Podcast Episode 35 – Mama Shelter

I visited Mama Shelter in Hackney for their Sunday Spread. The place was rammed, and at £25 for all you can eat, an absolute bargain.

The buffet is split into 3 sections, Starters, Main Course & Dessert. Starters are salads and fish mainly, with a nice bread selection too. The Prawn Cocktail was particularly good.

Mains were from the carvery, with a good selection on meats, roast chicken, belly pork with very good crackling, and two choices of beef, with a Wellington and what I think was a sirloin roast. The belly pork and the Wellington were excellent, with the pork just edging out the Wellington. I didn’t try the chicken, but reports from the table was positive. The roast beef was a bit odd. It was quite odd, and very cheesy in taste. the beef was obviously very well aged, a little too much perhaps? It certainly overwhelmed the beefy taste I expected.

Veg was very good, with a fantastic chilli kale, quality roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and dauphinoise potatoes as well . There were other veg as well, but my plate was already too full! The gravy was quality, but quite difficult to pour using the provided ladle.

It’s worth saving yourself for dessert on this one. The Mille Feuille was superb, as were the caramel choux buns. There was also a build-your-own-dessert station that looked like a lot of fun, and a lovely raspberry crumble with proper custard! I was disappointed with the sticky toffee pudding, which was too fudgy for my liking, and was more like a toffee brownie.

Drinks were not cheap, with an alcohol free beer clocking in at £4.50 a bottle and soft drinks at £4 a glass. It all tasted very nice, and I felt ok splashing out on drinks when the food was such a great price!

No pictures, because I was too bust stuffing my face!