rglondon | Entries tagged with wc2

Evening all! A bumper week, kicking off with this week's featured article Yu Xiao, a Chinese supermarket on Kingsland High Street (right near Dalston Kingsland Overground station). It's stuffed full of noodles, pickles, tofu and other East Asian groceries.

Our old peripatetic friend the Japan Centre (currently located in Shaftesbury Avenue) has had an update. A slightly different selection of tofu, noodles etc is available there, as well as a vast number of magazines with Japanese boybands on the cover. The Blythe Hill Tavern in Catford has also had an update, including some useful #limeandsodawatch pricing info.

There are plenty of new pages this week, including three fully vegetarian eateries: the Lighthouse cafe in Catford, Indian restaurant Saravanaa Bhavan in Ilford, and the awkwardly-portmanteaued CoffeE7 in Forest Gate. Guess which one has a chandelier! Also new is the Orbit Beers Taproom, just off the Walworth Road (good for train spotting), and Cappuccino in Norbury (good for fried eggs). However fans of egg will no longer be able to obtain tarts from Sun Luen Snack Bar in Chinatown, as it has closed.

Finally, some cinema news: the Bromley Empire and Leicester Square Empire are now Cineworld Bromley and Cineworld Leicester Square respectively.

katstevens

Sun Luen Snack Bar, Little Newport Street, London WC2

Hullo RGLers!

This week's featured article is for Sun Luen Snack Bar in Chinatown, which sounds like a nice quiet place for a breather (and an egg tart) in the centre of town.

A bunch of new articles have appeared! There's a branch of the Franco Manca pizza chain in Wimbledon; long-established dining spot Joanna's in Crystal Palace; the organisationally-challenged Tartine Artisan cafe, and Lebanese restaurant Meza, both in Tooting Broadway. The Bond Street branch of Rasa has had an update following a visit, by me! Spoiler: it's still great, and you should all go.

Lastly, after what seems like aeons, the Waterloo Tap is finally open, and ready to sell you some craft beer.

katstevens

Bushwacker Wholefoods, Hammersmith, London W6

Evening all! A bumper week to catch up after the Bank Holiday.

This week's featured article is for Bushwacker Wholefoods in Hammersmith, which stocks a whole range of vegetarian groceries including Taifun tofu (I wonder if they have curry and pineapple flavour?

New new new! Craft Tooting is a small craft beer shop by Tooting Broadway station. Further up towards Wimbledon Park we have more beer at the By The Horns Brewery Tap, while the Pear Tree pub in Purley has little jars of beer in front of the pumps so you can see what colour it is (I love it when pubs do this). Not quite so new but existing under a different name: The Aleksander in St Margaret's is now The Alba.

The page for Lion Inn in Thornton Heath has had an update, as have ones for the Sugahill cafe in Sydenham and Imperial China on Chinatown's Lisle Street (which seems to be *the* place to meet your blind date?). Places *not* to meet your blind date, unless you want to hang around outside a now-closed pub: the Red Herring pub near St Paul's, and the Devonshire House Wetherspoons in Crouch End.

Finally, pre-gig Brixton favourite the Trinity Arms is temporarily shut for a refurb. It's planned to reopen in August, hopefully in plenty of time for any attendees of 'Progress Wrestling: Chapter 36 - We're Gonna Need a Bigger Room Again' wanting a pre-bout pint of Ordinary.

ewan

Welcome back! This week's featured article is The Willoughby Arms, KT2 6LN, a pub on the north side of Kingston. Of course, you knew that from the postcode, so I need hardly say. It's a handsome building from the photo, though what were once separate rooms seem to have been knocked through somewhat (as is the style). Go to drink Twickenham ales and watch cricket on the TV, still lovely despite a musty smell.

Two new articles are Sun Luen Snack Bar in Chinatown, with eggy egg tart; and House of Bottles, an off licence in Brixton.

There are big updates to veggie favourite The Gate (their Angel Islington branch), and post-work vertical drinking favourite The Hope Fitzrovia, which used to be a nice pub once upon a time. Still, sounds like it might just be fine on a weekday afternoon if you're ever there at such a time.

Finally, just to mark the reopening of Camberwell's The Bear pub, for which our write-up is sadly rather out of date.

ewan

I'm back-back-back from my holidays to take over update duties from Kat.

風味食堂 (Food House), Chinatown, London WC2

The featured article this week is the imaginatively named Food House, W1D 5QH, which we can confirm does indeed offer food. But perhaps instead you should call it 風味食堂. In fact, it's Northern Chinese and Sichuanese food, moved from that bit of Charing Cross Road currently being refurbished. The food was a mixed affair -- check the review for more details -- but the Chinese 'hamburger' was considered rather good at the most recent visit, and the service is friendly.

Lots of new articles, many of them in Tooting. Those that aren't are a relaxed Italian in Covent Garden, Wildwood Kitchen, and the Clapham Junction branch of We Brought Beer beer shop (we added their Balham branch recently). Moving onto those Tooting outlets, we have: Apollo Banana Leaf (a meaty Sri Lankan); Dosa n Chutny (a South Indian cafe); Gourmet (a Pakistani bakery/sweet shop); Pooja Sweets and Savouries (an Indian sweet shop); and Tooting Daily Fresh Naan, which will sort you out for all yr naan needs (though watch out for the hygiene rating).

There are updates to The Lyceum Tavern and The Edgar Wallace, both on or near the Strand.

Sadly, plenty of reported closures too, most of them pubs as noted in the London Drinker magazine: All Bar One by London Bridge ('redeveloped'); Costa Dorada on Hanway Street; The Fox Reformed in Stoke Newington (renamed); The Gilpin's Bell Edmonton Wetherspoons pub; The Man in the Moon Stanmore 'Spoons; Mela (an Indian on Shaftesbury Ave); The North Pole in Islington (renamed); The Queen's Head in Mitcham; The Widow's Son pub in Bow.

We've heard that Mum's House (a Burmese grocery, not literally your mum's house, unless your mum is Burmese and runs a grocery shop) has moved from Wood Green to Tottenham.

The Misty Moon in High Barnet is now called The Butchers Arms.

Finally, Adams Cafe in Croydon has reopened, for your London Road greasy spoon needs.

ewan

Welcome back! The update this week will have to last you for the next two. (Also there's no image for the featured article, as the original photo doesn't seem to allow embedding as an option, but imagine a green facade, maybe turquoise... or don't imagine it, click on the link!)

So the featured article this week is Four Hundred Rabbits, SE19 3AH, which is a pizza restaurant in delightful Crystal Palace (or maybe Upper Norwood if you're historically so inclined). It's a top place for all your sourdough pizza, gelato and craft beer needs.

We also have a new entry for Osterley Bookshop, in that bit of West London known as Osterley, housed in a former rail station building! It's arranged in classic second-hand bookshop style, which is to say haphazardly. Don't take any book-murdering dogs, though the regular book-friendly variety are fine!

There's an update for Dartmouth Park boozer The Lord Palmerston.

There are also two closures. The first is possibly only temporary, Shanghai Blues in Holborn. The other is definitely permanent, Moti Mahal in Covent Garden.

ewan

Welcome back!

This week's featured article is the Amber Tree Cafe, SE8 4AD, a cafe in a former pub building on Deptford High St. Sadly there's not much of historical pub interest inside. Still it's a friendly (and child-friendly) place which does a fine banana cake.

Two new articles this week. First off is Food House, an uninspiringly-named Northern Chinese and Sichuanese restaurant in Chinatown, cash only and with some interesting menu items. The other is Four Hundred Rabbits, going in a quite opposite direction re name, but offering good size sourdough pizza portions, craft beer and lots of gelato.

There's an update to the entry for one of Wetherspoons' finest pubs, The Knights Templar in Holborn.

The four reported closures relate to Chinatown restaurants we've just caught up on: Jade Garden; Red N Hot; New Aroma; and Harbour City.

ewan

Welcome back!

This week's featured article is Great Queen Street, WC2B 5AA. It's a restaurant and bar in the shadow of the Freemasons' HQ and has some great food even after all these years. Good for treating the parents.

There's one new article, being Rio's Britannia Cafe in South London's Norbury. Does what a greasy spoon is supposed to do, albeit without pork.

Our reported permanent closure this week is Ergon, a Greek restaurant and deli in Marylebone.

ewan

As we'll be away for the holiday period (happy Winterval!), I've left this until later in the week. That's my excuse (it's nothing to do with being lazy) and I'm sticking with it.

This week's featured article celebrates the inclusion of Brentwood in the London travel zone system, and is a small children's bookshop, Chicken and Frog, CM15 9AT, delightfully rammed with books.

One addition is a Swedish bakery cafe called Fabrique, in Covent Garden. Small, industrial chic, and typically pricy, but strong coffee can be had.

Finally, the reported impending closure of Brew Wharf has now happened.

katstevens

Evening all!

This week's featured article is for the Cat's Back in Wandsworth, a small Harvey's pub with lots of lovely beer and tasty snacks. It's the second closest to the North Pole of all the Harvey's pubs, after the Royal Oak in Borough.

Our intrepid RGL team have paid a visit to Dartford and there's a whole bunch of new pub articles as a result: the Paper Moon (a typical Wetherspoons), the Wat Tyler (traditional old pub with a Tudor-style exterior), the Ivy Leaf (a large Good Beer Guide pub), the Foresters (a back street local's pub with a few decent ales) and the Malt Shovel (a Young's pub and CAMRA hangout).

Our non-Dartford additions include BG Zakuska Bulgarian Breakfast in Barking, a small cafe which will zap you some pastries in the microwave, and Great Queen Street, a great little bistro restaurant in Covent Garden run by the dudes behind the Anchor & Hope (but crucially you can book tables).

Rounding off a busy week, the Wych Elm in Kingston has had an update following a visit (the soup sounds good!) and the Ruse bar in Borough has closed.

ewan

Big update this week, mainly thanks to Oddbins. Anyway, here we go...

Our featured article is Tram Stop, CR0 6RD, which is not in fact a tram stop but is right next to one (Addiscombe tram stop that is). It's a small coffee shop and cafe. It's child-friendly, and offers newspapers and bookswap books. The food is seasonal and good too!

Two new articles are: Magma, a small Ghanaian restaurant in Thornton Heath with a fine palaver sauce; and Gojo, doing Ethiopian food in a North Kensington basement, better than it sounds.

Four reported closures we've caught up with are: the Marylebone High St branch of Nicolas wine shop; the Barnes branch of Spirited Wines; Just Falafel in Covent Garden; and Japanese restaurant Kibou in sunny Wimbledon.

Those Oddbins renamings (generally from Spirited Wines or Nicolas) are:

* the Oddbins Beer Shop in Blackheath;
* the Notting Hill branch;
* the Wimbledon branch;
* the Kew branch;
* the Baker Street branch;
* the the Crouch End branch; and
* the East Dulwich branch.

ewan

Hello all! We've got a full update this week, as we're catching up with various changes to pubs from London Drinker magazine.

Old Tom's Bar, Leadenhall Market, London EC3

The featured article this week is a little dive bar under the Lamb Tavern in Leadenhall Market, namely Old Tom's Bar, EC3V 1LR. They have ales from the Young's range and a short list of food options. Get away from the bustle.

One new article is The Star at Night, a coffee house by day in Soho but at night a gin bar. Many gins! Drink gin! (It's not a candidate for a good photo of the establishment until they finish the Crossrail works though.)

There's a temporary closure to mark for The Railway in West Hampstead, until March next year.

The following pubs have all closed since we last visited:
* The Newton Arms out back of Covent Garden, near Holborn;
* The Old Loyal Britons in Greenwich;
* The Elephant on Fenchurch Street;
* The Crown and Greyhound in Dulwich Village (though this is due to reopen in 2016);
* The Oakhill in Beckenham;
* Glow Lounge in Clapham;
* The Gate bar on Newington Green; and
* The Florence off Upper Street in Islington.

Finally a few renamings:
* Finch's in Moorgate (was The Master Gunner);
* The Pleasure Boat in Alperton (now The Boat);
* The Express Tavern by Kew Bridge (now The Express Ale and Cider House); and
* The Thatched House by Ravenscourt Park station in Hammersmith (now The Butcher's Hook).

ewan

Dear all, welcome back to another sunny week of RGL updates. There's not too many today.

Oaka at the Mansion House, Kennington, London SE11

This week's featured article is the unwieldy-sounding Oaka at The Mansion House, SE11 4RS, a sort-of-pub sort-of-bar sort-of-Asian-fusion-restaurant near Kennington station. It's run by Oakham Ales and it's in the former Mansion House pub building, hence the name. The beers are good quality, and the food is competent, so there's that.

One new article is Agege Bread, a Nigerian bakery and takeaway in Deptford. It's good value, but if your dish has tripe, it may not be the finest cuts.

We've also got an update on long-standing vegetarian cafe Food for Thought in Covent Garden, which remains as good (and good value) as ever.

ewan

Hello there, sorry for the delay. Kake tells me what's in the charts this week and it always then gets lost in the depthless mess that is currently my inbox. So this week's featured article is...

... the Ship and Shovell, WC2N 5PH, a charming and slightly hidden little pub, one of the few remaining outposts for Hall & Woodhouse (aka Badger) beers in the capital, as yet unsullied by any word of "craft" or the like. Just a row of handpulls dispensing classic and well-kept English bitters and pales (or "boring brown ales", though I don't mean that as any disrespect: I love the BBB). The pub is rather more interesting for its unusual twin-site arrangement, taking up buildings on both sides of the little alleyway. The north has the main bar, the south has the "Crow's Nest" upstairs.

Our one new article this week is for Garden Community Cafe, a community-focused greasy spoon by Prince Regent DLR out there past Canning Town.

Two reported permanent closures are The Old White Bear in Hampstead (which we felt had gone downhill since it was Ye Olde White Bear and was a proper real ale pub), and The Clifton in St John's Wood, one of very few pubs in the area and a delightful little getaway, so it's particularly sad to see this one go.

Finally, two more impending pub closures. There's The Star, also in St John's Wood because clearly nobody is drinking there anymore, or (more likely) property is worth more as residences. And then there's The Sekforde Arms in Clerkenwell, which your correspondent only visited for the first time a couple of years ago, and what a delightful unpretentious boozer it is, serving tip top Young's beers, and now sadly looking like it'll become a restaurant after only 185 years of sterling service to drinkers.

But at least there's a couple of reopenings, both following refurbishments, and both out in Twickenham: The Prince Blucher and The Eel Pie.

katstevens

Afternoon RGL crew!

Our featured article this week is for Venerdi, E5 0LH, a friendly Italian restaurant on Hackney's trendy Chatsworth Road that serves a lovely plate of ravoli.

There's an update to the article for Chai Corner cafe in Croydon (following its change of location), and three closures to report: the Captain's Cabin pub in Piccadilly, Bento Box in Holborn and Chawol in Clerkenwell.

Finally, SM Pinoy in Croydon has changed its name to Eurasia, though it still sells the usual Filipino groceries and (as far as we can tell) has not always been at war with Oceania.

ewan

This week is that week when the Good Beer Guide is released, so we can add all the new Good Beer Guide 2014 pubs, which Kake and bob have been diligently adding, helped by a few others. I shan't try to sum up the views of our sterling reviewers (you should read the entries to find out their favourites), so here is a list of those with new entries in RGL as a result:

In the centre:
* The Chamberlain (Aldgate EC3);
* The Exmouth Arms (Clerkenwell EC1);
* The Hung, Drawn and Quartered (Tower Hill EC3);
* The Sun (Covent Garden WC2); and
* The White Swan (Covent Garden WC2).

In the North:
* The Bohemia (North Finchley N12) [PS already closed! BOO!];
* The Bull (Highgate N6);
* The Charlotte Despard (Archway N19); and
* The Stag and Hounds (Lower Edmonton N9).

In the East:
* The Bell (Walthamstow E17)
* The Duke's Head (Walthamstow E17); and
* The Sebright Arms (Haggerston E2).

In the South-East:
* The Royal Standard (Blackheath SE3);
* The Ship (Borough SE1); and
* The Star Inn (Plumstead SE18).

In the South-West:
* The King's Head (Earl's Court SW5); and
* Powder Keg Diplomacy (Battersea SW11).

In outer London postcodes:
* The Barking Dog (Barking IG11);
* The Europa (East Molesey KT8);
* The Feathers (Rickmansworth WD3);
* The George Staples (Sidcup DA15);
* The Jolly Coopers (Hampton TW12);
* The London Apprentice (Isleworth TW7);
* The Moon on the Hill (Sutton SM1)
* The Tailor's Chalk (Sidcup DA14);
* The Three Tuns (Uxbridge UB8);
* The Windermere (North Wembley HA9); and
* The Woodman (Farnborough BR6).

There's also a stub article for The Viaduct in Hanwell, so if anyone would like to visit and let us know how it is, why not do that? We'll get along eventually, I'm sure.

One other pub addition, not in the GBG, is The Change of Horses in Farnborough, which is upmarket traditional. If you're going to go all the way to Farnborough you might as well try a couple of pubs, eh?

Reported closures, are, er, the Bohemia (see above). It was a nice pub, I hope it will be back... :(

There are significant updates to the entries for The Red Lion in Isleworth, The Portrait in Sidcup, and Ye Olde Whyte Lyon in Farnborough.

There is a temporary closure for The Pilot Inn, a wonderful and lonely pub in North Greenwich. Meanwhile, The Gate vegetarian restaurant in Hammersmith has reopened.

ewan

This week's featured article is The Hole in the Wall, SE1 8SQ, a pub hidden away down the side of Waterloo station which feels like a proper traditional locals' pub rather than a transient station drinking hole. It's bigger than it looks too.

The one addition is the Fox @ Connaught, a pub in the Royal Docks across from London City Airport. There's precious few pubs in this area, so just having some handpulls makes it a bit of a haven (relatively speaking).

Significant updates to the entries for The Railway and The Black Horse in Greenford, and The Lemon Tree in Covent Garden, no longer run by Jack Beard's (thankfully) and largely still avoiding the tourist trade.

Reported permanent closures are Sweet and Spicy Indian restaurant on Brick Lane, and Little Hanoi Vietnamese just off Old Street.

Finally, possibly a temporary closure for The Horse in Lambeth North may be a more permanent one, but we're not sure.

ewan

This week's featured article is Woo Jung, WC2H 8LH, a Korean restaurant near Centre Point in that tricky little area between WC1 and WC2 that I usually call St Giles, some developers call Mid Town, but for convenience we'll just call Covent Garden. There's a little stretch of Korean places along here, so you can come here if you can't get into the others.

New articles are: Cafe Kozzy, a greasy spoon in Holborn; and Tufnell Park Tavern. Sure, it's a tavern and it's in Tufnell Park, but it's more than averagely child-friendly. On the downside, it's a bit big and airy in there, and they don't know how to pull a pint, but at least they have real ale.

Reported closures are Favela Chic, a Brazilian bar in Shoreditch which turned into another Brazilian bar a year or two back; and The Oporto, a pub by Westferry station in Poplar which is now called The Westferry Arms and may be much the same, though we haven't been since the change of name.

ewan

This week's featured article is The Chandos, a Sam Smith's pub at the corner of Trafalgar Square that anyone who has ever had a drink in central London will probably be familiar with. You may already have an opinion of Sam Smith's pubs, but at least their beer tends to be dependable.

The new entry is The Smithfield Tavern, which you may have guessed is a tavern just off Smithfield Market, central London's major meat market. Given this fact, you'll be surprised to hear it's totally vegetarian, and the food sounds pretty good to me.

Reported closures are Delfina on Bermondsey Street (probably permanent), and Mizgin Restaurant on Green Lanes, Harringay (definitely permanent; it's been replaced another Turkish restaurant). We also have a reported temporary closure for Hoxton's Wenlock Arms, but this is promised to be just for a refurbishment.

Finally Just Deli in SE1 has been renamed as London's Kitchen Cafe.

katstevens

This week's featured article is Dirty Burger in Kentish Town. This tiny emporium serves the currently-trendy style of semi-posh burgers crammed full with Stuff, but also does fried breakfasts (in a burger bun) until 11am.

New to RGL is Just Falafel, a small, vegetarian-only cafe/takeaway in Covent Garden. I love the menu pictures on their website, there's something very comforting about seeing different combinations of falafels, halloumi and chips photoshopped onto the same background. They even have a picture of some water in a cup in the drinks section, which you can 'share on Facebook'. Amazing.

There are three closures to report this week: Speedy Noodle, a noodle bar in Brixton (now a branch of Foxtons) the Goldhawk pub on the Goldhawk Road near Shepherds Bush, and to finish off this week's theme of unimaginitively-named places, The Bar in Gants Hill is no more.