Bubbles in my dog

So hot dogs and bubbles sound like a strange combination but one that sounds out of this world – epic as my friends would say. Judging by the long queues and wait time at Bubbledogs, I wasn’t the only one to want to go to this popular restaurant. With its understated frontage and red neon sign, Bubbledogs looks like it could be a New York restaurant rather than sitting on the quiet end of Charlotte Street. It was definitely a place for me to try out.

There’s no booking system and people just mill around outside the small restaurant (19 covers) waiting to be called from the list. An hour later and full of excitement to try this odd combination, the four of us girls got our own bench and stools to sit on. There was a waft of sweet potato fries as we we went inside the smallish restaurant with exposed brick walls and and bare wooden floorboards – you could champagne bottles and glasses on every table. 

There’s an extensive drinks menu with a collection of cocktails and beers, but we were here for the bubbles. There’s two pages of champagnes, none of which we had ever heard of. The lovely waitress explained that all their champagne is sourced from small, independent growers. Being a little broke with two of us not working full-time, we opted for the cheapest bottle to share between four – £32 for a delectable rose champagne. The most expensive was around the £200 mark!

And it was onto hot doggy time: you can select your dog from a choice of pork, beef or veggie. The menu of hot dogs is large with 13 options and they have extremely cool, very cliché names like “Trishna Dog” for an Indian inspired hot dog, “K-Dawg” for a hot dog with a Korean twist and “Jose” for a Mexican inspired style dog, or have them naked. I opeted for the Ploughman which contained piccalilli (Indian pickles), apple, beer pickled onion and cheese.

Alongside the hot dogs, we went for sides of Tater Tots: a mix between hash brown and a croquette, sweet potato fries and home-made coleslaw. The hot dogs were tasty and moreish- and no complaints from any of my friends. And at the end we’re giving a little book to write in – cute, kitsch touch.

There were no desserts on the menu so we walked around the corner to a newly opened Italian gelato: Tesoro – these do seem to be popping up everywhere. The pistachio ice cream was amazing!

The concept is definitely cool and nicely executed with a great creative twist. An odd pairing that works well – apparently the co-owner of Bubbledogs’ Sandia Chang loves the 2 things and thought she could combine them in a restaurant. I’ll definitely be back here as the food and bubbles were a great choice …despite the wait which just makes you more hungry.