london restaurants

Because I saw the cheese they were using, packaged singles, and IME when you melt that onto a burger it adds less than nothing. You can't taste it. And I (erroneously) thought I would get 50p off.

you ordered a plain burger and then you complain it was too easy to make?

Ha ha no, I know. It was actually perfect at that moment because I was incapable of doing anything for myself.

(When I make a cheeseburger I like to use a v thick slice of v sharp cheddar and only have it melt about halfway)

Weird, I just went to Lucky Chip and Ca Phe VN on Saturday too. Chips took twice as long as they suggested but were worth it, was too full from excellent mushroom banh mi to try a burger as well.

The chips were good. Sort of fries-ish.

Oh really? Must have gone rapidly downhill in the last couple of years if that's the case.

Yes, very disappointing. Poor aperitivi, with cold tasteless fish on limp bread (and the drinks were not so good as well - the aperol spritz was very un-fun). Damp, chill and tasteless crab and cucumber salad. The tortellini in brodo weren't bad, but I've had much better. The broth was clear but subtle to the point of invisibility. Pork belly is impossible to fuck up, and was ok, although the fat wasn't at all crispy. Scallops on pearly barley was a rather weird dish - they didn't go, and the combo was somewhat nauseating. Pudding was probably the best of the bunch (as sometimes seems the case in middling restaurants) but nothing amazing. Great selection of wines.

Repeatedly had to ask them to turn the air conditioning off (what the hell was it on for in the first place?) but it kept coming back - felt a cold coming on soon after I left, which I've yet to shake. Staff were slightly functional, a luke-warm pleasant. Ambience was a little anodyne and it felt very much a place for expense account eaters.

I'd certainly go Trullo or Bocca di Lupo over Latium any day. What can have happened?

Will post my probably not better in any way than lucky chip burger recipe later when I'm not on a phone.

The cheese actually fairly tasty on the burger I had.

I see that 40 Maltby Street got a great review in Time Out this week - went a couple of months back but forgot to mention it - it's really good if you want to go and drink delicious and unusual wines, and choose from a very restricted menu. Feels pleasingly home-made. They basically have one main meal on per night - when we went it was a dirty great serving of roast pork with some excellent white beans. We arrived too early to eat so went and ate some tapas and drank some fino at that ace-but-probably-too-expensive tapas place on Bermondsey Street. We ended the evening stuffed, drunk and delighted.

We're not going anywhere just now, we're dieting instead.

Btw did anyone go to franks for the last weekend? I hadn't been so I went on Friday. It was pretty awful I have to say, about ten deep at the bar, aggressive psycho berating me on arrival for using wrong stairwell (of dark car park), full of 18 year olds, food gone quickly etc. A v stressful experience. Didn't think much of peckham either.

Did you look around Peckham much?

Last time I went to Franks it wasn't much fun either, too busy and nowhere near relaxed enough. If they do it next year I hope they rethink it a bit.

We are off to Cambio de Tercio for my birthday treat soon - I hear it's fab, has anyone here been? (NB if you hate it, please be gentle: it's my birthday coming-off-diet treat and I am looking forward to it...)

That's pretty much my experience of Franks as well, and why I didn't go back this year. It's not really a restaurant anyway, I'd never considering going for the food, and there are better places to drink in Peckham.

It's pretty good for a drink or two and a look at the views, assuming it's not too busy. That aside, you're spot on.

We found a nice pub on one of the more suburban streets behind the train station, gastro type place with decent beer, across the road from s pizzeria. Forget the name.

You'll have been in the Victoria, I think.

RIP the wishing well.

But tbh I prefer its newer incarnation as well.

xxpost As with a lot places in London, maybe it's the timing of when you went?

I went to Franks earlier in the summer, but we made it up there around 4/5 in the afternoon and didn't have to wait too long to grab one of the benches outside (e.g. to the side of the bar). The queues that afternoon weren't too bad. We managed to stay for a few hours until the queues got crazy.

went to Market in Camden on Friday for the £10 set lunch. their battered whiting was one of the most perfectly cooked pieces of fish i've ever had. could have done with a little more vegetable matter, though.

(it's where the camden branch of the New Culture Revolution used to be - as a child that was my favourite restaurant, the place I would beg my parents to take me on my birthday. really strange to be in a new-to-me restaurant with such a familiarly shaped space)

Anything especially good on Leather Lane (I think) (just off Holborn)? Currently working there.

First Fri and I tried a Thai food stall which was a sorta oily mess tbh (but hey ho you can't complain too much about Duck) - want to try the obscured Japanese restaurant there.

The burritos from daddy donkey are really good. Also pretty much coffee heaven round there nowadays if that floats your boat!

I'll look out for that, and yeah need a lot of coffee.

Also tried the 'genuine Italian Pizza' place there, too. That was a gd start.

Prufrock's coffee is pretty fantastic, and dept of coffee pretty good too. Also wonderful nearby (though possibly not worth the schlep if you're on leather lane) is the wee stall in the grounds of the church on fleet street just by the corner of fetter lane. EC4 is coffee mecca!

If you fancy a couple of minute's walk on to theobalds rd, people often have good things to say about Malletti's pizza, and there's also a good banh mi place.

God I need to head out for lunch more..!

I like the home-style Korean place on Farringdon Street (?) across from the top of Leather Lane.

Cambio de Tercio was spectacular.

Decent Groupon deal for Cay Tre Soho... http://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/west-london/cay-tre-soho/1094726

Expires today btw.

Thanks to Tim for the Korean recommend - that was really good. Know that's no review but hey ho ilx ws down.

Tomorrow I think i'll visit Tajima for some Japanese, and get some strong coffee - really in need of that at the mo.

Any recommendations round King's X? Parent friendly - basically no noisy bars.

Fancy? Unfancy?

Tending towards the unfancy end of things.

That Szechuan place (Chili Cool?) is v well thought-of apparently, I think we ordered badly when we went. I am a big fan of some of the places on Drummond Street, Diwana is my place. The Vietnamese on Kings Cross Road is surprisingly good. Ummmm.... not much else is springing to mind. There's supposed to be an OK tapas-y place near the bottom of Caley Rd or York Way...

Oh and that OK gastro in Somerstown, can't remember the name of the damn place though.

In short, Kings Cross is not a happy hunting ground for me.

The Mail should start its own "Let's Bring Racism Back To Football" campaign.

Ooops. Wrong thread, innit.

is The Brill any good at all? whenever i'm on a bus stuck in the kings cross snarl i stare at it and think about going, but somehow never manage it...

my brother and I went to DINNER on saturday and I really loved it - still can't quite get over the tenderness of the pigeon i had.

The Paolina Cafe on Kings Cross Road is a long existing favourite of mine. Very cheap and very decent Thai. BYOB too. Perhaps a bit scruffy for parents though.

Went to look at The Brill, was rather confused. Although there were signs painted on the wall indicating The Brill Rooftop Garden and The Brill Takeaway, both in front of very closed looking doors, in between them and where I would have expected the main event to be was a place advertising itself as a backpacker bar. So instead we went to The Fellow, which was a perfectly fine gastro place, ideal for parents, not too loud, nice and compact menu all of which looked appealing, opted for the grey mullet which I was v happy with.

so fool me once and all that but i had a second shit meal at the prince arthur near london fields on friday. fish pie was FOURTEEN FIFTY, and was tiny with a pasty fishless sauce. previously i had a sunday roast there that was bog standard pub fayre. won't be going back except perhaps for a beer.

That place has got crazy expensive, last time we went there the pork belly i had was like £17

It's because they know people will continue to indiscriminately pile in no matter what.

Went to the Hawksmoor earlier this week and it was fantastic, I've never eaten a steak so slowly in my life. Also the chips cooked in beef dripping were probably the best chips I've eaten*.

Also went to Zucca on Friday evening, it sort of didn't feel particularly flashy but everything I had was excellent, and it's a lovely space. Also awesome venison meatballs. There was a couple sitting next to us with a tiny child called Lexus playing with an iPad, which was a bit Lunar Park.

*Second = the chips fried in goose fat at Little Bay in Farringdon.

I wanna rep for Palmer's in bethnal green which unfortunately feels like a Denver hotel lobby but the food is terrific and reasonably priced

also the russian father and son cooking team are totally simpatico

There was a couple sitting next to us with a tiny child called Lexus playing with an iPad

ack!!!

ok who wants to get dinner with me? getting into town on wednesday night, let's say thursday

question: Boxing Day shouldn't affect restaurant hours/closures.... right?

RIGHT????

T__T

I've never tried to go to a restaurant on Boxing Day but I rather suspect it will affect opening times/places opening at all and you should definitely check ahead. My feeling is that very high-end places might sail on totally unaffected, though.

yeah itll definitely affect some places

Steve I'd recommend doing a fair bit of research about this beforehand as I reckon most places will be closed on Boxing Day - most people in Britain just don't leave the house unless they're working or going to football or something. I suspect that an awful lot of places will stay closed just because it makes economic sense to do so.

That said, places will be open so it's just a case of finding out in advance.

don't sales start on boxing day? that'd argue for places in the centre of town being open to take advantage.

Actually yeah that's a good point. Still worth checking in advance though.

I would but I'm sure you'll be fine.

Went to Honest Burger in Brixton Village on Saturday. It was, without doubt, the best burger and chips I've ever had in this country even though think I ordered badly (going for the spinach and red leicester special instead of the house standard). Not too pricey at £9 either.

^^yeah that place is great. £9 tho?! i'm sure it was more like £6.50-7 when i was there and that was only a couple of months ago.

there are some decent spots in brixton village. had a good okonomiyaki there and some basic but tasty thali from a tiny pakistani place....elephant i think?

went to this place in kensington last night - http://maggie-jones.co.uk/ - absolutely fantastic. lovely cosy atmosphere, absolutely charming waiters (did really well at both squeezing us in unbooked and making sure everything happened speedily - we were pressed for time) and the food was DELICIOUS, so tasty