london restaurants

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.

same thing happened me, it was only pulled pork. i did find it overpriced even tho it was delicious, it was very small.

read a review of that red dog saloon that made it sound pretty nice. hoxton square...so in need of an overhaul.

was at breakfast club yday having bigged it up, forgot to say their huevos rancheros are really good too. two chorizos, two eggs, loads of salsa/guacamole/sour cream and beans, nice rocket and tomato salad on the side, and tortilla underneath, 8.70, hard to beat as a breakfast imo..

pitt cue co better value than the dishoom nearby - compared to the lamb naan wrap, anyway. damn thing was the same price, about half the size of what you get from pitt, which is a decent sized lunch imo.

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.
― Now working on a documentary about Sham 69's recent tour of China (ithappens), Thursday, 9 June 2011 12:14 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

went there yesterday ithappens.. it was nice - they're still setting up though so the menu was missing a few things.

we had:
new england clam chowder - not great
buffalo wings - decent enough
collard greens - it's greens
onion rings - nice but a little overly spiced

chicken and rib combo - very tasty, juicy and good sauce
pulled pork sandwich - really tasty - in a bun with coleslaw

it was decent enough but didn't blow our minds - however, we didn't try the burgers and my friend did and said they're meatwagon-esque, so pretty high praise. i dunno if they made a point of employing american waitresses but there were many.

might go back to try the burgers and when they actually have camden ipa on tap, or lone star.

(lone star wouldn't be on tap btw.. bottles are on menu but they didn't have it)

sounds like worth a try...the posh fast food market in london is insanely competitive

Thanks for that ken c

there's a byron opening soon on the same corner too. burger wars.

hoping for another soft launch

(p.s. it's still half price food until sat!)

Someone else is paying on Monday, so I don't care about the price ...

sweet. in that case go for the 'punisher' (5oz beef + pulled pork + bacon + cheese, i believe)

Where is that "rolling art exhibits in London" thread that someone mentioned above?

I think I have need of it. Someone has rather foolishly allowed me to be part of a London Art Exhibit.

RFI: Current Art Exhibitions in London

Thanking you.

How I love to read this thread and make myself envious of all these delicious places, what with not living in London.

(OK, I'm not that far away, but too far to go for a meal, especially since my dining companion is not a fan of travelling)

^ this

The only thing that really makes me question my insistence on never living in London again is the restaurants. (even tho I grew up in bourgie suburbs which, as Nakh correctly identified, never offered me any of this good stuff anyway)

Went to Patogh off the Edgware Road last night. Iranian kebabs etc. Looking for a place to replace my lentil/lamb soup + lahmacun cheap eat out option in Green Lanes/Stoke Newington.

Nice shabby place, but more expensive than I was looking for, and they seemed inclined to rinse me out. When I asked for bread they bought the v large bread, about 18" in diameter, rather than the smaller variety. It was very nice, but c'mon. The grilled meats were excellent as you'd expect, as was their ayran/lassi-style mint and yoghurt drink. It's also BYO, which might make it cheaper I guess, but I wasn't drinking last night.

went to red dog saloon tonight as was in shoreditch before going to arcola theatre in dalston, needed food quickly. it was really good i thought. still had discounts for the soft launch so friend and i had a burger with fries, two pints of camden pale ale, portion of onion rings and an expresso for 10 quid each including service charge. the burger was excellent...as good as byron.

some pretty ott meat horror dishes on that menu tho, think one was 2x5oz burgers, 8 streaky bacon rashers, endless cheese, and 200g pulled pork, all in one gigantic bun. they have a challenge where if you eat this sin against the arteries with fries in less than 10 mins, with a milkshake, you get it for free.

went to the corner room last night (that place thats in the same building as viajante) + man it was really good! food was abt £25 for 3 courses, which seemed like a great deal for stuff like this, altho because they dont take bookings it can be tricky. we got there at 7 which was fine but we asked the waitress what time they normally filled up (its a pretty small room) and she said that it varies + a lot of the time its already full by then - you can always wait in the bar but then if you end up having a couple of £10 cocktails then that kinda drives up the price of yr meal. anyway most of the food was relatively simple i thought, which is different to what ive heard abt viajante, the only dishes where things got weird were dessert, which i enjoyed the least. im pretty traditional when it comes to dessert.

on the q of pizza: I can recommend the Regent on Liverpool Rd. It's a pub, but the pizza is excellent and comes in at less than £10 unless you go for the seafood option. Only drawback: no proper real ale on tap.

The Meatwagon burger I had at the Rye Hotel yesterday was every bit as good as I'd expected it to be. Being in a relatively inaccessible part of Peckham, compared to right on the main drag of New Cross in an area swarming with students, means it's easy to get a table and quick service as well.

went to that pitt co bbq place on saturday, it was a bit overpriced imo, the portions are small. it was v tasty but i wouldn't really rush back, 7 quid for a tiny box of pulled pork and beans. plus four quid for a beer on top of that equals quite a pricey meal to sit in a not v nice location eating.

― Suggest Banter (Local Garda), Tuesday, May 31, 2011 11:16 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark

Went to Pitt Cue Co yesterday on a trip to this nation's capital, would basically agree with what LG said. I'd never had BBQ meat like this before so I'm very happy I tried it but next time I'm in London I'll go somewhere else for lunch.

Dinner was at El Rincon Quiteno on Holloway Road, London's best?/only? Ecuadorean-Bolivian restaurant. Far from fancy but big portions of cheap, satisfying and very tasty food.

i've been meaning to go to el rincon quinteno for SO LONG now, i wish people i knew were less flaky about being spontaneously available

meatwagon was so good, still in awe of the gargantuan onion rings

YOU WENT TO MEATWAGON AND DIDN'T CALL ME. Tch.

it was unplanned!

still want to check out meatwagon. red dog saloon was great tho.

Anyone trying anywhere good this weekend?

I will definitely be going to the Soho Food Fair on Saturday. It's in the churchyard on Wardour Street and will feature St John, Meatwagon and countless others. Should roll up at 2pm.

I have got into the habit of getting lunch on a Sunday at Mamushka, a polish caff in the Elephant and Castle shopping centre. 5 peirogis + big hearty polish main (meat and potatoes or stew, usually) + can of pop, £9. It's a caff, not haute cuisine but it's dead good, very convenient for my journey, and sets me up very nicely for an afternoon's boozing at the Lexington.

probably going to try to make it to west london to eat some really good thai food

man, i've seen that Polish place in the Elephant & Castle 'galleria'. that whole shopping centre there is stuck in a heavy timewarp. anyway, credit to you for taking theplunge. i suspected it had the potential to be some kind of low-end gem.

If anyone'e near the Royal Festival Hall and is sane enough to want to try somewhere other than Ping Pong or Iguana or Wagamama or Strada or Giraffe... I can recommend Canteen, under the RFH at the back. Yet another unpretentious british food joint, kinda gastropub without the pub, they do a different roast and pie every day, the chicken i had was extraordinarily succulent.

Every time I've been to Canteen it's been terrible. Twice I've had to leave before my food arrived in order to catch the start of the show I'm meant to be seeing - and that's with leaving 90 minutes between arriving at Canteen and the start of the show.

that's bad. only been there once, at lunchtime, no probs with service.

i've never had issues with canteen when i've been there, i think of it as fairly reliable, though come to think of it the service has never been exactly rapid, i've just only been there when i have a lot of time spare

suzy, will the soho food fair be existent on sunday as well?

oh it's soho food fair already? i'm going to check out that rock lobsta thing in shoreditch tonight but probably likely to look but not buy - all the blogs and stuff were saying it's not worth the £15 price tag. ah well. vietnamese prolly.

i literally just went FIFTEEN PAAHHHNND??!!! out loud to myself.

had been looking forward to rock lobsta but fuck that shit

lobster is expensive i guess but jeeez i dont really know why anyone would pay that money for street food

keep hearing a lot about mamushka, must check out it for myself at some point

actually on the subject of polski i don't suppose anyone's checked out the new daquise in south ken?

this polish place in shepherds bush was nice http://www.tatrarestaurant.co.uk/