Last Saturday on my way to the HulaFit class I got a bit lost. I have no sense of direction and whilst mobile phones and sat nav make things a little bit easier, I still struggle. Especially when places are as rich in distractions as Notting Hill.
At the end of the street I could hear bongos, various music and chatter and realised I was right in the heart of Portobello Market.
10 minutes later I had been sucked deep into Portobello Market and was struggling to find my way out. Who should I bump into, but ‘let’s get lunch’ from earlier, brandishing a white plastic takeway bag.
“Lost?” he asked?
“Yes.” I said rather sheepishly.
He proceeded to give me directions to The Tabernacle, before shaking his head and saying “See, if you weren’t English you would have been more friendly, you would have come got lunch, I just had the most delicious soup!” I felt so bad, especially after he told me the directions 3 times just to make sure I was completely clear before he left me. And yet, as sad as it is, I know I did the right thing, because even though he turned out to be just a friendly Notting Hill regular, you just never know do you?
Since we had just worked out, we all managed to convince ourselves that burgers with all the works, plus milkshakes were entirely justified. (To be fair, I used the same excuse for the whole of the Easter weekend – every time the chocolate came out: “But I did HulaFit on Saturday!”)
I chose the vegetarian falafel burger which came with a cucumber raita, chilli salsa, garlic mayo, red onion, tomato and alfalfa sprouts. I’ve been to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen twice now and both times I’ve been a little underwhelmed. I think it’s the sheer amount of sauce and dressings that are crammed in which mean that I can’t quite make sense of what I’m eating. If I go back I’ll order something plainer, or ask them to hold some of the sauces so that I can enjoy the main event.
On the positive side, they were happy to swop regular buns for Brioche Buns when we asked. If you haven’t had a burger with a brioche bun, go out and try some now. You’ll thank me, I promise!
Then there were the sides. Poppy had rosemary fries and declared them delicious, whilst I shared some sweet potato fries with Lou. I LOVE crispy sweet potato fries but have never perfected them at home, so eating them out is a real treat. I am also nicking the idea of serving skinny fries in a teacup!
Plus they came with baconnaise.
BACONNAISE.
This is everything that it sounds and more. Heaven.
Just in case I hadn’t already eaten enough calories to fuel me for the year, I finished it off with a honeycomb milkshake. I swear I must have drunk a whole tub of liquified icecream but it was so good that I didn’t care. Every so often there were little crunchy bits of honeycomb too. Mmm.
Of course I’m now having to force myself to do double squats each morning in an attempt to minimise the damage… but it was worth it!