Chicken Shop / Dirty Burger

The Soho House Group have been busy bees this past few years, both with their clubs/hotels and also in food-led offerings, principally through Pizza East. The lucky denizens of Kentish Town were probably rather surprised not only to be receiving the third Pizza East, but also to be the blessed guinea pigs for two new ideas, premiering at the location. These are Chicken Shop and Dirty Burger.

Despite the fuss, and the potential for commercialism backlash, I have to say, they are both bloody good. Chicken Shop is focused on rotisserie rather than fried chicken, and does it extremely well. No bookings and a very dark space welcome those who descend the stairs. Service is attentive and positively brisk in a welcome way (we were ravenous) and so the rotisserie chicken sure enough appears instantly.

A nostalgic highlight among the sides are the crinkle cut chips (although these are bettered at Dirty Burger) but the chicken really is the star. It’s served in pieces unlike that impaled, under-seasoned bird at Tramshed – and is seasoned and charred in spots to give it a true grilled taste. Supermarket spit chicken this is not, but at £14.50 for a whole one, it’s a bargain.

My one gripe about Chicken Shop is quite specific – the house prosecco is £37 a bottle which is too steep for this venue. Other booze is well priced in comparison, so stick to that. So beyond that trifling lesson learned, it’s a great new concept and I’ll no doubt darken their stairwell for such a simple, satisfying feed.

Another star mention goes to the apple pie - homemade and apportioned to your table. The waitress let us have the biggest slice, easily good for two to share, and it was phenomenal even if my pic suggests otherwise:

Dirty Burger is round the back, in the car park. I’m impressed with the creative kit-out and branding of what is basically a burger van cocooned by corrugated iron. I’m sharply told that burgers come medium well, when I protested the lady very pleasantly explained that they would be so juicy, it didn’t matter. And whilst she was right, I’d still rather have had it a touch pinker. 

 

It is a great burger for the price point (sub £6), and I understand the assembly line uniformity keeps the prices simple and the slinging quick, but if Shake Shack and others of the ilk they’re aspiring to can cook to order within certain constraints, they should be able to equally. Another angle here is the confidence in meat quality and how that’s reflected in a venue’s willingness to go rare.

But that aside, for a quick burger experience I rate it highly. It was juicy and tender to the point where it probably could have been mawed.

Special mention, above and beyond the crinkle cut fries (which beyond the novelty shape aren’t amazing fries), are the onion fries. These are short strips of onion, battered and fried to create chips, with incredible flavour. Debatably the most memorable thing here. I could have happily devoured another serving while finishing up my pints of Camden Pale, but the queue was too long to hop up again.

Selfishly, I’m hoping for a similar theme park of comfort food to open closer to my house. These guys genuinely do have some great businesses here and I bet we’ll be seeing a lot more of them. 

Food – 9/10

Drink – 8/10

Service - 8/10 (quick and keen)

Value – 9/10 (excellent, if you skip the prosecco)

Tap water tales – 9/10 (tap offered in Chicken Shop immediately)

Staff Hotness – 8/10 (well selected, with something for everyone to enjoy)

The Lansdowne

The Lansdowne is that pub in Primrose Hill. Every uppity area has one – the pub where the entitled and oblivious drink.  Where you either drink yourself or despise the people that do. A Westbourne Tavern, Salusbury, Freemasons or Sloaney Pony, if you will.

As I don’t live in Primrose Hill, I can occasionally justify circumnavigating my way through horsey gums, gurning gums and 4wd buggies if I’m nearby and in need of a sunny pint of Aspall’s. It’s an incredibly sceney place, but I think that’s probably its best attribute for a non-local; the people watching is brilliant.

Food-wise, in recent times it’s been known for its pizzas, irritatingly served on terracotta plates smaller than the pie, and unsliced, with the dullest knives known to man. The kitchen’s had a revamp with more non-pizza choice and there is a more formal resto upstairs, but pizza won the day.

The Turkish lamb pizza was a bit of a tragi-comic affair. I’m quite the purist with pizza toppings, with a huge exception for Hawaiian, and I wasn’t sure how lamb, cumin and onion (as described) would go down. Perhaps thin slow cooked chunks of spiced lamb? Or lamb pieces cooked in the tomato sauce?

Surely it could not be as tawdry as a pile of lamb mince, indiscriminately splattered in the style of a diarrhoea-prone cat, and with a lemon wedge on top? Which tasted somewhere between 2am doner and 3am resurrection of said doner.

I’m pleased to report that the San Daniele pizza was much better. Wafers of prosciutto adorned by a clump of rocket and parmesan. Simple, tasty and what I remember about the pizza kitchen of this pub from years ago, before they tried to get clever. Or themed, God forbid, like the abominable Fire & Stone and their repellent fare.

The base was incredibly thin though, which I do like sometimes, but it needs more tomato sauce to add some density, because otherwise it dries out to become a crispbread. Both pizzas were about £10-12.

It’s definitely an establishment to experience; you may get celebs or at least wannabes, and you’ll absolutely get babies. Furthermore, you may still get decent pizza, but steer clear of the Turkish.

 

BrewDog (Camden)

BrewDog have opened a bar in Camden. For those unaware, they are Scotland’s rebel craft brewers, largely renowned for being the whippersnapper antagonists of CAMRA and the purveyors of 41% IPA ‘Sink The Bismarck!’ which had the Daily Mail in a flutter for about 24 hours.

The bar, in an old pub behind the high street, has an equally irreverent air. In fact, when I visited at about 2pm on a Saturday, it was already debauched to the point of Bacchanalian (as opposed to Dionysian at 10 Greek Street, of course).

A beer gig like this can often be hellish, like some sort of Earl's Court convention. Fat, flatulent blokes scratching their beards, sipping at third-pint taster glasses and then sweating it all out.

But not at BrewDog, where skinny trussed-up blokes scratch their beards, sip third-pint tasters and try to out-craft-speak one another. Herein lies the difference.

I guess the BrewDog crowd appreciate bold typography, social media and mantras about PUNKS! whereas the CAMRA types prefer 3.2% milds with twee illustrations of Cornish steam trains. Guess which side of the fence I’m on…

My one gripe is obvious if you go; that BrewDog is a victim of its own success. They’re making an effort in terms of lots of (clued-up) staff, but the place is too small for the demand. I think people actually queue up before opening time.

In terms of the food, it’s basically to soak up the beer. But some thought has gone into the burgers and pizzas, which have crazy ingredients and hipster place names like Los Feliz and Williamsburg. My burger (about £5-6) was the archetype of a ‘dirty burger’ but well executed – oozing cheap cheese, medium rare patty, relish and some cursory veg. Perfect. One red flag was the bun which was a bit hard, and probably from the freezer. Looks pretty anaemic now.

The beer is great of course, but I’m stumped if I could tell you what I had. I know the 5am Saint and Punk IPA made appearances, as well as a 4/3 tasting flight of various things between 7 and 10%. BrewDog sell other breweries’ beers which I thought deserved some credit. No Camden, Meantime or Kernel wares unsurprisingly, but there were some Anchor Steam and Goose Island brews among the lesser known brewers.

Their current collaboration with Danish Gods of craft beer, Mikkeller, meant that a head to head showdown was taking place (with the whole bar in raptures voting for each beer) and it led to this rather snazzy looking fridge of beers.

The fantastically designed Mikkeller range

In summary: arrive early, drink lots, get hungry, eat dirty burger, leave drunk anyway. Brilliant.

Food – 8/10

Drink – 10/10

Service - 8/10

Value – 7/10 (beer 6, food 9)

Tap water tales – 2/10 (don't dare ask!)

Staff Hotness – 7/10 (grizzly hipsters, very well versed though)