Rule, Britannia!
16 Oct
I fell in love in Camden Town this week. No, not with some goth/punk/hipster man. With a fully-vegan restaurant called Loving Hut.
The other day Kaleigh, who is vegetarian, and I wanted nothing more than something greasy to wrap our teeth around. A big burger or the like. We looked through a horribly outdated organic-n-veggie-in-London book that I bought the other day, found most of those greasy spoon options listed to be closed, and stumbled upon Loving Hut. We hopped the first train to Camden and positively frolicked to Plender Street.
Inside was a counter to order at and a buffet to eat from. The buffet was delightful, I’m sure, but was not the reason we were there.
We hit the menu to figure out exactly what we wanted, when I discovered they serve FISH & CHIPS! AHHH! If you read this blog, you’ll know the love/hate relationship I have with fish & chips. If you don’t, where have you been? Get up to speed here.
Jimmy and Kaleigh both ordered the Golden Burger (vegan chicken burger) and I ordered the Fishless & Chips without hesitation.
In the meantime, J & K’s drinks came out. Kaleigh ordered some sort of almond soy hot drink that tasted EXACTLY like Creme of Wheat and it was effing delicious.
Big Jim ordered his standard Coke. In this case it was a natural version.
We anxiously and impatiently waited until our food arrived. Eeee! I’m going to start with Kaleigh’s Golden Burger. You know, for proper build up to the Fishless & Chips.
She gave me a bite (what a dear) and it was quite delicious. I was way too into my fish at this point to really analyse the flavours and textures. Whatever, that wasn’t my meal. Shut up.
FISH & CHIPS! It now truly feels like I am in London.
This meal was, in a word, perfect. In another word? Everything. It was everything. So facking good! The batter on the fish was exactly right. And “fish” itself? I want to know which Loving Hut chef traded in his soul to get this recipe. The texture! THE FLAVOUR! Holy snappin’. Perfect!
Can we also take a second to mention the pickles that came on the side? MOST amazing pickles ever! Next time I order this I’m going to tell them to replace all the other vegetables with extra pickles and be the happiest girl anywhere.
The french fries chips were the best I’ve had in a long, long time. Golden and crispy. Horray for vegan deep fryers!
The only way I can figure out that this fish was so good was that there was some voodoo ritual involving seaweed involved. I believe that’s what this mysterious seaweed-lookin’ substance under the batter was.
There were no leftovers to take home. No surprise there.
As my love/hate relationship with fish dictates, I will want fish and then I will not want it anywhere near me. GET IT OUT OF MY FACE. This fake fish was so realistically fishy that by the end of it all I could think was, “Too much fish. Blarg.” And that’s a good thing! That means they hit the mark, my friends.
I am genuinely impressed, Loving Hut. The guy that served us was great. The space was bright and clean. The only thing I didn’t like was the creepy Vietnamese opera that was playing on a TV behind the counter. It made the atmosphere a bit weird for me, but with food this good I can definitely put up with it.
There are multiple Loving Hut locations around the UK. I don’t know if their menus differ, but I wholeheartedly recommend you take a visit to the Camden Town location at the very least. GO! Do it now.
Loving Hut
3 Plender Street, Camden Town, London - 020 7387 5710
Open Monday to Saturday, 12pm – 9pm
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Tags: Fish, Fish & Chips, French Fries, London
Have you been down Shaftsbury Avenue yet?
I only asked because I’m watching HP 7.1 and that’s where Harry, Hermione, and Ron apparate after the wedding. I looked for you, but didn’t see you in the crowd, so I thought I’d check to see if you’ve even been there yet
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It’s actually Tottenham Court Rd in the book and we have been there! Multiple times. We drank in a pub there our first night here–it’s only 2 Tube stops away.