After being recommended this restaurant countless times I finally went & brought one of foodie-est friends with me (Ros) – and I’m annoyed at myself for not doing it sooner. For those of you who don’t know, F.K.A.B.A.M is a Turkish inspired restaurant right opposite Highbury & Islington station with absolutely (and completely deserved) rave reviews. The moment you walk in the door you get hit with the smell of food & the smoke coming from the wood-fired oven. Everything about this place is in-your-face: the food, the decor, the soundtrack & we loved every second of it. Lee Tiernan (chef & co-owner of B.A.M) says that if you don’t like loud dining, BAM is not for you – and he’s not wrong. Luckily we love it!

We went for the tasting menu (£45 each) & added on one of the extras – the lamb offal flatbread (£12). But before we get onto the food I need to talk about their whiskey sour (£9.5). Now I love whiskey sours, & I’ve had one in about every bar I’ve been to but this was by far the best and most exciting whiskey sour I’ve ever had. First of all, it’s pink. Second of all, it just tasted like no other. I had to ask what made it so amazing – it’s hibiscus & their sour mix, & raspberry powder on top. This drink was one of the highlights of the night which is really saying something because the food was spectacular.

So, onto the food, the bit you’re all waiting for. They release their tasting menu for the coming days in a post on their Instagram – it changes quite regularly. The first dish we got was flam grilled short ribs. That was the whole description on the menu, which really didn’t prepare us for just how exciting the dish was. The sauce was like nothing else. When the waitress took this dish away I told her how amazing it was & she asked if we drank the sauce (we did) which I think shows you how amazing it is. Not the most exciting to look at, but easily one of the most exciting to eat. I think I spent that entire rest of the meal thinking ‘if this dish came with a jug of the short rib sauce it would be perfect’…

Next up we had the fried potatoes, creme fraiche & trout roe, and the lamb offal flat bread. The potatoes were crispy, the creme fraiche sharp & creamy, and the trout were like little salty popping boba. Everything complemented everything perfectly. The flatbread was also delicious – soft, chewy bread topped with deeply flavoured lamb offal – what’s not to love. This had a bit of a kick so we were happy to have the potatoes at the same time to spoon some of the creme fraiche on top.

Once those plates were cleared, it was time to move onto their iconic & most famous dish – the squid ink flatbread with smoked cods roe & an egg yolk. I can confirm there is a reason this is famous. Again, this dish was absolutely perfectly balanced & so well thought out. First things first, we obviously popped the gooey egg yolk for some instagram worthy egg porn, then smeared that & the cods roe all over the flatbread for the perfect bite. We were shocked by how creamy that cods roe was – I still dream about it. AND they’ve released this recipe if you want to try it at home for yourself! Ros & I definitely are (she’s already researching how to source the smoked cod’s roe)

The last of our savoury dishes was the crispy pork, fuji apple, bitter leaves & the XO sauce. While we weren’t huge fans of the salad (found it a little too bitter, as the name suggested) the pork was cooked to perfection. Crispy skin, but melt in the mouth tender in the middle.

Last up was the dessert – chocolate mousse & amarena cherry. Now I’m not a huge chocolate dessert fan (I usually find it too rich) but this changed me. Although it used dark chocolate, the mousse was still so light. We both couldn’t stop raving about the crunchy almondy topping. The cherry flavour in this comes in the form of a jelly at the bottom – it was very strong, almost lollipop flavoured. As the mousse & cherry we’re separate layers, we managed to work out the perfect ratio of chocolate mousse, crunch & cherry per spoonful. Another triumph.

Meg & Ros Ratings

This is the first (but definitely not the last) time Ros has made a feature on bakes by meg. She is one of my closest friends who is equally as obsessed with food as me – if you need any extra proof take a look at her instagram @rosontour. As 2 highly qualified food people, we want to share our verdicts of the best dishes of the evening. Every dish was so delicious we really struggled with this ranking – so remember even the bottom ranking was still incredible.

So, are you more of a Meg or Ros? Let me know in the comments!

We had such an amazing evening at F.K.A.B.A.M – the food, the drink, the environment all made for a really fun experience. And the tasting menu made us try things we maybe wouldn’t usually order. We give F.K.A.B.A.M a huge stamp of approval. Let me know if the comments what you think if you’ve already been, or if you go based on this recommendation! Would love to hear what you think.

Find them at 156 Canonbury Road, London, N1 2UP