Bubbledogs

70 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 4QG - View on a map
Telephone: 020 7637 7770

Details
Overall 6.8
Food 6.1
Service 7.8
Atmosphere 7.4
Value 5.8
Based on 8 reviews

our review

James Knappett (ex-Ledbury, Noma) and Sandia Chang (ex-Roganic) have opened Bubbledogs hot dog and Champagne bar on Charlotte Street. The menu offers ten hot dogs, including the BLT dog, the Jose dog (topped with guacamole, sour cream and jalapenos), and a regularly changing guest chef's special. Champagne starts at 6 pounds per glass and 25 per bottle. A separate Kitchen Table seating 19 guests offers more formal dinners hosted by Knappett and his team.

August 2012

what the critics say

Telegraph

Zoe Williams - 4/5

Tuesday, January 01, 2013 - The whole set-up of Kitchen Table is exhilarating. First, you sail through the hot-dog restaurant in front, past a horde of young people, queuing, to your table at the back of the restaurant, separated by a velvet curtain...Reading my notes about the lamb, I let out an involuntary 'Oh my goodness!' This was stunning – sweetbreads with braised cabbage, and that was lovely enough, but what stood out was an incredibly cunning use of black pepper. Don't ask me how, but they'd brought it to the very centre of the piece, without any unpleasant kick, so that it was like experiencing it for the first time.

Guardian

Marina O'Loughlin

Friday, November 09, 2012 - This meal is something special. Each of the 11 little courses delivers eyebrow-raising surprises or sheer, sensual gratification, frequently both. They resonate and haunt for days afterwards, pleasure-bombs the lot of them...I feel sorry for Knappett, who introduces each course with bushy-tailed enthusiasm and real knowledge, having to perform for this self-obsessed, show-off audience of conspicuous consumers. When he and Chang get a place with actual tables, I'll be biting off hands for a booking.

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your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne

After two previous attempts to get in (I'm not going to queue in the cold for an hour for a hotdog no matter how good) we managed to get a couple of stool seats by the stair bannister. Actually all the seats are stools, which is cool, they're just not very comfortable.

I ordered the beef New Yorker which arrived with seriously overly spiced onions - certainly not how you would have it in NYC. The dog was quite tough too. I sent it back due to the spice and they happily swapped it for a dog with caramelised onions. It was ok, nothing special.

The sweet potato fries were pretty grim - probably why most places don't serve them. There's no choice of normal fries.

The coleslaw arrived in a tiny ramekin and is probably the sweetest I have ever tasted - quite disgusting. It was so finely shredded it was like eating sugared sawdust.

Utterly disappointing all round really and incredibly overpriced. I imagine repeat business here is going to be thin. The staff were very friendly and the place has a nice atmosphere.

Save your time and money and go to Bodeans where you can get a fantastic dog with good fries and coleslaw for 6.25. You can always grab a lovely glass of Champagne in a real bar afterwards with comfortable seats...

To strike a balance here, my partner ordered the Jose (pork) and thoroughly enjoyed it - though that may have been the two glasses of Champagne doing the talking...
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Hopey
Overall rating 5 stars
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Very average hotdogs. perhaps an unfair comparison, but the german sausage dogs they sold in Hyde Park at the Winter Wonderland are so much better (and cheaper). Great Champagne though and good service.
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Tanya
Overall rating 7 stars
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Thursday, January 31, 2013

I have to say I am amazed to hear some people waxing lyrical about Bubbledogs, the most disappointing food experience I have had in London for a long, long time.

There has been such a constant flow of great restaurants and eateries springing up in the capital over the last few years or so that my expectations are now naturally high, which made this all the more of a disappointment.

The idea did strike me as sounding a bit pretentious to begin with but if the food is good, who really cares and I was up for giving it a try. I won't be going back...

Other than less than average service, which frankly I will always forgive if the food is good enough - my hotdog was genuinely on a par with the .89p version you'd find at your nearest Ikea. It tasted cheap but at £7.5 I could have eaten 10 of the cheapy swedish ones, not that I would ever want to!

I chose the chilli dog - The chilli itself was overly sweet and devoid of flavour. The bread roll tasted like one you'd get in a packet from an average supermarket i.e. dry and nothing to it. But the biggest disappointment was the hotdog itself - this really was just completely non de-script and tasteless. Anyone who has ever tasted a good frankfurter would know that this is not it!

All in all, it's style over substance at Bubbledogs.
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Tom Ford - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 3 stars
Food 1 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Monday, October 29, 2012

Went to Bubbledogs Chefs Table last night (17/10/2012) and what an experience! I'm usually quite particular about these sort of things, but everything was faultless from the service to the food, all the chefs present the food and take turns to explain the dishes. Standout dishes were the chicken skin with bacon jam, fresh raw shrimps with dill and horseradish and a venison dish made with baby deer! The chefs table is going to get "dabbous-ed" once word gets round how good it is. Going to book again soon...
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Fu-dog
Overall rating 10 stars
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, October 18, 2012

After all the hype, my partner and I tried Bubbledogs for lunch. We didn't have to queue for too long, but ended up with a seat on the bar. We thought we'd go for the full experience and had a hotdog and Champagne each, with some fries on the side. Food came in fast food speed, and have to confess, it was decidedly average. Atmosphere was ok, service was ok. Overall, couldn't figure out what the hype was all about. And at £50 to find out, I'm pretty sure we're not going back.
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Dan Signet
Overall rating 3 stars
Food 3 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 2
Saturday, October 13, 2012

lucky enough to be one of the early diners at the chefs table and really can't praise it enough, I took a guest who had no idea we weren't dining on hot dogs and they were a little confused as you push through the tutting crowd and say 'chefs table', you get straight into the main timber clad dining room then through a curtain to a spotless bright pristine kitchen with counter seating for about 16 (at a guess).

There is one set tasting menu for £60 with around 10 courses and the food is up to the standard you would expect from a chef that has worked in the ledbury, marcus wareing, noma and per se. stand out dishes for me were the hand dived scottish scallops that worked well with the pineapple, crispy chicken skin with mascapone and bacon jam (could have eaten a lot more), truffle pasta, the mussels with oyster and the burata.

the braised veal tongue was my least favorite but at the price cant blame the use of the odd cheaper cut.

service was excellent verging on faultless.

wine list is reasonable with 2005 burgundy at £75 and overall a great fun night out where you have the chef explain each dish and watch the plating.

no doubt another place that's going be dabbous hard to get into once the press starts and the word spreads.....
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shane
Overall rating 9 stars
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Had lunch at Bubbledogs this afternoon, was extremely satisfying. For a little under £12, I had a buffalo dog and potato tots with truffle mayo. The hot dog was very well made, and tasted far nicer than the average hot dog you're likely to encounter. The portion of tots was also very generous, and the mayo dip was one of the best I've tried. In terms of value for money, £12 can be considered a lot for lunch, but I would be surprised if you left thinking it wasn't worth it. The staff were very knowledgable about the menu, and were very friendly and accommodating.

The selection of liquors was very well thought out, and if I didn't have to go back to work after lunch, I certainly would've had a glass of Champagne.
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Sandip Patel
Overall rating 8 stars
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Hooray for Bubbledogs!!! Had lunch there yesterday and it is great. We had three treats. Horny Dog is a had made corn dog with a light piping hot batter wrapped around a great beer for pork hot dog. The New Yorker with sauerkraut and a Breakie with fried egg, tomato relish and black pudding bits. Each was delicious.

The Champagne was flowing with knowledgeable wait staff to help. It also has a very nice selections of cocktails.

Come early and expect to wait but is it worthwhile...a great time out!!
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Ray George
Overall rating 9 stars
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Saturday, September 01, 2012

what the bloggers say

Cheese and Biscuits

Cheese and Biscuits - 6/10

Friday, January 25, 2013 - "Cod" contained the most perfect gyoza-like gnocchi dressed in cod's roe, topped with fresh shaved chestnuts. There wasn't much more to it than that, but it was crunchy, salty, rich and umami in all the right places and an absolute delight...Though I didn't enjoy my evening at Kitchen Table as much as I'd hoped, there is still the unavoidable fact that the food is some of the best you can find in town.

London Eater

London Eater

Thursday, October 11, 2012 - Bam! This was the punch of flavour I’d been waiting for all meal long it seems. The beef was incredibly tender. By inspection, I believe it was sous-vided, being that it was removed them from a water bath while sealed in a vacuum bag. Like the best roast beef I’d ever had, the concentrated flavour of fat and marrow was nicely done...The point I’m trying to make is that I had very high hopes for this meal and was expecting to taste something either entirely breakthrough in this city or just the best meal I’d ever had in London but it was neither. There were some very delicious things but I didn’t like everything.

Cheese and Biscuits

Cheese and Biscuits - 9/10

Thursday, August 30, 2012 - We've all had hot dogs before but the range of toppings Bubbledogs has put together are mini masterpieces in fast food for £6 a pop. The Buffalo Dog was a clever rearrangement of Buffalo Chicken Wings into hot dog form, with Frank's hot sauce underneath and a topping of blue cheese and celery. The K-Dog came topped with a generous mound of spicy, zingy kimchee, and the Jose with guacamole, sour cream, salsa and fiery jalapenos. And if you think the poor pig itself would be lost under this barrage of toppings, think again - it was always the dominant flavour thanks to incredibly good sausage meat, certainly on a par with those from Big Apple Hot Dogs if not (whisper it) perhaps even better.

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