Okay, nearly there. January is almost over and payday is just around the corner. Here are nine exciting pieces of food news happening in London that you can splash your cash on now that you can afford to eat again! This week: steamed Bao buns, excellent cheeseburgers , Pho, free Nachos, National Chocolate Cake Day and Cronuts. You’re welcome!

Mr Bao opens in Peckham

There’s been a lot of excited salivating faces this week as Mr Bao opened it’s doors for a soft launch in Peckham on 22nd January. The team are serving up a truly delicious sounding menu including millionaire’s bacon ribs, bao steamed buns filled with slow braised pork with peanut powder, AND for dessert a Bao S’More consisting of a fried bao, melted chocolate and toasted marshmallow! For the next couple of weeks Mr Bao will be open Friday-Sunday until 31st January for brunch and dinner, then Tuesday-Sunday after that. We will be getting down there as soon as we can get a table. You should do the same.

Mr Bao: 293 Rye Lane, Peckham, SE15 4UA

Lucky Chip opens permanent restaurant in Dalston After a few years of kicking arse and serving up delicious cheeseburgers at various different residencies, Lucky Chip opened their first proper restaurant called Burgers and Wine on 22nd January in Dalston. You can still get hold of all of their amazing burgers (read our review of their Kevin Bacon Cheeseburger here) but their new pad has a slightly more grown-up vibe and new additions to the menu including Chicken Parmigina and Rib Eye Steak. Fancy! Oh and they also have more than 100 different bottles of wine too (hence the ‘Wine’ in the title there). Also as a heads up, they DO take reservations and you WILL need one! We popped down there on Friday to try and get some of the action but were turned away under no uncertain terms. I’ve clearly been living in London so long that I forgot that reservations even existed…

Burgers and Wine: 25 Ridley Road, London, E8 2NP

Salvation in Noodles reopens it’s Finsbury Park branch

Salvation in Noodles reopened their Finsbury Park branch on 19th January after taking a well deserved break over Christmas and the New Year. SIN (as they are known) dish up steaming hot bowls of Pho and other delicious Vietnamese treats. We managed to get a table at their Dalston branch last year and were not disappointed. Make sure you get the lamb chops because they are a-mazing! To not go would be a SIN. (Sorry!)

Salvation in Noodles: 2 Blackstock Rd, Finsbury Park, London N4 2DL

Creator of the Cronut to open a London bakery!

A single Instagram post caused ripples of doughy excitement in the food community on Tuesday as Dominique Ansel, chef and creator of the Cronut®, announced that he would be opening a branch of his bakery chain in London this year. No further details as yet on a date or location but we will keep you posted as soon as we hear anything.

Instagram: @dominiqueansel

Cadburys Creme Egg Pop-up Cafe opening in Soho

Fans of white and orange goo in egg shaped chocolate will be pleased to hear that Cadbury’s opened a pop-up cafe in Soho for a limited seven week run on Friday 22nd January. The cafe is based over three floors and offers Creme Egg fans a host of sweet eggy treats, such as a Creme Egg Toastie and Creme Egg and Soldiers. It will be open from 5pm-9pm on Fridays and 2pm-6pm at weekends, Friday-Sunday only. Tickets all seem to be sold out at the mo, but do keep checking the Eventbrite link below as they may well add more dates due to the popularity.

Creme Egg Pop-up Cafe: 26 Greek Street, Soho, London, W1D 5DE

Tickets: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cadbury-creme-de-la-creme-egg-cafe-tickets-20550912332

Dukes Brew & Cue: Brisket Special The smoky barbecue team at Dukes Brew & Cue in Haggerston announced yesterday that they were adding a new limited special to the menu on Monday and Tuesday nights only: a big old lump of brisket! We were already impressed with the huge racks of ribs available at Dukes when we went last year, now Monday nights have never looked so tasty. dukesbrewandque.com

Patty & Bun: new burger alert!

Winning the award for the best burger name ever so far, Patty & Bun announced a new special at their St James Street branch on Friday: the Straight Outta Compte! I am not too sure on the full list of ingredients yet but you can be sure it will feature delicious burger patties and…. err, Compte cheese of course. It looks pretty darn special to me. Race ya!

Patty & Bun: 54 James Street, London, W1U 1HE

National Chocolate Cake Day

You mean you DIDN’T have this on your calendar already? National Chocolate Cake Day is Wednesday 27th January, better mark yourself as busy all day. I will be hoping to discover some new delicious chocolate cake this year, but if you are in any doubt, you can always head to Bea’s of Bloomsbury who have the most delicious chocolate cake I have ever eaten. Droooool….

beasofbloomsbury.com

Free Nachos at Barrio Bars!

Barrio, the chain of bars with a Spanish/Mexican vibe are giving away FREE Nachos every day to anyone who mutters the words “Macho Nacho” on arrival. I have no idea how long this promotion will run for but I assume all four of it’s locations will be taking part: Angel, Soho, Shoreditch and Brixton. Worth popping down there for some free snacks to go alongside your mid-week Tequila maybe?

Still hungry? Here’s another round-up of brilliant places to stuff your face in London including Hawker House.









