A Few Delicious Things

Including two refreshing drinks for the summer

Hello, happy Thursday!

I am currently on the early train out of London, on my way to Edinburgh for the Fringe Festival. A few days of comedy, some bad theatre, and random shows in karaoke booths at 11 p.m. But, before we arrive in Scotland, I have a few delicious things from the past week I wanted to share.

Summer Drinks

For a very long time, a bottle of almond syrup, otherwise known as Orgeat, has been sitting on a shelf in my kitchen gathering dust. Bought for cocktails, it is only brought out occasionally, and I really needed to find another use for it. Enter two incredibly refreshing summer drinks. I have been making both of these for the past week, and it's safe to say that I have found two drinks I'll be enjoying all summer long.

Caffe Leccese

I was first introduced to this Italian iced coffee drink via the Instagram of the author Elizabeth Minchilli. The drink is about as simple as it gets; simply mix together black coffee with almond syrup and ice. I believe it is traditionally made with a shot of espresso, but since my coffee machine has been broken for months, I used my Moka pot, as does Minchilli, and it worked a treat.

Venetian Lemonade

This was another Instagram discovery, this time from my friend Joy The Baker. This is a spin on lemonade but with a nice bitter almond undercurrent. Joy made her version with lemonade, but I went a slightly different route to make it a little less sweet. The almond syrup I used was a big commercial brand, and it was already incredibly sweet, so when I tried it with lemonade, it was delicious but far too sweet, so instead, I used a lemon sparkling water.

Juice 1/2 lemon

25ml almond syrup, aka orgeat

200ml lemon seltzer water

Simply pour the lemon juice and almond syrup into a tall glass, add lots of ice, and top up with the seltzer water. Make sure you give the drink a good stir, as the syrup has a tendency to stick at the bottom of the glass.

Burger Pop-up

Yesterday I was invited to a press preview at the Standard Hotel in Kings Cross. The launch was a preview of Gasoline Grill’s month-long residency at the hotel's Double Standard bar on the ground floor. For those of you who haven’t heard of Gasoline Grill, it is a burger chain from Copenhagen that has an almost cult-like popularity. Started in 2016 from a working gas station, they have expanded to many locations across the city but, as of yet, have never operated outside of Denmark. The burgers they serve are described as smash burgers, but the style is different from the cookie cutter smash burger places opening in their droves right now. Unlike most smash burgers, these are not super thin patties cooked all the way through. Gasoline Grill’s burgers retain some thickness and are just lightly smashed so that they can get a good crust but still be cooked a little pink in the middle. In terms of toppings, they also add more than most smash burger joints, with cheese, gherkins, and raw red onion as the go-to selection. The two standouts for me were the patty and the bun. The patty had a really great flavour, and its a very moist burger. The team wouldn’t disclose what fat content their beef blend is, but they did say it was particularly high, over 25% in fact. The bun is what I consider the gold standard of burger buns - a potato roll. If you missed my post last week, you’ll know I love this style of bun for its ability to be both incredibly soft and light but also retain structural integrity in a way that brioche fails at miserably. The example used at Gasoline Grill was pretty much perfect. In Copenhagen, the famous bakery Andersson Bakery makes the buns for the restaurant, but for the London pop-up, the hotel kitchen made them in house, and they did an excellent job.

Gasoline Grill Pop-Up
Standard Hotel
Aug 12th-Sept 15th in the Double Standard Bar

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