MeatLIQUOR has been on my ‘must go to’ list for a while. I’m a junkie, there, I said it. No, not in the dodgy drug abusing sense but in the sense that I have an unhealthily frequent desire to binge on junk food. I love burgers, I love chicken wings, I love cheesy fries- I just love the bad stuff.

Mr.N was going to watch Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium with Mr.E, a very good and old school friend of mine. Mr.E sang a beautiful rendition of John Legend’s All of Me at our wedding reception and as a thank-you, Mr.N took him to the match. Mr.E is such a junkie that he often has two dinners in one night, the second is usually at Nando’s! If it weren’t for his passion for kicking the ball about on the football pitch, there is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that the guy would be obese. I decided to join Mr.E and Mr.N after the match at MeatLIQUOR.

The restaurant is tucked away in an alleyway on the busy Upper Street. The restaurant is in an old converted car garage with a fairly dark inside with tones of red lighting. There is a photo booth, blooded red graffiti on the white walls and TV screens monitoring every move in the kitchen. Think red light district meets Saw- yes, that is the initial feel. Thank goodness it is only the décor that is a bit eerie because the food most definitely isn’t.

We started off with the superb Braai wings, these are South African-style barbecue chicken wings which are dry-rubbed with spices and chargrilled. These are not to be missed if you like your chicken wings! We also had the deep fried mac ‘n’ cheese balls. I can’t get enough of mac ‘n’ cheese but I wasn’t a fan of these small cheesy balls, it just isn’t traditional mac ‘n’ cheese. I was curious about the devilled eggs which are cold boiled eggs cut in half and the yolk is seasoned with various spices. Turns out that cold eggs don’t really do it for me.

I went for the buffalo chicken burger which is drenched in their house-made hot pepper sauce and garnished with lettuce, red onions and blue cheese sauce. I usually find blue cheese too overpowering but I was assured that this sauce was a lot less pungent. Mr.E had the same as me and Mr.N had the cheeseburger. I have to say, having tried other burger joints in London such as Shake Shack, Patty & Bun, Chuck, Byron etc, this place, in my opinion, is perhaps better than the aforementioned in terms of burger quality and taste.

After all that junking out, there was one last thing we needed….dessert. Now, here is what is interesting about MeatLIQUOR- there is only one dessert on their menu. My heart sank. Mr.E and I decided to try this one dessert seeing as we had no other choice. One bite in and we could see why one was enough. The filth pie is a heavenly mix of Oreos, marshmallow, chocolate and coconut in a pie served with ice cream and strawberries. I highly recommend this gooey and deliciously soft dessert to the sweet fiends amongst you, it really is awesome.

There are quite a few MeatLIQUOR restaurants dotted over the country from Brighton all the way to Leeds and I think they will only keep expanding with our growing appetite for all things junk. Apart from my cold eggs and unconventional mac ‘n’ cheese, I really enjoyed the rest of the food and I would happily try one of the other restaurants.

Food: 8.5/10  Atmosphere: 8/10  Value: 8/10

If this restaurant were a fictional character, it would be….Phoebe Buffay, Friends- a bit odd and quirky one to start with. She is blunt but highly likeable and, as far as friends go, she’s probably one of the best you could ask for.