Review: Beer and Buns
The city. A vast concrete jungle filled with suits, chain restaurants and banks. Or is it?
Well maybe…until Beer and Buns arrived.
Plopped on top of the smart Japanese restaurant K10, Beer and Buns brings a cool and quirky East London feel to The City.
Serenaded by the likes of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age and The Kooks you enter a black abyss where the walls are lined with chalk drawings. When the black hole opens you are presented with a cavern filled with fussball, pinball and a variety of industrial benches. Not your run of the mill city joint.
Slinging your satchel onto a bar stool you take a seat and turn to the barman supporting a 5 o’clock shadow…
‘The usual please bud’
However the usual is anything but ordinary.
The best seller is Echigo Koshihikari. A beer fresh out of Japan’s first microbrewery. Crisp, refreshing and light. Made with rice straight outta the brewery’s backyard.
So beer in hand you slink over to a table next to the pinball machine. Lay your affects down and start a game (pinball is free on Mondays!) and wait for your grub.
However if you were expecting a bag of nuts and packet of crisps turn back now my friend. The guys serve up lightly fried chicken wings with exquisite flavours, buns and sides all with Japanese flair.
The wings are large crispy meaty bad boys with either super hot, sweet and spicy (exactly what it says on the tin, but better than you can imagine) or sticky soy and garlic (sweet and garlicky with a hint of heat).
The buns are like you’ve never tried before. Forget about the doughy buns that envelope the tiniest amount of filling. These are open deep filled with oodles of flavour. Think aubergine with tangy salsa, prawn with sweet lettuce, flavoursome pulled pork with decadent red cabbage or breaded chicken (which although great was not a spec on the wings!)
And if this wasn’t enough be sure to team your din dins with a basket of edamame beans coated in sea salt and some sweet potato fries (Perfectly crispy) with a rich spicy mayo.
By the time you are through it may be time for another beverage. Maybe try the Hitachino Nest White Ale (Citrusy, nice orange tang, bit different to regular beers) or The Codeo ‘Shiro’ (Cloudy and refreshing with subtle hints of banana)
Then kick back, relax, play some fussball, listen to some cracking tunes and forget the office.
A breathe of fresh air in the stuffy corporate city Beer and Buns operate a ‘no ties, no work’ policy. Any deviation from the rules results in a mandatory ‘sake bomb’. Maybe try a free pinball Monday or 2-4-1 Tuesday. Next time I’ll make sure to wear my bandana and support a more ‘bad ass’ attitude…
Reporter: Aspen Glencross ¦ @Gollumcrackcorn ¦ #Caracastle
