On Thursday night I finally paid a visit to the infamous 'Burger and Lobster'.Thursday is a busy night in London (referred to as 'Thirsty Thursday' - if you're knobhead.) so upon my arrival after work at about 6:45 the place was already packed and I had to squeeze my way through the hustle and bustle to the bar to meet my two girlfriends (yes, of course I was late). Although super busy, it wasn't uncomfortable, the atmosphere was great and we were able to take a seat at the bar and have a few drinks and a chat whilst waiting for our table...
When we sat down the waiter came over to take our drinks order (bottle number two please!) and Emma and I, as B&L virgins, asked to see the menus.
'There are no menus. It's Burger......... or Lobster'
I wonder how many times a week that exchange occurs? I was genuinely bemused for a second, struggling to grasp the concept of a menu-less restaurant, but after eventually coming to terms with it the waiter (after chatting with us and telling us all about the lobster and generally being a very lovely waiter - actually two thumbs up for all the staff there as it was crazy busy but they were extremely polite and friendly) asked us the big question - 'Burger' or 'Lobster'.
Obviously, we all opted for 'Lobster' (I really have no idea why you'd come here for a burger..!?) and we were asked 'Lobster in the shell - steamed or grilled, or lobster in a roll?' Vicky (the seasoned burger-and-lobster-goer) was gushing about the lobster-in-a-roll option and went for that, but as it was mine and Emma's first time and we were surrounded by dozens of bib-wearing diners eagerly smashing shells and cracking claws, we decided to go for the classic whole-lobster-dish (grilled). Everything comes with garlic butter, crunchy american fries and salad on the side.
French Fries (drowning in salt obvs) are one of my favourite things so I think I made a fatal error in my meal-time-time-management by attacking them first, sipping my wine, yakking away and swooning over the guy who looked EXACTLY like Eddie Raymane a few tables away, because when I finally got cracked open my lobster (so much fun by the way and you absolutely HAVE to wear the bib it's part of the fun!) I found it to be slightly cold and a bit rubbery in places. I had major food-envy of Vick's Brioche-lobster-roll at this point and have decided that I will be giving that a whirl next time.
'Would you like dessert?'
Obviously. Obviously we want dessert. Again - no menu - the options were 'rhubarb cheesecake' and 'treacle tart'. I immediately demanded to know why they had ruined cheesecake by pairing it with rhubarb (bleugh!) and asked if it was 'reallyrhubarby or 'notreallythatrhubarby' he sort of blinked at me a bit and then Emma cleverly suggested we get one of each, so if it was 'reallyrhubarby' I could just have the treacle tart - genius.
It sadly fell into the 'reallyrhubarby' category. I tried, I really did, but eating cheesecake and finding weird chewy bits in it was too bizarre so I opted for the treacle tart which was thoroughly enjoyable, but so insanely sweet I'm not sure one person could finish it themselves - not even me!
We finished our wine and made our way out onto the drizzly Mayfair streets in an attempt to hail a cab. As we were walking along, a taxi pulls up literally next to us to drop off his passengers. 'Hallejuah' I think, and I'm so focused on getting out of the bloody rain I don't notice Emma and Vicky are pointing, whispering and giggling until I hear them asking 'Is it him?' 'It IS him-it's definitely him!'. I eventually clocked something was going on behind me - turns out Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen had just stepped out of said taxi and, slightly tipsy (us- not him), we decided to accost him and ask if he'd pose for a photo with us, and he did, and he was SO BLOODY LOVELY about it! He was so charming and sweet and so was his wife who had to play photographer to 'Charlie and his Angels' as she was calling us - she even made us all traipse down the road to where the lighting was better, all whilst it was freezing cold and raining, so a huge thank you to them for making our night.
Cheers.
P.S If you say 'lobster' lots and lots of times, it starts to sound really weird......
.....Lobster.
....Lobster.
x