Hill+Knowlton Strategies

As a North American, you can only imagine my utter joy when I found out a hot dog restaurant was opening up in London. Hot dogs to me are synonymous to a fabulous family BBQ in a park or a long boozy baseball game with friends – definitely one of my ultimate comfort foods. I would say I’m a bit of a hot dog connoisseur, so I definitely jumped at the chance to try out Bubbledogs and see what ex-Noma chef James Knappett had up his sleeve.To beat the queues, my husband and I went for Saturday brunch (classy I know) at around 11:30am. The actual restaurant is small and has that typical trendy, exposed brick, shared seating feeling that these ‘one item on menu’ establishments have these days. The menu was really appetizing, with all sorts of hot dog styles from a Korean Kim Chi version to a breakfast dog complete with black pudding bits. We, of course, kept it simple and went for the classic Sloppy Joe with chilli, onion and cheese slopped on a pork dog.

Let’s start with the positives. It was a tasty hot dog, scarfed it down in about 5 minutes. We also ordered some tater tots, which I can see becoming really addictive. Loved that they also had root beer on the menu. I just couldn’t order champagne with a hot dog. That’s just against my hot dog beliefs.

With the positives come some… constructive criticism.

• We had to order another Sloppy Joe hot dog to feel satisfied and tweak the ingredients to get it right. Yes, to Cheez Whiz poured all over my hot dog, not ‘proper cheese.’ The manager even said she might change the ingredient based on seeing our much improved hot dog. Pictured here:

• The hot dogs are small. Where’s my foot long version?
• I need sausage variety in my life. There was just pork, beef and veggie. Where were the German / Italian / Polish varieties?
• Price. £7 for a hot dog? I had  two hot dogs, two drinks, cheesy fries at Pink’s in LA for $20 USD. Our bill at Bubbledogs was £45 for something similar.

I totally get Bubbledogs and I get it’s mega trendy, however I’m a bit of a hot dog purist. I prefer my hot dogs in a chilled out atmosphere with friends, family and an ice cold beer. And this size:

Will I go back?

WELL. I heard a secret that Bubbledogs is a bit of a front for James Knappett’s chef’s table he’s hiding at the back of the restaurant. Interesting strategy. Check out the website http://www.bubbledogs.co.uk/ – there is mysterious new section to check out.

Until next time,

Kat

PS – Come say hello, I don’t bite: @katcarnevale