Meat Liquor

Happy Thursday people!!

Now this post is going to be a little bit different. 

Two of my other big passions are food and books. In fact I'd go as far as saying they're my obsessions. 

I would love at some point for this blog to be more lifestyle focused, with restaurant/foodie posts and literature reviews/rants (if a plot twist really irks me) among my fashion and beauty posts. So two weeks ago I went to a restaurant that I've been wanting to go to for months, and you've probably heard about it by now. I loved it so much, that I thought I'd make it my first lifestyle food post. If it goes down well, then I'll create a separate page for this kind of thing! 

The hype over Meat Liquor has grown a lot in recent months. I heard about it almost a year ago, but since then I've seen so many pictures on Facebook and Instagram of my friend's Man vs Food sized trays of greasy delights that when two weeks ago, me, my boyfriend and my friends from uni decided to have a little reunion in London, I suggested we make Meat Liquor our watering hole for the evening. 

  

Arriving a bit early, me and my boyfriend were sure we were on the wrong street. I'd created in my head an image of a slightly garish, stereotypical American diner with neon signs, but a venue of such was nowhere to be found. Instead, the first floor of a very unassuming and reserved concrete car park that we had walked past without a second of acknowledgement happened to be what we were looking for. 

The closer we got, the more we noticed the queue of people before had looked like a group of London office workers taking a fag break. Upon meeting up with another friend, we found out that the restaurant wouldn't let us in to be seated until the entire group was present. This basically helps them reduce waiting times, so we chilled at a nearby pub for a bit.

Once our entire group had arrived, a man at the door took the name of a member of the group, and how many of us there were, and told us to wait at the bar. The first thing that will take you by surprise upon entering Meat Liquor is how dark it is (hense the reddish tinge to all my photos. Flash wasn’t too flattering either), and from reading other reviews, for some people it is a major down point. For me, I love the dark. No matter how sunny it is outside I’ll never open my curtains, so I felt right at home. It’s not pitch black, but the lighting is very dim, and has a reddish tinge that adds to the grungy slaughterhouse-esque decor (look out for the blood stained plastic curtain).

Waiting at the bar, we scoured the Liquor menu, which consists of some scrumptious concoctions. I had the Louisiana Jam, which is Southern Comfort, apricot jam, lemon juice and mint. These are the dangerous kinds of cocktails where you can’t taste the alcohol and you’re half-cut before you’ve even been seated. For central London, Meat Liquor’s cocktails are reasonably priced, with the majority at £7.50, however they do vary in size.

 Once we’d been seated, everyone started looking at the menu, but having known about this place for ages and drooled over pictures of their food, I already knew what I was having. I’d heard Adam from Man vs Food (I’m sure you’ve realised by now I’m obsessed with this show) go on and on about Philli Cheese Steak, so when I saw that Meat Liquor did a Philli Cheese Steak sandwhich, I was sold. Me and the boyfriend also shared a side of cheesy fries. Whilst everyone else spent ages choosing their mix of cheese drenched mains and sides, I sat back and took in the awesome atmosphere, with the sound of American vintage rock music drowning out the buzzing, lively conversations between friends trying sips and forkfuls of each other’s meat and liquor.

As filling as the meal was, I couldn’t get enough. I’ve had cheesy fries before, but nothing was on par with these ones. The chips were so crispy with just the right amount of salt, and the cheese was ridiculously stringy. As for the sandwich, it was the texture more than anything that made me fall in love. It was so soft and gooey and succulent that every time I sank my teeth into it, I just wanted to leave them there.  My favourite thing about it was the pool of soft cheese that ran all the way through the bottom of the hot dog bun. This is definitely not the place for calorie counters.

You’d think that after all that food, there’s no way we had room for dessert. But when we saw the chocolate and peanut butter sundae on the menu, we thought it would only be right. So we got two and shared it between five of us. Honestly, it wasn’t anything amazing, just a typical sundae, but it tasted so good after all the salt, meat and cheese we’d consumed. But it’s definitely the mains you should go there for, not the desserts. 

I'd love to hear what you guys think about this post. I would really like to expand the blog to feature more lifestyle posts, so some feedback would really be appreciated. 

Steph x x x

*All photos taken by myself and Chloe Alexander