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[personal profile] mrs_leroy_brown
Windsor Castle, Notting Hill, London W8

Good evening all :)

This week's featured article is The Windsor Castle, located in Notting Hill (though their website says Kensington, possibly due to longstanding Hugh Grant based beef). Inside, the decor is from the 30s, though happily the real ale and traditional pub classics menu is not.

If you're hankering for a Timothy Taylor beer, but not sure what you'd like to quaff, The Bricklayer's Arms now serves the full range, and are apparently the only London pub to do so.

The Smithfield Tavern, a pub near the market, has shut down and is now a branch of Simmons Bar though we've not visited.

That's all from RGL towers for a couple weeks as we rest up and prepare for more adventuring in 2019 :)
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[personal profile] ewan
Hello and welcome to another week of RGL.

Flavours of Paani Puri, Kingsbury, London NW9

The featured article this week is Flavours of Paani Puri, NW9 9EG, a vegetarian Indian cafe in Kingsbury. It looks from the outside like a convenience store but don't be fooled! It's great value too.

There are three new articles this week. We have for you Tea Cosy, a cafe in Upminster, like an upmarket greasy spoon I suppose, is that what "British cafe" means? There's also Ashley Brook Fabrics, a rare article about something not food- or drink-related, this one being a Romford fabric shop. Finally, there's Little Coffee Shop in South Croydon. I have a small quiz for you: guess what it is. Those who answered "it's a little coffee shop" win!

We have an update to the Crumpled Horn article, a pub out Upminster way.

Finally a bunch of reported closures for you: Muncho cafe in Croydon; The Case Is Altered pub in Harrow Weald; The King's Arms pub in East Molesey; The White Horse pub in Hampstead Heath (this one is always opening and closing); The Railway Wetherspoons pub in Putney; The Goldsmiths' Arms in East Acton; and The Duke of York in Chiswick.
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[personal profile] katstevens
Sharon's Card Crafts, Swanley, Kent BR8

Evening everyone! Our featured article this week is for "the best thing in Swanley", Sharon's Card Crafts. Behind the humble exterior lies all the papercraft supplies you could ever need. If you need to replenish your glitter stocks before the festive season, and you feel like going on an adventure to Zone 8, then this sounds ideal.

We have a new page for Murger Han in Euston, a cash-only Northern Chinese restaurant serving salty noodles and juicy dumplings, while the page for Khan's Indian restaurant on Westbourne Grove has had an update following a visit. It's reassuring to know they can tell the difference between prawns and king prawns - mollusc knowledge was a tie-breaker on University Challenge the other week, so you never know when you might be called on to identify crustaceans.

Elsewhere, Italian restaurant Enoteca Turi has moved from Putney to Pimlico, while the Ravensbourne Arms in Ladywell has been rather abruptly abandoned by Antic, as they're shortly opening a different pub up the road.
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[personal profile] katstevens
Mr Chilly, North Harrow, London HA1

Evening RGLers! After last week's Good Beer Guide pub deluge, here's what's been happening everywhere else.

Our featured article is for Mr Chilly, who is neither an underprepared arctic explorer nor an anthropomorphised ice cream but a small North Indian restaurant near North Harrow station. Try the biryani!

We've got lots of new articles. Let's kick things off in Morden, with a branch of Wimpy and the Morden Hall Bookshop, which sells second hand books from an old National Trust building in the park. Up the Northern line a few stops is Vijaya Krishna, a South Indian restaurant in Tooting, while back down in the other direction there's Bamboo Basket, a Chinese/Malay tea shop and cafe in Epsom. Ram's in Kenton is a veggie (and Jain-friendly) Indian restaurant that has a buffet with unlimited puri (mmm, delicious carbs), while all the way over in Eltham, the Yak and Yeti does a reasonable lunch deal.

Of course there are some pub updates too: the Duke of York in Surbiton and the Albert Tavern in South Norwood (both owned by Greene King), the Cape bar in Wapping, the Cricketers pub in Croydon (great for tram watching), the Barley Mow in Epsom, the Villiers Arms in Oxhey (as confirmed last week, Oxhey is indeed a real place) and the Railway Tavern in Bexley. I judge it would be quite a challenge to create a (theoretical, even!) pub crawl to visit all seven of those in one day, even though you would be unaffected by the temporary closure of the Gospel Oak to Barking line (it's shut until next February).

Finally, some closures to report: Italian restaurant Tentazoni has moved from Bermondsey to Notting Hill, while the Charlotte in Crayford, the Dover Castle (a Sam Smith's) in Marylebone and the branch of Spirited Wines in Putney have all closed.
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[personal profile] katstevens
Ivy Leaf, Dartford
Evening RGL crew!

This week's featured article is for the Ivy Leaf in distant Dartford. It's a Good Beer Guide pub so there's plenty to drink, as well as that holy grail of pub menus: a decent fishfinger sandwich. Remember how much Sean Connery wanted the holy grail in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade? That is roughly how much I want a decent fishfinger sandwich on an average day.

Some new additions have arrived as well! Soul Flame is a good quality Turkish restaurant in Putney; the Rendezvous Cafe in Beckenham serves their tea on the strong side (unless you make a point of telling them otherwise), while down in Purley, Cafe Blue and Mekan offer cooked breakfasts and Turkish food respectively.

Finally, the InSpiral Lounge veggie cafe in Camden has morphed into a completely different veggie cafe - i.e. they are still extremely unlikely to offer me a fishfinger sandwich.
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[personal profile] ewan
Whistle and Flute, Putney, London SW15

This week's featured article is The Whistle and Flute, SW15 1SQ, a Fuller's pub somewhere in between scruffy and gastro. It has the usual range of Fuller's beers and ales, so it'll do you fine if you're in Putney for a drink.

Lots of new articles this week, as certain maintainers of our community have been getting out and about in London. We have Amasi, a Middle Eastern cafe on an industrial estate in Perivale, so er yes, if you find yourself on an industrial estate in furthest West London, now you know where to go. We also have Shree Krishna Vada Pav, an Indian cafe in Harrow.

There's new entries for drinking establishments too: Ward's Freehouse, a pub in Harrow lacking any real ale; The Hussar at the edge of Hounslow, ditto; The Earl Haig, also in Hounslow, also no real ale; and The Beagle, a cocktail bar/restaurant in trendy East London's Haggerston/Shoreditch boundaries.

There are significant updates for The Old White Bear in Hampstead, and Au Lac, a Vietnamese restaurant in Highbury.

Two reported closures are The White Swan, one of Golders Green's few remaining pubs, and, sadly, an excellent East Dulwich wine shop/bar, Green and Blue.
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[personal profile] katstevens
Spotted Horse, Putney, London SW15

Afternoon RGLers! Lots to report today:

This week's featured article is the Spotted Horse, SW15 1RG, a Young's pub on Putney High Street. It's quite food-focused and has table-service in the dining room area. There is an actual spotted horse above the door (see picture above) which makes me very pleased.

We have new articles for the Stormbird, a Camberwell drinking establishment with plenty of nice beer on the handpumps (e.g. lovely lovely Thornbridge Jaipur) and the Star of Kings (formerly the Cross Kings) on York Way, which is sadly not so great on the beer front.

The articles for the Jolly Gardeners in Putney and Asadal in Holborn have both been updated with the latest accessibility information, plus what our team of intrepid researchers ate on their recent visits -- spiced lentils, gnocchi, pig's ears and kidneys (not all at once).

The descriptively-named Sichuan Restaurant in Acton has now closed, as has the Farringdon Station branch of Yo Sushi (soon to become a Pret).

There's also a new category on the site, 'Needs Checking'. Places in this category may no longer exist - if you are likely to walk past any of them, do let us know if they are still there! Of course, if by the act of measurement the nature of their reality changes then they may well exist and not exist at the same time if the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics holds. Thankfully the practicalities of wave function collapse probably means we won't have to create a new category 'Unobservable'.
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[personal profile] 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.
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[personal profile] ewan
Dartmouth Arms, Forest Hill, SE23

Hello! This week's featured article is The Dartmouth Arms, SE23 3HN, a gastropub in Forest Hill with good food and very expensive lime and soda.

We have one addition, the Two Brewers in Chigwell, added by my colleague and countryside walker Kat. The beer is well-kept and it's all very in keeping with the general area (upmarket Essex), it sounds like.

Closures are the Crooked Billet in Barking, as well as various branches of Nicolas wine merchants (branches in Kingston, Putney, Southfields, Fulham, Hampton Hill, Bloomsbury and Norbiton).

A number of the remaining Nicolas branches (but not all of them) have been taken over by Spirited Wines and renamed as such. Therefore, there's now a Spirited Wines category.
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[personal profile] ewan
Moyo Ma, Walworth, London SE17

This week's featured article is Moyo-Ma, SE17 2AL, a Nigerian restaurant in Walworth.

The new articles are all pubs: The Only Running Footman, in Mayfair; The Prince of Teck, in Earl's Court; and The Man on the Moon and The Randall Tavern, both in glamorous New Addington.

Three closures, the last two possibly quite some time ago: branches of S&M Cafe, dedicated to sausage and mash, in Islington and the O2 Centre; and Chakalaka, a South African restaurant in Putney.
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[personal profile] kake

This week's featured article is Tuli, SE1 2TF, a Chinese restaurant on Tooley Street near London Bridge station.

Originally opened as a pan-Asian buffet restaurant, it's now a white-tablecloth à la carte Cantonese serving dim sum all day. Quality is reasonable, and the dim sum menu includes items like congee, cheung fun, and turnip paste, all of which are good signs of some skill (or at least ambition) in the kitchen.

As befits today's Blogging Against Disablism day, physical access to Tuli is good; it's step-free to get in, to get to the main dining area, and to get to the toilets. There's a separate accessible toilet, but in addition there's an extra-wide stall in the ladies' with grab bars and a door that opens outwards.


Recent additions to RGL include Riding House Cafe, a new cafe/bar in Fitzrovia; Red Barn, a pub in Barnehurst; Birchwood, a pub in Abbey Wood; Coco, a pan-Asian noodle bar in Ealing; and Wide Fit Shoes, a specialist shoe shop in Kenton. We've also added proper writeups of Fox & Goose, a Fuller's pub/hotel near the Hanger Lane Gyratory; and Pleasure Boat, a small pub in Alperton.

Reported closures are Rump in Putney, and many branches of Oddbins.

kake: A tan capital R on an olive-green background, representing the Randomness Guide to London colour scheme. (RGL)
[personal profile] kake

This week's featured article is Books For Cooks, W11 1NN, a Portobello Road bookshop and cafe devoted exclusively to books about cooking and food.


Recent additions to RGL include Deli Felice, a nice little local cafe near Rotherhithe Station; Bermondsey Brazilian Shop, a small Brazilian cafe and grocery shop on the Bermondsey/Rotherhithe borders; Canteen, a British restaurant in Canary Wharf; Preto, a Brazilian rodizio restaurant in Putney; and New Aroma, a Sichuan/Fujian restaurant on Gerrard Street in Chinatown.

Only one reported closure, but it's a big one: Pacific Plaza in Wembley, mooted as the replacement for the much-missed Oriental City, has now closed in its turn.

The Pacific Plaza website claims that the closure is temporary, but problems have been evident for some time. The supermarket failed to materialise despite being promised as "opening soon" for over a year, their PR agency reported repeated non-payment of invoices last December, and at the time of writing the Doki (crockery shop) website states that although all Pacific Plaza tenants had been paying their rent, Pacific Plaza was not paying their own rent to Wembley Retail Park.

kake: A tan capital R on an olive-green background, representing the Randomness Guide to London colour scheme. (RGL)
[personal profile] kake

This week's featured article is Villandry, W1W 5QB, a restaurant, cafe/bar and food shop, all in one premises on Great Portland Street not too far south of the Tube station.



Recent additions to RGL include the Euston Tap near Euston Station (unsurprisingly), the Prince of Wales Feathers near Warren Street Station, the Hobgoblin in New Cross, the Lukin in Fitzrovia, and Khamsa in Brixton.

Reported closures are Dream Taste in Nunhead, the Royal Oak in Wandsworth, Buffet Brazil in Putney, and Burning Bread in Brixton.

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