"When I heard of the pop up restaurant called The Fat Bear, I immediately thought it was named after me, and so booked a table. It is located in the Rising Sun pub a very short walk away from St Paul's Cathedral. This was only my second experience with a pop up (I believe so anyway to be honest the only part of my body that remembers the food I have consumed is my stomach after the Three Compasses in Hoxton last year (where I watched Game of Thrones. See that review, but beware of GoT spoilers... and so I was expecting the food to be brought to us while we were in the pub. This restaurant, however, was leasing the upper floor of the Rising Sun pub, which was a good thing as it had a much nicer atmosphere than its host. While the downstairs part was a rather dingy pub, the upstairs had a nice early 20th century feel to it, with fireplaces and mahogany tables. We were welcomed and seated by a very friendly waiter who also turned out to be the barman (and the chef, and the cleaner.. just kidding he was front of house . He had a beard, was a little plump and WELSH! Basically like me, except talented and of value to society! We were bound to get along... What amazed me in particular about his service was that this man knew EVERYTHING about the restaurant. From being able to fully explain the ingredients of each menu item, to selecting an optimal red wine to accompany our meal to making a virgin cocktail for my friend who was doing Dry January, to even the music that was playing! (We recognised a few covers from the setlist my friend recognised that cool song with the whistling that's always on the ads done in a folky way. I of course only picked up on the Game of Thrones theme being covered by a swing band... I like Thrones by the way... His service was attentive, thorough and of the kind of quality that made me feel like someone important like a recruitment consultant... As for the food, well I perused the menu trying to find a low fat option. I'm trying to lose weight you see... I want to change my name to Abstemious Jones.... so naturally I ordered a Sloppy Joe burger with Buffalo wings as a starter and the Fat Bear Sundae as a dessert. Meanwhile my far more sensible amigo, who already weighs half of what I do, ordered the catfish with his virgin cocktail. The wings arrived swiftly and they were delicious! The winning part was definitely the blue cheese sauce, which was a mild, but tasty antidote to the spicy (but not too spicy wings. My friend ordered the chicken livers and I had a try those were even better (they had some sort of chutney sauce inside . My Sloppy Joe Burger was the most disappointing part of my meal. Despite the delicious combination of sauce, salad and pickled red onion, the patty itself was comparatively bland. I should have ordered the catfish or the short ribs, as the catfish was spicy and delicious (I'm not usually a seafood fan and the ribs were boneless, meaty and came with two absolutely divine BBQ sauces. The best part of my main was the paprika spiced fries. I was stuffed, but there is always room for dessert! While my less disgracefully gluttonous friends shared the milk and cookies (where you add flavoured milk to cookie cups I went for the holistic Fat Bear Sundae, which is pretty much the whole dessert menu thrown into a sundae, with salted caramel, bourbon caramel (I think , oreo cookies, honeycomb, chocolate pieces and a cream cheese topping instead of your usual chantilly cream. It was one of the best sundaes I've ever had, and Chris (the expert waiter told me that usually it would include some Baked Alaska as well, but they were out. I couldn't believe it. It was already the dairy equivalent of the mixed grill and even so it was incomplete! I rolled down the stairs and waddled my way home, full of delicious food and very satisfied with a fantastic pop up. Pros: great service, good range of food, amazing sauces, lovely atmosphere, Chuck Norris waiter Cons: Sloppy Joe was average. Recommend to others: Hell yeah book a table while you can! It's only around for a year. I'll be back for livers, ribs and Oreo cheesecake!"
Clam Chowder
