The Great South London #MEATEASY Trek
I first read about the burger place #MEATEASY in the excellent London restaurant blog Cheese and Biscuits. #MEATEASY is a temporary venue in New Cross for the people who ran The Meatwagon, the Guerrilla Burger Van of Old London Town, "mobile purveyor of beefy heaven" as Cheese and Biscuits called them. I'd wanted to visit it on one of my all too infrequent trips into London these days, but when I had to start my diet, I thought that was just not going to happen. However, a few days ago, my latent superpower of self-serving rationalisation kicked in. I had the afternoon of the April Tun booked off as leave, mostly so I wouldn't ending up working late and missing it as has happened all to depressingly often. A quarter pound cheeseburger, I told myself, was about 600 calories, and at my weight, walking at 3 miles per hour, I'd burn about 100 calories per mile. All I had to do was walk to #MEATEASY from six miles away, and I'd have pre-burnt the calories to eat there. #MEATEASY is located above the Goldsmiths Tavern on New Cross Road (316 New Cross Rd, London SE14 6AF. Open Tuesday to Saturday, 6pm - 11pm for food, later for drinks. CASH ONLY. NO BOOKINGS. Open until Saturday 16th April 2011) and if I got off the train from Wokingham at Clapham Junction, that would put me about 6 miles away. A few minutes of working out a walking route on Google Maps gave me a route that was 6.6 miles long that should take about 2 hours 15 minutes.
Thursday was a good day for walking, fine but not hot, and I got to Clapham Junction about 4pm.
My route took me along Lavender Hill, and I passed a couple of places I had only been familiar with from magazine adverts, Comet Miniatures and Avalon Comics
which is sadly due to close in a couple of months. I cut across to Clapham Road, and up to Kennington and then turned east at St. Marks Church
but not without a quick peak around the corner towards The Oval.
Then it was a long, more or less straight walk through Camberwell, Peckham,
and on to New Cross Gate. As I was going to be going to the Tun afterwards, I was amused to be passing by a pub called the White Hart
neatly avoided the cubist cows grazing outside the college buildings at Goldsmiths'
and then got to the Goldsmiths Tavern.
Having found the pub, finding my way in wasn't straightforward as the entrance had moved from the one indicated on the web site, but the crudely painted sign on the door led me through the construction site of the ground floor of the pub, up the back stairs and into #MEATEASY. I got there about 6:20, which meant I had ended up keeping to a 3mph pace with a few brief pauses to take pics and tweet. The place was about two-thirds full, but I had clearly timed it fairly well. By the time I had ordered (you have to take a number) and was served the place was nearly full.
And how was the burger?
It was fantastic. It is hard to compare meals when they are years apart, but the only one I've had that I'd put in the same class is the burger I had at Chef Laurent Tourondel's burger joint, BLT Burger, at The Mirage in Las Vegas. Thick pattie, still a bit pink in the middle (which is how I like it) and still a little loose (though not falling apart), cheese melted almost to a sauce, and a very fresh sourdough bun. Just marvellous, and well worth the walk. I'll admit though, I hadn't walked enough to cover the fries too, but I felt they were required to bring a harmonious balance to the meal. Besides, by the time I had walked from the Melton Mowbray to Waterloo for the train home, I had done about 8 miles, which is further than I've walked in one day in a few years. There are better pictures, and much better descriptions in the Cheese and Biscuits blog article. When the burger was gone I didn't linger, the place was getting really full by then and they needed the table. I wish I could say I was going to go back, but sadly that isn't going to happen. They only have another week in that venue, and even then, I'll have to wait until I'm no longer trying to lose weight, and for The Meatwagon to return to the streets of London, or for a #MEATEASY 2.
My route took me along Lavender Hill, and I passed a couple of places I had only been familiar with from magazine adverts, Comet Miniatures and Avalon Comics
which is sadly due to close in a couple of months. I cut across to Clapham Road, and up to Kennington and then turned east at St. Marks Church
but not without a quick peak around the corner towards The Oval.
Then it was a long, more or less straight walk through Camberwell, Peckham,
and on to New Cross Gate. As I was going to be going to the Tun afterwards, I was amused to be passing by a pub called the White Hart
neatly avoided the cubist cows grazing outside the college buildings at Goldsmiths'
and then got to the Goldsmiths Tavern.
Having found the pub, finding my way in wasn't straightforward as the entrance had moved from the one indicated on the web site, but the crudely painted sign on the door led me through the construction site of the ground floor of the pub, up the back stairs and into #MEATEASY. I got there about 6:20, which meant I had ended up keeping to a 3mph pace with a few brief pauses to take pics and tweet. The place was about two-thirds full, but I had clearly timed it fairly well. By the time I had ordered (you have to take a number) and was served the place was nearly full.
And how was the burger?
It was fantastic. It is hard to compare meals when they are years apart, but the only one I've had that I'd put in the same class is the burger I had at Chef Laurent Tourondel's burger joint, BLT Burger, at The Mirage in Las Vegas. Thick pattie, still a bit pink in the middle (which is how I like it) and still a little loose (though not falling apart), cheese melted almost to a sauce, and a very fresh sourdough bun. Just marvellous, and well worth the walk. I'll admit though, I hadn't walked enough to cover the fries too, but I felt they were required to bring a harmonious balance to the meal. Besides, by the time I had walked from the Melton Mowbray to Waterloo for the train home, I had done about 8 miles, which is further than I've walked in one day in a few years. There are better pictures, and much better descriptions in the Cheese and Biscuits blog article. When the burger was gone I didn't linger, the place was getting really full by then and they needed the table. I wish I could say I was going to go back, but sadly that isn't going to happen. They only have another week in that venue, and even then, I'll have to wait until I'm no longer trying to lose weight, and for The Meatwagon to return to the streets of London, or for a #MEATEASY 2.