99 Hanover

Discovered this place on the way to my b'day dinner in Jan... walked past it and thought, oh, that place looks nice!! Then forgot about it until Mr S suggested it for drinks after dinner.. we got a booth near the back (it was busy, though not packed, even on a Tuesday night) and twelve of us settled in quite comfortably for drinks and chat...

The front half of the bar

When I saw they were offering a deal with itison for 2 people to have "bespoke burger" & fries and rum & coke floats for £10, I thought, why not!?!

So on a slighty grey and chilly evening the mister and I trooped over for our dinner.. We were quickly shown to our table and after a few minutes giving us time to settle in, we were asked for a drink order.. things were getting off to a good start!!  Our drinks arrived quickly and a few more minutes later we were asked if we were ready to order.. oops, we weren't! So we had a look through the burgers and they all sounded delicious.. after some deliberation, the mister settled for "the moroccan" - lamb burger with cumin, garlic and other spices. With a spicy mango & tomato relish, mustard red onions and a smokey paprika mayo.. I settled on the "zim zimma" - jamaican jerk seasoning, spicy mango & tomato relish & smokey mayo.. I asked to substitute avocado mayo for the smokey mayo, which was offered on one of the other burgers..  the server came back to say they "don't do" avocado mayo, so I went with the original smokey... meanwhile, wondering what it was they put on the burger that comes with avocado mayo...??

Food arrived fairly quickly considering there was a party of 6 that were already there and another couple who had ordered before us... the shoestring fries were great, tho I hazard a guess came out of a bag from the freezer.. my burger was good, although a little too spicy.. the mango in the relish was still a bit crunchy and not quite ripe, therefore lacking the sweetness/tartness to cut out some of the spice.. it was still yummy tho.. the mister's moroccan burger was yummy too, quite heavy in the smokeyness department and he made swift work of polishing it off...

The mister's Moroccan Burger

The burgers were held together with toothpicks with its country's flag on top.. cute!! And along with the bowl of fries were nicely presented on a wooden board...

My Zim Zimma Burger

After dinner, our dishes sat empty in front of us, for far longer that I liked*..  when the other server eventually came to take them away she quite curtly asked if we "would like anything else, or just the floats?".. Just the floats was the answer... the mister already had to finish my burger, so I was quite full already.. the floats arrived unceremoniously in pint glasses, teaspoons hastily followed and were just plopped on the dirty table.. nevertheless.. they were YUMMMMY!!

Almost overflowing float...
They even sell old skool sweeties from the "tuck shop".. :)

The empty glasses sat on our table for a good long while... nothing else was offered and no bill was brought... I tried to catch the attention of the servers who seem more occupied with chatting to each other across the coffee machine than anything else.. Not sure if they thought we'd paid for our drinks at the bar, or if they just never put it on the bill but they seemed more than happy to let us leave, thanked us and wished us a good night..  Indeed!!

This is the cute table & booth seat we had... :)

All in all, the food was good, though nothing exceptional, burgers normally price at  £7-8.50... I would have another burger if I happen to be there already.. but won't be making an effort to go back for food.. this is, essentially still more of a bar than a restaurant and the table service is lacking.. the building itself is gorgeous with beautiful high ceilings, exposed brink on one wall and 'ornate' giant gold frames on the walls.. one which houses a big screen.. it's laid back and comfortable as a bar.. they offer a 99p lunch menu during the week where you can get starters, mains and desserts for 99p each course, and also apparently do a burger and beer for a fiver if you're in there while the rugby's on...

Final Verdict - The bar is absolutely gorgeous...  nice place for drinks and food is a step above your average bar grub but far cry from being a restaurant or somewhere I would be tempted to go for food unless I was there drinking already...