Joe's Southern Kitchen and Bar, London

I really like fried chicken; almost as much as I like burgers. Joe's Southern Kitchen and Bar was on my radar this time last year, but we ended up going somewhere else. Bozos. We were back in London for a few days this week, and decided on the last minute to give Joe's a try. We went to the original one in Covent Garden, but there's also a new branch opening in Kentish Town.  

The bar area displays an impressive amount of spirit bottles (with lots of tequila might I add...) and the dining room is comfortable yet sleek; the kind of place that wouldn't look out of place in New York. 

On arrival, we were given a choice of where to sit; either in the sunshine at the front, or in the shadows at the back. We opted for the back due to a number of rather excitable children in the former. One barometer for greatness (for us anyway) is the selection of beers available. Whilst the choice was not huge, they did have a select number of little belters, including Anchor Steam. I was spitting feathers after a dash on the tube and minor battle with a ticket machine, so opted for the homemade lemongrass lemonade. We were revived and refreshed pronto. 

We were booked into St John for dinner later that day, so we sensibly opted to keep it light. Fail. If you read my blog regularly, you'll realise we made the same mistake with Mishkin's less than two weeks ago. Some folk never learn.

Coq’n’balls - fried chicken and monterey jack cheese balls with hot sauce: Paddy took great pleasure in ordering these... Fried chicken, mixed with cheese, covered in breadcrumbs and fried. They must have been so smug when they popped these on the menu.

Crispy Southern Fried Half Bird - sweet tea brined bird with lemon dust and tabasco honey: It's like a KFC bucket, only if they used proper chicken, and it was actually good. This has set the bar for any future fried chicken I may sample. It featured this afternoon in my mental 'what could you just eat?' thing. It made me angry. This is a good thing. It was a wonderful balance of moist chicken and ultra crispy, seasoned skin.

 Southern fried potatoes: Like roasties, only spicy, and therefore better.

Blue Plate Special - Joe's Southern Fried chicken meal with fries, chicken salt and BBQ pulled pork beans, served with Joe’s homemade lemongrass lemonade: This was a tenner. Yes, that's right, ten English pounds. Although I chose lemonade, you can also pick from beer or wine. Utterly bargainous. I ate about half owing to the fact I was being a total lightweight. Those beans were delirious. Spicy, with bits of pulled pork. Heaven. Ten quid...

I'm hoping that Joe's will jump on the bandwagon and set up shop in Manchester like every other London based bugger, otherwise I may have to go every time I visit London. What made this experience even better was the wonderful service we received too. Every member of staff we came in contact with seemed to be genuinely happy, and wanted us to have a good time. Fake or not - they're nailing it. One word of advice - go.

Mishkin's, London

I have this weird thing. Despite not having a scrap of spirituality myself, I have a fascination with Jewish culture. It started in GCSE Religious Studies, and then I did my degree dissertation on the Jewish community in Manchester - it was a toss up between that and Lord Lever, my other strange love. Don't even get me started on Cyril. 

The food. Oh the food. It's all about comfort and company. A couple of years ago we went to Katz's Deli in New York, and I've been on the hunt for something similar over here ever since. I'm still toying with the idea of making my own salt beef after my mission came up fruitless. 

We were planning a trip to London for my birthday, and decided to invite some of our besties along for the food fuelled ride. As soon as the train tickets were purchased, I set about planning our culinary escapades. We wanted something fairly light for lunch, as we were doing a bigger meal in the evening. My pal Lee suggested a nice sandwich style gaff. And so happy memories of Katz's sprang into my little mind. My quest led me to Mishkin's.

Similar to Katz's, Mishkin's is a Jew-ish deli. Neither are actually kosher, but are still steeped in the tradition that ensures some wonderful, homely food. Thinking back, Mishkin's is actually nothing like Katz's, but it really didn't matter. Although it's been on this site in some form since 1931, the masterminds behind Spuntino and Polpo took over in 2011. It feels old, in a down with the kids trendy kind of way... 

We arrived after spending a couple of hours cooped on a train, and despite our 'train picnic' of pastries and prosecco, we were starved. 

We were greeted warmly and shown to a cosy booth at the back of the restaurant. Drinks arrived promptly whilst we perused the menu. We resisted the urge to order everything, yet still managed to have a table packed with food when it arrived!

Slider - Chickpea, spinach & ricotta: I love the idea of mix and match sliders! Ideal for those with smaller appetities, or indeed greedy pigs like us who want to sample lots of different dishes.

Slider - spicy fried chicken & jalapenos

6oz Reuben burger - beef patty, pastrami, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese & Russian dressing: Now that's one good looking burger. Behold that dripping cheese... They actually do a 12oz version of this. Hell fire.

Chicken soup: One of us had to. Lee was very quiet whilst eating this. This is proper chicken soup potent enough to see off colds and general train induced fatigue.

Steak tartare, grilled sourdough: Perfect spiced tartare with crisp sourdough. Heavenly.

Fried chicken & slaw: Good god. This was my choice. I'm just a bit mad I can't remember it in more intricate detail (I think copious amounts of fizz and a cocktail helped with that...). It's the same kind of chicken I had at Pies and Thighs in Brooklyn rather than the Southern fried type. That jalapeno mayo was ridiculous.

Thick cut chips and macaroni cheese: Like we needed sides. Crispy chips and lovely soft mac and cheese with a grilled breadcrumb topping. Loved.

Peanut butter and jelly cheesecake: 'We'll share a dessert' we said... Little did we know that it would still finish us off. So much for the light lunch we had planned! I'm not mad keen on peanut butter, but remembered the amazing offering from Red's in Leeds, so ran with it. This was surprisingly light in texture, but still managed to pack a peanutty punch.

Chocolate milkshake: The boys opted for milkshakes as they thought they wouldn't be as filling. Wrong.

We left with full bellies, sore sides from laughing, and each of us being referred to as 'Mishkin' at least twice a minute - this one's still ongoing.

I adored our little Jew-ish deli trip with the other Mishkins.

Lemon and White Chocolate Bundt Cake

Strangely, Blogger insists on changing the colour of this pic. Go to my Instagram for a better picture...

I used to have an obsession with white chocolate, so this was a bit of a risk. I'd rather not be off the wagon when it comes to this white stuff. Five family sized Milkybars a week may be considered to be excessive by some. Luckily for me, one day I woke up and just didn't fancy my 2500 calorie a week habit any more! Two stones lighter, I have come out of the other side...

A lemon and white chocolate bundt had been on my mind for some time, so I took one for the team and bit the bullet. The result was one of my favourite cakes ever. I am never making it ever again. It's too damn risky! Everyone at work loved it, and agreed that the white chocolate covering isn't too sickly as there's only a thin (scrumptiously gooey) layer covering the cake. I'm trying not to think about it. In fact, I can't say much more on the matter. Too painful.

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 350g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 250ml lemon yoghurt 
• Zest and juice of one large unwaxed lemon
• Jar of white chocolate spread

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Prepare a regular sized bundt tin - 2.4l, 10 cup, 10 inch with Cake Release spray and dust with flour.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 
5. Add the extracts.
6. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and ginger.
7. Pour the yoghurt into a jug and add the zest and juice.
8. Sift in a third of the flour mix followed by half the yoghurt. Repeat this until everything is combined. 
9. Give everything a quick mix on a low speed for about 10 seconds.
10. Pour the mix into your prepared tin. 
11. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. 
12. Leave the cake to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin.
13. When completely cool, warm your white chocolate spread in the microwave until slightly runny and tip over the cake. I used my Bavaria tin because it has lots of pretty nooks and crannies for the chocolate to fall into.

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and basic recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page.