Dirty Bones
Entrance to South Kensington's most exciting diner is via a secret entrance disguised as a burger kiosk. Once you've worked out how to get in with minimal dithering about, you walk down a flight of stairs and into a basement bar and diner with incredible atmosphere. It's almost like a common room, with hipsters lounging on sofas and sitting on stools under neon lights as they sip alcoholic milkshakes.
We were taken through to one of the dining rooms, which is either Scandinavian-esque in design, or 1970's school canteen. There are books on the walls and a DJ booth in the corner blaring out the most amazing disco music. It's very dark in here, everywhere - the contrasting bright lights in the loo hurt my eyes slightly. I apologise for the effect this had on my photos, but the dim lighting adds to the underground cheekiness of Dirty Bones.
Tuesday to Friday between 5pm and 7pm it's Happy Hour where you can order one cocktail and get a second for free, but it has to be the same one. Me and my friend swapped ours so we got to try two different ones, and Oh.My.God these babies are strong! Happy hour indeed! We had the Top Dog (tall pink one, above) which is Finlandia vodka, fresh strawberries, Chambord & lemon, and prosecco (yesss!). This tall, sweet drink packed a mighty punch, as did the Dirty Freddy: rum, velvet liquor, Bold London spirit, lime, fresh raspberries and bitters. We couldn't wait for the food to come and soak some of this up! I'm so glad there was a decent vegetarian option; the hot dog (below) was a Quorn/seitan mix, and absolutely delicious with spring onions, caramelised onions, fries, and a side of mouth-wateringly good macaroni cheese. My meat-lovin' friend had a steak with pulled pork macaroni, and loved both. We also shared some buttery greens to add a token bit of health. We were quite full, but thought it would be rude to not try something from Dirty Bone's tempting dessert menu. We shared the peanut butter gelato with dark chocolate cookie (SO good), and each had a Dirty Digestif - a cocktail of Baileys, vodka, Disaronno, and chocolate ice-cream. Taxi!
I cannot recommend Dirty Bones enough. The food, the decor, the atmosphere, the music! A major highlight were the cocktails, and I would definitely go back there to have pre-dinner or pre-dancing Happy Hour specials in the bar area. Dirty Bones is open from 5pm Tuesday-Friday, and from midday at weekends, booking is recommended.
Dirty Bones picked up my tab in return for this review, but I was definitely loving all of it I promise, and not just because I was drunk merry.