Shrimpy's

Shrimpy's retro wall, replete with glimpse of palm tree

Shrimpy's is a serious amount of delicious fun. It's kind of my new local, having literally "popped up" in what used to be a petrol station in a pretty obscure location at the back of King's Cross station. We used to run past it en route to Regent's Park, and it was such a bleak location, the last place you would expect to find a foodie haven. The re-vamp of the King's Cross area has been planned for a long time, and the area is fast gaining it's foodie credentials, with Eat St (now Kerb) providing excellent street food to hungry King's Place staff and customers, and Caravan catering to a weekend brunch crowd. Shrimpy's is the icing on an increasingly-delicious cake, taking up around half the space of what is now The Filling Station, where you can get pizza and drinks and sit overlooking Regent's Canal.

Seabass ceviche with plantains

With a curved, corrugated-cardboard style exterior, I wasn't expecting Shrimpy's to look as inviting as it did. Dimly lit, with an abundance of pineapple-shaped paraphernalia adorning the sills and counter, retro phrases and images have been painted onto the walls. The cocktails are retro-glam too, with a spicy margarita and a "blue-rinse" (a tequila and blue bols mix) amongst others. The food is south american-style. The seabass cevice starter we chose had a lovely tiger's milk marinade, tangy and delicious, but featured a lot of corn which seemed to be doing the rounds as it was on the table when we arrived. The seabass slivers were tasty, but there weren't enough of them in the dish, which had a lot of soft plantain chunks, sweet and tasty, to balance out the lime.

The piece-de-resistance on the menu is clearly the soft-shell crab burger, although lobster did feature and looked pretty good too. The crab burger was crispy and light, with good skinny chips accompanying it, but it wasn't amazing. My monkfish with quinoa, almonds and courgettes, however, was scrummy, and seemingly the healthiest options available. It didn't look that big at first glance, but monkfish is so meaty and filling that I was struggling by the end.

Soft shell crab burger

Since we shared a starter we had room for some dessert and were really hankering after the grilled black figs with almonds, honey and mascarpone, but they had run out. We went instead for what I'd describe as a pineapple eaton mess, or as they call it "meringue, hibiscus syrup, chantilly, pinapple". I'm not a fan of creamy desserts but this was gorgeous, and I'd have stolen it if it hadn't been my OH's birthday dinner! A crisp pineapple slice stood proudly in the top of crunchy meringue, whilst chunks of tangy pineapple cut through the cream. The hibiscus syrup was delicious, and the whole dish reminded me of my childhood, when Tony the ice cream man would serve me plastic cones full of soft serve ice cream with raspberry ripple sauce all over it. I only with Shrimpy's has been so generous with the sauce-I'd bottle it and sell it it was so good.

I'd read reviews that Shrimpy's was "sceney" so I was feeling a bit trepidatious when we first arrived, but the waiting staff were very friendly and relaxed, making us feel at home. I was really impressed just before we left when I overheared the maitre d' helping some walk-in customers, one of whom was in a wheelchair. She was quick to set up a table for them with easier access, and really went out of her way to help. I'll definitely go back to Shrimpy's - perhaps when I've saved up a little as it is fairly pricey - but for a treat it's a lovely place, with great decor, tasty food and super-friendly staff.

Kings Cross Ice Cream Festival

 This weekend the clever fellow on the left hosted the first ever  ice cream festival in Kings Cross, in the lovely new Granary Square. Just around the corner from us, the new development which is transforming the patch of land at the back of Kings Cross station next to York Way (and over the Eurostar lines)  was a great place to hold the event, although I'm clearly biased! The family event went down very well, and some ice cream  vendors sold out completely on the first day. Kids enjoyed the dancing fountains and petting zoo, and I particularly enjoyed meeting this chap (I love goats).

The Granary Square "beach" complete with sand carving sofa

With many different ice cream sellers to choose from I was fascinated by the liquid nitrogen-frozen Custom Creams, especially as they were offering peanut butter. This was really yummy and very creamy, though for me they could have added even more PB. The OH went from freeze-dried bacon and maple syrup, which has crushed up bits of bacon crumbled on top. He was keen to move on and try more flavours, so hit up the Sorbitium van (run by the former head chef of the Petersham Nurseries) for the weird (and he thought wonderful) combo of roasted banana and halva. Not my cup of tea, but he enjoyed the mushy, sweet mix which I have a feeling would go down well with small children requiring a sugar hit. 

After all that, he still had room for the "healthy" option of fro yo from Daisy Green, which we are big fans of. The cute ice cream van pimped with grass on top and replete with very smiley cow (Daisy, obvs) was touting fat free treats, but with the addition of oreos, popping candy and gummy bears to name but a few. To follow on the naughty theme, he plumped (sorry) for a topping on brownies, marshmallows, flaked almonds and chocolate fudge sauce, ending up with a concoction that was probably equally as calorific as any of the other choices. Still, it tasted good.

Yum fro yo-although not so healthy with brownies, marshmallows, nuts and choc sauce!

I was after a salted caramel affair to end my treat session, and after overhearing whispers from other patrons I went for La Gelateria's Salty Caramel, with some Nocciola (hazelnu) both of which were delicious. Their chedder cheese and black cherry seemed to be a hit too, and if I had another day to sample their finest I'd be trying a raspberry sorbet/pina colada sorbet medley, just to be that little bit healthier you understand! I really hope the organisers bring this festival back, it was a great 2 days, and the space lends itself to foodie gatherings and little markets. Go on people, make us locals happy.