Excellent London food blog Young & Foodish has named their top ten London burgers.  The Gannet is dismayed to have not sampled any of these, though we have dined at many of the fine establishments named.

Must. Try. Harder.

The Gannet is gearing up for our first visit to Ludlow Food Festival next weekend.

The Swedish cider company makes a range of flavours, but apparently this variety is the most popular in their local market, and in Finland.I found the first few sips very refreshing – a roll of sweet edlerflower followed by a light citrus aftertaste. However by the bottom of the pint I was finding it cloying – too sweet to drink in quantity and a bit overpowering with my sandwich.

To clear my pallet I opted for a shot of Patron XO Cafe – the coffee flavoured tequila. Sweet, but in an altogether different way.

Gannets who write for us:

Allison Schnackenberg

A gypsy child raised by soul and doo-wop loving parents, Allison fought
the Punk Wars and ended up with a day job in the music industry.
Having lived in Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Staten Island,
upstate New York, New Jersey, Philly, SF, and London, her accent tends
to depend on who she is talking to, but these days we’d mostly call her a Mockney. Allison’s earliest memories of food include her Grandmother Libeau’s fried chicken, devouring an entire Angel Food cake on her own at the age of 5 (she got spanked), and her mother telling her the poppy seeds in the mashed potatoes were spider bodies with the legs burned off.

Damon Allen Davison

Damon started early in life eating food. It wasn’t long before he moved from liquids to semi-solids, and then on to mostly solids with crunchy bits in. He now eats a variety of things, many of which he has found in local shops and on the internet. He also takes photos of these things with his phone camera and then eats them. You can find his photos of other things on damonallendavison.com.

gannet |ˈganit|
noun
1 a large seabird with mainly white plumage, known for catching fish by plunge-diving. • Genus Morus (or Sula), family Sulidae: three species, in particular the northern gannet ( M. bassanus) of the North Atlantic ( also called solan goose (see solan).)
2 Brit., informal a greedy person.
ORIGIN Old English ganot, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gent ‘gander,’ also to gander

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So let’s first of all make it clear that this blog is not concerned with the (lovely though it may be) North Atlantic seabird. Though it is the bird who gave rise to the more informal use of the word in British slang, and if you have ever seen a gannet gobbling fish, you’ll know why.

The Gannet takes its name from the charming British slang for a greedy or gluttonous person, typically used in relation to food, eg, one who has eaten all the pies.  “The cake disappeared in seconds once the greedy gannets in the office had spotted it.”   We love food at The Gannet.  We love eating it, buying it, preparing it, talking about it, and writing about it.  

We are aiming to share with you all our experiences of food, be they good or bad.  Restaurants we’ve visited, ingredients we’ve sourced, recipes we’ve tried, gadgets we’ve tinkered with, books and publications, festivals and shows…anything and anyplace that you can find food, we’re likely to be there.  And we’re not sniffy about it either, we’re as happy talking about baked beans as we are foie gras.

We are looking for other gannets to join our gang – so if you like to write about food, or photograph it, or perhaps, (oh wildest of dreams come true) you just like try out new recipes for a panel of taste testers… please get in touch.

Thanks.
Allison

PS. Yes, we are those strange people who photograph their plates in restaurants.  That is, when we can muster the will-power, before devouring all we see before us.

London

• Banners Restaurant
  • 21 Park Road, Crouch End, London, N8 9TE
  • T: 020 8348 2930
  • (no web site)
  • type: American, bistro, informal
  • Gannet Rating: 7/10
  • Gannet review

  
  

• The Blue Legume
  • 101 Stoke Newington Church Street, London N16 0UD
  • T: 020 7923 1303
  • type: Cafe, vegetarian-friendly, budget
  • Gannet rating: 8/10
  • Gannet review

  
  

• Mercado Bar and Cantina
  • 26 – 30 Stoke Newington Church Street, London, N16 0LU
  • T: 020 7923 0555
  • type: Mexican, informal, bar area for drinks only
  • Gannet rating 4/10
  • Gannet Review

  
  

• Mucho Mas
• 27 Upper Street, London, N1 0PN
• T: 020 7704 2123
• type: Mexican, fast-food
• Gannet rating: 5/10
• Gannet review
• Tortilla
• 13 Islington High Street, London N1 9LQ
• T: 020 7833 3103
• type: Mexican, fast-food
• Gannet rating: 6/10
• Gannet review

Groceries (General) – Home Delivery

• Ocado – “Tesco prices, Waitrose quality, Ocado service.”

• Sainsbury’s – “We’ve got 100s of great offers.”