New YouTube series to explore independent London eateries

The first episode of the series was released last week and covers South African ‘bunny bar’ concept Bunnychow.​ There are eight episodes in this series, which finishes filming this week, and Get Lifted TV is already planning a second series which will be released in Spring 2015.

Get Lifted TV’s founder Adam Gray explained to BigHospitality that the intension with the series was to introduce the restaurants to people in a different way. For every review, Bites’ presenters visit a restaurant with two guests, one of whom is always a musician, while the other might be a YouTube personality.

“Food and music has been the foundation of what Get Listed is about,” Gray explained. “They are a core part of our feel good theme. Creating Bites seemed like a logical next step for me.

“We were looking to do something involving artists and food and we wanted to create an all-round, multisensory, feel good experience. Food and music are two things that make us feel good and we hoped it would work for other people as well, I think it has.”

Unique restaurants​

When deciding which restaurant to feature on Bites, Gray explained that they were looking for ideas that were quirky and unique. The team is currently planning the second series, and he is interested in being contacted by sites that feel they meet this criteria.

“​We’re interested in independent, interesting, and unique restaurants and cafes that have something a bit special about them,” said Gray. “Something we can tell people about that they might not have heard about already. They don’t have to be new restaurants, as long as they’re interesting and not universally known staples of the London restaurant scene then we’re happy to feature them.”

Instead of seeing Bites as a review service, Gray views it as a platform to introduce people to places they possibly haven’t heard about already.

“I think what makes us different is that our aim was to make something which was more of an experience than just a review,” he said. “I don’t consider Bites to be on the same level as other review sites that advise you whether or not to go to a restaurant. It’s more about discovery rather than qualitative reviews. We’re trying to help people discover these new places in a slightly unconventional way.”

Bites is released fortnightly on Wednesdays, with the next episode coming out on the 24 September.