Bunnychow, Soho 

Bunny chow? What the fuck is Bunny chow you say. Well that’s exactly the question I was asking myself when I heard about this mysterious delicacy that has recently made it’s way to London. My first thought was of my families pet rabbit atticus, and that bunny chow sounds like some sick sort of revenge pie my that dad would threaten to shove him in when he finally comes to the end of his tether with my mum requesting ‘tea in a china cup with a splash of sterilised milk’. Fortunately that hasn’t happened yet and upon visiting the restaurant on wardour street in Soho I saw no evidence of his furry species being used in any of the food. 

Bunny chow is a South African fast food dish consisting of a hollowed out loaf of bread filled with a  curry stew. It instantly registered with me as something that sounds right up my street, so discovering that a place specialising in it had recently opened up just down the road led to me pretending that I had lunch plans, cancelling my lunch plans and making new lunch plans to go and eat some bunnys. 

I’ve been twice, whether that’s an acceptable amount of visits to come to a conclusion on the food is up to you but at the end of the day I’m making zero money and also constantly finding excuses as to why I can’t exercise, so I can’t go everyday or I’d be fat and more broke than I already am.

Upon my first visit I was greeted by a girl holding a bucket in some strange bunny mask. As my eyes scanned the menu I could see her staring at me, therefore absolutely nothing I was reading was being registered to my brain; instead I was just thinking ‘why is she staring at me’. She said ‘can I help you’, not putting together the bunny mask and the fact we were in a place called bunny chow, I didn’t realise she was working there. I just saw the bucket and heard her question and assumed she was aggressively pursuing charity donations for some sort of ‘save the rabbit’ foundation. I nervously muttered back ‘im just deciding what I want’ to which she replied ‘you should get the pork’, this spurred on someone from behind the counter to join in and reassure me that I should ‘get the pork’ . I’d looked at the menu before coming and had previously decided that I definitely didn’t want the pork, however I was desperate to remove myself from this situation that was making the back of my neck sweat profusely so I went to the counter and ordered the ‘Pork N Pickle’ . 

This was a combination of pulled pork, slaw, homemade pickles and BBQ sauce. I didn’t really want to try this the first time i went because It’s a very predictable combination that so many places do very well meaning it’s often hard to compete. Unfortunately on this occasion Bunnychow didn’t deliver. The flavours were just not strong enough and were further masked by the wholemeal bread in which they were contained.

I really wanted to like this place, so I went again and this time tried the ‘Bangcluck Bunny’. This combination of Molasses bakes beans, spinach, chilli and smoked cheese’ sounded a lot closer to the authentic African bunny chow delicacy I’d read about and so, I was excited to try it. Again it just didn’t really do anything for me, I’ll admit I was manflued up on this occasion so my taste buds might not have been on point; yet to me it really just tasted like beans on toast with an occasional spinach leaf thrown in. 

It’s clear Bunnychow are keen to reel in some new customers, both times I’ve been they’ve had drink samples on display and offer food samples as well. Additionally they offer a 20% off voucher and a free coffee before 12 if you bring in your old receipt. Each time I’ve been in it’s been fairly empty, which is really unfortunate especially for a venue of their location in the middle of Soho with such attractive offers. 

I’m genuinely gutted that It didn’t impress me, I’d never heard of the delicacy before, I loved the concept but I think Bunnychow would benefit from making their food more authentic and less seemingly accessible. Take away the idea of filling up a hollowed out piece of bread and the menu is rather uninspiring. Meatballs, peppers and BBQ sauce? Sausage, Gravy, blue cheese and mustard? It’s all very predictable yet desperately random at the same time and sounds like something only someone small enough to fit in a high chair would put cite as their favourite dish. This place must have a core fan base as they’ve built themselves up from selling their product out of a van around various locations in London, to a pop up location to a permanent restaurant and therefore I encourage you to go and try it for yourself and make your own verdict.

As for me the only bunny i’ll be paying attention to is this guy.