When I was invited to review a meal at Joe’s Kitchen, I was super pumped! I hopped onto the website to pick out what I wanted to try immediately (because I’m the kind of person that definitely looks at and picks out what they want to eat before they go). There were so many things that I wanted to try, that I couldn’t make a decision. And then I got struck down with a cold that rendered me without smell or taste and I had to cancel my reservation. I was fairly devastated. But it was easily rescheduled, luckily!
Joe’s has a special Gin menu on at the moment, so Sam ordered the Bloom. It was a cocktail made from Bloom gin, tonic, rose and apple. It was really extraordinary. It tasted fresh and clean and didn’t have that overly floral soapy flavour that some rose-flavored drinks can have. I was still feeling a bit under the weather so I had one of their hand crafted “softs”. I chose the Indian Summer, a mixture of pink grapefruit, elderflower syrup and soda (£3.45). It was tangy perfection, with just the right amount of zest and zing that I had been craving!
We then moved on to the starters. We decided to share a massive plateful of the padron peppers with chipotle mayo (£4.95). The last time that we had eaten padron peppers was at a Michelin starred restaurant in Barcelona and needless to say, the bar was set pretty high! But this starter totally delivered. The peppers had just the right amount of “char” and a great level of saltiness whilst the chipotle mayo brought a rich cooling aspect to the dish.
Joe’s Kitchen has a special burger menu at the moment, so Sam and I both opted for the burgers. Sam had the double gourmet. It had TWO Foxham Farm beef patties, melted Emmental cheese, streaky bacon and bbq sauce (£14.95). From what a gathered from the few bites that I managed to scavenge away from Sam, the burger was rich, but balanced. If you are craving both bbq ribs and a burger this is the option I’d go for. The burgers come with triple cooked chunky chips (fries) and a small pot of coleslaw. The chips were triple cooked perfection: super crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. And even the coleslaw was good (I say this as someone who really doesn’t like slaw). We also shared a side of onion rings, because who can resist super crunchy onion rings?(£2.95). For my burger I went with the veggie option. It was a sweet potato and red pepper patty, topped with an avocado and tomato chopped relish and Emmental cheese (£10.45). It was insanely delicious. My favourite bites of the burger though were around the edges where the patty was especially crispy!
We decided that if we split a dessert we would have just enough room in our stomachs to squeeze in one more thing. For me it was an easy decision after glancing at the dessert menu; everything looked good, but one dish in particular was sweetly whispering my name. The cinnamon waffle topped with fresh fruit, whipped cream, black cherry compote and black cherry ice-cream (£5.45). Sam and I both agreed that it was out of this world. The cinnamon was at the perfect level in the waffle; just enough to make it sing out from underneath the sweetness of the black cherry ice-cream. I’d eat this every day if I could.
This was one of those instances where I am so glad that I was a blogger and was invited along, because with the plethora of food options in York, I’m not sure I would have ever made it into Joe’s Kitchen without some prompting and I’m so glad that I did! The food really knocked it out of the park and I’m dying to go back for brunch (on my own dime!). Next time we have family in town, I am 100% recommending Joe’s as our dinner option.
***Our meal was complimentary, but as always, my views are solely my own.***
Have you been to Joe’s Kitchen before?
If you enjoyed this post you might find these reviews interesting as well:
The Diner (Shoreditch, London)
Pasha (London)
Barbecoa (St Paul’s, London)
Hawker House (London)
