london restaurants

if i don't find 99p a bottle blue moon in my sainsbury's local this evening i'm blowing the place sky high.

Blue Moon.. it's like a sweet white lager or something? my dad loves that shit

I'm not a huge Sam Adams fan (too cloying, like Sierra Nevada) but i wouldn't mind a sixer for old times sake

don't think the locals have it...since the first commandment of sainburys local seems to be "thou shalt only sell two types of piss lager at more expensive prices than corner shops"....

Has anyone tried the Jamaican place next to the Shacklewell Arms yet? I've noticed they do portions of jerk/curry et al with and without the rice and peas, but I only had patties after my friend's party and haven't sampled anything else.

Camden Pale Ale and Camden Lager seem to be spreading round London a bit - they were on sale in the Royal Albert in New Cross last week. That stuff is no Meantime, but it's decent all the same.

kernel is my favourite of the three, i prefer camden to meantime tho. possibly just cos have meantime all the time in the florist, no doubt it's not kept properly there either, certainly varies in taste a lot.

kernel's really good, wish you could get it in more places

is blue moon that fancy stuff that certain bars serve you without telling you it costs a fiver a pint? cos GRRRR.

yeah and beware, there's a blue moon that's a BELGIAN WHEAT BEER that has a barely distinguishable tap, it's horrible. i also discovered recently, not the hard way thankfully, that somebody here who said the florist sells pints for a fiver was right. it's that rothhaus shit that they have. had to drink freedom lager there on saturday as everything else was off, it wasn't good at all.

you can buy bottles of kernel in the deli downstairs at vic park, it's about 2.50 or 3 quid tho.

kernel is my favourite of the three, i prefer camden to meantime tho. possibly just cos have meantime all the time in the florist

thread is so disorienting to someone used to restaurants in the distant bourgie suburbs where u can still find italian places petrified in time since 1981

haha sorry forgot to add my </ twat> tag

lol

haha which burbs is that? my goddaughter's parents took us to one like that in hendon a while ago, i had snails with garlic butter and then like a schnitzel (which i chose over a carbonara). great times.

i think there is an invisible line roughly following the n/s circular beyond which culinary innovations seldom travel

Sainsbury's New Cross has a pretty good selection of beers too. Heck, I've even noticed that you can get Brewdog at my parent's local Sainsbury's in the hellish market town where I went to school in Wiltshire.

Brewdog are opening their own pub in Glasgow, i passed the site today and saw the hoarding.

Le Querce in Honor Oak Park = best local Italian I've been to in London. Has this ludicrous ever-changing Sardinian specials board and about 30 flavours of bizarre ice-cream.

pane vino in kentish town is a p good sardinian place

Seems I'll be checking out La Querce then. Just moved to Brockley, so it's on the list along with Babur and Mezze Mangal.

The Brockley Mess is good for brunch, have you been?

Babur is amazing (they used to do an awesome guinea fowl curry) and Meze Mangal is probably the best Turkish restaurant in London. The Orchard is also pretty great, although a bit more pubby.

i popped into the Brockley Mess while i was waiting for the keys to my new place. seemed OK, but the menu didn't seem to match the nicely designed exterior and there was loads of kids running about. I thought perhaps it might be good for breakfasts. any experience?

had a drink at the Orchard. seemed nice enough. also witnessed a post-apocalyptic karaoke at the Wickham Arms with the MC doing downer renditions of REM covers to an empty house. kinda dug the interior of the place though.

Mr Lawrence is my pusher, tbh

I've never been in the Wickham Arms. The Talbot up towards St John's station is decent as well and apparently has good food. Ridiculously comprehensive wine list for a backstreet boozer in South London as well.

Has anyone tried that Saturday night food market yet?

The Old St one? I went down on Saturday afternoon, which they'd advertised as being the opening day, to be confronted with a building site. Apparently they've been set back a couple of weeks, but didn't think to mention it. Wasn't too fussed though - was an excuse to go to Keu.

Meatwagon is back, apparently, outside the Rye on Peckham Rye. Also, getting in different street food sorts on mondays. Details here.

afaik meatwagon is actually in a proper kitchen in the rye, wagon itself will still be touring.

yeah thats what it says in that article... there is p much zero chance of me making it down to peckham so hopefully he'll bring the meatwagon round my way

tracer hand did you make it to that place in vic park?

& speaking of street food south east, just seen the Dogfather in North Cross Road market recommended for hot dogs. Anyone tried?

I find the main drag of East Dulwich to be very pleased-with-itself and irritating and I'm not sure that even the best hot dog imaginable would be enough to tempt me over there.

eeeeexcellent: http://londonist.com/2011/06/new-restaurant-review-cay-tre-soho.php

xp
agree with first part (like it feels especially pleased with itself for not being what you expect to find in se London), but it's not too far, might investigate.

just sayin - I did!

Spit Jack's. I would say it's nothing extraordinary - the desserts in particular are very forgettable - but their staples are very good. The lamb was perfect, the chicken very tender with great skin. I think it would be especially good for take-away, i.e. instead of getting a pizza somewhere you can get half a chicken with roast potatoes for £9 on the nail.

Dogfather's really good, but I can't find myself raving about it having recently revisited Hot Doug's in Chicago, by a gazillion miles the best hot dog place I've ever been.

I know exactly what you mean about Lordship Lane, Matt, but I wouldn't be without The Palmerston or Franklins, which are two of my favourite South London places.

Went to the Meatwagon at the Rye last Friday (while it was still the van outside). Burgers predictably fine - absence of fries was a bit annoying.

xpost good to hear, hopefully they'll stick around

big apple hot dog any good?

going to Red Dog Saloon soft launch tonight! waheyyyy

i think i'm going to only ever dining out when there's soft launch from now on.

I know exactly what you mean about Lordship Lane, Matt, but I wouldn't be without The Palmerston or Franklins, which are two of my favourite South London places.

Yeah that's true, they're both great, and I like Le Chardon as well. I'm pretty happy to go there for a meal, just very unlikely to be ambling around East Dulwich on a Saturday afternoon, which is the only time I can envisage myself going to a hot dog stand.

i give big apple hot dog the thumbs up

I had a Dogfather hot dog in an attempt to satisfy a hot dog craving. Beware the squeezy cheese -- the guy really loaded mine up with the stuff and I couldn't finish it because it was drowning in fake cheese. From what I was able to taste of them, the meat and bun were good, though...

i heard good things about big apple hot dog.

is east dulwich a bit like crouch end but in south london? or something completely diff?

more like church street / stoke newington but replace hipsters with doctors and teachers

Yeah that's about right. When I was a lad it was more like an overspill of Peckham but has gentrified pretty rapidly over the last few years.

I feel like once upon a time the residents of Dulwich proper would have wanted to differentiate themselves from the shabbier bit down the road. But it's pretty 'organic baby food shop' these days.

xpost Pane Vino in Kentish Town has become insufferably expensive for a storefront restaurant on a main road with tables jammed on top of each other now. Its rent went up massively about five years ago, and prices rose commensurately. Also back-of-house travails: the couple who ran it (her in front, him in the kitchen) divorced, and he was the one who left. Rarely a good thing. Never a good idea to visit there in early autumn: wait till the summer's crop of imported waitresses from Italy have learnt English.

This sounds like it might be good. Head chef is dude from the thoroughly great Mussel Inn in Edinburgh.

"Mussel Inn" is a wonderful name for a restaurant.

Has someone tried Red Dog Saloon in Hoxton Sq yet? Meant to be going there on Mon, and I'm keen to know if it's awesome or just faux awesome.

barnaby, hardly if you want to try franco manca you could go to the one in chiswick which has more normal hours iirc

― just sayin, Saturday, June 4, 2011 Bookmark

Ah, excellent, thanks for the heads up.

did you like pitt cue co barnaby?

― Suggest Banter (Local Garda), Sunday, June 5, 2011 Bookmark

Really enjoyed it, though was slightly disappointed that they only had pulled pork available when I made the trip as I had my mind set on ribs. Still, that's just a good excuse to go back. I particularly enjoyed the Pickleback but have since found it difficult to explain to explain the appeal to friends... "A shot of pickled brine?!".

Thanks for the pizza chat. I actually ended up in Pizza East again this week and liked it a lot more the second time around.

Delivery-wise, I'm a definite fan of Firezza.