Mojito: Lime Gose - A Collaboration Brew

It all started last Halloween (ooo spooky) at the most recent Brewdog Collab Fest. Our local bar, Sheffield, had teamed up with Bad Seed Brewery to create a white IPA with Sorachi and Equinox hops, cunningly named "I am the one who Equinox". We headed down to Brewdog to sample this along with the rest of the Collab Fest brews, and were quickly introduced to team Bad Seed - James and Chris - who'd popped along to check how their beer was going down (very well indeed, I seem to remember!). Surrounded by so many collaborations, ranging from the rather interesting (such as Bristol and Moor's Rye IPA) to the frankly ridiculous (Glasgow and Fallen Brewery's Big Raspberry Dog Chew, a 10% raspberry and salted caramel imperial milk stout, springs to mind, and delicious it was too), conversation inevitably turned to the ideas we've had for collaboration brews. A passion of ours (particularly Laura's) along with beer is cocktails, and the way in which individual flavour components can be added together to produce something altogether spectacular to bring out different elements of the sum of its parts. Couple this with Bad Seed's prowess in the sour beer arena, and Mojito: Lime Gose was born.

Yep it's a kettle!

And so, to a snowy(?!) day in late April and an early drive up to Bad Seed HQ just outside Malton. The brew day itself wasn't the most eventful, as with a beer that is to be soured most of the work is needed during fermentation and conditioning, but we got stuck in where we could. Firstly we mashed in, with a grist of pale malt and a decent portion of wheat (around 35%, if I recall correctly). Next we mashed in for a second time - a pot of coffee on this occasion - and helped to unload the van from Beertown Malton, the local beer festival which had taken place the previous weekend, which we definitely want to try to get to next year. And it was at this point we realised an ulterior motive to the collab: extra bodies! (Although Laura was pretty useless it has to be said...)

During the spare and transfer into the kettle, we headed out for a quick bite to eat... honourable mention at this point to Malton Relish for an excellent lunch, including literally the best brownie ever...

Now nicely energised, whilst the wort boiled away it was time to dig out the mashtun!

Once the boil was complete, to our wort base was added literally all the mint in Malton, to be followed a few days later with tubs and tubs of salted limes.

Whilst we waited for the heat exchanger to do it's thang and cool down the boiled wort to 44 degrees, we had a little sample of some of Bad Seed's excellent beers, both very much enjoying the Vic Secret Sour and Bretted Saison.

Lastly, before heading home it was time to add the magic... pitching the lactobacillus yoghurt culture.

It felt like a long wait until the beer was ready without being able to sample it! The first bar we were aware it had made its way on to was the Rook and Gaskill, just outside the city walls of York, one of our favourite day trip destinations, so we wasted no time in hopping on a train and going for a taste. And we were blown away by how well it has worked! Against a delicately salty gose background, the mint and lime work in perfect harmony with the style to produce a beer which is tart, refreshing, and lip smackingly delicious without overwhelming the taste buds.

Thank you so much to James and Chris for hosting us at your brewery, and for nurturing the beer so well!

Cheers,

Jim & Laura

A Birthday Brewdog Tour

We love a bit of a roadtrip every now and again, and having been kindly invited up to the Brewdog brewery by malt master Angelos (who we first met at this excellent homebrew competition), Jim decided that a 400 mile journey up to Ellon would be a great way to spend his birthday. and frankly the only way to travel to a craft beer Mecca would be to make the quasi-religious Hajj via the various Brewdog bars on the pilgrimage.

Seeing as it's rather a long way from Sheffield, we made a proper long weekend of it, calling at as many Brewdog bars as we could on the way, just to stick with a bit of a theme! Obviously we also found many more fantastic places on our travels... look out for another post in the near future for these.

Our plan was to begin on home soil in Brewdog Sheffield, before heading up to Newcastle and then on to Edinburgh, with an overnight stay in each city, then on to Aberdeen and finally the Big Dog - the brewery itself in Ellon. The bars all follow a similar mould... always slightly industrial, with booths, matte black paint and walls clad in what can surely only be made from a sports hall floor. With slightly different offerings from Stone, Mikkeller and Boon or Weihenstephan on the guest lines and at least eight of the host beers on the other taps, there is always a beer for everyone. Whilst the beer list and venues are similar, it's the staff that set each apart and give the bars a distinctive character. Every single person we spoke to behind the bar was helpful, knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and polite enough to seem interested in our slightly odd quest!

Clockwise from top left: Brewdog Newcastle, Dundee, Aberdeen and Edinburgh

En route to Aberdeen, we decided to add in a somewhat impromptu trip to Dundee, where the Royal Exchange building plays host to the ornate bar. Due to it being only part way through our drive, as we sat twiddling our thumbs for the lunchtime opening we drew straws for the designated driver. As the bar opened, Laura opted for a Fritz-Limo apple juice. Jim clutching the figurative long straw more than made up for this, indulging in the 8% Molotov Lite from Evil Twin. For the birthday boy, this was the perfect opener to the proceedings, light, floral and a nice accompaniment to the beef and Five AM Saint pie. Moving on to Stone - Points Unknown, another ludicrously strong pre-afternoon beer in the form of a Belgian style tripel at 9.5%, which has been barrel aged in wine and tequila before being blended with a delightfully fresh West Coast DIPA, to form an awesomely rounded, hoppy, slightly tart, massively boozy and all round stunning drink.

By Monday it's definitely fair to say we were adequately warmed up to complete our pilgrimage to the brewery itself, along with the Dogtap there. Based in Ellon, a half hour bus journey north of Aberdeen, it is absolutely ENORMOUS and still clearly in the process of rapid growth.

Upon arriving at the brewery, we were greeted by Angelos who was to be our guide and beer guru for the afternoon. The bar attached to the brewery follows the same pattern as the rest, except with the reflective majesty of the pilot kit at one end. As we moved to through to the large building behind the bar, wandering through a maze of impossibly shiny stainless steel, we began to see the scale of what the Brewdog machine has become, with three massive fermenting vessels in the centre of the building and a £3million bottling plant taking up around half of the space of the main warehouse.

We were firstly shown the four main brewing vessels (mashtun, lautertun, kettle and whirlpool) - a setup that allows 4 different beers to be on the go simultaneously and up to 10 brews a day to be produced. Our tour continued along to conditioning tanks and the dry hopping stage of the process, where we were lucky enough to have a taste of the super chilled and ridiculously fresh beers. The highlights were the legendary Punk IPA, with an outrageously juicy hop character, and Tokyo - at around 17% and -1 degrees, it was practically a syrup, fruity, sticky and downright delicious. Black Eyed King, which becomes the base of the "Dog" series of beers, was also phenomenal. Many of the fermenting vessels are situated outside the brewery building itself... with 15 that can contain 800 hectolitres, it's not hard to imagine why. The sheer scale of absolutely everything just blew us away... despite being familiar with many a brewery, we'd truly never seen anything like it. Again, the enthusiasm of those working there was obvious, and the whole building felt a bit like a beehive, everyone working busily as a team and the air filled with an electric innovation. With their recent milestone of £10million through crowd funding, we will no doubt see many more exciting things coming from this remote corner of Scotland.

After a pit stop in the tap room - a Five AM Saint for Jim, and a stunning sour cherry pilot brew for Laura, it was time to get the bus back to Aberdeen and grab a good night's kip ready for the 7 hour drive home the following day. Totally worth it.

Cheers,

J&L

The Great North West Homebrew Competition

It all began with a few drinks and a healthy debate about which homebrew group would win in a beer based duel. And so, organised by homebrew groups from Chester and Manchester (soon joined by others including Macclesfield and New Mills), the Great North West Homebrew Competition was born. Hosted at the super-cool BrewDog Manchester, with homebrewer and BrewDog man Tom at the helm, we arrived on a gloomy and humid Sunday morning looking forward to the proceedings.

Marking the beers were six judges - a triumverate of Jims from Salford Beer Festival, BrewDog Manchester, and our very own Mr M representing Blue Monkey, alongside Nathan from Seven Bro7hers, Duncan from TicketyBrew and Angelos from BrewDog HQ.

The judges took their seats around the top table with a sense of palpable trepidation, knowing full well that 91 homebrews were on the cards for consumption over the coming hours.

The beers, split into 6 categories, ranged in strength from 2.8% to 11% with every type of beer you can imagine making an appearance and demonstrating the sheer diversity possible.

Judges working hard

The unanimous winner of round one, the session beers, was a wonderfully refreshing Berliner-Weisse which looked akin to Fentiman's lemonade, and came in with a low ABV of 2.9%. The second bottle acted as a mid-round palate cleanser for the judges. One judge gave this a "punk" rating of 23/23, commenting "You are an artist, sir". High praise indeed for brewers Tom Lewis and Bruce Wilcox.

Next up - the "Bests", which included beverages such as a passionfruit and sage pale, witbiers and bitters. A pretty eclectic competition in this round, which was won by Dave Harrison-Ward's Lemon and Cardamom Hopfenweisse - a great combination of flavours which resulted in a delicate but tasty beer at 5.2% ABV, receiving absolutely full marks from one judge.

Strong beers came to the fore for the third round, with ABVs between 5.5% and 10.2%. Lots of barley wines and high strength saisons in this one, with some innovative combinations of ingredients such as an IPA made with Granny Smith's apples, and chardonnay soaked oak chips. David Bishop's fine example of an imperial stout (9%) took first place, with the strongest beer of the round, Peter Sidwell's barley wine "Cascadia" coming in a very close second, receiving top marks for "Knockbackability".

After a quick burger break for the increasingly rosy-cheeked judges, it was on to the IPA round. Chris Clough's "Puny Human" IPA at 5.8% took the glory for this one, praised for being utterly quaffable and having a "real nice" nose brimming with Simcoe aroma.

The most hotly contested round, stouts and porters, came next, with 19 brews battling it out. Although closely fought, the winning beer was Matt Dutton's Imperial Brett Stout, a truly fantastic imperial stout made with Brettanomyces (a wild yeast usually found on the skins of fruit) that gave some wonderfully sour notes that elevated what would otherwise still have been a great beer to a whole new level. Described as "punk as fook" on the score sheets, the judges were all impressed by the skill involved in creating a beer which took them on a journey from dark and malty to sharp and lip-smackingly good. Scoring the highest marks of the day, this beer was also the overall winner, giving some extra bragging rights to Manchester homebrew club.

Finally, an array of weird and wonderful beers were sampled for the "Anything Goes" round, from melon Scotch ales to mince pie beers. The winner of this one was Chris Clough's "Black Ash", a peppered rauchbier, smoky with a prickle of heat and really well balanced.

The day itself was a triumph - well attended, with plenty of beer chat and just the right amount of friendly competition. It's clear that the interest in craft brewing and the rise of the industry show no sign of slowing down any time soon. A handful of the beers offered are already available commercially, with brewers such as Steve (@BeerNouveau) licensing their homebrew kits, and it wouldn't surprise us if more were to follow suit, with a number of beers sampled which wouldn't be out of place alongside big-hitters such as Beavertown and Magic Rock.

Cheers,

L&J

The Obligatory Drinks Roundup Post of 2014

Somewhat belatedly, we thought we'd do a quick review of our favourite tipples of last year, as we aim this month to sample new things through #tryanuary.

Whisky:

Dram
Jim - Bruichladdich Octomore 0.5 - an early test of the 'most peated whisky ever made' in a beautiful Chateau D'Yquem cask, this was drunk in warehouse one of the distillery, making this the most memorable whisky I've ever drunk (more about it can be found here).

Laura - Bruichladdich Duplex - sampled at the Broadfield's "Old and Rare" whisky tasting this was a private bottling of incredible interest. This Petrus cask aged dram encompassed flavours I've never experienced before or since in a whisky. 

Bottle
J - Bruichladdich Cuvée 407 - a rich, chewy, intense whisky, aged for 21 years in Bourbon before being finished in Jerez Pedro Ximinez casks, it is a wonderful full mouthed dram, pleasingly sweet and spicy.

L - Aberlour 16 - put simply, this is just my kind of whisky, enjoyed again and again and never disappoints. Another sherry casked beauty which has a gorgeous Christmas-cakey stickiness to it.

You will see that these whiskies are predominantly from Bruichladdich, with wine and sherry casks featuring heavily - 2014 seems to have been the year that we have discovered our "type" when it comes to whisky! Which is not to say that variety has gone unappreciated - we've been lucky enough to sample a huge range of drams across the year. Honourable mentions to Yamazaki 18, Ardmore Traditional Cask and Sullivan's Cove French Oak.

Beer:

Bottle
J - Great Heck Yakima IPA - this is the only beer that I have bought more than two bottles of to drink this year, and is a wonderful example of how a heavily hopped beer can still have a bold malty mou feel, without the main flavour being just hops.

L - Siren Odyssey 001- another wine cask aged beverage for me! This was enjoyed at the Beer Central bottle share at the Bath Hotel. This was just a fantastic night all round and this luscious 12.4% imperial stout really topped it off. The wonderful Sean from Beer Central has written more about the night here - any Sheffield based readers would do well to keep their eyes peeled for the next one!

Cask
J - Blue Bee are easily one of the most improved breweries this year, with new owners and head brewer who have transformed them from producing middle of the road 'traditional' beers to a more robust lineup of excellent regular cask beers. Into The Abyss is the best of the bunch for me - a Black IPA, that retains the great malty features of a dark beer coupled with a light hoppy freshness. (Drank at The 3 Tuns)

L - Waen Brewery's Snowball is my most memorable beer of the year - a 7% chocolate and coconut stout with a smooth vanilla hit. All three flavours come through powerfully yet maintain tasty, tasty harmony. The highlight of Sheffield's CAMRA beer festival for me.

Keg
J - Mikkeller Black is one of the most interesting keg beers I have drunk this year. When it was released, the 17.5% beer was the 'strongest beer in Scandinavia' and unlike other brews of a similar strength, the high ABV wasn't achieved through freeze distillation but through brewing acumen. (Drank at Brewdog Sheffield)

L - Hitachino Nest White Ale - another drink enjoyed at Brewdog Sheffield (where we've spent many a happy afternoon over the course of the year) this was also one of my favourite bottles of the year, with orangey flavour and a pleasing spiciness. As well as this, the bottle has a very cute owl on it - what's not to like?!

Pub

J - The Sheaf View - Consistently excellent and ever changing bar, with a great selection of not just ales but whiskies and other spirits too. This is my weekend haunt - as a friday evening drink the atmosphere is lively and friendly, and for a Saturday afternoon sandwich the pub is quiet and relaxed and often a completely different selection of beer can be found on the bar.

L - The Bath Hotel (see also our write-up here) - we've made many happy memories there over 2014, including nights with good friends winning the quiz and drinking too much Thornbridge Charlie Brown's peanut butter beer, and of course Sheff Brew Fest, one of our highlights of the year.

With multiple beer festivals (we NEED to go to IndyMan this year...), a gin distillery trip, a holiday to Arran and much more adventuring round Sheffield and beyond to do, 2015 is already gearing up to a be a good 'un.

Let us know your "golden beverages" of the year!

Cheers,

J&L

Toasted Sandwiches: Brewdog Sheffield

Everyone knows that sandwiches are the perfect hearty pub snack - one step up from the humble pork pie, but without needing to resort to a knife and fork. Sheffield's Brewdog have just announced a new toastie menu to accompany their range of hot Pieminister pies (you do get cutlery with this option!), and we were invited along to give them a try. On the night, Jim was stricken with an evil bug, so it was a solo Mrs Mashtun mission this time - it's a hard life!

The menu labels itself as "toasted sandwiches", but there were no flimsy triangles of disappointment here, oh no. Every sandwich is made on fresh ciabatta bread from Seven Hills Bakery, and stuffed full of tasty treats with an emphasis placed on quality local ingredients. They're also very reasonably priced, at between £4.50 and £6 for a filling sandwich with a couple of little accroutements on the side.

We were first treated to "The Big Italian" - a generous portion of Milano salami from the lovely folks at Porter Brook Deli, with goat's cheese, mozzarella, and little semi-dried tomatoes which gave a beautiful burst of Mediterranean freshness. I was covered in it after the first bite, so it's fair to say this was a little on the messy side, but cheese and meat on your face is an excellent way to get to know each other. A good sandwich for bonding. It came paired with Brewdog's Libertine Black IPA, and the citrussy, spicy nature of the beer cut through the richness of the sandwich really well.

On the side, we also got a little dish of Salty Dog steak flavour crisps, and a pot of the most adorable mini gherkins I've ever seen in my life. I'm an absolute cornichon whore and predictably I loved them.

The second toasted sandwich turned out to be my favourite. Cheese, cheese, and cheese, all melted onto the crusty bread to form a hefty portion of molten scrumptiousness. The cheeses in question were more mozzarella and goat's cheese, with a great tangy cheddar alongside. What made this one a cut above for me was that the whole piece of ciabatta is doused in Henderson's Relish (for those unawares, a Yorkshire and better version of Worcestershire sauce) before the cheese is melted onto it. After eating this, I don't think I ever want to eat a sandwich again that hasn't been treated to a Henderson's dip. A Weihenstephaner Hefeweisse was selected to go with this and the creamy freshness of the beer cut through the cheese at the same time as complementing it. The little accompaniment here was the world's longest sweet pickled chilli, which was delicious and another component of the meal which ended up coating my chin.

Up next was a Brewdog twist on the classic ham, cheese and pickle - the twist being that the pickle had beer in it! The menu advertises Punk IPA pickle, but on the night we were given 5am Saint chutney, to go with the beer we were drinking (5am Saint itself!). The sharp cheddar and frankly awesome chutney were both great ingredients but it was the thick cut ham from Trearly Farm in Wales (but again acquired from Porter Brook Deli) which made this sandwich stand out - just lovely. This would be a perfect lazy lunch.

The veggie option was also delicious - griddled aubergine and courgette, marinated in garlic oil, with an olive tapenade and some more of those lovely semi-dried tomatoes. Admittedly not the option I'd have originally picked as an out-an-out lover of meat, but definitely one I'd consider in the future although I think I'd choose to add on some goat's cheese (75p supplement). To go with this we were treated to the single-hopped Citra version of Brewdog's IPA is Dead, which provided a refreshing balance to the slightly salty sandwich.

Every Brewdog bar differs in kitchen facilities and this is reflected in their menus. The Sheffield team are proof that a lot can be done with just a single grill and a pie oven. The whole group was really impressed with the sandwiches on offer, and the fact that every ingredient has been clearly thought out and carefully sourced. These are toasties done proper, Sheffield style!

Cheers,

Laura

Karma Citra: Beer and Desserts

Relatively new to the growing Sheffield craft beer scene, Karma Citra are a group of beer enthusiasts who have recently started hosting an array of interesting events. This one was no exception - beer and pudding. Who can resist that?!

Held in the laid-back setting of Brewdog, we were greeted by "I hope you're hungry" - always a good sign when you're about to embark on a four-course meal of pudding!

We started on the "light option" - Buxton Far Skyline Berliner Weisse served with a lemon mousse. Unusually strong for this style of beer at 4.9%, initially I found the Buxton a little too sour for my taste - not something I'd usually go for. However after gobbling down some of the tart yet sweet lemon mousse (and getting a fair amount all over my face), the sourness softened and the fruity, hoppy characteristics of the beer came to the fore, making it deliciously palatable. The sweet and sour combination was ultimately a winner, and we scored it 9/10 - the bar had been set!

Second up was Weihenstephaner Hefeweisse, paired with a banana and peanut butter cheesecake. Hailing from the oldest brewery in the world, the Hefeweisse was tasty, if a little on the thin side - although the clean feeling it left on the palate was welcomed. However, again the dessert accompaniment really brought the beer to life and enhanced the banana-y flavour present in the style, and the two together worked really well. Score: 8/10.

We all needed a little bit of a rest after this, before the third offering was brought out - Magic Rock's collaboration with Norwegian brewery Lervig Aktiebryggeri - Farmhouse IPA, served with a carrot cupcake, with cream cheese icing. The beer was all classic IPA on the nose, with a great hoppy flavour and just a hint of citrussy spice. The spiciness of the carrot cake complemented this well and little hints of orange in there went nicely with the hoppy nature of the beer. A solid 7/10.

And then came the piece de resistance, and what a finale it was! Brewdog Cocoa Psycho brownie (Meghan's recipe can be found here) and a Sam Smith's Chocolate Stout float, with vanilla ice cream, a generous helping of squirty cream and chocolate sprinkles. The Cocoa Psycho gave a wonderfully sumptuous coffee and chocolate flavour and was just everything you could ever want from a brownie - the beer float was almost delicate in comparison! This whole lot came with a jug of cream on the side "to make it less heavy". That's my kind of pud. Full marks all round from the table-10/10!

From now on, I demand that all my drinks come as a float and that all my Sundays be decadent.

All gone!

Cheers,

Laura

US Craft Beer Night at BrewDog Sheffield

In celebration of Independence Day, I headed down to shiny new Sheffield BrewDog last week. The brewing techniques and styles of beers created by BrewDog are clearly heavily influenced by our pals across the pond and so it was a great setting in which to sample some American delights from a variety of craft brewers.

We were warmly greeted by the staff and seated at a table covered in little nibbles and a giant American flag. Cool. Without further ado the first beer was presented to us: Stateside Saison from Stillwater Artisanal ales. Going straight in with an ABV of 6.8%, this was surprisingly easy to drink, perhaps on account of having the lowest bitterness rating of the evening (20-35 IBUs). It was plain to see that this evening was going to be all about the hops! This beer had a lovely fruity and slightly floral aroma, with tropical fruit sweetness on the palate.

The second offering of the night was Hop Devil, an American IPA from Victory Brewing Co. I'd actually sampled this on keg the week before, but the effect from the bottle was somewhat punchier, and also had a more reddish hue than the pale ale I'm sure I drank last time! The bitterness of the hops was the overwhelming flavour, but this was coupled with a spiciness that lingered on the tongue for ages. Not quite my thing, but none-the-less a good beer that's a great example of the style.

Next we moved on to Oskar Blues Deviant Dale's IPA - an American Double IPA, making this a "souped up" version of their Dale's Pale Ale. Oskar Blues is one of a growing number of breweries choosing to can their beers rather than bottle them, to avoid any "skunking" (spoiling of the beer caused by the infiltration of UV light). I really enjoyed this beer - it had enough hoppiness to make me suck my cheeks in but this was still nicely balanced with a malty sweetness. With an IBU rating of 85 and at 8% ABV, it was a signal that this was time to move on to the big guys!

After a quick break and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or two, we returned to our tasting with a bottled version of another drink that I've previously sampled on tap: the excellent Shipwrecker Circus, an American style barley wine which is a collaboration between Oskar Blues and Brewdog itself. I loved this beer from the keg and from the bottle it was just as good. Barley wine is perhaps my favourite style of beer and the characteristically high ABV (the Shipwrecker Circus comes in at 10.5%) makes it a perfect sort of beverage to finish off an evening (although on this occasion we had two more to go!). Almost syrupy in consistency with a beautiful rich sweetness reminiscent of liquorice and caramel, with a raisin-like fruitiness that lifts the flavour above being sickly. I loved this beer - my favourite of the night.

What we thought was to be the last beer was Clown Shoes - Chocolate Sombrero, a 9% imperial stout brewed in Massachusetts. My aversion to all things clown-based means that this isn't a brewery I've typically gone for, but this was probably a lesson in how not to judge a beer by the label. Another very enjoyable drink with huge notes of roasted cocoa on the nose with a tiny suggestion of chilli. On the taste this was deliciously chocolatey and full bodied, alongside a maple syrup sweetness. The little hit of chilli came through at the end but was delicate enough not to overwhelm the palate.

An observation from the lovely Claire that the Chocolate Sombrero had a hint of banana to the flavour and the guys at BrewDog just couldn't resist giving us a taster of their Abstrakt 14 - "the closest to banoffee pie you'll get in a beer". This was a dream of a beer, definitely tasting like a good pud and an ideal finisher to the evening alongside a Reese's peanut butter cup (the only downside to this being that I now have a slight addiction to them...)

The evening was a great introduction to a variety of big, brash and bold American craft beers, and the knowledge and passion of the team at BrewDog was refreshing. An entertaining and informative night all round!

Stay classy, America.

Laura x

Exploring on our own doorstep

We love finding new places to eat and drink, and every so often we come to the realisation that there are some fantastic places in Sheffield that we have never been before.

After a quick post-work pint in the Bath Hotel, we decided to head to the brand new BrewDog bar. Overall, it's what we have come to expect from a BrewDog - crisp and industrial interior, quirky, knowledgeable staff, and expensive but very tasty craft beer. There were around 20 keg beers on offer - half BrewDog, and half guest - alongside a large selection of bottled beers. They also do a small menu of nibbly foods, which looked very tempting. It's not an everyday bar, but somewhere that for us would definitely be suitable for a special occasion.

For dinner, we descended upon The Great Gatsby, located on Division Street - somewhere that has previously been recommended to us but that we had not yet had the chance to visit. The menu is provided courtesy of Shy Boy Cantina - resident at Gatsby's since last October and taking Mexican street food to a tasty new level.

We selected tacos to share (2 per portion) - pulled pork, kimchi and sriracha, and beef with a horseradish cream. Both were exceptionally good, but I think the pork just edged it... Spicy, zingy and fresh flavours combined with the meat to produce a popular dish with a unique twist. I'm still not quite sure exactly what kimchi is, but I know I like it. The beef and horseradish tacos were also very good - a familiar combination, albeit one which isn't usually found in Mexican cuisine. This is quite clearly fusion food at its best.

As a side we chose chilli cheese fries, which were hearty, naughty and delicious.

The only dessert option on the menu is churros with chocolate sauce - but who needs anything else?! Already a favourite pudding, these were a joy - served piping hot, crispy on the outside and delightfully soft in the centre. Dusted with cinnamon, they worked perfectly with the rich chocolate sauce... which we somehow managed to improve with a slight dash of cholula chilli!

We'll definitely be back to sample some of the more options on offer - the avocado fries ordered by the table next to us looked amazing! With a menu which changes with the season, Shy Boy Cantina are onto a winner. 

Laura xx