rglondon | Entries tagged with restaurants

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).

katstevens

This week's featured article is for Sanxia, a Sichuan/Hubei restaurant in Bromley, where you'll find the marvellously-named dish 'ants climbing a tree' (spicy pork vermicelli). I do like a place that has a menu section called 'Adventurous Dishes' - if you're after some #TripeOfTheDay then you could do a lot worse than here (or their sister branches in Deptford and Fitzrovia). I've gone veggie for 2019 though, so you'll have to eat my portion for me.

Some pub updates, following a recent jaunt to Ealing: the Rose and Crown and the Castle Inn are both Fuller's pubs, with a predictably similar beer selection, but the menus are quite different (no tripe). Over towards Old Street, the Trader is now under new management, and has been renamed to the Whitecross Tap.

The Antic-owned Jam Circus pub in Brockley has closed (a distinct lack of actual jam there, as I recall), as has the Grill On The Market by Smithfields (jam quantities uncertain but I remember it being very noisy), and the Dispensary in Whitechapel (very handy for my office, zero jam). The Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green has also finally closed its physical shop - online jam(s) available only.

mrs_leroy_brown

Good evening ya'll!

If you're looking for advice on where to seek out Japanese noodles in the City, "udon" well in reading this update. Koya serves up udon in a variety of temperatures in a rich and salty broth. Expect solid competence in a modern setting, with efficient service.

Two new articles have been added: Ma La, a Sichuan restaurant in Westminster which can accommodate small and large groups, though you might benefit from scattering across smaller tables if you want to reach the lazy susan. There's also Planet of the Beans, a child-friendly cafe in Selsdon serving an interesting interpretation of eggs royale.

Updates have been made to Ealing Park Tavern, where a pint of lime and soda is £2 and the mains are tasty, albeit on on the small side. Updates have also been made to The Speaker, a small pub in Westminster with a good selection of beers that passed the RGL drinkable taste test.

If you're looking for Stanfords, an excellent map shop in Covent Garden, note it's moved around the corner from Long Acre to Mercer Walk.

That's it for a fortnight as we prepare for and recover from Croydon Fun Weekend :)

ewan

Welcome back to another week on RGL.

The cedar of Lebanon (cedrus libani) can reach 40m in height, with a trunk up to 2.5m in diameter. It's mentioned several times in the Hebrew Testament, so it has been around in the area for a while now. It's also the national emblem of the modern country of Lebanon, prominently featured on its flag. Which is presumably why our featured article, a Lebanese restaurant, is called Cedar, SW19 1BA. If our review of this restaurant has to be summed up in a single phrase, it would presumably be: "pretty good".

The one new article is the intriguingly named Kikirocs, a cafe by South Woodford station. Expect delicious coleslaw.

Finally, we have a significant update to the entry for The King's Head pub in Earl's Court. It's a Fuller's pub, which means the beers are solid and it's a nice place.

ewan

It's a quiet week on RGL so there's less to read this week. Hello!

This week's featured article is Fish in a Tie, SW11 2PF. Fish in a tie! Fish in a tie! I feel like that may be the start of some catchy children's ditty, albeit one that perhaps does not end up so happily for the fish. As a vegan I feel I must point out... Anyway, assuming you like fish, this sound like the place for you, and it has good service which should always be rewarded.

The one reported permanent closure -- which is to say, this is not a place you can visit anymore, sorry -- is Dosa n Chutney, a South Indian restaurant in Croydon. Given the name of the place, the chutneys should probably have been more than "competent", but if you head further up London Road you can visit the lovely Santok Maa's where they'll do you a chutney dosa. I was there the other week. Anyway, that's by the by, and that recommendation isn't officially part of the update. But it seemed relevant to those who might be interested in the categories of both dosas and chutneys and the intersection thereof.

katstevens

Good evening, and welcome to a slightly belated blog post. Our featured article this week is for Trullo near Highbury & Islington station. Their tagliarini is good enough to convince our pasta-sceptic reviewer into a return visit, and to be quite frank the write-up is making me feel hungry, despite my having scoffed four mini naan breads mere seconds before typing this sentence.

There's an update for the insensitively-named but otherwise pleasant Job Centre, an Antic pub in Deptford (very close to Wavelengths swimming pool, if you require a decent vegan roast after your Sunday morning 2km dip).

Finally, we've one closure to report: East Meets West in Croydon's Wing Yip centre.

katstevens

Evening readers!

This week's featured article is for Roti Joupa, a Trinidadian takeaway near Clapham North tube. I don't tend to venture to Clapham much (unless I've got on the wrong Overground train at Canada Water without realising), but I might make an exception for somewhere that sells macaroni pie. I enjoy macaroni, I enjoy pie, I also enjoy tamarind sauce - perhaps one day I will even enjoy Clapham?

Regular readers will recall last week's spoiler alert concerning a jaunt to Bromley ('the place where broom grows'), resulting in new pages for Sanxia, a Sichuan/Hubei Chinese restaurant, and the Star and Garter pub. There's also updates for the Red Lion, the Barrel & Horn, and Indian restaurant/hotel Tamasha, which has ~~mucky pictures in the loos~~ "ancient Indian artwork of an adult nature". One can only hope it's up to the standard of the infamous decor of Cafe Bangla (aka the Princess Di place) on Brick Lane.

How might one get to Bromley, I hear you ask? The direct path is unlikely to involve Cannon Street, but if you find yourself in said station you could visit the Sir John Hawkshaw Wetherspoons or nearby Japanese restaurant Koya. But where *can* you get to from Cannon Street? Douze points to whoever said Sidcup ('a flat topped hill'), where there are three pub updates, for the Hackney Carriage microbrewery, the Alma and the Hill Top Tap.

Right at the top of Green Lanes in Winchmore Hill, there's a new page for the Little Green Dragon pub, and an update for Turkish restaurant Big Seff. There's also a new page for the Temple Brew House bar and microbrewery, just off the Strand.

Finally we come back to Trigger's Bromley, where the Cineworld is temporarily closed, while it transforms chrysalis-style into a Picturehouse.

ewan

Welcome back! I was off on Monday traipsing around the many fine licensed establishments of Bromley (the one in South London), and then I completely forgot about this update. Here it is, in time for the weekend.

Your featured article this week is The Brookmill, SE8 4EJ. It's a long, narrow pub in an awkward corner site, with jazz on the sound system and five handpulls for ale. There is even a very interesting sounding vegan burger on the menu. Sounds like a nice place.

Lots of new additions this week, mostly pubs! I can but speculate as to this seasonal flurry of additions, but eagle-eyed readers will know this happens around this time every year:
* The Prince, a fine pub and microbrewery in leafy Wood Green, which I very much like, but watch out for the, er, ice;
* The Arnos Arms, in Arnos Grove, a big pub formerly a Harvester, but now it's not a Harvester, so that's already an improvement;
* The King's Arms in Fulham, another big pub, with ornate decor;
* The Foresters Arms, also a boutique hotel and a posh restaurant, in Hampton Wick, where you can expect a black pleather bar and some ales;
* The Henry Addington just by Canary Wharf station -- it's a Nicholson's pub in an early-90s building but it's going for an old fashioned vibe;
* The Wellington Arms (also a hotel) in not-technically-London Watford, but it doesn't sound like somewhere you'd necessarily make a special trip north for;
* The Windsor Castle in Kensington/Notting Hill, a well-divided and partitioned bar with lots of area and character, and frankly it's a surprise it hasn't been on RGL until now. Can't really go wrong, it's a classic pub, just watch out for posh locals I guess?

There's also a new entry for the distinctly not-a-pub Trullo, an Italian restaurant by Highbury Corner. It's very popular, and that makes sense given the quality of the food. Definitely one for pasta exploration.

There are also updates to The Temperance pub in Fulham (cavernous!), Dalchini in Wimbledon (Indo-Chinese food! though be careful), and The Lion in Teddington/Hampton Wick (partly a French restaurant now!).

Finally, reported permanent closure for Kenya Coffee House in Romford, which may yet find a new location.

mrs_leroy_brown

Santok Maa's, Thornton Heath, London CR7

Good evening ya'll!

This week's featured article is Santok Maa's, a totally vegetarian and vegan-friendly Indian restaurant in Thornton Heath. It serves a good selection of savoury food as well as sweets, and has been visited frequently by Kake. I'd like to sample the house speciality of Nairobi bhajia (battered potato slices) which is allegedly too large a portion for one, which feels like a challenge!

We've got a heap of new pub pages:

Great North Wood in West Norwood
Sambrook's Brewery Tap Room in Battersea
Country House in Earlsfield
Gidea Park Micropub in Gidea Park
Craft Beer Co in Limehouse
Owl and the Pussycat in West Ealing
Dodo Micropub in Hanwell

But wait! There's more! Updates have been made to even more pub pages:

Bull in Streatham
Woodman in Battersea
Fish in a Tie in Battersea

In non-pub news, updates have been made to Sunrise Jacket Potato and Oriental Food, a Filipino cafe in Romford, beating Fish in a Tie for this week's best business name, which truly is saying something.

Reported closures this week are Bull and Last on the edge of Hampstead Heath, although it's only temporary. Permanent closures have been reported for central Croydon's Roti Masters as part of the redevelopment of St George's Walk, and Beer Rebellion in Crystal Palace.

katstevens

Greetings!

This week's featured article comes with a warning - for cauliflower content! Thankfully at Brixton's Naughty Piglets there are other non-hideous foodstuffs available. Ham! Cod! Hazelnuts! Not all at once though. (A ham-cod-hazelnut combo would still be preferable to cauliflower).

Our list of vegan-only establishments continues to expand with a new page for Thenga Cafe in Bloomsbury, where you can try a coconut milk masala tea. There's also vegan food available at the Brookmill pub in Deptford, including the always-mysterious vegan mayonnaise. How do they manage it? We will never know (i.e. I don't want to know).

A little further eastward are two pub updates, following a visit to Greenwich: I remember the Pilot having a pleasantly spacious beer garden, but perhaps skip their eggs florentine if you're having breakfast; you might be better off with a scotch egg at the Cutty Sark, which would go nicely with a pint of Young's Ordinary, and depending on the weather, a picturesque view across the river.

Finally, the Bull & Last is closed for a refurb. Hopefully this will include eradicating all traces of cauliflower from the premises.

mrs_leroy_brown

Nightingale on the Green, Wanstead, London E11

Good morning RGL folks!

This week's featured article is Wanstead's Nightingale On The Green. After a couple of closures and a name change, it's back on the pub scene offering an updated yet traditional pub setting. Why not stop by for lunch or dinner, tho if you're after scran, note the kitchen's closed on Mondays.

A new article has gone up for Chennai Dosa, a cafe-style South Indian restuarant in West Croydon. I can confirm that the weekend breakfast buffet is definitely worth a visit - I know I'll be back.

Finally, the Waterloo Bar and Kitchen has been reported as closed, though we're uncertain if this is a temporary or permament closure.

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.

mrs_leroy_brown

Wotcher dudes :)

Our featured article is the Half Moon in Herne Hill. After a three and a half year closure due to flooding, it was reopened last March. The live music venue has gone and the pub now also acts as a hotel, bar and kitchen. Why not stop by for breakfast, though maybe skip the continental buffet.

A new article has gone up for Horn of Africa, twixt Brockley and New Cross. The menu on offer appears to vary on the day - who doesn't love a surprise?

Updates have been made to the Victoria Inn in Peckham. Expect a bit of work with your bacon roll here.

That's all for a fortnight as we explore old haunts in search of exciting and updated content :)

katstevens

Who among us can truly said to be good? What is goodness? At this week's featured cafe, Communitea in South Norwood, the 'Good Sandwich' may hold the answers. Is morality a measurable scale upon which we are judged, with those passing a certain tally of good deeds ending up in a restaurant pun utopia while those falling short are destined to dine forever at mundanely named establishments? There's vegan cake, so perhaps a Brioche With Death won't be required to find out.

For those neither waxing nor waning, the Half Moon in Herne Hill has an update following a breakfast time visit, as does Santok Maa's in Thornton Heath, a vegetarian Indian restaurant with excellent bhel puri. Finally, Umana Yana (also in Herne Hill) has a new page, in which you can read about Guyanese rotis and scotch bonnet sauce.

That's it until next week - in the meantime here are some roti restaurants that haven't made it to Herne Hill yet: A Roti Nowhere, The Roti Mandalay, Crop Roti-ation, Why I Atta, Paratha The Rapper, Paratha Fashion, Peppermint Chapati, Don't Leaven Me This Way.

ewan

Hello and welcome back to another week of randomness!

We understand that the content has been a little Croydon-centric recently, but expect the range to expand soon! In the meantime, your featured article is Kalpa, CR0 2SB, a Sri Lankan and Keralan restaurant in... Croydon! Our write-up suggests the food is a bit hit and miss, but since all the recent recommendations mean you're surely likely to passing through Croydon, why not stop off?

New articles move a bit further north, to Viet Hoa in Shoreditch: modern decor, and well spiced; and the Everyman King's Cross cinema. It's very posh and therefore both very comfortable and very expensive (like the rest of the chain).

Updates have been made to The Duke's Head Hotel in Wallington, and The Royal Oak in Borough. Thankfully the pub remains excellent, the beer good and keenly-priced too.

Finally, we must report the (thankfully temporary) closure of Mamuska! at Elephant & Castle, which is moving to another location nearby later this year. Polish dumpling fans can breathe easier.

mrs_leroy_brown

Friends, HELLO!

Our new featured article is Cafe Oto in Dalston. By day it's a cafe serving Persian-inspired food, and by night it's an avant garde music venue - very Dalston, including the inflated prices.

Updates have been made to Sarashwathy Bhavan (or possibly Sarashwathy Bavans) in Wembley. The food's all vegetarian and good portions though it seems the quality's a bit patchy for certain dishes.

In other totally vegetarian food updates, Communitea in South Norwood is a cafe and community space with a small menu but rave reviews. I'll be checking out the "good sandwich" very soon!

katstevens

Morning RGL readers!

This week's featured article is for Taste of Kerala in Croydon, a small South Indian restaurant which sounds like a handy spot for a lunchtime thali. Good value for money, too!

In Latin American cafe news, there's a new page for the Pueblito Paisa Cafe, which is right opposite the 76 bus stop at Seven Sisters station, next to the market. No word on whether they do Christmas empanadas or not.

There are updates for The Finsbury pub (in Finsbury Park, not Finsbury EC1) where the lime and soda is FREE, yes FREE, and for the Dilara/Uyghur Restaurant (also in Finsbury Park, not Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Territory), where the menu is a mix of Turkish and Chinese dishes.

Regular readers will remember the Sir Richard Steele closing for refurbishment back in January - your patience has been rewarded! It's back open and we have no idea what it's like now. Will they have kept the ceiling mural? A world of mystery awaits in Belsize Park.

mrs_leroy_brown

Hiya folks!

This week's featured article is Blend, a microcafe in Norbury. It's hard for me to think about hot drinks right now, but if I'm ever around that way, I'll be sure to check out their excellent selection of loose leaf teas. They also serve a curated selection of breakfast faves and sangers, and you'll likely be able to charge your phone or other electronic device if need be.

Two new articles have been added - Obia in Croydon's restaurant quarter serves an interesting falafel burger, though it appears the curse of the structurally unsound veg burger knows no bounds. If that seems a bit outré, you can always stick with their traditional Italian classics.

Still in Croydon, Kalpa serves Sri Lankan and Keralan food. Our reviewers were satisfied by the overall quality, though slightly underwhelmed by the mutonniness off the mutton rolls.

Updates have been made to Viet Grill in Shoreditch. Perhaps try the Saigon Feed set lunch, where you can choose from a limited selection of starters and mains, one of which is called "grilled piggy aubergine" and which our reviewer found quite nice.

katstevens

Evening RGL readers!

I made some dreadful Blur jokes for the subject of our featured article a few weeks ago, unfortunately There's No Other Way I can introduce Croydon's Parklife Cafe. Truly, This Is A Low in terms of puns. (Try the eggs benedict.)

New this week is Turkish restaurant Best Mangal in Old Street, where you can enjoy Tender kebabs at your Leisure, though it's a bit of a squeeze space-wise. These puns really have No Distance Left To Run so I am going to stop now.

ewan

I am keeping you waiting this week, apologies, but read on for some fine places!

First up, the featured article is Boca, E1 7DA. This is a cafe in Spitalfields themed around South America! An entire continent of food in such a small space. Anyway, expect empanadas aplenty, and vegan/veg options, hurrah!

Otherwise, we have three updated articles:

* Tokyo Diner, a Japanese restaurant in Chinatown. Try some tasty agedashi tofu, perhaps?

* Cafe Blue, a cafe in sun-struck Purley. It is blue. May not be worthy a visit to Purley if you're not local, unless you're a fan of curly fries perhaps?

* Cappuccino, a cafe in Norbury. It gets busy, and you might not get the breakfast you want, but try the smoothies, smoothie fans.