Randomness Guide to London

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).

Hello and welcome back, it's been a few weeks!



This month's featured article is The Orange Tree, TW9 2NQ, a pub and hotel near Richmond station. It's Young's-run so expect a decent pint of Ordinary. Also note that RGLers have been visiting long enough that there are comments pre-dating the smoking ban. Ah, those heady days.

Our two new articles are: Melisi, an Italian bar, cafe and restaurant in Ruislip. A small place, but nice food, soft rock, and Italian service. I learned that the "s" is soft in Ruislip from Kat when I visited recently (a sibilant sound, like "Rye-slip", not a "z" sound as I'd been incorrectly doing for years). There's also Taste of Kerala, where in Croydon you too can sample a taste of, er, Kerala I'm guessing? Kake gets into some detail about exotic and interesting styles of rice cooking in the entry, so be sure to read up on that.

Significant updates have been made to Nakhon Thai in E16's delightful Royal Docks area. Pretty nice, we conclude.

Finally the reported permanent closure of The Bree Louise due to HS2 redevelopment of the area. Expect more transport links, but fewer cask ales and ciders served on gravity dispense.