Located in one of the corners of the Spitafields Markets is a small innocuous café serving up southern-style American foods. A flame grilling BBQ stands tall as you walk into the dining area, a small gathering of rickety tables surrounded by older, yet remarkably comfortable chairs all covered by a patio, in an endeavour to recreate what you might imagine a restaurant in the ‘Deep South’ might seem like. Each table contains all you might need to eat your food with various hot sauces, napkins, plastic cutlery and little packets of Heinz Tomato Ketchup.
We arrived at lunch time and the fire was only just starting to get cracking. Though we weren’t expecting a real American, we were eventually greeted by what seemed like a straight-to-the-point Londoner whose looks alone said the, ‘wadda ya want ta orda?’
Prices at this café are not cheap, my Beef Brisket sandwich costing £7.20 and the pork rib platter costing even more. Strangely enough you have to pay as soon as you order and you don’t need to ever worrying about paying service since that’s also included in your total.
After shortly paying, our waitress delivered our meal on small paper and plastic plates, still keeping in touch with the ‘theme’ but hardly looking like the good money we had just handed over. My sandwich was literally just that – a load of beef brisket crammed into the middle of a bread roll. I found the beef brisket tender but definitely could have done with some additional BBQ sauce to give it more flavour. I think the platters seem like a more balanced option, served with several types of salads, but apparently all of them not particularly special.
The pork rib (note that there was only one big one) was also tender but unfortunately lacked the smokiness you might expect from a proper flame BBQ and dry without any additional BBQ sauce.
I’ve read that the steaks are the best things to eat here, and regrettably I didn’t try it since they were rather dear as well. Unfortunately I can’t really recommend this place to anyone and I won’t be returning to anytime soon.
Details: Arkansas Cafe
Found On: 107b Commercial Street, Old Spitafields Market, Liverpool St
Highlights: Good variety of American beer
Improvements: Tender but flavourless meats that are overpriced for what you get. A wider variety of offerings and improved service would be welcomed by patrons.
The Kua Rating: 5 out of 10
Finding good and decently priced Japanese food in the UK can be quite difficult, unlike back home in Brisbane. Finding lunch time sushi rolls is impossible (unless you count the boxes that Marks & Spencers, an upmarket supermarket, serve). Wagamama’s is pretty good and is all over London, delivering consistent and reasonably priced Japanese meals in a modern way but it too still lacks great sushi.
