Meatlover - Amwell Street, EC1

So Filthy McNasty's is no more; for the next few weeks only it’s going to be taken over by Meatlover.  I suppose you could liken this to a last stab at rebellion before it turns into a respectable gastropub that is much more befitting of the rather upscale Amwell Street “village” location.

Meatlover just to get to the point has unmistakably jumped on the Americana bandwagon.  You’ve seen it all before burgers, barbecue, cocktails; even the name is oddly reminiscent of somewhere else...

Not that there’s anything wrong with using a well worn concept; you just have to do it well!  Thankfully the people behind Meatlover have taken a bit of time to make sure they are doing just that.

A hungry group of us went down on the soft opening weekend and smashed as much of the menu as we could starting with the cocktails!  In the bar food wise there are no surprises really; we could call them your American dive bar classics really, buffalo wings, deep fried cheese, nacho’s with chilli, and hush puppies.

The wings were pretty solid with a nice rich blue cheese dressing but I really enjoyed the hush puppies!  Little deep fried cornmeal nuggets with a chipotle mayo; they are oddly smooth and surprisingly more-ish.

Moving through into the restaurant side we got a chance to try out the rest of the menu.  Given there were a few of us we ordered a couple of the Meatlover platters so we could all get a bit of everything but being a greedy twat I asked for a burger as well!

The ribs will probably divide opinion; I love really slow cooked sticky ribs that fall apart.  When you can suck the meat off the bone, stop sniggering back there, I’m a happy man and these were just that.

The brisket and pulled pork were ok both helped along when doused liberally in the spicy barbecue sauce; the beef short rib was good, the fried chicken was excellent.  Basically nuggets of butter milk fried goodness but perfectly cooked with a crisp coating and juicy meat as well.

I was pleased with the burger as well; I’d added Chilli and Monteray Jack cheese to mine and it was spot on.  Cooked nicely medium rare the deep savoury chilli offset the slightly sweet cheese and juicy burger well.

By this point the meat sweats were setting in; I’d knocked back quite a lot of cocktails as well but I’d definitely recommend giving Meatlover a try.  Friendly service, no pretence, and good fun; what more could you ask?