london restaurants

Fizzles, I did consult a regional policeman & he says: Hope and Anchor is your only man

Anchor and Hope, even

Gyac’s right, Elliot’s is good, though the times I’ve been there it’s always worked out to be more expensive than I expected.

More or less next door to that is Rambutan, a somewhat fancy Sri Lankan place - I’ve only been once but I thought it was genuinely excellent.

If Bermondsey Street is on the agenda, consider Casse-Croûte, a pleasingly trad French place. Similar distance in the other direction is the Anchor and Hope of course, can’t go wrong there.

Haha XP, I do like agreeing with gyac

excellent stuff, thanks everyone. Anchor and Hope was on my mind and is a really good shout.

And good question about 'high end' - she doesn't want me taking her out somewhere expensive basically. BUT also she is a massive snob and annoyingly fastidious.

Will check out Elliot's and Rambutan - thanks Tim. I was wondering whether to head down to 40 Maltby Street - never been to Casse-Croute.

lol bob six - i kind of know what they mean tbh! (tho Ginger Pig in any forms is a marvellous thing, as gyac says).

At the very least this is giving me a very good list of places to go not with my mum.

Love 40 Maltby St but it’s not terribly comfortable, think I’d have thought twice before taking my mother there. Of course there is no reason to assume Ma Fizzles would react like my mum.

Mater Fizzles is a massive shire Tory iirc so probably not

It is incredibly uncomfortable, and it's annoying because it's my favourite place to eat and drink. It's all elbows and stools. And why is the goddam bar so high? It would annoy her too.

Shire Tory not right tbh. East Anglian lower middle class protestant snobbery mutating into a sort of irritable hodge-podge of it's-nobody's-business liberalism, social conservatism (ie doesn't like people or says she doesn't, turns out she has a good time if she forgets this) and odd outcrops of socialism: fervent supporter of council housing, loathes the police, public transport and cycling infra stan. idk, when you get old you just accumulate a load of incompatible shit and become cranky i guess. would never happen to me ofc.

anyway *we get on* and like a gossip and as long as we steer clear of politics and don't get too twatted actually have a serviceable relationship, so i'll stick with that. Anchor and Hope booked up, unless we want to eat at 12:30. Tempting tho as I've been meaning to go for ages and it seems perfect.

Go to Elliott’s and get the cheesecake

it’s the leading option rn.

Anchor and Hope a great success. we had a lovely time. good atmosphere and drinks were all excellent. thanks everyone for seeing it over the line.

Really enjoyed the food at Honey & Co (Lamb's Conduit Street) last week. Had a sharing menu of mezze then a main and would have been happy with just the former, to be honest. Not as special as Ottolenghi, I don't think ... and felt a bit squeezed in to the venue but would still recommend. Had *bonus wine* across the road at Noble Rot (there's scope to have a relatively priced drink as much as a hideously expensive one). They had a set menu that seemed decent/highly reasonable (but wasn't vegetarian, so no good for me). Seemed a venue where people were happy to dip in for a glass of wine with their book.

Holloway Road people

Have you eaten at Sambal Shiok? Newspaper, Time Out etc reviews seem to contradict user ratings. Google Maps rating is suspiciously low.

There's also a Mexican place nearby that was foisted onto me by the Instagram algorithm, and i'm weighing up the two for drinks with a friend next week. It's called 'Proper Tacos' which is alarm bells, but i think(?) the owner/chef is legit Mexican, and tacos look good, so who knows.

I haven’t eaten there yet, but that’s a big disparity between reviewers and punters. If you want fire in soup form nearby there’s Xi’an Impression but I’m not sure about their licensing situation

I've been to Sambal Shiok, thought it was really good (though I'm no kind of connoisseur of Malaysian food). Not certain I'd choose it as a place to go to for drinks with a friend, it's not necessarily the kind of spot I'd choose to take a lot of time over a meal and relax into having a few drinks before, during and after a delicious laksa.

This is probably not relevant to your decision but is interesting: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/09/costs-independent-restaurants-prices-sambal-shiok-ditto-coffee

If you're looking for great Mexican food in London may I recommend this place...

https://lachingada.co.uk/

Only been to the one in Surrey Quays but just noticed they've open one in Euston...really great authentic food and not too far from Holloway