The Dead Hippe Burger -- no oil painting....

Eating in a restaurant has been likened to buying a slice of lifestyle which doesn’t necessarily belong to you. For example, book dinner at any of London’s overpriced overstyled “it” restaurants and feel like an oligarch for the evening; as long as you can pay the bill, no one has to know otherwise.

In a similar vein, cult burger joint MEATliquor is so overtly, drippingly, jaw-achingly cool that you’re automatically cool by association, for just stepping in the door.

Exhibit #1 of coolness: there is no obvious sign outside the restaurant. You identify it by the queue of quietly hip people (Exhibit #2) waiting outside, and the wafting smell of greasy charred meat.

Exhibit #3: the decor. Scarlet tube lighting, black-red-white painted walls adorned with torsos, animal parts, skulls, quotations, you name it. Men’s toilets labelled ‘dicks’ in edgy capitals. (What’s the girls’ loo called? I asked my dining buddy. Chicks, was the disappointing reply on her return.)

Exhibit #4: the crockery. Jam jars as water glasses. Aluminium baking trays as plates. Rolls of kitchen-towel on the table. And no cutlery. All very alt-glamour.

And the food? Highly enjoyable wholesome calorific fare. We both went for the Dead Hippie burger (double patty, cheese, pickles, I forget what else) along with a side of Deep Fried Pickles with Blue Cheese Dip. The dip was so moreish I’d have eaten the whole little tub, if I’d had cutlery. I settled for dipping my burger instead, which dripped dangerously with meat juice and wayward ketchup.

For dessert, a small selection of pies and ice-cream floats failed to excit, so continuing the ‘savoury for sweet’ theme of recent meals, we shared the Chilli Fries — an enourmous plate of fries covered in chilli (as in ‘con carne’), pickles and more cheese. We ate most of this addictively stodgy mess, but I’d avoid it in the future for the sake of my arteries.

Staff were uniformly pretty, chirpy and tried to ply us with Bloody Marys at 1pm in the afternoon.

I’ll be back soon, when I get that burger craving, or need another dose of cool to bolster my social ego. MEATliquor will be sure to satisfy, either way.

Burgers around £7, sides around £3-5

MEATliquor
74 Welbeck Street
London W1G 0BA
020 7224 4239

meatliquor.com

No reservations

It’s hard not to love the concept of The 10 Cases – Bistrot à Vin.

10 whites, 10 reds, 10 cases of each. When the cases run out, that’s it, and a new wine comes in. Simple daily-changing menu, featuring three starters, three mains and three desserts — plus a small board of specials and appetiser tidbits.

We had the anchovies, twice. Once as a starter, once as dessert — though this may be over-selling them, as their choice as a dessert was more due to the lack of exciting dessert options (rice pudding, Neal’s Yard cheese, apple tart) than a whole-hearted recommendation. That said, there were rather good, as was the saucisson.

Mains-wise, confit duck (£15) was as excellent as they come. Crispy skin, soft perfectly-salted meat, all perched on a bed of greens with a side of carrots included. My dining partner ordered the rainbow trout, which came whole, lightly poached, then seared. Fresh enough to tempt me into ordering fish the next time I come here, and that’s saying something.

Now, the wine. Hand-written in a charming but barely legible scrawl, the list offers all the wines by the 125ml glass, 500ml carafe and bottle. We ordered a carafe of the 2008 Riesling “Karthauser”, Weingut Tesch, Nahe. Served along with an ice-bucket (important for slow drinkers like me), it was smooth, fresh and gently aromatic.

Wine pricing: unfortunately for light drinkers/small groups, it seemed that the more pricey wines were prohibitively expensive when ordered by the glass. For example, the white burgundy was £9 for a 125ml glass, while only £31 for the whole bottle. Compared to the cheapest red, which was £4 per glass and £20 per bottle, this means that either the burgundy was a steal by the bottle (quite possible) or they’re really not keen to sell you it by the glass (for obvious wine-storage reasons).

A real shame, especially for a restaurant seemingly selling the merits of fast wine turnover — i.e. limited cases, so a chance to try something new. It all would have been running for the cheapest option, should I only want a glass with each course.

Service in this surprising small bistro was super-friendly and wonderfully efficient. My fork had barely stopped clattering on the floor when our waitress hurried over with a clean one. But don’t expect to hang around after desserts on a busy night. With a queue of diners waiting just inside the door, only a few metres away, the message is clear: your table is hot property. But at least there was no official time-limit to our dinner.

I’ll definitely be back. But oddly enough, for the food and atmosphere. The wine list, quirky as it is, is merely a minor plus point.

The 10 Cases
16 Endell Street
London WC2H 9BD
0207 836 6801
Online booking available

the10cases.co.uk