices from the pig's head mixing with the gravy in the cast iron skillet made for the stickiest, most delicious sauces you could imagine.



I should stress that we were pretty full by this stage. I mean, achingly so. But with such a good deal, and with such a nice table, how could we not soldier on? We shared a chocolate caramel cup and their homemade salted caramel rolos. As delicious and decadent as they sound.

The soft launch offer seems to be a very effective tool. Not only are we – and probably everyone else who benefited from the offer – gushing about it, the service, food and experience were so positive that we'd be willing to pay full price for the bar and consider eating in the (more formal) restaurant upstairs too. The soft launch, if done well, can be about much more than sorting out your processes; it can build loyalty and spread 'worth of mouth' buzz. Just like this.

Duke's Brew and Cue brunch

I love the food trend for Americana. Hell, I just love Americana generally. In fact I've just booked myself a West Coast roadtrip for September, with the aim being to squeeze as much American, Mexican and whatever-else-they've-got food into me in two and a half weeks. And see some amazing cities and stunning scenery, obviously.

So after delicious ribs from Ribman and delicious ribs at Pitt Cue Co, I was delighted to hear that Duke's Brew and Cue had moved into my erstwhile neighbourhood of De Beauvoir Town on the Hackney/Islington periphery. And better yet, it's home to a micro-brewery: Beavertown, the old Cockney name for De Beauvoir Town.

I've been a couple of times - one for dinner, another for brunch - and I highly recommend it for both.

For dinner we shared Duke's Greatest Hits BBQ platter, encompassing pulled pork, pork rib, beef rib, homemade slaw, onion rings and barbecue sauce. We added some mac and cheese to round it off.



The meat was incredible - deeply flavoured , succulent, smoky, plentiful. It was tender to eat and tough to share. But we managed, and we were full up on the platter.

Booking is pretty much essential in the evening - we were lucky to get a table right at the beginning of service, but had to be done in just under an hour.

When we tried Duke's for brunch it was fine just to rock up at about 11.30 and get a table. It was steady while we were there, but nobody waited long for a table.

The menu encompasses a range of classic brunch dishes with an American twist (home-fried potatoes often), and some all-American outriders. I had a BBQ omelette - stuffed with pulled pork, salsa style salad and Monterrey Jack cheese. The filling was fairly generous, and the pulled pork a real treat in the morning. It could have done with some more BBQ sauce inside, and maybe some more cheese. It came with tasty home fries.



Pete had Mister Frenchie's Ravioli: french toast sandwiches, filled (literally brimming) with cream cheese and bacon, and doused in syrup. Sounds bizarre, but really very incredible sweet-meets-savoury indulgent brunch at its best. A true heart attack on a plate, but utterly delicious.



Next time I'll be having a whole plate of that to myself. And I'll be back again for more ribs and smoky slow cooked meat too. Mostly, I'm just pleased to have such tasty American food so close to home, and with tasty craft beer to boot.