I had intended to go to The Naughty Piglet but it was closed for some reason. I have been to Bukowski’s a number of times but hadn’t been for a while as the service can best be described as patchy and so it proved again.
Once the person serving had finally looked up from his laptop I managed to order my usual. Beef short ribs with tobacco onions, Waldorf coleslaw and of course their fantastic chips. The beef short rib was as good as I remember (though could have been hotter) good crust, tender meat that fell apart as soon as you touched it and a good rub with hints of rosemary. The onions seemed to lack a little flavour compared to the last time I had them but the coleslaw was sharp enough to provide a good counterpoint to the beef and onions.
They’d managed to forget my chips and even when they made it to the pass they were delayed due to a table of four deciding to settle their bill all paying separately with credit cards. 15 mins later I got my chips and normally after I’d eaten half my food I would have told them to forget about the chips. Once I got a whiff of the hot beef fat all was forgiven. I was taken back to the chip shops of my childhood when everyone fried their chips in beef fat. The chips crisp (but not too crisp) on the outside and fluffy within and tasting like chips ought to.
I’m trying hard to like Bukowskis but they don’t seem all that interested in the service aspect of the business. There are so many other places in Brixton now that despite the quality of the food I’m not sure I’ll return.
