I'm really lucky to work near Spitalfields market; one of the best markets in London, and packed with incredible places to eat. I would spend such a huge amount of money on food (leaving me fat and poor) if I weren't careful, what with all the restaurants, food stands and trucks wall in easy walking distance.
Last week was a colleague's birthday, so we treated ourselves to a quick bite at one of the new openings in the market; The Diner.
As the name suggests, the theme is a classic American diner (my favourite) but it's managed not to be tacky, despite the neon, by keeping the exposed brick walls and rustic wooden table tops. We popped in for a quick lunch and immediately settled down to coke floats all round.
The menu is made up of burgers, hot dogs (including the incredibly tempting chilli, cheese and bacon dog...) and your classic American Diner favourites, like chilli con carne and sweet potato fries. After huge deliberation I went for the aptly named 'Juicy Lucy' - a pulled pork patty filled with cheese sauce, coleslaw, and BBQ sauce. Looks a little disappointing doesn't it? Just you wait....
Oh yeah, that's right, everything is INSIDE the patty so when you cut it open it all oozes out in a big cheesy, BBQey delicious mess - I couldn't have asked for more. I washed it down with a portion of sweet potato fries, because it would have been rude not to...
For a speedy lunch, which is what we were after, this place is perfect; we were in and out in an hour. The atmosphere is nice enough that you could have a nice dinner there too. The only down side is that the booths are all quite small so you can't really have more than 5 or 6 people on a table, at a push, so not ideal for big groups.
I will certainly be doing back, if only to try that chilli, cheese and bacon hot dog!!!