The Assembly House, Kentish Town, NW5

Just a quick one from me on the Assembly House, another possible food option in Kentish Town (I've been a bit more hungry in Kentish Town recently!). The entire pub was shut for ages this summer for a refit, and inside now it is even more gorgeous than before. It was always beautiful, as it's a huge old building, all mirrors and high ceilings, huge windows, wooden bars, but now it just feels like a super fancy, extremely swish sort of place to have a pint. And Kirin beer on tap! And the all important ale-selection for the ale lovers, as I have many friends who have demonstrated to me the importance of a pub having at least one good ale. But this wasn't about the drinks -  this was about the food.

So alongside this plush interior overhaul comes the fancy-pants pseudo-gastro pub menu. You know exactly what I mean - it's not sausage and mash, it's Suffolk Farmers pork sausage with West Country cheddar mash and red onion gravy. Fair enough I suppose, detail is useful, but it's disappointing when the food doesn't nearly taste as good as the description sounds.

The dining area in the back

Halloumi and chips with side salad

Tempted in by the two meals for £11.95 offer which will run indefinitely, my friend and I both went for veggie options. I had the "Hand-battered Halloumi with skin-on chips, dressed salad and red pepper and chilli dip." whereas my mate had "Caremlised shallot, Croxton Manor cheddar & Ruddles rarebit tart in thyme pastry with a caremlised red onion chutney, served with new potatoes and a dressed salad." Whew, long names! 

Occasionally pub food is greasy but just hits the spot in the right way, but this utterly missed the mark. My halloumi was an oily deep-fried mess and I would have preferred supermarket-bought halloumi dry-fried at home. It had more of the consistency of mozzarella, rather than that squeaky plasticiness I had hoped for. The chilli sauce was a handy addition at least, as virtually all the cheese's flavour and saltiness had drowned in the batter and frying process as a result, and while the chips were fine, the salad was a handful of wilting out-the-bag afterthought with far too little dressing (ironic considering the salad was even advertised as 'dressed', as if that was to be an unusual and pleasant addition). Pub food sort of needs to be greasy but this was a bit much even for me.

Things fared not too much better for the fancy long-named tart. It was small and tough, and drenched in that red onion chutney which overpowered everything and tasted like it had come out of a jar. My friend did say it was nicely cheesy, so maybe not a total loss, but the same situation again as with my deal with its side salad.
It's a shame that although the pub itself is gorgeous after being redone, that what comes out the kitchen got overlooked, but that's how it goes I guess. It's a lovely pub, mind. The staff are friendly and chatty, the interior is beautiful and the drink selection is nice and varied. Just don't bother with the food.

The Assembly House, 292 Kentish Town Road/Leighton Road, Kentish Town, NW5 2TG, 020 7485 2031

View Larger Map

The Meatwagon, Peckham Rye, SE22

The Meatwagon, famous largely for last year's pop up restaurant The Meateasy, is back. Their van got nicked last year, so they've decked out an American ambulance with a grill, of course. 'Guerilla dining' is how they refer to themselves, and they kind of operate around this nothing-wasted-on-frills-so-enjoy-top-quality-food-instead run down shabby vibe, which is kind of in vogue at the moment and certainly seems to be permeating a lot of London's most beloved trendy restaurants, Spuntino and Polpetto being two that come to mind. A burger van, basically. 
I love a good burger, so I travelled to Peckham, where the Meatwagon started out. (Peckham! You have to get a train from Victoria! I'm sorry, I know it's a bit pathetic, but I'm a North London girl for the time being.) Following the invitation of a friend, we went have a drink in the Rye, and enjoy a burger from the new incarnation of the Meatwagon which was stationed outside, grills-a-sizzling, Kasabian-a-blaring all in that nice twilighty summer evening glow. And a goooorgeous smell. 

So was it worth it? Pretty much. I opted for a cheeseburger, £6.00, which was brought to my pub table. It was thick, sticky-cheese encrusted wedge of happiness, served in a lovely glazed bun which absorbed the juices and flavours, without turning into a sog fest. Proper runny burger cheese as well, none of this 'mature cheddar' rubbish. It needed the addition of ketchup, as I'm a bit of a ketchup fiend, but apart from that it ticked all my boxes. Very rough round the edges, with grease and pink juice dripping down onto the paper plate with each awesome bite, gloriously disgusting, onions everywhere. It made a bloody mess and was a bit tricky to eat, but somehow I managed, hah.

Others I was with went for the bacon burger, £7.00, which also went down extremely well. My boyfriend chose the 'Dead Hippy' burger, a kind of Big-Mac-esque deal with the main interest point being that the meat was fried in mustard. Does anyone else even do that? It was the first I've ever heard of such a thing. In any case it was wonderfully spicy without being overwhelmingly mustard-y, (although he did prefer mine, in the end.)

Phwoar, meatyyyy.

Although staff seemed surprised and a little perplexed when one of our party asked for no cheese on his bacon burger (causes him migraines), and we could have done with some napkins, overall it was a really chilled out, enjoyable experience, and a damn good meal. I desperately want to sink my teeth into another one. 
The Hawksmoore it ain't, and their burgers aren't pretty, but oh yes, I'm pretty delighted I did make the trek dahn sarf to Peckham to give them a whirl. Do make every effort to catch the wagon if it's nearby, they seem to be doing the rounds nowadays - or make an evening of it like we did. 


The Meatwagon, all over London, info@themeatwagon.co.uk