rglondon | Entries tagged with n16

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.

ewan

Oh yes, hello! Wednesday! It's a busy week so let's crack on.

The Good Egg, Stoke Newington, London N16

Our featured article is Good Egg, N16 0AS. It's a cafe/restaurant in not-so-much-trendy-as-now-solidly-middle-class Stoke Newington. It does sort of Israeli/US Jewish-influenced food and from the name I can't guarantee there'd be any vegan options, but there probably are I bet. Enjoy the cars if you sit out the front, or enjoy the food inside.

And we have one reported closure, Jashan, a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Wembley. It may have been disappointing when Kake visited, but it had its fans, and now it's a sweet shop. If you are looking for other vegetarian Indian recommendations, though, why not check out this site I've heard about, Randomness Guide to London?

Told you it was busy! Have a great week.

ewan

Another week of RGL and another week in which I drag my heels and don't get the post out until Tuesday, but we have content so keep reading!

It's nothing to look at from outside, but Kailash Momo, SE18 6ED should be a must-visit when you go to the charming southern enclave of Woolwich. It serves Tibetan and Nepalese cuisines, focusing on the momo (a dumpling) but there's plenty of other options. It's all very cosy.

Our one new article is Good Egg in Stoke Newington, which doesn't sound very vegan friendly, but I bet you could find something. After all it's N16, and you can expect food influenced by Israeli, Middle Eastern and modern American Jewish cuisine.

There are updates to Food for All, a health shop, also in Stoke Newington, and The Cittie of Yorke, a Sam Smith's pub in Holborn.

Finally, a reported closure for Lucky Seven, a record shop/secondhand bookshop in Stokey. It's now a salon.

ewan

Welcome to a new week on RGL!

This week's featured article is Bus, CR0 2BQ. It is a greasy spoon cafe in a bus, up Selhurst way. It's child friendly. Also it's on a bus.

Four new articles are as follows: The Long Room in Tooting, a pub with relatively cheap food; Saravanaa Bhavan in Harrow, a branch of a vegetarian Indian chain, thankfully not too anglicised; Jen Cafe in Chinatown, specialising in hand-made dumplings, a quick turnaround operation with better meat than veg options; and Nusa Kitchen near Liverpool Street station, a fine soup-focused takeaway corridor.

Finally, one reported closure is Oui Monsieur in Stoke Newington, a short-lived French bar/restaurant.

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.

katstevens

at the Aleksander, Twickenham, London TW1

Evening RGL crew!

This week's featured article is for the Aleksander, a Good Beer Guide pub in St Margaret's, which also does good Italian food. Did you know that St Margaret is the patron saint of both Lowestoft and kidney disease? What a combination of responsibilities that must be.

New to RGL is A Wong, a modern (and busy) Chinese restaurant in Victoria with a range of tasty-sounding dim sum including quail egg croquette puffs. The service appears to be a bit hit and miss though.

Some news from my old North London haunt of Stoke Newington: the Defoe pub (which closed over the summer) is about to reopen as the Stoke Newington Tea House, which, while still a pub, claims to serve a hundred different types of tea. I didn't even know there *were* a hundred different types of tea. I wonder if they do PG Tips?

ewan

We have a rather pub-heavy week of updates this week!

Featured article is The Prince Albert, SE18 6NE, a pub in Woolwich which often goes by the name "Rose's". It's a single-room pub, it does crusty rolls, you'll get a pint of real ale, and it's proper trad.

New articles are: The Rochester Castle (the "Roch" if you live nearby) in London's trendy Stoke Newington, a classic 'Spoons and the oldest one that's still part of the chain (also one of the few that's in an actual pub building). There's also the Dalston branch of the Diner chain, which does the usual 50s Americana vibe with a menu to match, though it seems pricy.

Reported closures are The Cock Tavern under Smithfield Market (this one closed over a year ago apparently), and The Tamworth Arms in Croydon. The latter was a lovely old traditional Young's house, though I wouldn't be surprised if it reappears with a major facelift, as per other pubs in that chain (see the featured article from two weeks' ago). We also believe that Na Pura Portuguese cafe in Nunhead has closed.

On the plus side of the ledger, The Railway in West Hampstead has reopened following a period of refurbishment.

Finally, there are updates to two more pubs after recent visits: the weirdly sanitised and family-friendly The Dulwich Wood House in Sydenham; and The Old Orchard in Harefield, which has big terraces and beautiful views.

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

Station Hotel, Hither Green, London SE13

Hello friends!

We have a double edition for the holiday period (Happy Winterval! Merry Festivus!). The featured article for this special festive edition is The Station Hotel, SE13 5NB. It's bright airy pub near Hither Green station with plenty of ales, so, er, get thee thither.

There are FOUR new articles...

Kat went to Kauri Tree Cafe in Stoke Newington, a cash-based artisanal outpost.

I visited the Beer Shop, which despite the name is more of a micropub in a converted shop overlooking Nunhead Green (they have plenty of bottles too, which I'm presuming you can takeaway).

Kake went to Amber Tree Cafe in Deptford, a narrow little cafe with friendly staff in a former pub building. She also visited Gifto's Lahore Karahi in Southall, a Punjabi restaurant with communal tables and decent food.

Finally, there's been an update to the Dar Marrakech write-up, a Moroccan/Lebanese restaurant in Stratford.

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).

katstevens

Afternoon all! I hope you had a good long weekend.

This week's featured article is for Zoilo, a smashing Argentinian restaurant in Marylebone near the Wallace Collection. The wine list is interesting and the empanadas are excellent - if you're going for lunch, make sure you don't have to go back to work afterwards.

Your contributors have been busy this week: we've got new articles for Franco Manca, a branch of the sourdough pizza chain in Westfield Stratford City; the new-ish Baker Street branch of the Natural Kitchen, which has plenty of unhealthy options to choose from; Bumblebee Natural Foods (an independent grocers and bakery) and Kami (a Japanese restaurant), both in Kentish Town; and - long overdue for a write-up, considering how often I go there - the 24-hour Bagel House in Stoke Newington. I can recommend the £1 pizza slice as a satisfying late night snack.

Kika in Canonbury has closed and is now a cafe called The Fig Tree. Finally, although we don't have an article for it yet, it may be useful to know that the Phoenix bar in Cavendish Square (near Oxford Circus) is temporarily closed for refurbishment, reopening in early September 2014.

ewan

Hello again! Short update this week.

This week's featured article is a nicely refurbished and rather nice pub out WEST called The Finborough Arms, SW10 9ED. It's out near West Brompton, but worth a visit if you're in the area. Pubgoers may recognise the landlord from his other pub, The Gunmakers Arms in Clerkenwell/Holborn.

Only one other change is a new article for Spence Bakery in North-East London's Stoke Newington, recommended for specialty bread, chaotic queuing and oversized coffee cups.

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...

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

Lucky Seven, Stoke Newington, London N16

Happy New Year! This week's featured article is Lucky Seven, a second-hand bookshop and (mostly) record shop in Stoke Newington. I went there for the first time the other week having not even registered its existence before and it was filled with things from floor to ceiling, often precariously piled and stacked.

One temporary closure is Imperial War Museum, for six months.

Three reported permanent closures are, very sadly, Hoopers Bar, an excellent real ale-loving local in between Camberwell and East Dulwich; the Camberwell branch of Wing Tai; and the N1 Centre branch of Yo! Sushi (in Islington, that is). The last is the least sad, as I've ranked them on a sliding scale. Feel free to disagree with my ranking (unimportant as it is) in comments.

Also, Foote's Music has moved from Soho to Bloomsbury, so take note, music instrument fans.

In more positive news, a pub has reopened! In this case, The Wheatsheaf by Borough Market (no, not that one), meaning there are now two competing Wheatsheafs within a few steps of one another, ostensibly the SAME PUB (the first was opened when this pub closed for the Thameslink work and the management went around the corner to the Hop Exchange).

ewan

This week's featured article is Fish and Grill, CR0 1DP. It is a fish and meat restaurant in Croydon, related to some upmarket ones in Chiswick and Sutton. It does good fish, you'll be pleased to hear.

New entries are: Sutton and Sons, a fish & chips shop in Stoke Newington; the Bookseller Crow on the Hill, a book shop in Crystal Palace; and Good Taste, a deli also in Crystal Palace.

Following the closure of the inner South London loop from London Victoria to London Bridge via Peckham Rye, and its replacement with an extension to the London Overground's East London Line, taking it from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction, there are updates to the South London Line and East London Line entries.

The one reported closure is Maggie's Bar in Stoke Newington, which closed years ago.

Finally, The Catford Bridge Tavern has reopened after a brief period of closure, and we may be thankful, though I heard today that Mr Lawrence off licence in nearby Brockley is going to close in the New Year. It is a rollercoaster ride of alcohol-related emotions in south London.

katstevens

Morning RGL crew!

We have a brand new featured article this week, in the shape of Dost, UB8 1QT, an Indian street food restaurant in the thriving micro-metropolis of Uxbridge. Kake loved the dal maa dumpukht on her visit, so if you're in the area why not give it a go? It does takeaway too, in case you're not a fan of Bollywood posters.

Two additions for you: Lituanica is a Lithuanian and Eastern European deli/takeaway in Barking, with plenty of exciting pickled things in jars and a Wall of Dumplings. Further west is Dabbous, a trendy Michelin-starred restaurant in Fitzrovia, which by all accounts is very difficult to get a booking at - well done Kake and friends! Dabbous is slightly larger and noisier than Pollock's Toy Museum just opposite, but their hispi cabbage is way better.

Succumbing to the 2nd law of thermodynamics this week: Cantina in Holborn may have shut (but we need to confirm it), while Bodrum in Stoke Newington has definitely shut because otherwise there wouldn't have been room for the tapas restaurant I visited there a few weeks ago. Unless you start getting into the Many Universes Theory of parallel dimensional space, and let's face it, it's too early on a Monday morning for all that.

katstevens

Greetings, RGL crew.

This week's featured article is The Bookworm, SM5 2PT, a secondhand bookshop in Carshalton. As far as we can tell it's not one of those bookshops that isn't there when you go back and try and find it again, only to be told by a retired one-eyed sea captain that there Ain't Been A Bookshop Here For Forty Year. Indeed, The Bookworm firmly resides in the correct universe at all times.

New additions to RGL this week include two large pubs Out East (the County Arms in Highams Park and the Larkshall in Chingford); Black Pig With White Pearls, a new tapas place in Stoke Newington and Tsuru, a Japanese restaurant on Bishopsgate with a possible penchant for the music of Will Young.

Closures include the Lock Dining Bar in Tottenham Hale, Joshua's Tea Room (the cafe in Allders in Croydon, which itself has sadly now sold its last cardigan), Shanghai Village in Twickenham and the Lemon Monkey cafe in Stoke Newington. We are also sad to report the closure of Lovely Beer Haven Mason & Taylor in Shoreditch, which will shortly be replaced by a new craft beer bar run by the chaps at Brewdog.

ewan

Hello! Unusually this week the featured article is not a place but a category: the Good Beer Guide 2013. Every year on the release of this guide, Kake uploads the 2013 pub information, and as a result a number of new pages are created in RGL (which she and other contributors try to visit before the publication date).

It's worth pointing out that the new articles that have been added as a result do not represent all the new 2013 GBG pubs, just the ones which didn't already have a page on RGL.

The new articles which are not GBG-related are: Dost, an Indian street food restaurant in Uxbridge; Bookworm, a second-hand bookshop in Carshalton; Raizes, a Brazilian restaurant in Bethnal Green; and Cafe Z Bar, a greasy spoon cafe in Stoke Newington.

So, those new GBG articles:
* All Inn One in Forest Hill;
* The Angel in Hayes End;
* The Argyll Arms in Soho;
* The Barnsbury in, er, oh guess;
* The Beehive in Bedfont;
* The Black Lion in Essex's Epping.
* The Botanist in Kew;
* The Coal Hole on the Strand;
* The Elm Park Tavern in Brixton;
* The Forester in West Ealing;
* The Grenadier in Belgravia;
* The Greyhound in Keston;
* The Hare in Bethnal Green;
* Howl at the Moon in Hoxton;
* Noble Green Wines, an off licence (not a pub) in Hampton Hill;
* The Old Sergeant in Wandsworth;
* The Queen's Head in Downe;
* The Railway Hotel in West Wickham;
* The Rising Sun in Surrey's Epsom;
* The Sir Michael Balcon in Ealing;
* The Sun in Carshalton;
* The Sussex Arms in Twickenham;
* The Swan in Hammersmith;
* The Three Greyhounds in Soho;
* The Walnut Tree in Leytonstone; and
* The Windmill in Mitcham.

No closures reported this week.