Did your mum ever tell you not to talk to strangers on the internet? And not just any strangers, but guys in particular, because isn’t that what guys do? Prowl the internet day and night, seeking out the next naive young thang? And don’t ever ever never ever meet up with someone you met on the internet? My mum tells me that all the time.
Hah. Well, I laugh in the face of danger.
I think it’s a vast improvement that I no longer spend 80% of my waking hours on facebook. I mean, that’s just so 2008. But in the name of social media trends, I now spend about 90% of my time in twitterverse, tweeting my minute-by-minute happenings to all of the zero people who listen.
Tempting fate the way I do, a couple of weeks back, I twittered, dare I even say I direct-messaged a guy on twitter. In fact I messaged two guys. And we agreed to meet. The venue? Lunch at The Hawksmoor.
Talk about living on the edge.
So throwing caution to the wind, I brought with me my appetite (and my pepper spray – just kidding), ready to feast and oh, meet these two strangers friends what do I call them? People? It doesn’t matter. Turns out Kang and Mark are two big balls of harmless, but wait, my mother also told me that it’s always the most harmless looking ones who are the crazies….. eeeks.
But you know how completely indestructible I am. So harmless or crazy, I was in for the long haul.
Social media is a really bizarre thing. Regardless of whether it’s twitter, facebook, messenger or mIRC (oh yes, the mothership of all social networking, good ol’ mIRC and what was my handle? CutieX? OMG I am so embarrassed just blogging that out loud! *cringe*), after ‘chatting’ to someone for a while, you really feel like you know them. And on a serious note, I guess this is where the danger lies because really, you don’t know them at all. Not one bit.
At the risk of sounding like a twelve-year-old meeting up with his forty-year-old internet buddy, Kang, Mark and I, we really felt like we knew each other. We immediately fell into comfortable chatter about all things foodie, and laughed at inside jokes like we’d known each other for years. Maybe we’re all crazies. Yeh, that’s probably it.
The chatter soon turned to The Hawksmoor (because this is where we’re at) and the numerous recommendations we’d received. Without further adieu, we dove right into our starters.
Kang and I both ordered the roast scallops and devilled broadbeans, which I thought was delicious what with the tenderly roasted scallops with the roe intact (I love roe). The devilled broadbeans tasted much like mushy peas, but I thought the mild flavours complemented the scallops nicely, so no complaints there. I didn’t quite check in with Mark about his prawn cocktail but he inhaled the whole thing, so I’m guessing it was good?
Ordering mains was a no brainer. We’d all been recommended the rib eye, so I ordered that. Kang ordered “what she’s having”. Mark ordered “what they’re both having”. “All medium rare?” Yes, yes and uh, yes.
At the risk of being boo’d offstage by Hawksmoor lovers, the steak was not as good as I had expected. Maybe it was the twitter-hype, maybe I’m just too fussy with my steak (we know this is a lie, I’m not fussy with any food), ok so it was the hype. I was expecting a truly melt-in-your-mouth experience, something to take me to orgasmic steak heaven. Don’t get me wrong, it was good steak. It was thick, it was tender, it had a totally drool-worthy charcoally fragrance. And it was cooked to medium-rare perfection. Just not orgasmic. Maybe I do ask too much.
We also ordered recommended sides of tomato and red onion salad (fresh, yum!), triple cooked chips (crispy, yet meaty goodness) and roasted courgettes (I’m biased, I love courgettes in all shapes and forms), and a little pot of bearnaise sauce which exuded buttery goodness.
Dining with fellow foodies, a meal is truly not complete without dessert. I had the pina colada sorbet, 50p of which was donated to Action Against Hunger to support their aid work around the world. The light rum-based sorbet, paired nicely with a creamy coconut ice cream, was a nice refreshing conclusion to the meal. I didn’t taste the other two desserts (we weren’t quite reaching over to dig into each other’s meals just yet) but Kang really liked his sticky toffee pudding, and I think Mark liked his too. I forgot to ask him again!
All in all the meal was good. At £50 a head, it was a tad pricey for yee olde weekday lunch, but a good steak meal? Yeh it was worth it. Truth be told though, I’m still a Gaucho fan.
Oh, and Kang and Mark aren’t crazies. Not much, anyway. Cheers to new friends and happy eating!
Check out Kang’s review of The Hawksmoor here.
The Hawksmoor
157 Commercial Street
London E1 6BJ
0207 247 7392
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