This week, I had the pleasure of returning to The Mad Giant food hall to enjoy the last of the three offerings available on site, Cove and Crumb.
Cove and Crumb has been highly praised for the selection of desserts; however, upon examining the sizable menu, which easily overshadows either of its two accompanying restaurant spaces in the food hall, it’s clear that they do a lot more than milkshakes and doughnuts.
With that in mind, I arrived with high hopes for a full stomach and a hearty meal, especially thanks to the phenomenal Hero Deal, which provides two burgers of your choice, one chicken and waffle combo, large skin on fries, six onion rings, coleslaw, cheese sauce and a signature dip, all topped off with 10 mini doughnuts in a Nutella sauce, all for just £39.99.
The only issue with the Hero Deal is the fact that this can’t actually be ordered through the digital ordering system you’re instructed to use on the phone, and you need to head over to the counter to place your order. Thankfully, the staff behind the counter were very friendly and warm, and this short interaction added to the overall anticipation for the meal.
While waiting for the food to arrive, I took some time to review the menu and get my head around the extraordinary range on offer, considering all of this food is cooked in such a small kitchen unit. Four different chicken waffles, five burger options, a range of chicken tenders, sides and sauces. All of that before you even stumble into the extensive dessert options, which include everything from pancake stacks to Mr Whippy, crepes, warm brownies and milkshakes.
No sooner had I imagined sampling one of everything on the menu than the food had arrived at the table, promptly within 15 minutes of ordering, and we were kindly given the choice to have the mini doughnuts served then or wait until after.
With the food on the table, I was delighted to see that not only was there a large portion of fries in a basket, invoking an American diner feel, but each of the burgers came with a generous handful, ensuring that this meal would leave us absolutely stuffed.
We start with the humble chip. After some disappointment with Eat Like a Greek’s frozen chips, I was dubious, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that Cove and Crumb’s so-called ‘fries’ are a huge improvement, and in my opinion, the only worthy choice for chips in The Mad Giant. A crispy golden brown chip that has a wonderful crunch on the exterior, and a soft, fluffy inside, exactly as a good chip should be.
Review: Eat Like A Greek is just one piece of a larger puzzle at The Mad Giant Food Hall
I then moved on to using the chips as a vehicle to try each of the sauces. The runny cheese sauce was a luminous yellow, and essentially felt as though the unmeltable American cheese slice had been liquified, not melted, and thrown in a pot. It was nothing special, but if you’re a big cheese fan, it may do something for you, or leave you longing for a plate of nachos to pour this over.
The coleslaw on the other hand was incredibly bright, fresh, and tangy. Crisp pieces of fresh cabbage, drenched in sauce with thin shaved pieces of carrot made this a lovely balancing element to enjoy alongside the heavier fried foods on the table.
Lastly, the signature sauce – essentially a burger sauce featuring a heavy amount of dill pickle to the point that it’s nearly indistinguishable from Big Mac sauce – was tangy and tasted fresh, which you won’t get at McDonald’s. It was a great accompaniment for the fries.
Next, I came face to face with the aptly named Breakfast Stack burger, which comes with a beef burger, three pieces of crispy streaky bacon, cheese sauce, brunch sauce, a fried free range egg, carmelised onion, tomato and lettuce all served up on a brioche bun according to the menu listing. Unfortunately, the sesame seed bun was clearly not brioche, and the brunch sauce appeared to be another iteration of the signature sauce, if not the exact same thing.
Beyond that, the burger was reasonably nice. The bacon was a highlight, though the egg added very little due to being slightly overcooked, and the sauces masked a lot of other flavor that could have potentially shone through. Sometimes, less is more. In this case, more was certainly messy, but it wasn’t bad by any stretch.
The Smash Classic was another massive burger that ultimately fell apart, but with fewer sauces in the mix, it was a much more coherent sandwich. Two beef burgers, lightly smashed, cheese sauce, signature sauce, pickles, lettuce, onion and tomato. Again, supposedly on a brioche bun, but this appeared to be swapped out for the standard sesame seed variety as well.
One of the best elements of a smash burger is the variety of texture. Crispy almost burnt edges, around a soft indulgent burger, but this was not that. It’s a soft bite, with nice flavour. The cheese sauce provided an even, creamy coating as opposed to the usual American slice that glues to the burger in the same shape as it came out of the plastic wrapper. And again, the signature sauce, which was very reminiscent of Big Mac sauce, ended up masking a lot of the other flavours.
On a high note, the onion rings had a gloriously crispy batter that held its shape firmly, and paired perfectly with the sharp onion ring inside. Once again, dipping in the coleslaw provided a balanced bite, while the signature sauce enhanced the tanginess and pickle flavours to the max.
However, everything else on the menu pales in comparison to the incredible chicken and waffle. I opted for The Hot One, which adds hot honey and crispy fried onions into the mix, and it was delectable. The waffle on its own is sort of one-note, but it is largely serving as a vehicle for the rest of the plate and sauces to create a flavour combination that is completely unique. The sweet low heat of the honey, the deep complex peppery coating on the chicken, and the soft fluffy waffles all combine to create alchemy.
Like a full English breakfast, the dish is meant to be a mix-and-match, with the coleslaw offering another element of fresh, creamy sharpness to counter some of the other elements. In any given bite, you could be waking up all the parts of your tongue as the flavour sensation builds and expands – hot, cold, sweet, savoury, creamy, crunchy. Genuinely the highlight of the meal and an incredible single-bite experience.
Once all the mains were consumed, we moved on to the mini doughnuts. As appetising as they looked, they were disappointing to bite into. The doughnuts tasted like the cheap store-bought variety, which is not what you’d expect from a place that is praised for its desserts. And the Nutella has a distinctly non-Nutella flavour that makes me question what was added to get it to this runny consistency. It’s chocolatey, but there is no trace of a hazelnut coming through.
Regardless, the kids enjoyed the doughnuts, and I’m certain the other dessert options are of a higher quality, but on this occasion, we didn’t get to see them.
Overall, it was a good meal, and I’d recommend this as the top spot in The Mad Giant food hall. Now, there are certainly some rough edges with certain dishes clearly outshining others, but with the atmosphere in the hall, the upbeat music in the background, and Sky Sports on the telly, it’s a great spot to relax, unwind, and spend time with friends and loved ones. Especially if variety is important.
And while passing The Mad Giant just a day later, I noticed a new sign out front advertising some fantastic meal deal options from each of the restaurants, making this an even more attractive spot for students and professionals looking for a hearty, warm meal in the middle of the day.
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