Imagine your perfect restaurant concept. Mine would always be one which contains a large selection of good quality craft beer, great service and food which doesn’t cost the earth – but packs one hell of a flavour punch. So you could imagine my surprise when I found myself in city, sitting in my dream restaurant concept, seeing everything come to life. The Beer & Buns brand is currently a long-term pop-up upstairs at the K10 Sushi restaurant. It’s a little mishmash inside, decked out with benches, seedy dark black walls and a couple of pinball machines – feeling like a waiting area at the cinema. That’s a pop-up for you I guess.
Serving beer & hirata buns isn’t a new idea. It’s spreading like wild-fire across London right now, with Japanese cuisine especially dominating the capital. I’ve been long sucked into this new trend and can’t get enough of it. The owner of this new pop-up is Julian Bartlett (formerly Me Love Sushi) and promises the UK’s largest selection of Japanese craft beers and pillow soft hirata buns (according to the website) and I can confirm – those words couldn’t have been more truer. Three things to remember before making your way to Beer & Buns – brings LOTS of change because the pinball machines are insanely addictive and come very hungry and very thirsty. We started with a couple of Hitachino Nest India pale ales. Medium bodied, matured in Cedar and with a touch of sweetness – it’s a great way to settle in and whet the palate (or line the stomach).
We quickly finished those beers and switched onto something a little more complex. Owa, brewed in Belgium with a Traditional Japanese method – this beer pumps out flavour to what seemed no end. Refreshing, a little dry and laced with rich caramel notes. We paired this beer with some KILLER wings. Easily the best wings I’ve ever eaten in London – a bold but very accurate statement. Triple fried to absolute perfection, the crispy skin retaining all the juice inside, revealing soft and moist chicken. The marinades have some serious attitude when it comes to flavour. The sweet and spicy option was a very moorish affair. The Korean hot I hear is very good (we’re wimps and skipped these) and the personal favourite of mine was the sweet and sticky tabaske soy garlic marinade. Seriously messy, but seriously flavoursome. Priced at £9.95 for six large wings, it’s perhaps the best bargain you’ll ever find.
The pillow soft hirata buns didn’t disappoint either and were every bit as ‘pillow soft’ as promised. The buns were light, sweet – like small fluffy clouds begging to be devoured. Fillings were good but actually what we thought were going to be our favourite, were actually our least. The chashu pork belly with braised red cabbage needed the meat to be more tender and break up in the mouth easier. Pulled duck leg with caramelised spring onion and harasame sauce was seductive and mouth-watering, but the unexpected favourite was the aubergine katsu with avocado salsa and miso sauce. Soft aubergine was covered in crumb and deep-fried to golden heaven perfection. The salsa brought a whole lot of freshness and the miso sauce was simply a dream amongst it all. As far as quality hirata buns go, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Almost time to leave, a quick game on the vintage pinball machines brought back some nostalgic memories and another Japanese beer helped wash everything down. We ended up sampling the most expensive offering from the beer menu, an Echigo Koshihikari – the first Japanese craft beer imported from the Niigata prefecture. A price point of £9.95 may sound high but it’s all about quality and coming from Japan’s 1st micro-brewery makes it feel that extra little bit special. If quality Japanese beer, great atmosphere and the finest wings and hirata buns in the land are what you’re after then look no further – Beer & Buns is here.
8/10
