Peter Emrys-Roberts
Birthday parties were comparatively predictable affairs when I was a kid. We either swam until the red light flashed or your toes turned crinkly, went ice skating or headed to the bowling alley.
These days, with the emergence of activity bars, grownups are rediscovering the fun of play. There’s ping pong at Bounce’s three sites, pétanque at the Provençale styled Baranis, and foosball at Bar Kick, to mention just a few.
Leaning around the door of this social experiment we headed to All Star Lanes on Brick Lane to see if we’d still ‘got it’. And our visit was well timed with the launch of their new ‘Top Dog’ food offer.
As soon as you enter All Star Lanes you are immersed in nostalgic Americana. The waitresses wear Sandra Dee-style dresses, and a close Harmony group sings Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy as you get into character.
Now to the hot dogs: All are served in a brioche bun with the choice of a beef, pork, or vegan wiener supplied by ‘Redefine Meat’.
We tested all three and you get to choose from a variety of toppings. My favourite was pork sausage with guacamole, sriracha and nachos. The other surprise was vegan pulled pork, which was utterly convincing. To wash it down we drank Pacifico beer from the bottle, though given the overall sweetness of hot dogs a cocktail might have been more clever.
This is a genuinely sociable venue and we got chatting with the couple on the next table, ending up ‘competing’ with them on the alley. We were all reassuringly rubbish, but that didn’t matter – It truly was great fun. I don’t do audience participation but the singers had us joining in with their slick performance, having long abandoned our inhibitions.
With the offer of £32 for a drink, hot dog and bowling, this is a really affordable and entertaining night out for groups and would make a great first date.
Related: World’s best pizza – the ‘Mistaken Margherita’ – comes to London
