Randomness Guide to London

Hello all, rather belatedly again because I'm a bit rusty at this. Also this will have to keep us going for two weeks, so special DOUBLE EDITION.



This week, our featured article is On the Bab, EC1V 9LA, a Korean street food vendor albeit in an actual building. bob was pretty happy with the bibimbap and expect it to be busy at lunchtimes.

One new article is Brown and Green on the Triangle, an excessively-named cafe catering to all kinds of diets in the Crystal Palace metropolitan hub. Expect kids.

We have an update to Frank's Cafe, still a local caff serving breakfasts near Limehouse. Handy if you find yourself in Limehouse.

Our two reported closures are for Klein's, a haberdashers off Oxford Street, and Yak and Yeti, a Nepalese restaurant in Eltham.

I'm back-back-back from my holidays to take over update duties from Kat.



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.

The featured article is The Railway, SW16 5SD. You'll have guessed two things about this pub: it's near a railway station and it's in Streatham. The station is Streatham Common in fact. It had only London ales on tap on our RGL correspondent's visit, and did an excellent salad.

Loads of additions this week too. There's Bruce Castle Museum (and local history archive) in Tottenham. We now have Cafe Royal, a cafe (!) in Park Royal (!), and on a similarly straightforward naming strategy, Burgers and Coctkails in Marylebone, which serves... oh I think you can guess; it used to be called Guerilla Burgers and garnered some pretty bad reviews, so I guess they tried rebranding. There's also The Toll Gate, a very Wetherspoony Wetherspoon's in Turnpike Lane, Lituanica grocery store in Walthamstow, Venerdi Italian restaurant in Lower Clapton (the old Thang Long House), and Mirch Masala's Goodmayes branch.

There are updates to The Anerley Arms, Yas Iranian restaurant near Olympia, and The Bull Inn in far-flung St Paul's Cray (where? why not look at the article to find out!).

Finally, we have been told that The Old Duke of Cambridge, a pub in Bow, may have closed so any further information confirming/denying this would be gratefully received.

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).

This week's featured article is Mestizo, NW1 3EL, a dependable Mexican restaurant on Hampstead Road, near Euston station.

One new article is the Hackney Homemade Market, in various venues in Lower Clapton.

There's an update to Somers Town Coffee House, a pub in Somers Town, which has changed management.

Two reported closures are: The New Cavendish, a greasy spoon in Fitzrovia; and Teapod, a tea shop in Covent Garden.