Take a dirty American classic, posh it up with some bubbles, and there you have it, a bubbledog.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve heard of London’s new take on an American classic called Bubbledogs.
The dogs are actually cooked in champagne, hence the catchy name, but the restaurant also offers a lengthy menu of bubbles to sip daintily from one hand, whilst gripping your dirty dog in the other.
The reason I haven’t tried Bubbledogs yet is one of my least favorite things as a Londoner: the queue. Two hours of shivering on a street curb isn’t my idea of pre-dinner fun and thanks to these new trendy restaurants with a no-reservation policy, there seems to be a mandatory pre-torture in order to experience a bite of the hype.
Luckily I hadn’t seen my Bubbledog dates for quite some time and we had plenty to catch up on. The apologetic hostess eventually seated us at the corner of the bar, which wasn’t particularly comfortable, but resulted in sampling the bartender’s yummy creation of candied ginger for her new cocktail.
Then came the moment we had literally been waiting hours for.
That first bite that determines whether or not the shivering bodies and chattering teeth were all worth a hot dog.
The first mouthful of flavor wrapped in a soft bun, escorting the all important bubbledog loaded with toppings and the necessary snap. Then the flavours came out: the chunky salsa, cool sour cream, fresh avocado, and spicy jalepenos all providing an epic burst of Mexican flavours worthy of the name José.
The best part of going to Bubbledogs with friends is the sampling opportunities. I also tried the BLT: bacon wrapped with caramelized lettuce and truffle mayo, Fourth of July: bacon wrapped with smokey BBQ sauce and coleslaw, New Yorker: grilled sauerkraut and NY street cart onions, Buffalo Dog: deep fried hot dog with spicy buffalo sauce, blue cheese, pickled celery and celery seeds, and Horny Dog: corn dog with corny bits. All of these were absolutely delicious and true to their name.
With our bubbledogs, we decided we must have an obligatory order of sweet potato fries and tots (give me some of your tots) which were the perfect sides to share.
Framed cartoon dog art lined the brick walls and menus of other restaurants covered the bathroom.
The bubbledogs were great and I’m glad I finally got to try them, but I will not be suffering the 2-hour wait again. If you’d like to brave the line, I’d suggest wrapping up warm and bringing some snacks!
Check out their menu here.
ALESSANDRA BRIAN 