Healthy foods, superfoods are essential parts of everyday life, but they do feel like a chore. Every now and then, we all crave for the type of comfort food that will bring tears of joy to our eyes. The Phoenix at Cavendish Square just a few steps away from Oxford Circus delivers not only comfort food but great drinks, service and laughter.
The location is unbeatable being less than 100 steps away from Oxford Circus tube station and perfect for busy shoppers to rest those tired legs and refuel on craft beer and progressive pub food. Whilst the venue always looks packed with customers from the outside, the inside is surprisingly spacious with the bar and dining area on the ground floor and a wonderful music and general performance space downstairs. They offer an eclectic line-up such as rock bands, standup comedy evenings and disco nights.
Their menu can only be described as sinfully irresistible. Cheese lovers should rejoice with their heavenly melt menu: grilled pale ale melt, chorizo melt, brisket melt and bacon belly bun. I am not normally a fan of thick slices of bread, but the brisket melt was a dreamy delight with the melted cheese and the flavours from the brisket soaking invitingly into the spongy, gently toasted bread. If you ever wanted to describe food as a comforting blanket, this would be it.
It is a surprisingly modern menu; we all know the popularity of bao, but no one would expect to see them on a pub menu. The battered prawn with buffalo sauce bao made for a great sharing dish as an appetiser or it is also great as a snacking dish with craft beer.
Their lengthy burger options would put most burger specialist restaurants to shame. We tried their outrageous Stable friends burger which combined beef patty, black treacle belly bacon and spicy fried chicken. Is it excessive? Yes. Would we order it again? Absolutely. However, I would suggest maybe a jog in the park first or around the various departments of Selfridges before attempting this burger. The sides like avocado and papaya cup are innovative and they are generally inexpensive with some starting from £2.50.
To top off our sinful evening, we had their warm cookie pizza, which was a sea of chocolate sauce with floating gems such as aero mint bubbles, maltesers and munchies and topped up with vanilla ice cream.
Although we needed to go for confession after such a sinful meal, it is the type of comfort food that we all need on occasions. If you want to try out their melt menu, it is also available in their sister pubs such as Radicals & Victuallers, The Royal George, The North Star, Sindercombe Social and The Lyttelton Arms.
baldwin@townfish.com