rglondon | Entries tagged with e5

Hello, it's that time of year, time for the new Good Beer Guide and all the new pubs it brings. The category page for this book is therefore, of course, the featured article.

Before we get into that, there's one new unrelated article, which is Banh Mi Hoi-An in London's trendy Hackney, which will do you a decent noodle salad.

Now this leaves us with all the new pubs for this year, so brace yourselves:

* The Aeronaut in Acton (also a brewpub!);
* The Argyle in Clerkenwell (Hatton Garden area);
* The Black Horse in High Barnet (also a brewpub!);
* The Clarence in Mayfair;
* The Constitution in Pimlico;
* Craft Beer Co. in Brixton (ell, can't complain about the beer selection I guess);
* The Crooked Billet in Upper Clapton;
* The Crown in St Margaret's, Twickenham;
* The Elephant and Castle in Kensington;
* The Flying Pig in East Dulwich;
* The George in South Woodford;
* The Grapes in Sutton;
* The Grove in Ealing;
* The Hops and Glory in Canonbury (Essex Road);
* The Hour Glass in Brompton;
* The Huntsman and Hounds in Upminster;
* The King's Head in Tooting;
* The Leyton Technical in Leyton;
* The Lighthouse in Battersea;
* London Fields Brewery Tap Room by the park of that name in Hackney (really a brewery);
* The Lord Aberconway by Liverpool Street;
* The Misty Moon in High Barnet (ex-Spoons, obviously);
* Oaka at the Mansion House in Kennington (the Oakham Ales pub);
* The Old Bell on Fleet Street;
* The Old Loyal Britons in Greenwich;
* Old Tom's Bar under the Lamb Tavern in Leadenhall Market;
* The Pig and Whistle in Southfields;
* The Prince of Wales in Clapham;
* The Railway Bell in New Barnet;
* The Royal George by Euston Station;
* The Shortlands Tavern in Bromley;
* The Sporting Page in Chelsea;
* The Station Hotel in Hither Green;
* The White Lion in Warlingham;
* Williams Ale and Cider House in Spitalfields; and
* Woodin's Shades around the corner on Bishopshate, by Liverpool Street Station.

There are also two stub entries which will be filled out by Kake in the next week or two:
* The Door Hinge in Welling (a micro-pub!); and
* The Hare and Billet in Blackheath.

ewan

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.

katstevens

Hello RGLers! An evening update for you today.

This week's featured article is for Mi Rancho, N7 6AG, a Colombian restaurant in the Nags Head Market in Holloway. It's not clear whether there's a menu, but if you can speak Spanish there's no need for one! Try the (meaty) beans: "Quiero algo delicioso, por favor" should do it.

There's a new article for Slurp, an Asian restaurant in Streatham. It has nothing to do with the wine website of the same name, as far as I can tell. They serve Japanese, Chinese and Thai food, which is good news for soba noodle fans like myself.

The Eel Pie and Prince Blucher pubs (both in Twickenham) have closed for a refurb. I hope they get all competitive and try to out-do each other with fancy curtains and brass knobs.

Tube news! The Northern and Bakerloo lines aren't stopping at Embankment tube station for most of this year, while they sort out the escalators. You're better off getting off at Charing Cross.

Unpackaged in Hackney has closed, hopefully to reopen somewhere else. Also, a reminder that Pieds Nus in Marylebone is closing as planned at the end of March, but will hopefully be moving to a brand new home.

Finally, the Workman's Cafe in Clapton has been renamed to the E5 Cafe, but otherwise it's business as usual on Chatsworth Road.

katstevens

Hello RGL crew! This is the last update of 2013, and there's plenty to report.

Our featured article for the next three weeks is the Black Cat Cafe, a vegan co-operative on the site of the old Pogo Cafe, which sounds like a very pleasant place to spend an afternoon chatting over tea and cake.

Our sources tell us that banh mi and other Vietnamese dishes will soon be back on the menu at Panda Panda in Deptford. New year, new noodles!

Unfortunately the following won't be around in 2014: the Old Duke of Cambridge in Bow is likely to be turned into flats, as will the Whitesmiths Arms in Borough (shame - they had a great jukebox) and the Victoria Cross in Thornton Heath. London is certainly short of decent, affordable flats, but at this rate it will be short of decent, affordable pubs too...

The Lamb Brewery pub in Chiswick has changed its name to simply 'The Lamb'. It's no longer a brewery, so fair enough! This follows its takeover by the Mitchell & Butlers chain (along with other former Convivial London Pubs outlets The Botanist, the Crown and Anchor and the Clifton, the latter of which may not yet have reopened after its sale).

Finally, the Pilot Inn in Greenwich has reopened after a refurb. We have no idea what it's like now! There could be a cross-dimensional portal in the ladies' for all we know. If you're in SE10 over the festive period, why not pop in and check it out for us?

Thanks again to everyone who's contributed to RGL over the last year, especially

kake and

bob (and of course my co-blogger

ewan!) for keeping everything running smoothly. See you in the new year!

ewan

Hello! And sorry for the slight delay posting this update; all my fault.

This week's featured article is Addis, N1 9DT. It's an Ethiopian restaurant at the bottom of Caledonian Road, with plenty of options for veggies and vegans. Looks like everything was excellent, though you might want to think carefully about ordering falafel.

There are three new entries: a Turkish bakery and cafe called Tuana near Archway; Mi Rancho, a Colombian eatery in Nag's Head Market, Holloway, offering tasty street food in an unpretentious setting; and Black Cat Cafe, a vegan cooperative cafe in Lower Clapton.

Reported permanent closures are La Fermata on Tower Bridge Road, and Verru in Marylebone.

Finally, happier news, the old Duke of Edinburgh pub in Wanstead has been rebranded as The Duke and reopened. Looks promising.

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.

katstevens

Maotai Kitchen (農家大院), Chinatown, London W1

Good afternoon RGL crew! It's September, and that means there's a whole bunch of exciting new Good Beer Guide updates in store for next week.

But you'll have to be patient! Here's this week's featured article for Maotai Kitchen in Chinatown. There you can eat a Villagers' Spicy Bowl, filled with spam, pig's blood, tripe, fungus and presumably some degree of spiciness.

We have a new article for the Station Tavern in Brimsdown (that's up near Enfield), a pub with a sensible attitude to lime and soda pricing. There's also an update for the nearby King and Tinker, although 'nearby' is fairly relative once you get out near the M25. In fact there's an entire golf course and a country park between the two pubs, so 'nearby' in this instance really means 'share the first two letters of their postcodes', HOWEVER by my calculations they are only 0.000000000000510334 light years apart which is hardly anything in the grand scheme of things.

Finally, Pogo Cafe has closed (but is apparently soon to re-open as a different vegan cafe), as has the East Molesey branch of Nicolas wine merchants.

ewan

The featured article is The Railway, SW16 5SD. You'll have guessed two things about this pub: it's near a railway station and it's in Streatham. The station is Streatham Common in fact. It had only London ales on tap on our RGL correspondent's visit, and did an excellent salad.

Loads of additions this week too. There's Bruce Castle Museum (and local history archive) in Tottenham. We now have Cafe Royal, a cafe (!) in Park Royal (!), and on a similarly straightforward naming strategy, Burgers and Coctkails in Marylebone, which serves... oh I think you can guess; it used to be called Guerilla Burgers and garnered some pretty bad reviews, so I guess they tried rebranding. There's also The Toll Gate, a very Wetherspoony Wetherspoon's in Turnpike Lane, Lituanica grocery store in Walthamstow, Venerdi Italian restaurant in Lower Clapton (the old Thang Long House), and Mirch Masala's Goodmayes branch.

There are updates to The Anerley Arms, Yas Iranian restaurant near Olympia, and The Bull Inn in far-flung St Paul's Cray (where? why not look at the article to find out!).

Finally, we have been told that The Old Duke of Cambridge, a pub in Bow, may have closed so any further information confirming/denying this would be gratefully received.

katstevens

Tian Fu (天府布衣), Shepherd's Bush, London W12

This week's featured article is Tian Fu, W12 8AR (formerly known as Bamboo House), a Sichuan restaurant in Shepherd's Bush that serves loofah! Thankfully it is at the edible stage, before it turns into a scrubbing brush.

We have brand new pages for Caballo Bikes and Cafe, a cafe and bicycle workshop on Clapton's trendy Chatsworth Road, and the Parish, an Irish pub in Wembley that had the hurling on telly during our visit yesterday.

The pages for the Albion in West Kensington and the Lamb Brewery pub in Chiswick have both had significant updates after recent visits, as has my old local the Tichenham Inn in Ickenham, a Wetherspoons wherein I spent many a happy hour ~~during my lunch break in Sixth Form~~ as a responsible adult. Bonus history fact: the pub's name comes from 'Ticheha' (pronounced 'Ticky-ha'), which is how Ickenham was listed in the Domesday Book!

But it's not all rose-tinted Anglo-Saxon fun-times I'm afraid: Ciao Baby Cucina in the Shepherd's Bush Westfield, Cool Monkey in Holland Park, the branch of EAT in London City Airport and the Greyhound pub in Oval have all closed.

ewan

Esarn Kheaw, Shepherd's Bush, London W12

This week's featured article is Esarn Kheaw, W12 7LJ, a Thai restaurant with their own homemade sausage, which certainly gets me interested...

There's been one new addition, Thanh's Bistro in Croydon, a pretty good Vietnamese restaurant.

Sadly though we have four reported closures: Stash Yarns in Putney; Cakey Muto, a hipster cake shop cafe in Clapton; La Rochelle French bistro in Croydon; and The Ship of Fools, the Wetherspoon's pub opposite West Croydon station.

One significant renaming is Mitchells and Butlers chain of Castle Pubs (which were called Metro Professionals, not that they advertise it as a brand).

Finally, happily, a pub reopening is The Wenlock Arms in Hoxton, a CAMRA and locals' favourite which has now been permanently saved and refurbished too.

katstevens

Afternoon RGL crew! We're back from our mini-break and London's looking pretty nice out there in the sunshine, isn't it?

This week's featured article is the Crown & Sceptre, CR2 6RB, a Fuller's pub in Croydon. It's a bit smaller than most of the Fuller's pubs I frequent, but the last time I went there my pint of Chiswick went down a treat. Their macaroni cheese has mustard in it - depending on your point of view this might be an AMAZING thing or a TERRIBLE thing, but either way, now you know about it.

I am proud to include my local haunt Best Turkish Kebab in Stoke Newington as one of our new articles. The shish is almost as good as the picture of Ainsley Harriot they have on the wall! Also new is Fishworks in Marylebone, a fancy-ish restaurant on the High Street that focuses on sustainably-sourced fish and seafood.

Clearing up confusion in Maida Vale is the Union Tavern, another Fuller's pub which has changed its moniker from the 'Grand Union' -- a sensible move considering it is neither a type of 4-way railway junction, a burger chain nor a sizeable means of organising a workforce. Now if only we could get the nearby Grand Union Canal's name changed too, that would be perfect.

Finally, we have a reopened and refurbished pub (hurrah!) in the shape of the Windsor Castle on the Lower Clapton Road in Hackney. According to our RGL pub expert it now 'looks quite nice' and 'was quite busy'. Good to know!

ewan

Hello! Plenty of pub updates this week, as Kake's been out in Sutton. Do please note that the many Sutton updates not constitute new pubs to the Good Beer Guide 2013. Those will be updated on the website on 13 September (the book's release date), so look out for them!

Shane's on Chatsworth, Lower Clapton, E5

In the meantime, the featured article this week is Shane's on Chatsworth, a newish restaurant on up-and-coming Chatsworth Road, Clapton, which was much enjoyed by Kat. (It is very much open for business unless you walk by to take your photo on a Monday.)

New entries this past week have been: Aces and Eights, an American-style saloon bar in Tufnell Park which does very tasty pizza; and The Ravensbury in Mitcham.

Significant updates to: The Sekforde Arms, good old-fashioned pub in Clerkenwell; The Marquis of Granby and The Jolly Coopers in Epsom (which is only marginally London); and many pubs in Sutton (The Old Bank, The Little Windsor, The Cock and Bull and The Lord Nelson).

Finally confirmation of three permanent closures: Tas-Ty Snacks greasy spoon in Bermondsey; Spa Fish Bar, a fish and chip shop in the same area; and Bella Italia, a chain Italian restaurant in Epsom.

katstevens

Hullo RGLers!

This week's featured article is the Clapton Hart, E5 8EG, a newly-refurbished Antic pub opposite Clapton Pond. As well as eight handpumps featuring plenty of local beers, you get a lovely view of all the 38 buses turning around at the end of their route!

There are three closures to report: Goldfish City, a Chinese restaurant in EC2; the Bloated Mallard pub in Teddington, and Manchurian Legends in Chinatown (now a Cantonese barbecue).

No new articles this week unfortunately - perhaps a pub or restaurant has just opened near you? Why not tell us about it in the comments and we'll put on our Investigating Hats and go check it out!

ewan

Somers Town Coffee House, Somers Town, NW1

This week's featured article is the Somers Town Coffee House, NW1 1HS, which despite its name is a gastropub near Euston station. It's been refurbished since it was a French-themed pub.

There are four additions this week: The Clapton Hart pub in Lower Clapton, another fine Antic outpost; Shane's on Chatsworth, a restaurant not too far away; The North Pole, a self-described craft beer pub in Islington; and Tramlink Route 4, a new tram route on the Tramlink in south London using some extra double-tracking (but no new stations).

There's been an update to the stub entry for The Lord Palmerston, a Geronimo Inns gastropub in Dartmouth Park.

Five permanent closures have been reported: Ping Pong's branch on Goodge Street; the Texas Embassy Cantina by Trafalgar Square; Melati, a Malaysian restaurant in Soho; The Compass, a gastropub in Pentonville, at the end of Chapel Market (reopening as another gastropub called Hundred Crows Rising); and Langton's Bookshop in Twickenham.

Finally, confirmation that Morgan M has fully moved from its site in Holloway to Smithfield.

ewan

Great Northern Railway Tavern, Hornsey, N8

This week's featured article is the refurbished and reopened Great Northern Railway Tavern, N8 7QB on Hornsey High Street.

New articles are: Deli Spice, an Indian takeaway in Lower Clapton; Cakey Muto, a cake shop and licensed cafe on the same street; The Manor Arms, a gastropub in Streatham; and Red Sea, a restaurant in Shepherd's Bush offering food from countries located around that stretch of water.

There's an update to The Old Red Lion, now an Antic pub near Kennington station.

Finally The Rye in Peckham has reopened after a significant refurbishment.

ewan

This week's featured article is Mestizo, NW1 3EL, a dependable Mexican restaurant on Hampstead Road, near Euston station.

One new article is the Hackney Homemade Market, in various venues in Lower Clapton.

There's an update to Somers Town Coffee House, a pub in Somers Town, which has changed management.

Two reported closures are: The New Cavendish, a greasy spoon in Fitzrovia; and Teapod, a tea shop in Covent Garden.

ewan

Venetia's Coffee Shop, Lower Clapton, E5

Sorry for no update last week, as I was on holiday. Last week's featured article was The Parcel Yard, N1C 4AH, Fuller's excellent new flagship pub in King's Cross station.

This week's featured article is Venetia's Coffee Shop, E5 0LH, a coffee shop on Chatsworth Road in Lower Clapton.

Additions are: The Havelock Tavern, a gastropub in West Kensington; and Hardy's Brasserie in Marylebone.

Reported closures are: The New Chandos, a pub in Colindale; So Asia, an Asian buffet in Acton; and Muna's, an Eritrean/Sudanese restaurant in Harringay.

ewan

Just a short update this week.

The featured article is Chimes, SW1V 2LP, an English restaurant and bar in Pimlico.

There's only one new article, which is Workman's Cafe, a greasy spoon in Lower Clapton.

ewan

This week's featured article is a pub in Soho, The Queen's Head, W1D 7HN, which has come under new management, and seems to be okay.

Notified closures are: Fitzgerald's, an Irish pub in Lower Clapton; Zorya, a bar/restaurant in Chalk Farm; and Nicolas, the Chiswick branch of this chain of wine shops.

Finally, Quilon, the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant, is temporarily closed.