LOCATION: The Diner, Soho (18 Ganton Street London, W1F 7BU). Map.
PRICE: £6.40? Around the £6 mark anyway (I’ve lost the receipt and it isn’t on their web menu)
BREAD: A soft white sub.
FILLING: Battered, deep fried prawns with a mayo based sauce and shredded lettuce.
PROS: Um. Ummmmmm. Right, so the sauce was okay – piquant yet sweet mayo, with little crunchy bits of onion and ummm, ooh, the sub roll was nice and soft.
CONS: Crikey. Okay so, the prawns. This is a shrimp po boy right, so that means the shrimp/prawns are the most important ingredient. If the prawns at The Diner did not come from a freezer bag I would be very surprised indeed; they tasted funky, almost ‘high’ with unpleasant fishiness and were coated in the kind of batter one finds surrounding a sweet and sour chicken ball. Po boy prawns should be coated in a cornmeal batter, surely? These tasted of grease and meals at TGI Fridays circa 1995. The sub was nice and soft, as I said, but really, I was clutching at straws.
You may, quite rightly, be wondering what I was thinking ordering a sandwich from a chain restaurant in soho. The reason I did is because I’d heard good things about a limited edition burger they’re soon to launch and the po boy – honestly – did look nice when they posted a picture on Twitter. Also, where else does one get a po boy in London? I was so excited to try this famous Louisiana creation but it seems I may have to make my own version at home, pending my lottery win which will take me on an eating tour of America.
SCORE: 2/10
My po’ boy recipe here.
Tags: po boy sandwich London, The Diner soho, The Diner London, shrimp po boy sandwich London, shrimp po boy sub, white sub, prawn po boy London, Louisiana sandwich
Having had two or three of these on a trip to the deep south not long ago, all at different eating establishments, I really think The Diner have come up with a pretty authentic shrimp po’ boy.
Or at least, it’s hard to find a good one on either side of the Atlantic!
Are you serious?! Do all shrimp po boys taste like grease and old prawns? Yum. Also, every other picture of a shrimp po boy I’ve seen has a cornmeal batter on it?
Whilst hardly an exhaustive search, I googled ‘Po Boy’ London and drew a complete blank. Automat used to do one apparently but it’s closed now (and wasn’t that good anyway).
None of the big soul food places in town have it on the menu, and despite the odd fleeting ‘special’ here and there it’s as rare as a brass monkey’s bollocks.
Oh, the Diner in Soho do one. Oh wait…
Dammit! I wonder if Pickle and Rye do one. Anyone know?
What a shame – I’ve been here for breakfast before and it was amazing! Pancakes with bacon and syrup, and bourbon chocolate milkshake, breakfast of champions
Those prawns don’t look good though…
No, they definitely weren’t
Nice work on that breakfast though! oof.
The only time I had a po’boy was in Houston airport in 2010; it was massive, the prawns were juicy and judging by the picture breaded with cornmeal. Those prawns sound rank; poor show.
Imagine if we could get anything approaching a decent po boy in a UK airport?! Crikey. That would be amazing.
I’ve never had one, but I’ve put the ingredients in my shopping order this week. It sounds like such a good idea, I am going to make my own!
Me too! I think it’s the only way short of visiting the US.
I’ve had proper Texan po boy’s in Austin. The real deal.
There is nothing remotely similar to be had in London.
The Diner has become a reprehensible parody of American fare.
Crikey, I suppose I only have myself to blame really. I mean, I’d heard such good things about this burger they’re doing but this was just an abomination.
A foodie friend made some a while ago using a New Orleans recipe — spiced cornmeal batter and sauce — and it was lovely. I think home-made is probably the only way to go in London ATM, although it sounds like the sort of thing that Pitt Cue could be persuaded to try…
I knew it!! Home made it is. Yes, Pitt Cue or Meat Liquor…
Eating a po boy has long been one of my greatest ambitions. Maybe you could take this to Food Stories and do a recipe (pleaaase)?
I think I might just do that you know! I’ll probably post it on here as I’ll be posting home made sandwiches too…
Excellent! I shall look forward to it.
I had an oyster po’boy in New Orleans several years ago which was pretty mindblowing. The cornmeal crispiness with the tender, ocean-tasting stuff in the middle…ooh. Probably a little more difficult to recreate at home than a prawn one, though.
ooh yeah I’ve always fancied the oyster version too. A bit more a faff, true but once you’ve shucked the oysters, not too much different i shouldn’t think.
You may get an opportunity at the bar Hawksmoor are opening under their Spitalfields site (well I hope “Fried Oyster Roll” translates to a Po’ Boy). Deep fried Bull’s Testicles? Might need a few drinks before I tackle (see what I did there) any of those…
http://sut5.co.uk/l/c.php?c=15313&ct=44353&si=3495691&u
Yes! Just got the press release for this – v exciting. An oyster po boy is definitely a thing. Can’t believe I didn’t think of Hawksmoor before!
I’ve got to pretty much echo what Simon Doggett says above. I’ve eaten oyster and shrimp po’ boys in New Orleans and nothing has come close since. And what you decribe aove sounds dreadful. Sure they’re deep fried, but the batter should super crispy and clean, not greasy. And the shrimps must be as fresh as possible.
I still think that good US cuisine is hard to find in the UK, I don’t think anyone, bar the odd burger-obsessive, has got their head round it. Maybe it’s something to do with the thought that gets out into what we consider to be junk food (and so unworthy of thought) in the UK?
Yeah, maybe that’s it. I think the situation is improving but we still only have a few places doing it properly, as you say. Think I’m going to just try making one at home instead! Good to hear I’m not going crazy thinking this it totally un-authentic!
Po’ Boys are a Nawlins specialty and having spent a year there I have never come across one as good as those there, certainly nowhere in London! It has to be said, and someone else made this point that The Diner ‘chain’ is a poor imitation of what can be great American food – the Mac & Cheese at Mishkins is a million miles better than the Diners and their burgers are pretty shoddy too
Yeah, I dunno what possessed me to go there in the first place! I gave up in the end and made my own (here http://helengraves.co.uk/2012/02/shrimp-po-boys/)
Good authentic po-boys in London will be here by this summer. Stand by people…watch this space.