cocktails

Yen Burger – a new kind of burger in Borough

~ willowbough1 ~ Leave a comment

I love a burger, possibly a bit more than the next person, and so when I receive an email telling me that a new burger restaurant is opening in Borough, I tend to get rather excited!

Located a short distance from London’s famous foodie-favourite Borough Market, Yen Burger, a Japanese-inspired restaurant, opened its doors in November and it wasn’t long afterwards that lovely Livvie and I headed there to find out exactly how good the burgers were.

 We sat by the bar, which is beautifully decorated with pretty cherry blossom overhead and has a refreshingly unpredictable range of cocktails. We started with a cocktail each; I chose Wild Flowers (hibiki, blackberry, lime, and cranberry) and Livvie chose a Fuzzy Guava (vodka, prosecco, peach schnapps, orange, and lemon). Having also tried the Long Night (gin, whisky, rum, Cointreau, vodka, and ginger ale) – which tastes just like childhood sweets refreshers – I feel confident in saying that whichever cocktail you choose you won’t be disappointed. While they’re standard London prices it did feel like we were getting a bit more alcohol per cocktail than some places offer too, so we were happy.

 Onto the food; our friendly waitress didn’t show any judgement when we ordered two burgers and FOUR sides – the sides were all just too tempting! Livvie chose the Finest Chick (coconut panko chicken breast, slaw, shiso, tomato, red onion, and mango sauce) and I decided to go for the Yen Burger (100% wagyu beef batty, lettuce, shiso, pickles, red onion, smoked turkey bacon, yen sauce, and cheese), named after the food entrepreneur behind the restaurant. At £10 and £12 respectively the burgers weren’t cheap, but for that part of London it’s not unexpected to pay that much for a burger, and the burgers themselves didn’t disappoint. The flavours of the Finest Chick were delightfully put together and just melted in your mouth. The Yen Burger was huge but I didn’t waste a bite, it was that delicious! The beef was also melt-in-your-mouth delicious and, although slightly over-cooked for my personal taste (I’d have a burger super-rare if I could!) other than the colour it didn’t appear over cooked. So maybe I could be converted to the church of the well-done burger if the beef is good enough…

 There’s an interesting range of sides – a cross between a Japanese noodle house and a burger bar, which while ordinarily would be an unusual combination it’s what you’d expect at Yen Burger. We chose the Gyoza – which were light and crisp and the best gyoza I’ve had in a long time! – and Halloumi and Mango along with more standard burger fare of Dashi Chips and Sweet Potato Chips. While I’m a big fan of anything sweet potato, I think when I go back, I’d stick to the gyoza or maybe try the Pomegranate Salad for something lighter. It wasn’t easy, but we did manage to finish it all! Ordinarily I’d say you really don’t need four sides between two of you (we wanted to try a range though, for the benefit of our readers!) but if you are hungry the sides don’t break the bank ranging from £3 to £4.90.

 I would recommend Yen Burger, although I do think it leans more towards the burger than Japanese cuisine, so as long as you know this in advance you shouldn’t be disappointed!

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Cheers! Here’s to a cocktail of cakes

~ willowbough1 ~ Leave a comment

Hurrah, summer is here at last (sort of)! And with all of the street parties, picnics and tennis on the horizon it’s the perfect time for those of us who do indulge in a drop of alcohol to enjoy a leisurely Pimms. Or maybe you’re a gin girl instead? Whatever your tipple, it’s possible to mix the indulgence of an afternoon drink in the sunshine with cake. What a treat!

Throw into the mix being asked to cater for a hen party, where the bride is partial to a summertime drink or two, and I had an interesting challenge coming up with the cake that was to be the centrepiece of her afternoon tea with a twist. The cake was a triple layer of her favourite summertime drinks, mojito, gin and tonic and, of course, a summertime Pimms. The cakes were surprisingly simple and easy to make, using a basic cake mix and adding in the relevant fruit/alcohol, so that you get the right level of flavour but not so much that the mixture is too wet.

Making a boozy cake wasn’t enough for me; I also wanted to have boozy icing (this was, after all, a party cake, was it not?!) so I made Pimms buttercream icing and drizzle, gin buttercream icing and matching drizzle and finally mojito buttercream icing and drizzle. It really was simple, just mix icing sugar and butter with the respective alcohol and fruit juice. The tricky part was not drinking it, licking fingers or testing the strength of flavour too many times!

Finally, having stacked the cakes one on top of another – and I’m not going to lie, this bit was, and always is, terrifying! – I decorated with cascading fresh mint and lime (mojito), slices of lemon (gin and tonic) and a scattering of strawberries, slices of cucumber and orange and fresh mint.

I really was thrilled with how the cake turned out – it looked great and tasted absolutely delicious. And it goes without saying, a three-tiered boozy cake at a hen-do will always go down a treat!

 

Ingredients

For the cake:

12oz butter

12oz sugar

6 eggs

12oz self-raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

A shot of your chosen alcohol

Buttercream icing:

5oz butter

15oz icing sugar

Up to a shot of your chosen alcohol and fruit juice

Drizzle:

10oz icing sugar

Up to a shot of your chosen alcohol and fruit juice

Fruit to decorate

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together and add the eggs, one at a time. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix on a high setting for a short time. Add a shot of your chosen alcohol and mix, again on a high setting for no more than a couple of seconds.

Transfer to two cake tins and bake on 150 for 30-40 minutes remembering to do the skewer test to ensure your cakes are cooked properly.

While your cakes are cooling prepare the buttercream by mixing together the butter, icing sugar, alcohol and fruit juice (lime for mojito, lemon for gin) until smooth. To make the drizzle mix together the icing sugar, alcohol and fruit juice until smooth. Sandwich the buttercream icing between the two cakes and top with the drizzle and fruit.