Food Review: Fat Ronaldos, Shoreditch, London

East London’s fascination with pop up bars and restaurants has showed no signs of abetting in recent years, with savvy businessman and women seeking the opportunity to bring a thoroughly unique snapshot of food and drink to a venue for a short period of time.

Smokey Tails, the capital’s BBQ aficionados that boast the involvement of a certain Seth Troxler, have decided to take on the old Shoreditch railway station as the venue for a large scale environment for watching the World Cup - and named it in honour of the Troxleralike 'Fat' Ronaldo, the mesmerising Brazilian behind the football below.

The idea is to capitalise on London’s rich multi-cultural and nationality fabric, creating fantastic atmospheres for the fixtures that take place over the month long period where the beautiful game. With a variety of alcoholic drinks to service those gladly packing themselves in for the atmosphere.

Our experience is, if you excuse the very deliberate football pun, a tale of two halves. Our first sojourn sees us pile into a rammed space for the second half of the England vs Uruguay fixture, where a large crowd are teased into a euphoric stupor when Wayne Rooney’s equaliser offers England a glimpse of hope, before Luis Suarez finishing dampens expectations and, sadly, any hope of progression.

We didn't really get the chance to fully soak up the finder details of the venue the first time round, so slotted in a second visit, only for Suarez’s actions to dominate that as well.

When we return after England’s dead rubber fixture against Costa Rica to find a much quieter food hall a few minutes before the deciding fixture of Group E. It gives us the chance to take better stock of the venue, the brick arches creating an intimate environ even when not quite as busy as other occasions.

All the talk on the nightis on whether Suarez has indeed bitten again, the infamy of his actions setting up what turns out to be an exciting end to group with Columbia’s effervescent flair running amok against Japan. The atmosphere of football love in all its infamy ripples throughout, particularly with the occasional presence of a Pannini sticker swap shop for those whose fandom goes beyond the norm.

As you’d expect the crowds very much hinge on the fixtures being played, but the food on offer alongside the drinks enhances the experience considerably. Cocktail wise the football theme is taken to the extreme with the more mercurial talents of the game the monikers for a series of drinks that wouldn’t seem out of place on the banks of Rio, Sao Paulo and Recife.

Socrates, Zico and Gerd Muller are all themed drinks which borrow from their namesake's reputation as killer glug, Socrates' wild rum concoction as intoxicating as the player's tousled hair and ability to spray balls. The food also stands high.

We opt for a pair of pulled pork and brisket burgers, lured too much in by the promise of meat to opt for the passion fruit and halloumi vegetarian option. It’s a generous serving of barbecued meat amid a brioche bun, which is quickly soaked up by the juices of the food.

It’s a messy experience eating it, which is appropriate considering it's named after, you guessed it, Lionel Messi. It's a good one and the perfect quick and easy soul food to scoff whilst watching the dancing south American footballers.

Sides wise the Macaroni cheese beefed up with a lashing of chilli is great, elevating what is always a wholesome but occasionally ordinary staple into something that little bit more cavalier. We washed it down with plenty of bottled beers as well, ensuring that despite the slightly quiet attendance this time round the visual spectacle was complimented with just as much enjoyment.

The football on offer at Brazil 2014 so far has been scintillating, and with England’s involvement a distant memory now and the knockout stages in full swing you can enjoy it for just that, sport at its most exciting and entertaining. And you’ll find few environments that compliment it quite as well as this.