Any man vs food type diners around London?

shuzzbutt

shuzzbutt

shuzzbutt

Associate
Joined
24 Jun 2009
Posts
497
I am constantly salivating at some if the crazy foods served at numerous places all over the US but am disheartened that I have been unable to find anything similar here?! Where can I buy a chilli dog or a huge meat sandwich with home made coleslaw and chips inside?! Where's open flame BBQ joints and generally epicurean portions?

The closest I've seen in the uk was fatty arbukles restaurant which is no longer in business :/ surely others crave the artery blocking foods being gorged on by that equally charming and insufferable yank?

Not everybody is a fan of Heston or Jamie- enlighten me!
 
Find a decent steak house most will serve you a slab of cow big enough to stop a tractor.

The traditional meal in this country for the eating challenge has always been the mixed grill, I've been to a few places down the year that offered a certificate if you finished it all and I remember the Scream pub chain do an offer where if you could finish your mixed grill in less than 25 minutes (something like that) you got it free.

Been a while since I've seen anywhere like that though and the last silly(ish) thing I tried was a 32Oz rump steak which sadly defeated me!
 
The items from Man v Food that appeal to me most is the BBQ. I've searched but there's nothing like that over hear.

I don't really see the point in a 3lb burrito, 12 egg omelet, car tire pancakes, 50" pizzas because if you're still hungry after a normal one you can always have another and a large one is just going to get cold.

The BBQ on the other hand just looks delicious. Pulled pork/beef, ribs, slow roast brisket. I'm seriously thinking of starting a restaurant but I fear the cost of meat in this country would be prohibitive.
 
Most of my office rave about Bodeans, in my opinion its nothing special.

I did try one of the Man vs Food challenges when i was in Hartford for work. 2 foot long hotdog in 3 buns, topped with all sorts of stuff, fries and a drink... Didnt finish it!
 
I guess us brits are too fond of proper cuisine to sully our tastebuds with foot long chilly dogs or burgers the size of a 12 inch dinner plate- this is a trajedy for me as everytime I watch that show I feel like booking a ticket to the us just to go on a massive man vs food roadtrip!
 
Kind of on the right vein is the Big Easy in Chelsea, others worth a look at are Meat Liquor, Big Apple Hot Dogs, and Burger and Lobster. Pitt Cue Co are opening in Soho soon (early 2012 is the slated date).

Bodeans is my go to for a BBQ joint, nothing to get hugely excited about but their pulled pork and burnt ends are to die for.

Goodman and the Hawksmoor will both do you as big a steak as you want if you give them 48hrs, and they always have 600g-1.2kg on the board, though its not cheap.

Apart from that there are a few "diners" around town, but they always just do a few bad burgers and sandwiches in a dressed up room, nothing more than you would get in a TGI Fridays really. I have been to a handful and they aren't even worth listing here.

Nothing much in London that is actually what your looking for, not much appetite for it in a relatively health city. Check out a rodizio (few different places across town), its a Brazilian buffet where you get brought big skewers of meat that they carve off and until you turn a card over they keep coming.
 
Last edited:
I've been to Bodeans in Soho twice... first time was underwhelming, second time we bought a sharing meat platter with cornbread between two and it was LUSH. The pulled pork and burnt ends were spot on.

In Nottingham, there's "Annie's Burger Shack" at the Navigation Inn. American chick who used to do awesome burgers at the Old Angel bar moved over there to a proper kitchen etc. Some amazing burgers to be had in there... I'm dying to try "The Elvis", which has peanut butter and raspberry jam! :D
 
Oh and Atomic Burgers on Cowley Road in Oxford is decent, they also do a Goliath burger which is stupidly spicy from what I hear. The whole place is kitted out in comics and all sorts, it's really ace.
 
I went to Bodeans near tower bridge and it was very good. Not amazing but still good. The pulled pork sandwich was very tasty.

When we were last in Vegas we tracked down this place:

http://www.memphis-bbq.com/

It's a bit of a way out of the main strip area but 100% worth the journey. Melt in your mouth ribs, juicy tasty pulled pork, fab brisket... burnt ends... ENORMOUS portions and soft drinks served in JARS to wash it all down with. It's no wonder the americans are obese with food that good!
 
Bodeans all the way.

As for the challenge aspect to it, UK folks don't really go for it so no where really does it. Our restaurant biz is very set in their ways of maintaing the "healthy is good" approach and won't risk having the big eat joint branded on them. Our sort of way of thinking (so to speak) is that if you get too much food, it's bad. Just like a buffet place, the food can't be really good, it's just standard because there's a lot of it. I'm not sure if that makes much sense, but anyway...

I went to a steak house in Derby a while back, demolished their 64oz steak challenge and got it free. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom