Pitt Cue Co - Southbank SE1

Have I mentioned before how much I love Southbank?  I did?  Well I'll say it again - I  LOVE Southbank and last Sunday was one of those prefect Southbank days.  I had been wanting to try out the Pitt Cue Co. BBQ truck under Hungerford Bridge for ages and in fact I had gone down there last week but was too early so this was my second mission (the first time the ever generous Pitt Cue crew gave me a couple of pieces of tasty brisket and some confit onions from their "crew lunch" to keep me happy - how cool is that?).  I couldn't believe it when the other half and I got there at 1pm a couple of  Sunday's ago and the guys at Pitt Cue told me they had been caught in a traffic jam on the way to set up so were running late - I felt like the fates were trying to stop me sampling that BBQ loveliness.  Luckily the guys from Milk & Honey had set up a cocktail stall next door (the cocktails were actually raising money for Pitt Cue to buy a new smoker) so we sampled some mighty fine gin based beverages while we waited for Pitt Cue to get going.  We got a little squiffy on the delicious cocktails and just in time Pitt Cue began serving their amazing BBQ goodness - the pulled pork is their signature dish and it comes with black beans, homemade crunchy coleslaw and the aforementioned confit onions.  This is seriously good food - in fact it's groan out loud good (although that could have been the cocktails talking).  Trust me on this - if you are in the vicinity of Waterloo, just GO!

Southbank - SE1

I have waxed lyrical about the Southbank precinct before, when I reviewed Canteen some time ago but I decided that this wonderful area of London needed its own post.  As the weather gets warmer I tend to walk from Waterloo in to Soho rather than take the tube (particularly as recently the Crossrail ....grrrrr.... project means the Northern Line doesn't stop at TCR for another thousand years).  Often there is a temporary market in the space behind the Royal Festival Hall, right outside Canteen and the other day it was a Tea & Coffee Festival (pictured).  Maybe I was in a good mood that day but I suddenly got all misty-eyed and sentimental about the Southbank and the fact that hidden behind it was this cute little mini-festival celebrating tea & coffee, with passionate producers and distributors touting their wares.  Combine that with all the great cultural venues on offer within a short stroll - the National Theatre, the BFI Southbank, the Hayward Gallery, great places to eat and drink plus the joy of the south bank itself - the second hand bookstalls under Waterloo Bridge, the promenade, the people watching - what a place!  Here I go getting misty-eyed again, but please, please, if you have never been to the Southbank Centre or any of the surrounding areas or you haven't been there in a long time or you just don't know it that well, spend some time there.  Summer is a wonderful time to visit - there is always something going on.  Case in point, the other day as I wandered across the footbridge from Embankment I came across Billy Bragg playing outside Festival Hall - that pretty much sums it up for me.

Canteen - Southbank

I think the first Canteen opened at the re-vamped Spitalfields market (more about that in another post). This branch is behind Royal Festival Hall and is slap bang in the middle of some of the most fantastic modernist architecture in London. Opinions are divided, but I think all the concrete and clean lines are brilliant and with all the great stuff that is now going on at the Southbank complex, including great places to eat and drink, I defy anyone to say this precint doesn't rock. I have lots of places I like to go around here - Concrete at the Hayward Gallery, the bar at the NFI, the funky Southbank Centre shop on Festival Terrace, Foyles bookshop...but one place I seem to be returning to regularly is Canteen. In the last few weeks I have been there for breakfast, lunch, dinner and post drinking snack and I have to say it is at the first and last of these that Canteen excels. The look of the place (sort of wood veneer Danish meets public library reading room) suits breakfast, the coffee is pretty good and the bacon, fried eggs and bubble & squeak hits the spot. For the post booze carb fest they are spot on - sandwiches with fish fingers and tartar sauce or sausage and onion marmalade are the stand outs. Lunch and dinner are OK but not brilliant - fish and chips, gammon and coleslaw, roast chicken, steak and chips, you get the picture - simple comfort food dishes done well but feeling a bit production line. However I am prepared to forgive Canteen a lot because I just like the place and I would love there to be more places like this. So if you happen to be on an early morning sight-see on the Southbank or you have been to the NFI or the National Theatre or boozing at the popular Brazilian bar and you fancy something to soak up the beers then I can highly recommend the sausage sandwich.