rglondon | Entries tagged with supermarkets

Evening all! It's a new week on the RGL blog, and another featured article for you - Quality Foods in Southall. It's not on Quality Street of course, as we all know that's in Merstham. To be quite frank with you, I doubt Quality Foods could even fit on Quality Street, as the former is an enormous supermarket filled with delicious things! Merstham will have to look elsewhere for somewhere to put its dedicated ghee aisle.

We also have an update for 2T's Cafe in New Cross, which straddles the fine line between cafe and greasy spoon, by the means of surprise side salads.

Finally, one of my lunchtime regulars, Boca in Aldgate, has closed. Where will I get my Christmas empanadas now?

ewan

Hello all! It's Wednesday! You know, Kake sends me updates on Sunday or Monday, but I just like to keep you all waiting in excited suspense to find out what's been going on at the RGL website... (Well, that, or I'm just a bit disorganised.)

東京ダイナー (Tokyo Diner), Chinatown, London WC2

So this week, our featured player is Tokyo Diner, WC2H 7JP, a busy if sparsely-decorated Japanese veteran, which won't take your tips and does a fine agedashi tofu.

New to the team is Blend, another compact Norbury tea and coffee lover with a fine view of railway platforms, offering what we're calling sensibly-balanced food.

We have a breakfast-related update to Affogato, also found in Norbury.

Finally, looks like Hiep Phat in Walworth might be going, but we're not sure yet. Tins and boxes of Chinese and Vietnamese groceries may no longer be available at this location in SE17, but we're just waiting confirmation on its fate.

katstevens

Evening all! A bumper week, kicking off with this week's featured article Yu Xiao, a Chinese supermarket on Kingsland High Street (right near Dalston Kingsland Overground station). It's stuffed full of noodles, pickles, tofu and other East Asian groceries.

Our old peripatetic friend the Japan Centre (currently located in Shaftesbury Avenue) has had an update. A slightly different selection of tofu, noodles etc is available there, as well as a vast number of magazines with Japanese boybands on the cover. The Blythe Hill Tavern in Catford has also had an update, including some useful #limeandsodawatch pricing info.

There are plenty of new pages this week, including three fully vegetarian eateries: the Lighthouse cafe in Catford, Indian restaurant Saravanaa Bhavan in Ilford, and the awkwardly-portmanteaued CoffeE7 in Forest Gate. Guess which one has a chandelier! Also new is the Orbit Beers Taproom, just off the Walworth Road (good for train spotting), and Cappuccino in Norbury (good for fried eggs). However fans of egg will no longer be able to obtain tarts from Sun Luen Snack Bar in Chinatown, as it has closed.

Finally, some cinema news: the Bromley Empire and Leicester Square Empire are now Cineworld Bromley and Cineworld Leicester Square respectively.

katstevens

Evening all, hope your Bank Holiday was pleasant! I spent mine looking at my local supply of anatomically incorrect dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park.

This week's featured article is for Dexter Burger in Purley, home to interesting veggie burgers with a high rating on the all-important Bun Structural Integrity scale.

We've got new pages for Lamberts in Balham, a restaurant specialising in seasonal British produce, and Tandoori Naan And Chapati, a bakery in Walworth with a seemingly slapdash attitude to food hygiene. I think I'd rather go to Lamberts, myself.

There are Vietnamese food updates in the form of Dat Cang Supermarket and Mama Pho, both in Deptford. Also updated following a visit is vegan-friendly creperie Senzala, over in sunny Brixton.

Closures to report: the Breadroom bakery in Brixton has literally ended up in Valhalla, while the Cineworld Hammersmith is to be demolished. I cannot confirm or deny that the last film to be shown in this (admittedly rather run-down) Art Deco building was Kung Fu Panda 3.

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.

ewan

This week's update features Thai Smile, W6 9NH, a Thai supermarket, though it has plenty of other regional stuff. Pastes! Sauces! Seasonings! Frozen Things! Tofu! Strange herbs!

There are four new articles: Fish Kitchen in Norbiton, like an upmarket chippie; Saints and Sinners pub in Croydon, lacking ale though; Santok Maa's vegetarian Indian in Thornton Heath, with friendly staff, though not fully structurally sound puri; and Bus cafe towards the Selhurst end of Croydon, which is in a bus.

We have significant updates to The Norbiton and Dragon pub; The Willoughby Arms pub in Kingston; The Park Tavern pub in Kingston; and The Boaters Inn pub in Kingston. Someone's been visiting the area, I'll wager...

Temporary closure is reported for The Queen's Head pub in Kingston. Permanent closures are: Snackpot (in Norbiton); Magma Ghanaian restaurant (in Thornton Heath); and The Gatehouse (in Highgate), which is still a pub just not a Wetherspoons so is DEAD TO US.

Finally is the reported reopening of Na Pura Portuguese cafe in Nunhead.

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 the White Hart in Stepney (not to be confused with the other White Hart a few hundred yards further down the A11 by the Whitechapel Gallery). The featured White Hart contains its own microbrewery so you'll have plenty of fresh beer to drink if you visit, and some decent food to soak it up with.

Aside from our Cockney drinking den we have a very Brentwood-focused week for new pages. Pub-wise there's the Brewery Tap, a small pub that does not have its own microbrewery as far as I can tell; the Rising Sun, which is in the Good Beer Guide and will do you a pickled egg; the Spread Eagle, which does scones and coffee as well as real ale, and a traditional boozer in the form of the Victoria Arms, which I'm pleased to report possesses a carpet. Elsewhere in Brentwood there's the Chicken and Frog, a children's bookshop, and Japanese food at Sushi City. The latter plays techno covers of Terence Trent D'Arby - I'm sold.

Finally another non-Brentwood addition: USSR Ltd in Leyton, which appears to be a Russian version of Aldi? I will admit to being intrigued both by the concept and the name! I wonder if they play techno versions of Дима Билан?

katstevens

Hello all! Apologies for the slight delay this week - leaves on the line, and such*.

Our featured article is for the PlumTree Cafe in Greenwich, a child-friendly spot with plenty of veggie options and most importantly, an all-day breakfast menu.

A bunch of new pages have sprung up this week! Fresh Fields Market in Croydon has a good beer selection as well as fruit and veg; the Duke's Head in Highgate is a very pleasant pub with lots of nice beer and gin cocktails, and the Wild Card Brewery Tap Bar in Walthamstow is also pretty great for beer fans, though it's a bit out of the way. I've been to the latter two establishments and I would firmly recommend both! My verdict is a bit less certain regarding the Waterloo Bar and Kitchen though - reasonable bistro food but quite pricey. Better value in Waterloo is Po Cha, a Korean restaurant recently moved from near the Centrepoint building, and the Waterloo branch of Wahaca.

There are three pub updates following visits: the Express Tavern in Brentford, the Wellington by Waterloo station, and the Albion in East Molesey. The Express looks like the pick of the bunch to me.

Elsewhere, Da Vinci's bar in Waterloo has closed, as has the Fountain Restaurant inside Fortnum & Mason's.

Finally we can give a big RGL welcome to Dartford Station, which has joined TfL Zone 8 and thus has become 12.5% more excellent!

*Okay, fine. I was buying woodland-animal-shaped biscuit cutters in Ikea.

ewan

Hello again.

This week's featured article is not a naturist resort, but in fact an organic supermarket called As Nature Intended, SW12 9BP. Bit of a small chain, but this branch is in Balham. You can get refills of all your household essentials too.

Our new article this week is The French Cafe in South London's Tooting. It's a cafe, and it's French, so expect pate and cheese.

Finally we have one possible closures, Da Vinci, a late-night bar and restaurant near Waterloo which had a fire recently, and the impending closure early next year of Book Warehouse, also nearby.

ewan

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.

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

Lucky Seven, Stoke Newington, London N16

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).

ewan

28°-50° Wine Workshop and Kitchen, Marylebone, W1

This week's featured article is 28°-50° Wine Workshop and Kitchen, W1U 2NE in Marylebone. For those wondering, apparently most vineyards are located between 28 and 50 degrees latitude. They don't even say on their website, so maybe it's just really obvious?

The one addition is Longdan Express, a Vietnamese and pan-Asian supermarket near Hoxton station on Shoreditch/Haggerston borders.

There's an update to Hackney Picturehouse cinema entry, by me, the gist of which is that it's a really nice cinema (comfy seats, big screens) and the cafe/bar is excellent too.

Reported permanent closures are: Chicago Rib Shack in Knightsbridge; and The King's Arms near Victoria station, which has closed and is set to be demolished along with all the other pubs in that area (The Stage Door, The Duke of York, The Stag) to make way for a new DEVELOPMENT called Victoria Circle. Yay.

katstevens

Hullo RGL crew! I'm filling in for

ewan for a bit while he is off gallivanting (i.e. probably taking pictures of a pub somewhere).

Our featured article this week is La Cave, SE1 9QQ, a French/European resturant and wine bar squirreled away down by Southwark Cathedral.

New additions to RGL include 1) Whyteleafe Tavern, a locals' pub in the sunny paradise of Whytleafe (OK I admit I had to look up where that was, it's south of Croydon so nearer the Equator - it definitely looks sunny in the photo) and 2) SM Pinoy Foods, a Filipino supermarket in Croydon that sells all sorts of mad stuff like banana blossoms and LUNGS! Brilliant!

One permanent closure is reported: Lush, Portobello Road. We also have one mysterious potential closure - Palms of Goa (Meard St branch). Rumour has it that a new outlet of Honest Burger is to replace it! Perhaps it has already? If you're in the area, why not have a look for yourself and tell us about it in the comments?

ewan

This week's featured article is Tap East, E20 1EE, a brewpub in the Stratford Westfield shopping centre.

Three additions are: Joshua's Tea Room, a cafe in the Allders department store, Croydon; Manus Palm Grove, a South Indian restaurant in Stratford; and Hua Run, a Chinese supermarket also in Stratford.

Reported closures are: S&M Cafe, sausage and mash purveyors in Spitalfields and last of that chain; Black Sheep pub on Camberwell/Kennington borders (now called The Kennington); and Alfie's Kitchen and Bar in Bermondsey (now called Gregg's Table).