rglondon | Entries tagged with se16

Plumstead Pantry, Plumstead, London SE18

Good afternoon!

This week our new featured article is for The Plumstead Pantry, a small cafe on the edge of Plumstead Common. The vegan breakfast features bonus veg alongside the trad faves and the roast tomatoes with feta, basil, and a slow-cooked egg on sourdough toast was marked very good. With a selection of teas as well as coffee, and friendly service, it sounds like a great place to start the day.

We’ve two new articles added this week. Le Tran Cafe a Vietnamese cafe and restaurant in Bermondsey serves a straightforward menu in a nicely decorated setting. Near London Bridge Station, there’s Kin and Deum, a Thai restaurant on the site of the old Suchard Freehouse with decent enough food but a rather noisy and crowded atmosphere.

Updates have been made to The Marquis of Wellington pub in Bermondsey, The Horseshoe Inn in Borough, and in Southall, New Asian Tandoori Centre, a Punjabi restaurant.

Finally and back to SE1, The Bridge Lounge and Dining Room held a farewell yard sale but we’re unsure if this means a permanent shut down or a change of management/ownership.

ewan

Hello again!

This week's featured article is Deli Felice, SE16 7JQ in Rotherhithe, a small space showcasing a frequently changing roster of local artists. Sounds pretty good and you may even find yourself not objecting to dried oregano.

We have updates! Three updates! There's Pearl Liang, a dim sum place near Paddington (still good!). There's Bridge Hotel in Greenford (still there). And there's The Orange Tree in Richmond (still probably best to avoid when there's rugby on).

Four reported closures though: Good Taste, a very good deli in CryPal, sadly missed; Kensington Roof Gardens in, er, Kensington; Rio's Britannia Cafe in Norbury; and Bunga Raya in Thornton Heath.

ewan

Salt + Pickle, Crystal Palace, London SE19

This week's featured article is Salt and Pickle, SE19 1TS, which is of course a wine bar with an interest in pickled things. It's all very interesting, it sounds like, especially the wine list... but not so much the bread.

Two new articles are Natraj, a very small Indian vegetarian cafe in Rayners Lane with generous portion sizes, and Station Pantry in Upminster (across the road from the station), also very pleasant but again the bread comes in for a spot of criticism.

Finally, there are updates to three articles: Hare and Tortoise's Ealing branch; Viet Rest (short for Vietnamese Restaurant, which is what it is) in Deptford, where the pork sounds like a winner; and Deli Felice in Rotherhithe, friendly but again watch out for the bread.

katstevens

Evening RGL crew!

Our featured article this week is for Lithuanian restaurant Lituanica, which you can find by following the DLR all the way to Beckton. The cuisine of Lithuania sounds carb-heavy, of which I am totally in favour. If you're not hungry, there's other Lithuanian fun to be had nearby, including a bookshop and beauty salon.

As promised the other week, your intrepid RGL team have ventured to parts south-west, to find out what's happening in Nork and write some new articles. Yes, that's right, I said Nork. Some might say Nork is technically part of Banstead, but here at RGL we like to think that Nork is more of a state of mind. Anyway, if you need a cup of tea while you're there, Lilly's cafe is a perfectly pleasant place to while away the hours as you try to figure out what else to do in Nork when there's torrential rain outside. The answer: go to Sutton, where you'll find Antic pub The Shinner & Sudtone (featuring an alarming number of porcelain owls) and Ii-Ma Sushi, which turned out to be a real find (I want to go back and try some different sakes).

If that wasn't enough, there are new pages for the Canada Water Cafe (a short hop from the Jubilee line station) and the Tip Top Cafe in Swanley, plus an update for Moshi Moshi Sushi in Liverpool Street station.

Phew! After all that adventuring I think we need a break - we'll be back in two weeks.

katstevens

Evening everyone!

This week's featured article is for the Brixton branch of the Craft Beer Co, where you'll find the usual vast selection of keg and cask beer. There's seating space on the first floor but be careful when carrying your drinks up the 'fool of a' staircase: your correspondent's other half suffered an Exciting Injury in this manner a couple of years ago. Readers may also wish to note that the excellent Kings College Hospital A&E is but a short bus ride away!

Our RGL crew has been hard at work of late investigating the delights of Tooting - this week we bring you Saravanaa Bhavan, a veggie-only Indian restaurant whose menu includes the intriguingly named 'Business Meal'. There's also a new page for Affogatto, a modern coffee shop in Norbury. Some closures to report too: the miniscule Oriental Chinese Shop in Surrey Quays, and Chinese Family in Greenwich.

Finally, I'm sad to hear of the closure of HK Diner by Leicester Square - the first place I ever tried bubble tea.

katstevens

Kicking off a bumper round-up this week, our featured article is for Fee and Brown, a modern cafe in Beckenham specialising in fancy teas - worth a trip down for tea enthusiasts.

Lots happening in Hammersmith! We have new pages for Somali restaurant Village, veggie/vegan shop Bushwacker Wholefoods, and the Thai Smile supermarket. There’s an update for the Distillers Fuller’s pub following a visit; the Cineworld is closing in April; Thai restaurant Noodles Magic has closed, and Books For Amnesty has reopened a couple of doors down from its old home on King Street. Phew - W6 in flux!

Elsewhere, Pitt Cue Co has moved from Soho to larger premises in Liverpool Street (I wonder if that’ll make the queues any shorter). There's a brand new article for We Brought Beer, a craft beer and brewing supplies shop in Balham. In Bermondsey, Lou Farrow’s Pie & Mash Shop has shut, as has Mirch Masala in Croydon and the Harry Ramsden’s kiosk in Euston station.

Last but not least, my favourite new article name in RGL history has to go to Croydon’s Juicy Squeeze. I’ll leave you to find out what exactly Juicy Squeeze has to offer by clicking on the link.

katstevens

Hullo all!

This week's featured article is for Ethos, a vegetarian eatery in Fitzrovia. It's a self-service buffet set-up, with everything clearly labelled for those with dietary requirements. The food is good quality but apparently the buffet can get a little low-stocked during mid-afternoon, so you may want to stick to lunch and dinner times.

We've got a couple of closures to report: visitors expecting some Ghanaian food at Bongo East in Barking will now be greeted by a Bulgarian cafe instead, while our intrepid RGL team discovered at the weekend that Royal Palace by Surrey Quays station is now a completely different Chinese restaurant called Noodle Family. It still does decent food, though!

Finally, JD Wetherspoon has put The Foxley Hatch in Purley up for sale, and it will close when it's found a buyer.

katstevens

Evening everyone! This week's featured article is for Bubbles and Tea, a small vegan bubble tea cafe in the Stratford Centre. If you're not sure what bubble tea is, there's a helpful sign on the front of the premises!

Freshly written up on RGL are articles for the Japanese Canteen in Holborn (serviceable greasy noodles) and the newly opened Everyman Cinema in Canary Wharf. There's also an update to the page for Ravi Shankar, one of the better Indian restaurants on Euston's Drummond Street, following a recent lunch visit.

There's some to-ing and fro-ing around Tottenham Court Road and Waterloo: Book Warehouse has moved a few minutes down the road on Lower Marsh, and now occupies the top floor of Gramex Music Shop. Also on the move are Korean restaurants Woo Jung and Po Cha, both having moved from the shadow of Centrepoint due to the Crossrail works. Woo Jung is now on New Oxford Street while Po Cha find itself opposite Gramex on Lower Marsh, in the old premises of Marsh Ruby (now closed). Their former Centrepoint neighbour Assa has closed for good, however, as has the Old Justice in Bermondsey.

ewan

Welcome back, another week another delayed Tuesday update for you. I was on holiday is my excuse.

This week's featured article is Simplicity, SE16 4JJ, one recently updated following a visit from a prominent RGL administrator. It's a British restaurant by Rotherhithe station. It may not be worth a special trip, but for the area it's pretty decent.

There's a new article for Xi'An Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant in Deptford which features a special menu of food from Xi'an, capital of the Shaanxi province. (I'm sure you know where that is, but if like me you drew a momentary blank, it's in NW China.) Kake's been getting through a fair bit of the food there, and it sounds like a nice place for some interesting dishes. Go for the cold-skin noodles, which you can't get anywhere else in London that we know about.

There's also a reported closure for The Great Wall restaurant near London Bridge, soon to be a Chilango.

ewan

Hello all!

The featured article is the Calthorpe Arms, WC1X 8JR, a proper old school traditional pub with carpet and locals and tasty unchallenging beer with a friendly atmosphere. I'm not sure I'd call it Bloomsbury, but who has a better name for the area? Is it Holborn?

There are two new articles, again for pubs. There's The Monarch, which is on the Chalk Farm end of Camden Town, and often has gigs on, but certainly could be a lot worse than that suggests. And then there's the new BrewDog outpost in Shepherd's Bush, which is great if you like that kind of bar (industrial look and feel), and that kind of beer (there's nothing on cask, but there's an interesting range of both BrewDog and guest beers in the hoppier vein of "craft").

Finally, the St James Tavern in Bermondsey has closed in its guise as an old-fashioned locals' boozer and has reopened as St James of Bermondsey (website link here for those who want to judge what kind of market it's going for now).

ewan

This week, we travel south south south to Sutton for our featured article, which is Little Squiggles Cafe, SM1 1NR. As you may have guessed from the name, it's aimed at children, so having some would probably help.

Otherwise, it's a very quiet week, with only one reported closure, of the Royal Margin Vietnamese restaurant in Surrey Quays.

If there are any places you've recently visited and want to let us know about, why not suggest them below! If you're an RGL contributor already, why not add or update an entry with details of somewhere you've been to recently? I shall try to do my part...

ewan

Hello all!

Apologies for this week's delay as we quest to find you new things to feature. This week's featured article is Crystal China, SE1 4TP, a Chinese restaurant on Tower Bridge Road, which our intrepid correspondents have enjoyed on a number of visits.

There are two new pages! We have Chipotle, a Baker Street branch of the growing American burrito and taco chain which is also found in a few other London locations and is perfectly decent (I enjoyed the tacos I had at the Covent Garden branch more than at other Mexican places, but the burritos are about par for the course).

There's also Oriental Chinese Shop, which is near Surrey Quays station in Rotherhithe and as you may have gathered from the title is a shop selling Chinese food.

No reported closures.

ewan

Hello! Plenty of pub updates this week, as Kake's been out in Sutton. Do please note that the many Sutton updates not constitute new pubs to the Good Beer Guide 2013. Those will be updated on the website on 13 September (the book's release date), so look out for them!

Shane's on Chatsworth, Lower Clapton, E5

In the meantime, the featured article this week is Shane's on Chatsworth, a newish restaurant on up-and-coming Chatsworth Road, Clapton, which was much enjoyed by Kat. (It is very much open for business unless you walk by to take your photo on a Monday.)

New entries this past week have been: Aces and Eights, an American-style saloon bar in Tufnell Park which does very tasty pizza; and The Ravensbury in Mitcham.

Significant updates to: The Sekforde Arms, good old-fashioned pub in Clerkenwell; The Marquis of Granby and The Jolly Coopers in Epsom (which is only marginally London); and many pubs in Sutton (The Old Bank, The Little Windsor, The Cock and Bull and The Lord Nelson).

Finally confirmation of three permanent closures: Tas-Ty Snacks greasy spoon in Bermondsey; Spa Fish Bar, a fish and chip shop in the same area; and Bella Italia, a chain Italian restaurant in Epsom.

katstevens

Morning RGLers! I hope you all had productive/lazy/ridiculous holiday weekends according to your preference!

This week's featured article is the Green Dragon, CR0 1NA, a child-friendly Good Beer Guide Pub in Croydon. While it may not contain an Actual Dragon, there are six handpulls and an upstairs function room for hire in which you can fit several fictional fire-breathing lizards.

One new addition: the Snooty Fox, a cracking real ale pub in Canonbury which is not snooty in any way.

Closed forever: the Spa Bakery in Bermondsey, the Walpole pub in New Cross and Good Companions, a huge pub in Hamsey Green which is being demolished to make way for a shiny new Lidl.

We also have some rumoured closures: the bizarrely-hyphenated Tas-Ty Snacks greasy spoon and the Spa Fish Bar, both in Bermondsey. Our intrepid crew of editors will try and find out whether these are permanent or not, and let you know.

kake

Image © Kake

Sorry for not posting last week! bob and I have been moving house, and had a lot to do. I did get the featured article up on RGL itself, just didn't post about it here — it was Dial Arch, SE18 6GH, a Young's gastropub in Woolwich.

This week's featured article is Bermondsey Brazilian Shop, SE16 4BD, a small cafe on the Bermondsey/Rotherhithe borders. They serve drinks and desserts during the week, and a buffet of hot food on weekend lunchtimes. They also sell various Brazilian groceries.

Recent additions to RGL include Princess Garden, an upmarket Cantonese restaurant in Mayfair; and the Melbourne, a Stonegate pub in Wallington.

Reported permanent closures are Hiba on Borough High Street, Himalaya Palace Cinema in Southall, and Ochre Lounge in Chiswick. Temporary closures are the New World in Chinatown and the George on Borough High Street.

kake

Image © Ewan-M

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

Image © Manne

This week's featured article is Angel, SE16 4NB, a Samuel Smith's pub on the river, on the border of Bermondsey/Rotherhithe.

Were it not that they don't serve real ale, this would be a fantastic pub; as it is, it is merely a very good one. The upstairs lounge has a great view over the river, and the downstairs is divided into small, characterful areas. Service has always been friendly on our visits.

Recent additions to RGL include Sorabol in New Malden and Ping Pong in St Paul's. We've also updated our writeup of the Queen's Head in King's Cross.

Reported closures are Marie Lloyd Bar in Hackney (now a cafe), Dastarkhan in Lower Holloway (now a different central Asian restaurant), East & West Chinese Supermarket in New Cross, Harem on Brick Lane (now a different Turkish restaurant), and Thai Tiger also on Brick Lane (now an Indian restaurant).

Also, several branches of Oddbins have closed, including the Bromley branch — we're not sure which others have closed and which remain open, so do let us know if you have any up-to-date information.

In more cheerful news, the Rifleman in Twickenham has reopened.

kake

Image © Kake

This week's featured article is Red Lion And Sun, N6 4BE, a food-led pub in Highgate. They have two beer gardens, and put on hog roasts in the warmer months.

Recent additions to RGL include St James Supermarket in Bermondsey and King's Cross Social Club in King's Cross.

Two reported closures: Grosvenor Arms in Mayfair and Jaspers in Walworth.