B.O.B.'s Lobster at The Rising Sun

OK, so the problem with pop-ups and being me is as follows: by the time I get round to (read: pull my bloody finger out) writing about somewhere, it's gone. 

 

So B.O.B.'s Lobster's residency at the Rising Sun has now totally ended.  SORRY.  But I went so I'm going to tell you about it anyway – because I thought it was brillo pads.  Also, it's not totally in vain because (a) they're still running food trucks around the City; and (b) because it was good I reckon they'll be back for more at some point. 

 

First up on the menu were deep fried oysters.  I think we'd had these before in the US – in New Orleans, no less – and been confused by them.  I don’t think we liked them much to be frank.  So I'm not entirely sure why we ordered them here, but boy am I glad we did – very, very good.

Next up in our medley of dishes was shrimp and grits.  Now I am absolutely certain we'd had shrimp and grits before, again in the Deep South on the same road trip, and I can absolutely remember our reaction to them: We thought it was disgusting.  I have no idea why we ordered something we knew we hated.

But boy am I glad we did.  Because this dish was, hands down, one of the best all-round plates of food I have ever, ever had.  I have no idea how they made it that good, but you can be sure they did.  It was served up with a gorgeous hunk of pork belly - fantastic surf and turf.

Last starter was pig cheek soft tacos.  A little bit like Wahaca's now infamous pork pibil.  Sadly, a slight miss - nothing wrong with them, but I could have lived without I'm afraid.

On to the mains - again shared. 

In keeping with the theme of the place, we ordered the two lobster-based signature dishes.

Lobster mac & cheese was fantastic - so wonderfully homely and comforting.  The chef uses lobster bisque to make the sauce, and the mac is strewn with lumps of tail meat - it's just divine.  I could eat endless bowls of that stuff, I really could.

And then the lobster roll. 

This is kinda their core business - the pop-up being born from the ongoing lobster roll and prosecco truck that you'll see about the place at food fairs and markets (including, currently, Borough Market).  So you'd reckon that they'd get it right.  Fortunately, they did - this was absolutely spot on. Like, really, really good.  Perfect chargrilled brioche bun, stuffed to the gunnels with lobster meat, and very little mucking about with mayonnaise or other sauces to distract you.  Top marks.

They were also dishing up cocktails - some classic (ordered to request) and some less so.  Below we have the old fashioned and a mint julep.  They were good, but sadly nothing to write home about and, even more sadly, they were terribly slow to arrive. 

All in, if I was in the habit of giving marks out of 10 for a restaurant (which I am not, and I aint gonna start now) this would score well.  Sure, there were a few snags, but generally we enjoyed ourselves and ate very well.  I hope B.O.B's decide to give the restaurant thing another go before too long - they did it well.

 - GrubsterBoy -