Sausage Fest

Never in one day, have I eaten so much sausage before last week, but to satisfy my long-standing need to try Bubbledogs, I was happy to forgo the regular levels of excitement felt for my weekly Friday sausage baguette a la desk. How did I then feel about the array of bratwurst, veggie dogs and frankfurters over lunch a la office?! Sausage Fest sprang to mind...

Located high up on Charlotte Street, this is a tiny but delightfully cosy establishment, with a small bar illuminating their street-level window up front and a fabulous private room tucked at the back for those who want a more intimate Kitchen Table experience (for a lucky 19 people, hotdogs are replaced here by visiting chefs and a 12-14 course home-grown tasting menu from £78pp!). For all of you in the main restaurant though, you'll be perched on high stools and should be prepared for an informal hotdog house scene muddled with a spot of Champagne parlour glamour. The menus are generous on both fronts too, with bubbles starting at £35 per bottle and 'dogs not exceeding £8.

To accompany our excessive order of extra cheese sauce sides, we hit our table with a variety of meaty goodness from a refreshingly concise menu - some are smothered in Mac & Cheese, chilli or sauerkraut, while others are given an ethnic twist; you can have horny ones, naked ones or sloppy ones, and you double up for only £2. I could have eaten three, but then I'm greedy when it comes to good food!

This is not the first twisted but simple concept to land in London, but unlike too many others of this ilk, it's everything it should be - it delivers exactly what it says on the proverbial tin, they don't take themselves too seriously and I loved it! Bookings are pretty essential owing to the size of the place, but it's certainly not impossible to get into and you can always brave an impromptu queue if you feel so inclined. The venue itself is not over the top, the staff were immensely welcoming friendly and informative; the dogs were super tasty and while some of the Champers can hit you between the eyes if you're not careful, it's all hugely affordable (for five of us, we spent just £20 each on a bottle of pink fizz, a hotdog each and a myriad of sides for the table). All I can say is that I will be smashing their takeaway service in the coming months and budget permitting, I definitely want to try that back room of theirs...

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Buffalo: Spicy buffalo sauce, blue cheese & celery

Mac Daddy: Mac & Cheese, crispy onions & bacon bits

Helpful staff!

Small bar looking out to Charlotte Street

Cook It Yourself!

As a lover of all things food related, I'm the annoying one who enjoys shopping for it, cooking it, eating it, and being adventurous with it. Living in London and eating out so much though, my kitchen cupboards stock more bangles, earrings, scarves and handbags than tinned tomatoes, truffle oil or lentils. Give me an excuse to cook though, and I will jump at the chance with childlike glee! Enter The Brigade...

In conjunction with Beyond Food Foundation and De Vere Venues, this bar, bistro and cooking school is a little more than it seems on the surface. Not only does it employ and train young people at risk and those who have experienced homelessness, it actively reinvests its profit into other social enterprises and charities, all aiming to increase meaningful employment in the local community. Now, this is by no means the only one of it's kind in London, but that fact does not detract from the superb initiative of chef founder Simon Boyle. A haven of food, drink and learning all under one roof will generally be immensely pleasing to me...

Social idealism aside, what fun it is to gather with your chums, your team, or indeed a bunch of strangers to run amuck in someone else's kitchen, with a glass of the bubbly stuff in hand! We split into pairs, taking a station each - I quickly gravitated to the main course of fillet steak, but mainly because I've been desperate to find out if making hollandaise is as hard as everyone lets me think it is. It's not by the way! Between us, we made a 3-course fine dining meal, complete with fresh bread, which we all devoured in a lovely private dining room that was positively overflowing with irrational pride over our collective culinary genius (rest assured, Masterchef will not be bashing our doors down anytime soon). Kudos to the enthused and knowledgeable chefs who pulled us all through it with grace and laughs.

Located on Tooley Street, close to London Bridge, the bar & bistro is a nice apres work spot (erring more on the pitstop scale of drinking establishments if you're not eating), and the cook school is a tremendous amount of fun, with a hugely inspiring story to tell. I would go back again and recommend it to others both in support of their great vision and of course, to have a tonne of fun with great ingredients...get involved!