Randomness Guide to London

Evening everyone! I hope you all found time to do something interesting over the holiday weekend. We're taking a few weeks off for some beer-related investigations, but there's plenty this week to tide you over until then.

Our featured article is for Redemption in Shoreditch, a vegan restaurant with an interesting (and 100% non-alcoholic) drinks menu. I don't think I've ever heard of a cocktail with lettuce in it before, let alone drunk one.

We've been to Swanley! The station is now in TfL zone 8, giving Oystery access to the Greene King-owned Lullingstone Castle pub, the Blue Harbour fish'n'chip shop (big portions, give the peas a miss), The Chef Chinese Restaurant and Sharon's Card Crafts, which sounds like a must-visit for papercrafters.

If for some reason Swanley doesn't float your boat (perhaps you are allergic to swans?) there are new articles for Cafe Adagio in Addiscombe, the Tulse Hill Hotel pub (another Greene King establishment), Pepe Italian Street Food (a pizza/pasta takeaway in Soho), The Finsbury pub near Manor Park station and the Somali Town Restaurant in Streatham, where the menu options have a refreshing simplicity (no lettuce cocktails).

The Mimosa cafe in Herne Hill has had an update following a visit, as has the Old Ale Emporium in Harringay (not to be confused with Haringey) and our old Ewok-village friend in Finsbury Park, the Faltering Fullback.

Finally, one sad closure to report: the lovely old Tudor Rose in Marylebone is going to become a restaurant. When I worked nearby I was always happy to spend time in this pub, especially in winter with its open fire and seemingly semi-permanent Christmas decorations hung all around the walls.

Evening all!

This week's featured article is for the Garden Community Cafe near the Excel Centre in Docklands. It's a small, cheerful place with cheap food and plenty of community spirit.

We have new articles for two eateries: Maida, a Somali cafe in Streatham, and Cirilo, which serves Filipino food in Whitechapel. If you want to find out which one does halo-halo and which one gives you free refills of rice, you'll have to click through and read them!

Royal Delight on Tower Bridge Road has temporarily shut, but is still doing takeaway, but Twins Cafe and the Lin Ji Supermarket in Peckham have closed for good, as has the King's Arms in Twickenham. And the Horseshoe Inn in London Bridge no longer does Mongolian Food! I dunno, they'll be getting rid of the dartboard next...

Finally, an advanced warning for Zone 6 dwellers/visitors: the tube will be closed for three weeks over the summer between Uxbridge and Ruislip (Metropolitan line) and Uxbridge and Rayners Lane (Piccadilly line), as they're replacing the track (more info here). So if you've booked a holiday to Hillingdon in late July you'd better get the Central line there instead!