@wilkes888 – London based Food & Drink-o-phile

  Hawker House by Street Feast 260-264 Kingsland Road, E8 4DG (map) London’s “nomadic street food circus” returns to Haggerston this weekend for the next ten weeks for Winter/Spring 2015. There will be a revolving selection of street food traders plus six bars including a whisky bar, a dedicated spritz bar from Kammerling’s and cocktails […]

  The Cocktail Trading Co. 22 Great Marlborough Street, London W1F 7HU (map) Take three of London’s most imaginative bartenders, give them bar space in central London and some time to experiment. This is what you get… Andy Mil, Elliot Ball and Olly Brading are the bartender/owners of The Cocktail Trading Co in the heart […]

  Rum Club, Trailer Happiness 177 Portobello Road, Notting Hill, W11 2DY (map) Infamous rum bar Trailer Happiness isn’t just about drinking ridiculous amounts of rum (responsibly). It also holds educational sessions for those yearning know more about what they’re drinking and why. Every few Mondays they hold an informal Rum Club where a rum […]

  Hotbox 46-48 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LT (map) Standard debauchery at Hotbox’s launch party in Shoreditch last night… Commentary to follow Hotbox Ad: 46-48 Commercial Street, London, E1 6LT (map) Ww: hotboxlondon.com Fb: HotBoxLDN Tw: @HotBoxLDN

  ‘Tis the season for Xmas Burgers. There have been lots of giveaways recently including a fair share of burgers. If you’ve signed up to the Byron Burger Club you should have received an email telling you about the special ‘Holy Cheesemas’ – available 11th November to 5th January. If you haven’t go to this […]

    Free Fish Fillet Burgers at Bonnie Gull Seafood Café To celebrate launch of their new “Lunch under a tenner” menu, seafood specialist, Bonnie Gull gave away 100 fish fillet burgers at 12h30 today in Exmouth Market Londoners like freebies and the British love queues. This is especially true for food. Today more than […]

    More pizza in Soho? Soho isn’t lacking for pizzerias. Alongside two Pizza Pilgrims, Soho Joe, Piccolo Forno, a very large Jazz-centric Pizza Express and a heap of chains it appears that there is (or was) a potential Franco Manca. The very distinctively 1970’s looking Oceanic Jewellers Ltd is situated at the northern end […]

  More ramen! It looks like ramen fans will be soon spoilt for choice as international Japanese ramen specialist ‘Ippudo’ will be open their doors on Fri 10th Oct in Central St Giles. It was almost two years ago in 2012 when I reported that Bone Daddies Ramen Bar, would be opened by Chef Ross […]

  Exciting news, Soribitum Ices will be serving a Limited Edition ‘Wilkes Flavour Ice Cream’ at KERB’s Ice Cream Adventure this Saturday! Formerly of the Petersham Nurseries glasshouse restaurant, Pedro Confessore and Suzanna (Zan) Austin are now well known to London street food fans for their experimental and gourmet ice creams. This creative couple develop, […]

  World Class™ 2014 House 33 Fitzroy Square, Fitzrovia, W1T 6EU (map) Big fan of spirits and cocktails? If so, get yourself down to World Class House in Fitzrovia near Warren Street Station. Some of the best bartenders in the world will be on hand to give you an spirits and cocktail experience. The World […]

  Pizza Pilgrims – Pizzeria & Friggitoria 11 Kingly Court, Soho, W1B 5PW (map) Get yourself down to Kingly Court from 18h00 until close tonight for 50% off pizza from the brand new Pizza Pilgrims venue nr Carnaby Street The Pizza Pilgrims empire now expands West… albeit about 10 minutes walk from their first pizzeria […]

  Portobello Gin – Trade Training Fever Tree Ultimate Gin & Tonic Popup Bar, 16 Hoxton Square, Shoreditch, N1 6NT A gin & tonic popup is the perfect venue for a summertime drink. While most are slaving at keyboards during the day, bartenders are often attending training sessions to educate themselves on the spirits behind […]

  Taste Of London 2014Regents Park, Marylebone Road Entrance, NW1 5HA (map) Day 2 of Taste of London These are pictures from the second day of Taste of London 2014. There are more images than the first day however captions are subject to correction as I’m rushing to complete this before visiting Street Feast London’s […]

  Taste Of London 2014Regents Park, Marylebone Road Entrance, NW1 5HA (map) These are images from the first night of Taste Of London 2014 in Regents Park. There is a ‘mini slideshow’ below and a Time Lapse of Movenpick’s Development Chef Tim Futter preparing samples The festival runs from Wed 18th – Sun 22nd Jun […]

  Burger Away Day is self described as a “social gathering for hardcore burger lovers”. This crew of burger-philes convene at a different venue each time to enjoy a bespoke burger dinner created by a London chef. This time the hosts is The Dissenting Academy Pub in Stoke Newington with produce supplied by The Cornish […]

  For those of you unaware there were two incidents on Twitter. The first is #BlaggerGate between Soho restaurant ‘Gauthier’ and blogger ‘Hungry Londoner’ who effectively requested a free meal in exchange for a ‘positive review’. The second is #BloggerGate which started between Observer Food Critic, Jay Rayner, and Samphire & Salsify who was dismissed […]

  Barnyard London is the second restaurant by Ollie Dabbous. This venue is very different and a lot more informal than his first restaurant, the Michelin Star holding Dabbous. So what can you expect from this new venue, just a few minutes walk away from his first? I attended on their first pubic day to […]

  Bleeker Burger has started a 50 day residency opposite the South Bank Skate Park today. The popular street food vendor will be parked opposite the skate park at London’s South Bank Centre. I visited at lunchtime to see the first burgers fly out of the big black US style food-truck. Zan Kaufman is the […]

Ramen noodles may be a hit in London right now with Bone Daddies Ramen Bar, Tonkotsu and Shoryu Ramen all leading the way in London’s noodle revolution. Ramen is no longer the preserve of small specialist small places and is now thrust into London’s gastronomic consciousness. Take a flight over to Japan and you will […]

  UPDATE (11h20 08-Mar-2014): Tommi’s Burger Joint on Kings Road will soft launch today from 14h00… a few hours earlier than expected. Tommi’s Burger Joint follow up their immense success in Marylebone with a second site on the Kings Road. Can the Icelandic Burger men repeat their whopping popularity with the well heeled residents of […]

  Taking over the former venue of Master & Servant in Hoxton Square, the team behind ’10 Greek Street’ open their second venue with an equally predicable name… ‘8 Hoxton Square’. ‘8 Hoxton Square’ is very similar to the design and cuisine of the successful ’10 Greek Street’. Admittedly I am a big fan of […]

  Plenty of Vietnamese restaurants can be found on Kingsland Road and north of Chinatown in Soho. In fact, the lower half of Kingsland Road is colloquelly known as the ‘Pho Mile’. Can new outpost, “Salvation In Noodles” (or ‘S.I.N.’) spread the love for Vietnamese noodle soup in Dalston? Salvation in Noodles is owned and […]

  The Dead Dolls House resides in a former textile factory and is the latest home of the nomadic ‘Dead Dolls Club’ formally on Kingsland Road. This (already) spacious venue has continued to grow having taken over part of the adjacent building to add a ‘Conservatory’ to their ‘Parlour Bar’, ‘Dining Rooms’, ‘Drawing Room’, ‘Ballroom’, […]

  It’s been a long time and several popups in the making… but Jamaican Josh De Lisser has finally opened his permanent BOOM Burger restaurant under the Westway flyover in Notting Hill. With offerings including a ‘jerk chicken and fried plantain’ burger, ‘roasted sweet potatoes’ and a ‘pan fried red snapper’ burger there is no […]

  ‘Copa De Cava’ claims to be “the UK’s first dedicated and authentic cava bar”. But can cava compete with its more popular and fashionable sibling, champagne? “Cava seems to have an perception problem” says Richard Biggs, the owner of specialist Cava bar ‘Copa De Cava’. He pours me a glass and describes how it […]

  The weekend street food party, Hawker House, is half way through its 10 week run this spring which means a new trader line-up. Alongside old favourites are the inclusion of two brand new traders to Hawker House. An American BBQ team called ‘Hot Box’ and the maverick bakery ‘Bad Brownie’ with their outlandish flavour […]

  KERB, the popular London street food collective, returns to feed the lunchtime crowds at Canary Wharf. Find them every day between 11h00-15h00 on Wood Wharf (Mon 17th – Fri 21 Feb, 2014) I often hear grumblings from those who work in Canary Wharf about the lack of variety on offer for lunch. For the […]

  Greenwich Food Fest is a one day festival “…that will bring together a collection of London’s quality food and drink producers, an assortment of the city’s multicultural street foods and live music to celebrate London’s passion for great food.” On the site of Greenwich Market (normally closed on Monday) the Greenwich Food Fest was […]

  Think Ink – Black Flower Florist A launch party was thrown on eve of Valentine’s Day to welcome the Black Florist from Kraken Rum and Miss Cakehead. For more details see this post. Related Article: PREVIEW: Black Roses on Valentines Day? #ThinkInk by @Miss_Cakehead & @TheKrakenRum_UK (31 Pics)   Think Ink – Florist Selling […]

  Bob’s Lobster, of lobster roll fame, gave away 100 of their lobster rolls as part of a promotion for Graeme Simsion’s bestseller “The Rosie Project… “a story about love, life and lobster every Tuesday”. Here are some photos of the event. Note: Bob’s Lobster have a temporary residence at Bob’s & Co at The […]

  Want to get touch with your darker side this Valentine’s Day? Miss Cakehead and The Kracken rum bring you a one day pop-up full of black flowers… perfect whether you’re are dating a Goth, an Emo or anyone else relatively ‘undead’. “Think Ink” is a pop-up florist which will offer macabre bouquets in “Grave […]

  A country restaurant with a hotel attached? More importantly is it worth a train journey from Waterloo to the New Forest for lunch or a quick getaway weekend for Londoners? In a rare venture into the countryside, I visited The Pig Restaurant and Hotel in Brockenhurt. The Pig Restaurant is located in Brockenhurst, the […]

  The Ribman is the street food legend who serves huge rib rolls at venues like KERB street food, Brick Lane and was a hit at Street Feast this summer. Now one of West Ham’s most famous supporters has a matchday home at the fan favourite Boleyn Pub, next to the stadium.   WHO IS […]

  The Pig Idea is providing free meals in Trafalgar Square today from 12h00-16h00 to highlight their campaign. They argue that suitable food waste should be fed to pigs for economic, environmental and nutritional grounds. So what was on offer today and did they get their message across? If you were in Trafalgar Square in […]

  Sushi restaurants have suddenly become keen to let their customers have a ‘hands on’ experience with their future meal. So is it as easy at it looks? After all, slicing up fish and rolling them around rice can’t be that difficult? I attended a class to find out. This year, restaurants of all types […]

  Friday was the debut of Hawker House, the winter venture by the hugely successful ‘Street Feast’ team. These guys dominated Friday nights in the summer with their mixture of street food, events and party vibes. Can the winter incarnation of this collective recreate the magic? From my visit on their debut night last Friday, […]

  One Canada Square is a bar restaurant in the lobby of the One Canada Square building, colloquially known as ‘Canary Wharf Tower’. It is part of the ETM Group which is best known for venues such as The Botanist and The Cadogan Arms in Chelsea which both serve great food and drink. Will their […]

  Opening Hours: 11h30 – 18h30 Fri 25th Oct – Sun 27th Oct Ad: The Rag Factory, 16-18 Heneage Street, London, E1 5LJ (map) Miss Cakehead teams up with Kraken Rum to produce a gory cake display for Halloween. Her annual ‘Eat Your Heart Out’ Halloween cakeshop always offers some real eye opening bakery from […]

  Hutong is a Chinese restaurant and bar situated on the 33rd floor of The Shard. Recently opened this summer, it focuses on Northern Chinese cuisine with astounding views over London. With great reviews for their Peking Duck, will their Dim Sum lunch satisfy Londoners too? For the discerning dim sum aficionados, this is definitely […]

  Meatopia UK Tobacco Dock, 50 Porters Walk, London, E1W 2SF (map) Last Saturday saw a stampede of carnivores head towards Tobacco Dock in East London for the UK’s first Meatopia Festival – a celebration of meat which has been held in New York for almost 10 years. There were TWENTY dishes on offer. I […]

  Berners Tavern Edition Hotel, 10 Berners Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 3NP (map) Berners Tavern is an all day 140 cover restaurant from the Jason Atherton Group (Pollen Street Social, Little Social, Social Eating House) in the new London EDITION Hotel, which opened today in Fitzrovia. This is the 10th restaurant under the Jason Atherton […]

  CHEATSHEET: (Psst… Just want to know what you’re drinking?) Click here for the whisky listing ‘Pearl Dram’ – Pop up Oyster & Whisky Bar by The Scottish Malt Whisky Society 53 Monmouth Street, Seven Dials, London, WC2H 9DG (map) The Scottish Malt Whisky Society has opened a 4 day pop-up Whisky & Oyster Bar […]

  Lima 31 Rathbone Place, Fitzrovia, London W1T 1JH (map) Peruvian restaurant Lima teamed up with food photographer David Griffen to organise a photography masterclass. I went along to pick up a few food snapping tricks and tips. Food photography is an interesting discipline. In the 90’s I watched a documentary about photographers in sterile […]

  GrillShack 61-63 Beak Street, London W1F 9SL (map) Grillshack is a new US style diner which comes to Soho with a technological twist. In addition to ordering at a till, Londoners can now order at a touch screen or even from their seat via an app on their tablet or phone. VENUE Grillshack occupies […]

  Rosa’s Carnaby23a Ganton Street London W1F 9BW (map) Rosa’s is a popular Thai Cafe with branches in Soho, Spitalfields and Westfield Stratford. This is their fourth venue which takes over former Thai restaurant Mangsteen, opposite Mother Mash on Ganton Street, just off Carnaby Street. Rosa’s Thai Café is exactly what it claims. A café […]

  Wholey Cow! By Byron Hamburgers at Camden Town Brewery Can you eat an entire cow? This is the question Byron are attempting to answer this weekend on Fri 30th and Sat 31st Aug. The Byron van will arrive at Camden Town Brewery with one huge 375 kg beast turned into steaks, burgers, ribs, a […]

  Flesh & Buns 41 Earlham St, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9LX (map) My first Flesh & Buns visit was a solo affair. However Head Chef and owner, Ross Shonhan, tells me that Flesh & Buns is designed to be an ‘Izakaya’, best experienced with a big group of friends tearing meat from a communal […]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YReqNubUCVE

This insane drummer was busking to Jungle backing tracks near Liverpool Street…

I looked him up online. He is musician Oded Kafri who has been playing since the age of 10!

For more information please visit http://www.drumachineproject.com

Music Production by Yuvi Gerstein (http://www.yuvalgerstein.com) and Raz Olsher (http://www.fossilstudios.net)