london restaurants

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/

also when in shepherd's bush and wanting Polish - Patio is always great for many reasons, although does seem to have got much more expensive over the last five or so years. still the set menu still comes with a free vodka, and they are extremely generous with sides. My herring + apple salad followed by mixed pierogi was v good indeed. And the surroundings feel solidly and cosily antique.

Soho food fair is just tomorrow afaik. Am going c. 2ish so give me a ring then as will be back from farmarket. M E A T W A G O N.

yeah i probably can't go tomorrow ;_; but i'll give you a ring if this changes.

Had a great meal at Season on Stroud Green Road last night. Excellent service, particularly good homemade bread, interesting desserts (frozen berries with hot white chocolate, chocolate & rosemary pot)... And a venison burger with beef bone marrow and Norwegian brown cheese on a brioche bun that I am already craving.

Soho Food thing charges for admission before you even get to pay for food ...

Currently sat outside The Red Lion & Sun in Highgate where Big Apple Hot Dogs is pitched up for the day...

OK, looks like I'l be giving Soho Food a miss for pedantic admission outrage, but a) I expect my burgers are better than Meatwagon's ANYWAY and b) I have 1kg of ONGLET LOVELY ONGLET I'd much rather eat this week.

Having not gone there the other week when I was due to, went to Red Dog Saloon today. Had the pulled pork sandwich, which was OK - tender, but not madly flavourful. However, there were no ribs and no chilli available. Seems a bit pointless being a barbecue restaurant if you haven't got ribs on a Saturday lunchtime.

that is a bit shit...i thought the burger was v good and it was extremely good value imo, 7 quid for burger with fries.

We went to the much-discussed Corner Room (it's part of Viajante, tucked away in the breakfast room of the hotel. The food was stellar and v cheap for what it was (£6 starters,£12 mains, the sweets were fab also). No bookings, walked straight in at about 6.45. Saw some dudes in the bar afterwards who were getting v agitated about waiting ages. Sounded like they'd been told 20 minutes, over an hour earlier. I might've got the wrong end of the stick. Amazing place, though.

i had a horrible incident in the sun on bethnal green road tonight. bristling to think about it at this point.

was in with a friend and he went up to get a round in just as the last orders bell went. the barman told him "you're fine but your friend has had too much." which was weird as (a) i had had maybe 4 beers and was fine, sitting down, and he couldn't even see me well from the bar and (b) even if i had been ultra drunk surely sitting down and talking is no diff from anyone else. but mainly (a) i was completely sober.

went to the bar and talked to him and basically had to talk a majorly agitated barman down from his high horse until he started to realise i was completely sober, and offered us a drink. i erred to the side of rational and calmer and calmer to make him realise he was wrong, and eventually his colleague intervened and offered us a free drink. he then apologised and i accepted for sake of enjoying the night, reluctantly took a free drink.

i was furious tbh, it was completely arbitrary. weird thing is he's served me tons of times and i find the staff there far friendlier than other london pubs.

on our way out his colleague rushed after us and apologised for him and said he'd had a stressful night and assured me she agreed neither of us were drunk.

still extremely annoyed tho, total psychotic behaviour, he was more erratic and drunk/drugged seeming than i was, by miles. i'd have had to be so much more fucked to cause even a hint of a problem, i proved that by being surgically clear and calm in my remonstrations.

fuck the sun basically...i'll be v slow to go back despite being a close to once a week regular.

I just don't go back when that sort of thing happens LG. I mean, I'll consult with friends whether I was in any way unreasonable (tend not to be, not completely unknown). But yeah, anything like that, I'm just not going back - partly because I know I'll get agitated about it again when I do.

it was mega-weird, like i'll fully admit i get wasted most weekends but as i said (a) i would be sitting and chatting and not doing anything drunken if i was wasted and (b) i was totally fine last night, no slurring etc. as it turned out it was me calming the barman down that actually resolved it, and i think caused the colleague to apologise and take our side, the fact i wasn't belligerent and kept dropping my voice down a notch until it made the idea that i was drunk seem ludicrous.

he hadn't even served me that night, he couldn't have seen me properly. feel like writing a letter to whoever the owner is.

he was more erratic and drunk/drugged seeming

wasted bartenders are such a weird thing to come across but i encounter them surprisingly often in london

the worst was in the big chill house that one time - friend bought a round of shots, inc one for me. i was slightly back from the bar and talking to someone else so maybe got to the shots 30 seconds after everyone else in the round, by which time the wasted-to-the-point-of-lurching-over bartender had...

...downed it himself

jesus that's just the pits...

wasted bartenders are such a weird thing to come across

Do you think? Bars maybe, I guess, but pub landlords are/were notorious for their alcoholism. Still see it from time to time in London, there's a chap in one of the pubs I go to, long term barman rather than landlord I think, who will frequently pop out back in a mood of great agitation, and come back noticeably soothed. In my fairly limited experience I've not seen it taken out on drinkers tho, unless they're congenitally generally rude bastards, and I think Local Garda's case definitely stands outside the pale.

LG, i'd treat that as more of a weird anomaly. the fact that the other bartender came running after you to apologise demonstrates that. although it seems like the bartender in question had some kind of weird fixation on you. maybe he fancies you or resents you because he wishes he was as cool as you are :D

in other words, forget about it and go back to the bar.

So the Hawksmoor(s) - is there anything to recommend one branch over the other? Spitalfields/Covent Garden both reasonably convenient for me, so which one should I go for?

Went to SAF in Shoreditch the other week. Pretty good, maybe the best veggie restaurant experience I've had outside of Brighton.

the spitalfields apparently isn't as pretty/swish as the seven dials one, but i've only been to the former and it's still very nice.

anyone eaten in the young vic? i find it v enjoyable. had a really great soft shell crab sandwich (entire crab, lemon, mayo, lettuce, soft bun) there last night after seeing "in the penal colony" (which was excellent btw)

they also sell meantime.

saf is v good.

garda you need to invite me to these things, i really want to see that

i went to viajante, by the way! holy shnikies, what a bill. sometimes i think the chefs out-ponce themselves but in general it was amazing. i have to disagree with tim h on the "wine flight". i mean, if you've got the money i'm sure it's great but it adds another stonking fee onto your meal. no shame in splitting a bottle. they have a wine from lebanon - never seen that before. it's really nice.

Lobster croquettes

Thai explosion II

Duck ham

Cheese with peas and flowers

Romaine hearts with acidulated cherries and mussels

Bread and butter

Mackerel with lemon and sorrel

Milk yuba with peas and parmesan

Açorda de camarāo

Bacalhau dos Mundos:
‐ Confit loin with royal kombu and sea herbs
‐ Cod tripe with onion and crispy potato

Iberico pork with cereals and hot potato gel

Frozen marzipan with celery and lime

White chocolate with grapefruit and lemon

Petit Fours

that was "six courses", god knows what you'd get with nine

i'll defo invite you next time, friend mentioned there's an ibsen play at the arcola in dalston next week, i'll mail you. also martin mcdonagh thing in young vic soon.

viajante looks amazing, really due a big celebratory meal soon so perhaps there.

Tracer, Chateau Musar? That's the only one I can think of off the top of my head and it's a great way to know quickly if you are at a SERIOUS PLACE.

Anyone been to Ombra on Vyner Street yet? Owner is an ex-flatmate, his firm of architects did Green and Red plus a lot of other places and so he finally decided to do his own place. One of the other partners is Venetian and hosted a lovely dinner for me during the Biennale at his flat just above the Rialto fish market.

can't remember, suzy :/

probably NEVER doing the proper viajante experience again unless we get rich but no regrets. will return for the corner bistro thing though.

just went to arcola last week, garda, for a night of new writing. total insider mix of people talking about the "projects" and how they'd like to get paid at some point, for something. would love to see "ghosts", let me know when you're thinking about going

haha sorry, not "the" projects but THEIR projects

"ooh that guy's gonna run the national some day" "oh there's that woman who didn't hire me" etc etc etc

Tracer, I can't tell from your post whether you went for the wine flight or didn't? Certainly I'd agree that one shouldn't spend money one doesn't have on boozes*. They definitely added a lot to our enjoyment of the meal though.

*Unless you happen to be at one of the places I work, obviously. If you are, please drink harder and faster thank you.

no we didn't. we had that nice lebanese wine (whatever it was).

(Heh having checked back to what Tracer was disagreeing with, it was me saying "I would always, always take the wine flight". It's true that I always would - if I decided to take the plunge on a superexpensivo meal I'd take the full plunge I think, because I really felt it added new dimensions to the dishes. But I think you read "I would" as "you should" (understandably, since that's totally normal English usage) but I meant it in the former sense rather than the latter. I'd step down a level in numbers of courses and take the flight, if you see what I mean.)

ombra looks really good! looking fwd to trying it

have any of you been to the fox and anchor near smithfield market? was there on friday having a beer and a mate said the food was really good. you wouldn't think it to look at the place but we had a really great meal there. it's sort of pub food, we had whitebait to start and it was easily the best whitebait i've had, no batter, just deepfried and really well seasoned. with a few shrimp dotted around it.

one friend had steak tartare and the other had lamb, i had ribs, v english take on slow cooked ribs but they were excellent.

yay a groupon for sichuan folk
http://t.co/PtO8FsA

anyone eaten in the young vic? i find it v enjoyable. had a really great soft shell crab sandwich (entire crab, lemon, mayo, lettuce, soft bun) there last night after seeing "in the penal colony" (which was excellent btw)

― LocalGarda, Thursday, 14 July 2011 11:33 (1 week ago) Bookmark

been a couple of times and quite enjoyed it, good little vibe in there. soft shell crab burger is good but could be a touch better i think - crab's not big enough for the bun and idk about yours but mine had an unnecessary tomato in it.

really like the beetroot risotto with cardamom, been playing around with recreating that one at home.

Went to SAF in Shoreditch the other week. Pretty good, maybe the best veggie restaurant experience I've had outside of Brighton.

― dog latrine (NickB), Thursday, 14 July 2011 11:27 (1 week ago) Bookmark

terre a terre right? that place is fucking amazing.

oh wait i have been in saf though. wasn't too impresssed. tardy service and pretty pricey, and quite a clinical experience? rather go mildreds tbh.

I haven't been in SAF but they catered at a launch I went to and it was the worst po-faced raw food nonsense I have ever eaten in my life.

the subject of food at the young vic runs through this review of lear i wrote awhile ago -

http://freakytrigger.co.uk/ft/2009/03/king-lear-at-the-young-vic/