london restaurants

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

As I don't have the time/will to do proper research, can anyone point me towards particularly good fish and chips places and particularly good Indian places (preferably not hugely expensive places either).

My parents are in town and the time to eat is ripe.

Thanks.

I know the question wrt fish and chips is endlessly argued over, but I'd still probably go for Fryer's Delight in Holborn. As always in London the big question is he quality of the fish, which is adequate rather than excellent, but other than that I never feel diddled if I go there. The White Hart is it? in Marylebone, which I've often had recommended I've always found poor, and while I'm sure it's possible to get amazing fish and.chips in some restaurants or gastropubs, Fryer's Delight is fairly reasonable.

Ragam is a very good and reasonably priced Indian just off Tottenham Court Road, on the Fitzrovia side. It has an excellent mixture of dishes, fish and meat curries, dosais, soups etc and while once again there a better Indians in London, for price (and general conviviality) it's a very good bet.

Go to Fryer's Delight for lunch next week.

for indian i would go to rasa or tayyabs. think there's a rasa in soho. if i want fish and chips i go to fish house in lauriston village, hackney (but this is about 5 mins from my flat, i suspect there are better even tho it's quite good)

went to lucky chip for a second time yday, after annoying all my friends with constant mentions of it, it was amazing again. they put truffle oil on your chips if you want it. i had the basic burger with a slice of bacon on it, which must have also been from the ginger pig, it was amazing. lots of other little shops and stuff in the yard there too, and it sells brooklyn lager now.

have any of you been to the bar on the roof of the netil building or whatever it's called, just beside lucky chip?

it's a sort of franks style thing, had a hot whiskey there yday about 5 overlooking the city, really nice little spot.

oh and finally, the draft house right beside tower bridge has pretty much the best craft beer selection of anywhere i've been. had a meantime india pale ale last night and it was unreal.

"draft house" like all craft beer houses in london does the cavernous shiny walls and ceilings so everyone ends up yelling ever louder over the increasingly clattery ambient noise

hope the hipsters rescue ironic flock wallpaper real soon, because it would sort this quite sharply

yeah agree it's not a particularly nice place...

like not bad imo, just a v standard "new" feel. the diner part is nicer...and its location is obv very nice.

so everyone ends up yelling ever louder over the increasingly clattery ambient noise

this is dreadful, and also a feature of spare pine and metal bar/pubs, where it's like you are standing in a drum, and the penetrating baying of some sod the at far end of the bar is by some miracle of aural transmission drowning out the words of the person standing next to you shouting in your ear.

on reflection tho i don't think that is actually true of the draft house at all...it is shiny and sort of overly renovated but when i was there it (a) wasn't too busy (b) they weren't hipsters and (c) there was decent music playing. i didn't really hear anyone shouting.

that plus it had better service than pretty much any bar you go to in london.

hipsters <-- yes sorry that was me being tongue-in-cheeky, also i liked the concept of high-end craft flock wallpaper as a coming thing

i was in the eating area the only time i went and it wasn't too full or too noisy, but friends who have been more often have been offput by this aspect

can't be far off, surely.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/images/artists/smith__mark_e/The-Fall-wings.jpg

think urban outfitters (uk version) has sold this for years

haha this is the only result when i searched at urban outfitters for wallpaper

hipster flock = wallpapered hip flask ---:)

the girl who carries a floral hip flask also carries the key to my heart

key = what's in the flask

a flock wallpaper hip flask would be AMAZING

(but if i had one i think i'd be too worried about getting it taken off me by bouncers to take it out with me)

I was in the Draft House quite recently on a reasonably busy Friday evening and it was fine, acoustically, think the levels of shoutiness required are being exaggerated a bit here. But yes its beer selection is terrific, although I think the Cask in Pimlico and Craft Beer Company in Holborn probably equal it. Of all of these the Cask is the nicest pub as far as its general ambience goes, although I do like the Draft House.

for indian i would go to rasa or tayyabs. think there's a rasa in soho.

Probably worth pointing out that Rasa and Tayyabs are really different from one another. Tayyabs is always very hectic and busy and the food is on the heavier/kebabier end of the spectrum. It's BYO as well. Rasa is lighter, Keralan food and probably a better bet if you're after a relaxed evening where you can buy booze. Also being Keralan the fish curries are awesome - the Rasas tend to vary a bit as well, some are vegetarian, another focuses on fish etc so worth checking out in advance. The Rasa W1 in Mayfair is probably yr best bet for covering all bases.

If you're anywhere in or near South London I'd also rep for Babur in Brockley which does FANTASTIC modern Indian food and is well worth making the trip for and is now quite easy to get to on the ELL. I had quail last time I went there.

(The Rasa in Stoke Newington is really good too but there are almost certainly going to be more convenient ones for you)

matt otm, i lazily threw out indian suggestions but he's made things more clear.

going back to craft house, in a big way i like it cos the grandeur of tower bridge itself kinda blows me away (shame on me as an irishman) and that area is incredibly neat imo, plus of course lots of good beer.

has anyone been to that new italian on kingsland road? i forget the name but i've heard there is some truly brilliant place there....

on kingsland road? my friend went to some place on mare st + she recommended it (not the one at the end of vyner st, some other place)

oh wait the kingsland rd place is that one thats right in shoreditch right? yeah i think i saw something abt that too

draft house is nice the times i went had been quite quiet (although those were weekends during the day i suppose)

i did go on a friday night once and it was very crowded and full of loud suited people but that was fine as I had the "tasting room" downstairs booked (for free) which was lovely (it was in the basement but had some weird "fake natural light" turned on through some old windows so it looked as though it was daytime..

("for free" = had to fill a £300 bar tab)

went to cask last friday it was nice although it was very warm/sweaty but guess it was friday night. and there was a Norwegian beer fest going on. nice beers although they were £9 a pint lolololol

a beer called "fyr og flamme" was particularly good (if you have £9 going spare)

You know, we could sell you that grand bridge that you have your eye on, Ronan

I ate loads, the pork and garlic was very good, and something involving aubergines also tick VG. The DUMPLINGS!! were ok, but there are better ones at Silk Road

I have walked past this place every weekday for the past several years and assumed it was some £3.50 lunchbox black bean sauce canteen place, but now that I'm trying to find a new Chinese place in SE it seems it's actually like one of the best restaurants in South London? I've immediately become obsessed with going there to eat their intimidating chicken plate and their 10 DUMPLINGS! for £3

that was not a word I expected to be automatically capitalised

is there anything good near paddington? planning to meet a friend there tomorrow, don't want to go anywhere too fancy, but there must be decently-priced nice places round there, right?

if it's close enough (and you're prepared to go in on the carbs) then meya meya is a fantastic egyptian place next to edgware rd tube stn

(the restaurant bit is downstairs)

oh, I'm always prepared to go in on the carbs

meateasy now opened permanently in w1

w fucking 1 kmt

Can anyone here tell me about Tamarind? Apparently it's expanding to a hoity-toity part of OC so I'm wondering what the deal is:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/2011/11/tamarind_of_london_newport_beach.php

meateasy now opened permanently in w1

wkiw w1. tell us more!

I found out more. 72 wellbeck st, open this week from 5pm, for lunch from friday.

http://www.fifteenpickles.com/2011/11/08/getting-back-on-the-wagon-at-meat-liquor/

Does this mean the thing at The Rye is no more? Meant to be going on Friday, and would probably rather hang out there than some packed West End place.

shut down last week according to twitter.

about to head here:
http://www.eat.st/kings-cross/