rglondon | Entries tagged with french food

This week's featured article is Hopper And Bean, N10 3DU, a cheerful yellow cafe in Muswell Hill that is easy to access and work in.

A new article: Langley Quarter, BR3 3DE, a cafe in Eden Park where the food side is a bit hit-and-miss, and there are accessibility issues, but it's a good place to work on your laptop.

Updates to Tooting Daily Fresh Naan, SW17 7ER (now shawarma too), Poached, BR3 1AZ (new visits,photos of menus), and Category: Central Line (no longer direct trains to Chigwell et al.).

Square, W1J 6PU, a French restaurant in Bruton Street, Mayfair, has closed after the parent company went into admin, though we're hoping someone will take it on (it has a Michelin star after all). At Adam's Cafe, CR0 2TD, a greasy spoon in London Road, Croydon, the shutters have been down for weeks, but we don't know why.

Now, tap rooms. The Orbit Beers Taproom, SE17 3HD was, as its name implied, the tap room for the Orbit Beers brewery which operates from railway arches in Walworth. Or rather, the tap room attached to their brewery has closed. But they tweeted that a nearby cafe would be "hosting" their tap room. What does this mean though? Beer lines snaking through from the brewery to taps on the cafe counter? Or a few cans on a shelf? Whatever, could one call the cafe a "proxy taproom". On the subject of taprooms, do please opinionate on my blog post about what tap rooms are and aren't, and whether there we should have a dedicated category for them.

Current Mood: indescribable

rowleybirkinqc

Belle Epoque, French-themed cafe on Newington Green

Happy new year wherever you are. You are still keeping your new year's resolutions, dryanuary or tryanuary or whatever, aren't you?

This week's featured article is the Belle Epoque, a French-themed café on Newington Green for all your croissant and croque needs.

An update: the Green Dragon, CR0 1NA in High Street, Croydon have tweaked their opening hours: staying open an hour later to 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, but opening later on Sundays (now 12 noon).

Several closures have been reported. Sanxia, SE8 4PQ, a Sichuan restaurant on Deptford Broadway, closed in October and is now another Sichuan restaurant. In Norbury, Nomad Cuisine, SW16 4AN, a halal restaurant with Middle Eastern art, closed sometime last year, and the premises now hosts Heady's Diner, a café. And Draft House Old Street, EC1V 9NR has closed (were they using the American spelling of "draught", or was the bar just a draft, in preparation for BrewDog which is due to open up there?).

So, out with the old. And in with the new! A new article for a completely new bar: the Wolfpack, NW6 6RA, the tap room for the Wolfpack brewery. It's near Queens Park and is a pleasant place if you're in the area. Another new article: On The Bab, EC1V 9LA on Old Street does tasty Korean street food and good tea. It's always busy at lunchtime.

Current Mood: thirsty

katstevens

Evening RGL readers! This week's featured article is for Warisan Cafe in Paddington, where you can enjoy some pretty good Malaysian cuisine in a basement setting.

New to RGL is Belle Epoque on Newington Green, a French cafe with some excellent bus-spotting opportunities. It's right next door to the Unitarian Church, which has a massive sign on it saying 'ERECTED A.D. 1708, ENLARGED A.D. 1860'. One of the many delights visible from the top deck of the 476.

There are updates to Affogato in Norbury (find out what an 'eggs hedderman' involves!) and the Manor Arms in Streatham - the latter has had a refurb and the crab shack is no more. I'm not sure where one would go if one wanted a pint of whelks nowadays?

I feel I should apologise for inflicting a soap-based earworm on unsuspecting readers last time I mentioned the wide ranging menu at Perfect Blend in Streatham. Rest assured I will not make the same mistake again for our final update this week, where our reviewer found the music more peaceful that day, it didn't get in the way.

katstevens

Good evening RGL readers! Or should I say good e-vin-ing, as this week's featured article is for the Wine Gallery in Purley. Look out for some 'vine art' on the walls and 'corkingly' good tapas, in 'oeno-rous' portions. Sincere apologies for the low quality of these puns, it's been a long day. Perhaps I need a glass of pun-ot noir?

There are updates for a couple of Young's pubs, the Wheatsheaf in Borough Market and the Windmill on the Common in Clapham. Chai Naasto in Beckenham has also had an update, it sounds like a decent local option for Indian street food with friendly service.

Peruvian restaurant Tito's has moved from its old home near London Bridge station to Stockwell, though if you're still in the mood for spicy prawns there is now a different Peruvian restaurant on the premises. Over in Twickenham, the Rifleman has had more reimaginings than Madonna over the last few years; it's reopened once more under new management.

Finally, two closures to report: Brasserie Vacherin in Croydon, and the PlumTree Cafe in Greenwich.

ewan

Hello and welcome to another week of London randomness.

Our featured article this week is a micropub and crafty beer shop in Ruislip, The Hop and Vine, HA4 7AN. Expect friendly service, wood-panelled walls, ales, cheeseboards and, if you're lucky, maybe a dog or two.

Reported temporary closures for the Cartoon Museum (yes there is one and it was in Bloomsbury, but intends to move to Fitzrovia), and Cote d'Azur, a French/Mauritian fusion restaurant in Croydon, which has closed rather more mysteriously (so it may or may not return).

Reported permanent closures are Maze, a fancy Gordon Ramsay-owned restaurant in Mayfair (I'm sure you went all the time, so we're sorry to let you down); The Waterloo Bar and Kitchen which was a bar and kitchen in, er, Waterloo; and finally Obia, an Italian restaurant in "Croydon's restaurant quarter" (South End).

ewan

Hello all! It's the busiest week of the year at my work, so thinking about places to eat and drink is always a pleasurable divertissement.

Mandalay Golden Myanmar, Kilburn, London NW6

This week's featured article is the extravagantly-named Mandalay Golden Myanmar, NW6 2DB, where you can enjoy all your favourite Burmese food... or is it Myanmarese? I understand there's quite a bit of politics behind the naming of the country, and who would have guessed 10-20 years ago how we'd be thinking about Aung San Suu Kyi nowadays, eh? Ah well, there's still the food, and I'm certainly intrigued to try tea leaf salad, despite some of Kake's adjectives.

Two new entries are for The Hercules, which is the bar in the old Pillars of Hercules pub building, and Naughty Piglets, a wine bar ant tapas-y restaurant in Brixton with a twee name.

Loads of updates pages, mostly for pubs...
* Kulu Kulu in Soho, a Soho sushi place;
* The Duke of Argyll in Soho;
* The Newman Arms in Fitzrovia;
* The King William IV in Leyton;
* Browns of Brockley, a cafe in Brockley;
* The Nightingale on the Green in Wanstead;
* The North Star in Leytonstone;
* Domali, a cafe/bar in Crystal Palace;
* The Crown and Sceptre in Streatham;
* The Duke of Wellington in Belgravia;
* The Dog and Fox in Wimbledon "Village" if you will;
* The Aeronaut in Acton;
* The Roebuck in Hampstead;
* The Sir Richard Steele in Belsize Park;
* The Ivy House in lovely Nunhead;
* The Rye in Peckham;
* The Herne Tavern in East Dulwich; and
* Babur Indian restaurant in Forest Hill.

Finally, there are two reported permanent closures, being The French House, a French cafe in Crystal Palace (not the Soho pub!), and Mr Lawrence in Brockley, a sad loss to the area, which has been on the decline for some time but had been a fixture there for many decades.

katstevens

Evening readers!

This week's featured article is for Kiraku, a Japanese restaurant-pub combo, near Ealing Common tube station, where the quality of the cooking justifies the above-average price tag.

We have new articles for three veggie and vegan-friendly cafes: the Rail House Cafe in Victoria has some interesting breakfast options, the St Gabriel Ethiopian Delicatessen in Finsbury Park has flavoursome food in big portions, and Cafe Provencal in Herne Hill offers breakfasts and burgers that make up for their lack of structural stability with high levels of tastiness. But wait - there's more new cafe pages! Le Delice in Ladywell sounds like a pleasant, relaxing place to pass the morning, while Morden-based Romanian cafe Time In Ro feels like it should be a pun, but on what, I'm not sure (frankly there's Morden enough puns available in the area already).

Rounding off the week, there's an update to the Ladywell Tavern page following a recent visit, while the Gowlett pub in Peckham ('East Dulwich borders') has closed down.

katstevens

Hello RGLers!

This week's featured article is for the Crown and Pepper in Caterham, a pub that incorporates an Indian restaurant at the back. They also have a bar menu if you don't fancy the full sit-down experience - try the okra.

New this week, we have the Union Jack pub in Southwark, that perhaps isn't living up to its potential beer-wise, and the French House restaurant in Crystal Palace, a cheerful establishment themed around '60's Francophone pop music (the drinks menu looks pretty good too).

There's an update for the Prince George (just off Queensbridge Road in Dalston) following a visit, which reveals its all-important lime and soda pricing to be significantly cheaper than the Union Jack's.

Finally, Fujiyama in Brixton has closed: lovers of spinach ohitashi will have to venture elsewhere.

katstevens

Evening folks!

This week's featured article is for Provender, which is not a gritty archeological crime series on ITV3 but a French restaurant in Wanstead with quality napkins and tasty souffles! (Next time on Provender: Detective Ian Provender eats some delicious prawns and then discovers a mysterious amulet on Wanstead Flats - could this be linked to the murder??)

New this week are entries for Battersea Pie Station in Covent Garden, which I keep calling Battersea Stodge Station in my mind (the pies are stodgy but in a good way), and the Crown & Pepper pub in Caterham, which also has a restaurant section serving Indian and Indian/Chinese food.

Affogato in Norbury is temporarily closed while they sort out the drains and the licensing (yikes), but it's good to see the Catford Bridge Tavern reopening. It's no longer an Antic pub but hopefully the new owners will have retained its friendly atmosphere and spacious interior.

Finally, here at RGL Towers we mourn the passing of the best named combination-cafe-and-juice-bar in South Croydon, Juicy Squeeze. A carton of Five Alive just won't cut it anymore.

katstevens

Afternoon everyone!

This week's featured article is for Gojo, an Ethiopian bar and restaurant near Ladbroke Grove. If you wend your way down the rather precarious staircase, you'll be rewarded with all manner of lovely-sounding things to go with your injera, including gomen wot, misir wot and shiro wot. Captain Sensible would be delighted*!

Oui Madame in Stoke Newington is now Oui Monsieur! Honorifics aside, no other changes are apparent. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose! Finally, Portal in Clerkenwell closed earlier this year.

The RGL blog will return after the May Bank Holiday - see you then.

(*Auto-playing Youtube link warning.)

ewan

Hello again.

This week's featured article is not a naturist resort, but in fact an organic supermarket called As Nature Intended, SW12 9BP. Bit of a small chain, but this branch is in Balham. You can get refills of all your household essentials too.

Our new article this week is The French Cafe in South London's Tooting. It's a cafe, and it's French, so expect pate and cheese.

Finally we have one possible closures, Da Vinci, a late-night bar and restaurant near Waterloo which had a fire recently, and the impending closure early next year of Book Warehouse, also nearby.

katstevens

Abuja Connection, Crystal Palace, London SE19

Evening all!

After last week's flurry of Good Beer Guide updates, it's a brief post today. Our featured article is for Abuja Connection, a friendly Nigerian restaurant in Crystal Palace. It's down the hill from the station, although of course this means you have to walk back up the hill on your way home, full of tasty afang stew.

We also have one new article - regular readers will be amazed to learn that it's a restaurant in Marylebone! Aubaine is part of a small chain doing reasonably-priced if unremarkable French cuisine. Do try one of the pastries though.

katstevens

Hullo all!

A quick update this week: our featured article is for Cote d'Azur in Croydon, a restaurant fusing French and Mauritian cuisine. Mauritius may only be 8 million years old (compared to France's ~325 million years) but by all accounts it can still drum up a decent crab soup.

The Grape and Grain in Crystal Palace has been bought by the Wetherspoons chain, though it remains to be seen what changes this will incur. Also, the Doric Arch in Euston has reopened after being briefly closed for redecoration, but again, I've not yet been in to see how drastically (I hope the railway signs are still there).

Finally, the Breffni Arms pub in New Cross has closed. One less pub on the Old Kent Road! Or should that be 'one fewer'?

ewan

The featured article this week is The Ashburnham Arms, SE10 8UH, a small Shepherd Neame pub in Greenwich with good fresh beer. However, it does seem as if the locals prefer wine. None of that craft beer guff here.

There are fully four new pages this week: Cote d'Azur, a French-Mauritian fusion restaurant in southern Croydon (try the crab soup); Squires, a Nigerian restaurant in Dagenham (look out for some pounded yam); Upney Cafe, a greasy spoon in Barking (you know what to expect); and The Royal Albert in Crystal Palace. This last one is another traditional locals' pub, though there are increasing numbers of locals who probably want something more gastro, so hopefully it will hold out for a bit yet.

Finally, the David Lean Cinema in Croydon has reopened in its original location of the Clocktower.

katstevens

Hello RGL crew!

This week's featured article is for the Carpenter's Arms near Marble Arch. It's in the Good Beer Guide, and you're likely to find several different ales on the pumps there. It can get quite busy if there's people watching sport on the telly, though.

We have new articles for the Windsor Castle in Marylebone (definitely of interest if you are a fan of moustaches), and the excitably-named Oui Madame!, a friendly French bistro and cocktail bar in Stoke Newington.

Finally, the Manor Arms in Clapham has closed, and is now a branch of the Craft Beer Co. empire. This seems to have had a detrimental effect on the poor old Bread and Roses just up the road, which was almost completely empty when your trusty RGL blogging team visited it yesterday lunchtime...

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

Ahoy London landlubbers! This week's featured arrr-ticle is the mainbrace-splicing Lord Nelson in Sutton. "But Kat," I hear you holler in a sea-shanty style. "I see no ships in Sutton, as it is literally 60 miles from the Sheerness seaside!" Well that may be true, but any landlocked pirates will feel right at home at the salty Nelson, which has its own parrot. So be careful not to divulge the secret location of your treasure chest while quaffing your pint of Young's Ordinary!

Two new non-nautical additions to RGL: the terrifically-named Rock and Sole Plaice fish-n-chip joint in Covent Garden, and La Rochelle, a French restaurant on Croydon High Street that does a decent chicken supreme.

The branch of Palms of Goa on New Cavendish Street has now shut - after two disappointing meals there I can't really shed a tear for it. Any pirates in the area looking for South Indian cuisine would be better off going to Ragam, just round the corner.

katstevens

Hullo RGL crew! I'm filling in for

ewan for a bit while he is off gallivanting (i.e. probably taking pictures of a pub somewhere).

Our featured article this week is La Cave, SE1 9QQ, a French/European resturant and wine bar squirreled away down by Southwark Cathedral.

New additions to RGL include 1) Whyteleafe Tavern, a locals' pub in the sunny paradise of Whytleafe (OK I admit I had to look up where that was, it's south of Croydon so nearer the Equator - it definitely looks sunny in the photo) and 2) SM Pinoy Foods, a Filipino supermarket in Croydon that sells all sorts of mad stuff like banana blossoms and LUNGS! Brilliant!

One permanent closure is reported: Lush, Portobello Road. We also have one mysterious potential closure - Palms of Goa (Meard St branch). Rumour has it that a new outlet of Honest Burger is to replace it! Perhaps it has already? If you're in the area, why not have a look for yourself and tell us about it in the comments?