Tasting Britain
Host Your Own Roast, Beach Blanket Babylon, Shoreditch, London
Established in Notting Hill in 1990, Beach Blanket Babylon describes itself as a "club for the discerning without requiring a membership”. In 2007, they opened the Shoreditch branch, which I’d been going past for years (if you’re heading down bethnal Green Road from Shoreditch High Street station you can’t miss it) without really knowing what it was or what it was doing there. Look for stone (not sure if actually stone) eagles on the outside.
Anyway, they invited us along to the launch of ‘Host Your Own Roast’. Which is 50% party, 50% roast dinner. Combining Sunday Roasts and a party (on Sunday, obviously) is a pretty...astute idea that I can't say I've seen in all that many places. Also when it's a party at someone else's place (i.e BBB's place) you don't need to do the washing up. Unless you want to.
Other things of note where bottomless bloody marys (which I don’t really understand in this context but am not going to complain about), the chefs coming out to carve food as part of the demonstration (and as you can see, it was a LOT of food), a lemon meringue pie of legendary quality, and me dressed as a chef (no pictures of this survive)
The shots you see were taken inside the bar/restaurant area - which looks cool as fuck. BBB seem to focus on Modern European/British cuisine and a reasonable selection of wines and cocktails. It definitely reminds me of a wine bar/lounge. On that note, downstairs is a lounge that seats about 300 I believe (it was closed when I visited). I should quite like to return :D
Host Your Own Roast, Beach Blanket Babylon, Shoreditch, London
Established in Notting Hill in 1990, Beach Blanket Babylon describes itself as a "club for the discerning without requiring a membership”. In 2007, they opened the Shoreditch branch, which I’d been going past for years (if you’re heading down bethnal Green Road from Shoreditch High Street station you can’t miss it) without really knowing what it was or what it was doing there. Look for stone (not sure if actually stone) eagles on the outside.
Anyway, they invited us along to the launch of ‘Host Your Own Roast’. Which is 50% party, 50% roast dinner. Combining Sunday Roasts and a party (on Sunday, obviously) is a pretty...astute idea that I can't say I've seen in all that many places. Also when it's a party at someone else's place (i.e BBB's place) you don't need to do the washing up. Unless you want to.
Other things of note where bottomless bloody marys (which I don’t really understand in this context but am not going to complain about), the chefs coming out to carve food as part of the demonstration (and as you can see, it was a LOT of food), a lemon meringue pie of legendary quality, and me dressed as a chef (no pictures of this survive)
The shots you see were taken inside the bar/restaurant area - which looks cool as fuck. BBB seem to focus on Modern European/British cuisine and a reasonable selection of wines and cocktails. It definitely reminds me of a wine bar/lounge. On that note, downstairs is a lounge that seats about 300 I believe (it was closed when I visited). I should quite like to return :D