iris_stone

I respect every member of Sweatdrop Studios as artists, but they are not the sort of artist I want to be. Even if I never find success like them, I will still be proud that I stayed honest to my own art. 

Re-reading last year's New Year's Resolutions, I must admit I didn't get up every week day before 8am, nor did I take up a sport, nor get a 1st in 3 modules. But I did read 2 self-help books, travelled to Venice, hit a PB during a 6k charity run, and sent a manga off to the Morning International Comic Competition 2011 in Japan. So a satisfying amount of achievements.


New Year's Resolutions for 2012

1. Be less judgemental towards others
2. Spend half the time I use for worrying to relax and take care of myself
3. Aim to manga-blog once a week
4. Enter into another charity run, possibly a 10k
5. Make more time to do the things I love, like drawing manga and running
6. Keep more regular contact with friends!

Of course, I want to say "achieve a 1st for my degree" and "win the prize for my history and theory dissertation" and "get into that MA programme". I aim for all these things but ultimately it's out of my control. On that note, I also aim to "be less affected by thinspiration", since I can't promise I'll stop looking at them.  

I very much doubt 2012 will be a 'good' year, it will most likely to be a very stressful year. But I'm very excited to see what will happen.

Byron burgers are nice.

Byron knows that people think their burgers are nice and that's why they won't give discounts like Gourmet Burger Kitchen does. It has less on the menu than GBK, it is less retro and snazzy than Ed's Easy Diner, it is less posh than Hawksmoor - but the food is as good as any of them. Plus there is one in basically every London borough, you are never far away from a Byron. Each interior is different, though they all have open kitchens, so you can choose your experience. 

Head Chef and I went to the branch in Wardour Street (Soho) before going to see the film Immortals. The menu was simple. There were essentially 5 different types of burgers: a beef one with/out a cheese of your choice, a chicken, a Byron house burger, a vegetarian, and a special (i.e. a Movember special when we went). In addition, there was the burger without bun, salads, chips, starters, dips, etc. 

 But why would you want dips when you had THIS MANY FREE CONDIMENTS? We were so happy we had to take a picture of it.


Between us ordered 2 burgers, skin-on chips, and an oreo-milkshake to share (split between two glasses). The chips were really nice. I have never had a bad oreo milkshake before, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. It was so thick and gloopy with lumps of vanilla icecream and crumbs of crushed oreo that gets stuck in your teeth and on your tongue... 

The burger didn't look big but it was deceptively filling. I had a blue-cheese in mine, which was beautiful and dense but there were a choice of 5 cheese. It had enough salad, the beef was cooked to your choice, and the gherkin on the side stopped it becoming too heavy. We were both starving before, but with everything altogether we had trouble finishing it all.


The price was not bad either. It came to £23.45 without service (which is only applied to 8+ tables). That is £12 per person, which for a good burger, 1/2 portion of luxury chips and 1/2 milkshake is no worse than GBK without deal - and it tasted less greasy. I couldn't afford to eat at Byron's every week, or even every other week, but I look forward to eating there again. The food was worth that you pay for. I would happily host my birthday party there.

Service: really friendly, helpful, attentive staff 8/10
Food: the quality and tastiness matched the price 9/10
Atmosphere: the one in Soho was relaxed and a bit hip, I imagine the one of Kings Road would be different. Personally I didn't like the furniture. But it was a nice place to eat in. 7/10
Enjoyment: it's heavily dependant on the company, and I love being with Head Chef. But since it wasn't too busy we weren't kept waiting long for food, so we had a really smooth experience 9/10