37 Lordship Lane East Dulwich SE22 8EW

Gabriella says Aloha to a Hawaiian special at MEATliquor

It’s a summer Sunday and Dulwich feels a little like Honolulu (minus the sea) breeze as my dining partner and I brave the midday sun on an expedition to sample MEATliquor’s summer special.

We’re risking sun-stroke but with good reason. MEATliquor are offering up a Hawaiian-inspired hotdog washed down with some refreshing cocktails thanks to a tie-up with Sailor Jerry’s spiced rum.

To be honest, I’ve ever been to a MEATliqour during daylight hours and it’s a slightly different beast before dark. The hipster-friendly décor is still in place but the vibe is more chilled with Bob Marley on the playlist and well-behaved children mingling with hungover twenty-somethings carbing up after a big night out.

You can’t beat a MEATliquor burger so it’s with a hint of regret that we’re here to sample a hotdog but beggars can’t be choosers so we sit down, order a couple of cocktails and wait for our food to arrive.

Any food-envy of our burger-munching neighbours is quickly washed away once our Hawaiian-Style Hot Links (to give them their proper title) arrive.

There’s a tenuous tie in to the 4 th of July at play here. While Hawaii isn’t the US State I’d most obviously associate with hot dogs, they prove to be a real hit.

The hot dog sausage is moist and succulent and packed with spicy paprika. It’s topped with pineapple salsa (the kind of thing you get on top of a poke bowl) and infused with Sailor Jerry rum.

The blend of flavours is slightly unusual at first but you certainly get used to it as you munch away.

Our hot dogs come accompanied by fried pickles and blue cheese dip and the mandatory mammoth portion of hippie fries. The fries come piled high with onions and smothered in MEATliquor’s trademark Dead Hippy Sauce.

There’s enough food between two of us to feed a small army but we soldier on, aided and abetted by the Sailor Jerry’s cocktails.

The cocktails are perfectly crafted for summer. Regulars at MEATLiquor will be familiar with the House Grog, mixing up Sailor Jerry’s with overproof rum and the secret grog mix. It’s fruity and refreshing and slips down a little too easily for a Sunday afternoon.

 The same goes for the Pink Ticket which blends yet more rum with Crème de Cassis, ginger, lime, and soda.

At this point I’m feeling rather stuffed so in lieu of desert I, perhaps unwisely, opt for a third cocktail.

Sailor Boy is basically pudding through a straw anyway – rum (obvs), banana puree, salted caramel and ice cream milkshake mix.

At the end of the meal we get given a cute little booklet which tells us about the history of Sailor Jerry (the man, not the drink) and some nautical temporary tattoos.

It’s a cool and quirky way to round-off an enjoyable meal with reasonably-priced food, strong cocktails and friendly