Smack Lobster - London

Walking along Piccadilly I saw this most fascinating plaque. Thought it would interest you all.

The newest, hottest thing in London, as I write, is - Lobsters. Burgers are now passé, alas.

The Goodman Restaurant group is Russian owned. They have some 10 Goodman’s steakhouses in Moscow. The first restaurant in London was the Goodman at Maddox Street in Mayfair which started in the times of gloom and doom following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. We had eaten there before I started blogging. It was very good. I clearly remember the meal; we had the Big Cheese Tax Lawyer and our London FPG [Friend Philosopher and Guide] as dining companions. Goodman did roaring business. Today there are 3 Goodman’s in London.

In 2011 they diversified, and seeing a gap in the market they launched Burger & Lobster. Simple concept. The restaurant served just, burgers and, well, lobsters. You could get a half lobster in a roll or simply boiled and finished on a grill with butter. Everything cost a flat 20 Pounds and was served with `free’ French Fries and a salad. For a burger, 20 Pounds is staggeringly expensive. For 20 Pounds a ½ lobster is staggeringly cheap. Punters loved the concept. Today there are 7 outlets in London, one in Cardiff and have opened in New York. You can read about our meal at Burger & Lobster here.

In 2014 the group opened their latest restaurant called Beast. For a fixed price of 75 Pounds you got a starter, a steak and Norwegian crab with a dessert.

Late 2014 the group opened Smack Lobster which they describe as a Lobster Roll Deli. This is located just off Oxford Street opposite Selfridges. Here the concept could not be simpler. You have just 4 Lobster Rolls on offer each served in a fantastic Brioche roll. The Mexican with pickled Jalapenos is spicy, BLLT is a quirky take on the BLT with Lobster being the added `L, California with Avocado is the most popular and Seven Samurai is Japanese themed with pickled Ginger and Togarshi spice. To accompany the Rolls you can have Courgette Fries and Lobster Chowder. The restaurant is like a Mac Donalds, you order and pay at the counter. You get a buzzer and go find yourself a seat. When the Rolls are ready the buzzer buzzes, you collect your tray, eat and dump the debris into the bin and leave.

HRH the Queen of Kutch, for some reason unbeknown to me, ordered the Mexican. I got the BLLT. We had a Courgette fries to share. A Lobster Roll is a glorified sandwich with luxury ingredients. Both Rolls were chocker block full of big chunks of Lobster. Mine had Bacon and HRH the Queens had the smoked Chipotle Chilli Mayonnaise [unfortunately not much smoke flavour] and Jalapenos. We both thought that the Jalapenos were very strong and overpowered the Lobster. The Roll was topped with shredded cabbage.

The Mexican Lobster Roll

Instead of the usual lettuce the BLTT had Lolo Rosso and instead of sliced Tomato there were halved Cherry Tomato. My BLLT we both thought was far better.

BLLT

The Brioche buns were gloriously toasted and really good. The filling had just the right amount of Mayonnaise therefore the Rolls were moist and not gloopy and soaking wet. The Courgette Fries were absolutely superb; it was refreshing to not have more fried potato.

Gloriously toasted Brioche

Courgette Fries

We were really happy with the Rolls. As you know, a sandwich is our favourite lunch. Getting a decent sandwich in Mumbai/India is next to impossible. The Rolls were excellent. We came away feeling happy and smiling. Definitely going back there again…soon.

Well we did go back just a couple of days after first writing this post. We had the Lobster Chowder and the remaing two Lobster Rolls i.e. the Seven Samurai and the California. Very very good. I would recomend any of the Rolls except the Mexican which was too `tikkha' too much Jalapeno. Gujjus will like it if they ate Lobster.

The Seven Samurai 

The California

The Chowder

The buzzer which buzzes when your order is ready

And do you know the best part. The super value for money. The Rolls cost just 9 Pounds eat in. If you take them away you pay a super price of just 7.5 Pounds. The extra 1.5 Pounds is VAT.