Randomness Guide to London

Hello all!



Like me, you may be scratching your head trying to figure out where exactly Swanley is, though the postcode hints at a Bromley-adjacent location. Well, it's where this week's featured article can be found, The Cotton Mill, BR8 8ET, a micropub! Aha, micropubs, a very Kentish phenomenon, and this one comes recommended but no guarantees their sausage rolls won't have run out. NB Swanley is way out near the M25, so why not use the many map links on the RGL page to learn all about it.

We have one new article, More Flour to the People, and yes you did read that name right, it's a pun! Because! It's a bakery! Do you see? Anyway, you can toast your own bread, even.

Finally, the reported permanent closure of Japan Centre Ceramics and Sushi. Most of the business is now a basement food hall on Panton Street nearby.

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.



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.

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.

Welcome back, belatedly!

This week's featured article is Saravanaa Bhavan, IG1 4PU in sunny Ilford. It's part of an international vegetarian Indian chain, and maybe you've been to one of the other London branches in East Ham or Tooting? Ganesha will watch peacefully over your dosa eating if you visit this spacious branch.

Other additions are a shabby pub/restaurant in Worcester Park/Cheam called The HG Wells, a Nigerian restaurant called Coal City in Edmonton (why not surprise the staff by visiting), and Chang's Noodle in London's fashionable Chinatown (excellent quality, and expect more than one noodle).

There's an update to The Gilpin's Bell in Edmonton, now under non-Wetherspoons ownership, but still offering Ruddles and similar cask beers.

Reported closures are Arbutus (always a bastion of unpretentious Michelin-starred fine dining) and The Windsor Castle in Marylebone (a bastion for the moustachioed gentleman).

Finally a couple of reopenings are The Fitzroy Tavern in Fitzrovia, and One and One Chinese buffet in Angel (now with meat, bucking the trend towards veganism).

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.

Welcome back!



This week's featured article is the Amber Tree Cafe, SE8 4AD, a cafe in a former pub building on Deptford High St. Sadly there's not much of historical pub interest inside. Still it's a friendly (and child-friendly) place which does a fine banana cake.

Two new articles this week. First off is Food House, an uninspiringly-named Northern Chinese and Sichuanese restaurant in Chinatown, cash only and with some interesting menu items. The other is Four Hundred Rabbits, going in a quite opposite direction re name, but offering good size sourdough pizza portions, craft beer and lots of gelato.

There's an update to the entry for one of Wetherspoons' finest pubs, The Knights Templar in Holborn.

The four reported closures relate to Chinatown restaurants we've just caught up on: Jade Garden; Red N Hot; New Aroma; and Harbour City.

Hello all! We've got a full update this week, as we're catching up with various changes to pubs from London Drinker magazine.



The featured article this week is a little dive bar under the Lamb Tavern in Leadenhall Market, namely Old Tom's Bar, EC3V 1LR. They have ales from the Young's range and a short list of food options. Get away from the bustle.

One new article is The Star at Night, a coffee house by day in Soho but at night a gin bar. Many gins! Drink gin! (It's not a candidate for a good photo of the establishment until they finish the Crossrail works though.)

There's a temporary closure to mark for The Railway in West Hampstead, until March next year.

The following pubs have all closed since we last visited:
* The Newton Arms out back of Covent Garden, near Holborn;
* The Old Loyal Britons in Greenwich;
* The Elephant on Fenchurch Street;
* The Crown and Greyhound in Dulwich Village (though this is due to reopen in 2016);
* The Oakhill in Beckenham;
* Glow Lounge in Clapham;
* The Gate bar on Newington Green; and
* The Florence off Upper Street in Islington.

Finally a few renamings:
* Finch's in Moorgate (was The Master Gunner);
* The Pleasure Boat in Alperton (now The Boat);
* The Express Tavern by Kew Bridge (now The Express Ale and Cider House); and
* The Thatched House by Ravenscourt Park station in Hammersmith (now The Butcher's Hook).