Randomness Guide to London

Welcome back to a rather quiet week on RGL.



The featured article is The Rose and Crown, W5 4HN. It's a comfortable, low-ceilinged and dimly-lit space, according to our write-up, and you'll get a fine pint of London Pride (it's a Fuller's pub). If you're visiting soon, check out the gnocchi if you're looking for food.

The one reported permanent closure is Ezo Bistro in the concourse of Barking Station. There's still a coffee shop there, though, so fear not if you're passing through.

And... that's it!

Welcome back, with another bumper crop of updates, although this one is not directly related to the Good Beer Guide.



Our featured article is Tip Top Cafe, BR8 8ES in Swanley. It's not quite a greasy spoon, instead it's a full-fledged British cafe, but not posh. Can't fault it if you ever find yourself in, or indeed find, Swanley.

Right then, plenty of new articles. We have Flavours of Paani Puri in Kingsbury, a casual Indian cafe with a good line in Pani Puri, masquerading as a shop. Then, not far away in Colindale, is Bang Bang Oriental Foodhall, the successor to the late lamented Oriental City, with loads of options, variable quality. A bit further out in Wembley is Krishna, a small and okay Indian vegetarian restaurant. And also in the north-west is Delisserie in Stanmore, a New York-style deli (which is to say, more of a cafe I guess) with a bunch of NW London outlets.

Moving out east is Hasi, an Albanian restaurant in Barking. You may not find a menu, but you'll have options, and while they may seem basic, they turn out to be worth eating. Swinging down across the river is Kitchen Counter, a vegan restaurant in Herne Hill run by "Deliciously Ella"; we only visited for breakfast, but it may be worth exploring. Over to West Norwood for Frangipani, a cafe with a cozy bright style and including vegan options.

Continuing west we get to Orange Pekoe, a tea shop in Barnes, so expect them to brew your tea properly at least, and they're happy to talk you through it. Still west, but north of the river in Ealing is Kiraku, a Japanese restaurant in the izakaya style, which gets busy and serves excellent (if pricy) food. Bringing us back towards the centre is The Bull and Last, a well-known (and also pricy) gastropub in Dartmouth Park, but the food is top notch even if it's only vanishingly pub-like. And on Highbury/Canonbury borders is Prawn on the Lawn, a silly name for a very likeable fish restaurant (and fishmonger).

I'll just list the significant updates:
* The Robin Hood, a Young's pub in Sutton;
* YBR Cake, a Thornton Heath cake shop;
* Finch's, another Young's pub, this one in Moorgate;
* The Volunteer, a pub in Bexleyheath;
* The Belvedere Hotel, in Belvedere;
* The Eel Pie pub in Twickenham;
* The Fox pub, not far away also in Twickenham; and
* The Norbiton pub in Kingston's Norbiton.

Three reported closures are: The Haandi Lounge in Edgware; L'Autre Pied in Marylebone; and Tigris in Waddon.

Hello! Our featured article this week is Ezo Bistro, IG11 8TU, a cafe in the concourse of Barking Station. Stations are never usually conducive to good cafes, but RGL feels this one might be an exception. They've made an effort with the decor, and there's a mix-and-match sandwich menu for which you might get bonus spinach side-salad.

Several new articles too! Gurkha's Diner in Balham is a Nepalese restaurant which doesn't go very heavy on the spices (if at all). The Roebuck is a pub in Borough, busy on a Friday as you'd expect. The Blue Eyed Maid is another pub not too far away from that one, on Borough High St, and do Indian food during the day. Finally, Cafe Nomad in Norbury is a halal Mediterranean pizzeria and restaurant.

This week's featured article is Magma, CR7 7ND. It's a small Ghanaian restaurant in Thornton Heath. Expect bright colours and probably not many people, but load up on carby goodness with tasty palaver sauce.

There are new entries for The Thatched House in Barking, a pub with Kenyan food; The Four Quarters, an 'arcade bar' in Peckham; and Chipstead Tandoori, which is surely self-explanatory, but it's an Indian in Chipstead, one of the few places to eat in this part of town, and even then probably missable.

We also have news of the reported closure of The Kennington Bookshop.

Finally, for those who have an interest in this sort of thing, Jeff 'Stonch' Bell has sold up The Finborough Arms and moved on to other things.

Hello again!

This week's featured article is Beck's Cafe, WC1R 4PS, a greasy spoon cafe offering excellent quality breakfast in the Holborn area. bob's been a regular nigh on twenty a year now. In my own opinion, sausages are the key, good quality sausages, can't overemphasise how important these are.

Two new entries include Bongo East, a Ghanaian restaurant/bar in Barking. It offers some tasty fufu. I'm still not sure what that is. Some kind of bread?

Another addition is Albina, another bar/restaurant this time in Plaistow. It offers food from the Ukraine, and is probably a good deal safer to visit than that country is right now (/topical). I would suggest reading our review carefully before you go in, because there's some good stuff if you choose well. Bonus Cyrillic action.

Finally two reported closures are Viajante, whose award-winning chef Nuno Mendes has gone on to other projects (he's currently cooking at the Chiltern Firehouse, which your updater is confident he will not be eating at, what with it being London's current hot ticket). At the other end of the gastronomic spectrum, the E5 Cafe in everyone's favourite postcode has also shut up shop, not long after advertising non-existent Punjabi food, which may perhaps have confused their potential customers and been something of, dare I say it, a marketing error.