B.O.B's Lobster at The Rising Sun

I’ve been hearing great things about B.O.B’s Lobster for a while now, with their converted VW campervan popping up at Borough Market and street food events throughout the summer and serving up much lauded toasted brioche lobster rolls and their now famous lobster mac ’n cheese.


Now, as winter rolls in thick and fast they have taken things indoors with a new residency above The Rising Sun half way between the Thameslink (overground) station and Blackfriars stations, utilising the upstairs space to great affect to create a modern, somewhat shabby-chic yet cosy environment. If that sounds pretentious then be assured it isn’t, the place is welcoming and thoughtfully done and the staff are enthusiastically friendly to the say the least.

First things first, those looking for a ‘residency’ in the style of The Sebright Arms in Hoxton, where a huge range of quality beers can be purchased with your Lucky Chip Burger, should look elsewhere. Bob’s is very much separate to the pub downstairs and even has it’s own separate side entrance. Furthermore you can’t order beers from the pub downstairs (which isn’t really that great for those looking for good beer) and the selection at Bobs was disappointing, bottled Peroni and Estrella only.

This really did frustrate me. A restaurant with food as good as this, which I’ll talk a little bit more about after my rant, really has no excuse in offering such lazy beer choices. Everything else on the menu was extremely well chosen, so why not give beer the same respect? A small selection of four or five seafood complementing beers would have been great, particularly if London breweries were used, I could suggest something along the lines of: A Saison from Partizan, a hoppy pale ale from The Kernel, a decent lager such as Meantime Pilsner, a nice fruity wheat beer such as Camden Town Gentleman’s Wit and maybe a smooth darker beer such as the excellent Weird Beard Decadence Stout.

Bob’s, if you’re listening, give me a shout and we can chat beer!

Anyway, on to the food.

The menu lends itself towards sharing so the best thing to do is order a few smaller plates to split and something more substantial each, we went for spicy pig’s cheek tacos, Lobster mac and cheese, and a lobster roll each. What we didn’t realise was that the Lobster rolls, delicious buttery toasted brioche filled with cold lobster and eggy homemade mayo, actually come with fries – making their £15 price tag a bit of a bargain.

We ended up with slightly more food than we needed but it all tasted so good we didn’t really care. The tacos were first to arrive (the ‘sharing’ philosophy means dishes arrive somewhat at random rather than all at once) and were a great palate awakener, with soft confit pig and smokey paprika given zest with the addition of pickled celeriac.

The lobster mac and cheese arrived next and is comfort food heaven that flies in the face of the ‘never mix cheese and seafood’ rule, with a typically American brashness. It’s full-on flavours from start to finish with a rich yet true-to-its-roots mac sauce spiked with just a little herb, a crispy onion, breadcrumb and cheese top, and some very tender lobster. All-in-all an absolute dream to eat - I could have polished off three bowls of this to myself.

Next came the lobster rolls, which are fantastic, though I would have liked just a little more of that moreish homemade mayo, such is its quality. That said, the restraint with the condiments did give that beautifully cooked lobster space to sing. I’ve sometimes found Burger and lobster to overcook their crustaceans, but none of that at Bobs – every piece was tender, full of flavour and obviously spankingly fresh.

Get the beer sorted and this place would be perfect. As it is, it's still well worth a visit.

www.bobslobster.com

Oh and I forgot to mention, you can book a table so no queuing, the luxury!

 

 

 

 

 

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  2. In keeping with the theme of the place, we ordered the two lobster-based signature dishes. Lobster mac & cheese was fantastic - so wonderfully homely and comforting. The chef uses lobster bisque to make the sauce, and the mac is strewn with lumps of tail meat - it's just divine. I could eat endless bowls of that stuff, I really could. And then the lobster roll. This is kinda their core business - the pop-up being born from the ongoing lobster roll and prosecco truck that you'll see about the place at food fairs and markets (including, currently, Borough Market). So you'd reckon that they'd get it right. Fortunately, they did - this was absolutely spot on. Like, really, really good. Perfect chargrilled brioche bun, stuffed to the gunnels with lobster meat, and very little mucking about with mayonnaise or other sauces to distract you. Top marks.

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