london restaurants

Plenty of recommends round Dalston here but anywhere that hits around Cafe Oto at all that anyone can think of?

Had dreadful meal in the Narrow. Poor service, waiter kept trying to flog the specials it was embarrassing. It's in a good spot though.

xp there are a handful of really nice turkish grill places around the shacklewell lane junction (where stoke newington rd becomes kingsland rd) if that doesn't feel like too much of a shlep. Number 19 Bos Cirrik is particularly good.

yeah the best places in dalston are mostly the turkish ones (mangal is the "classic" i guess but cirrik and stone cave are good too) (and somine is a 24hr lifesaver if you find yourself around there in the early hours - a friend swears by the lentil soup as a hangover dodge tactic). the shanghai is good too, closer to cafe oto - people rarely talk about it when talking about good chinese places in london but it's excellent

LMNT on queensbridge rd is ok too

Erin Cave (with the big Eye on the front) down by the Rio is also amazing.

I'm not sure why I'd want to eat by the river - not if the river was the Thames!

Cleanest urban river in Europe etc etc. I heard that once. No idea whether it's true.

I've been trying to eat out less recently, mostly as an attempt to reduce personal lardiness. Nevertheless we've hit some good places the last few weekends:

RSJ - in behind the South Bank Centre. Really very good modern European business, nothing trendy but nothing shy of delicious, the £20 prix fixe was remarkably good value.
Azou - tagine restaurant in the odd hinterland where Hammersmith becomes Chiswick. The bread sticks in my mind, but the fish tagine was great too.
32 Great Queen Street - Covent Garden sister resto of the Anchor and Hope, with a similar (maybe slightly longer?) menu, i.e. totally great. Takes bookings, meaning avoiding the scrum to get into A&H.
Zeret Kitchen, in an unpromising concretey corner of Camberwell. They're incredibly friendly and nice in there, and their set meal ("Zeret Surprise", although they tell you what you're going to get) is genuinely the best value meal I've had in ages: £16.95 for two people. We arrived hungry and couldn't finish, massively enjoyed all of the food. I can't recommend this place enough.

(Zeret Kitchen is an Ethiopian restaurant btw.)

The Thames is pretty clean, it's just naturally muddy.

mud is not clean

RSJ looks like a very good tip, i'm often in the market for somewhere good to eat round there and as decent as canteen is, some variety is always appreciated

i was at shanghai on saturday night for dinner. it's the first time i've gotten something other than dim sum there and it was excellent.

yeah, somine is totally crucial. the staff are terrific as well, laconic, laid back yet on the ball.

Thx - went to Shanghai. Did the trick.

finally got to meatliquor, i was shopping yday and it appeared before my eyes at about 1300 so i nipped in. pretty great, though for me it's a real toss-up between it and lucky chip, couldn't say which is a better burger really. lucky chip better fries but the deep fried pickles in meatliquor are amazing. it's pricey enough for what it is i guess.

Cheap global eats I currently love:
Lahore Masala House on Kentish Town Road. Much cheaper than the excellent Bengal Lancer across the road. You can easily fill up two people for £20. Very good Pakistani food. Proper naan baking pit, and even the safest, dullest dishes come with a new tang. £7.50 for the whole tandoori chicken - much spicier than you expect - is a steal.
Abu Zaad on Uxbridge Road. Syrian restaurant with fantastic and very well priced range of kebabs plus mezzes and so on. Also: their juices. At £2.50 you'd assume strawberry juice would be one of those heavily sugared "nectars". It was proper strawberry juice: must have been a fiver's worth of strawberries to get that much juice. The cafe's tied to the very busy butcher just down the road, so the meat is likely all fresh. Been very well reviewed by Matthew Norman in the Telegraph.

Just been to what I think is a very good Italian restaurant, just off the Edgware/Marylebone Roads: Briciole.

INTERLUDE

I think, apart from the early-ish days of Valvolle & Crolla in Edinburgh, I've never had an even approaching decent Italian meal outside of Italy (V&C also got a lot worse quickly). God alone knows it can be tough enough in Italy (despite people banging on about it being impossible to eat badly there, that's simply not true, it's exceptionally easy to eat badly in Italy, esp if you are a tourist.)

The ristorante style places tend towards the extremely expensive small portions, the trattoria type places often don't have sufficiently good quality basic ingredients (or bases, like stocks and pastas).

La Semplice was poor, and expensive. Il Baretto was okay-ish the first time I went, but has got both a lot more expensive and a lot worse since. Haven't been to Locattelli, admittedly. Think Polpo is good-ish, but badly overrated, Latium was appalling and v expensive, Trullo was good! But less good the second time. I haven't been to Boca di Lupo and prob shd, seeing as fairly regularly go to Gelupo for ice creams opposite.

Anyway, Briciole is new. And I would strongly recommend anyone who is in the area go. I had the meatballs in hen broth - meatballs excellent, stock could have been clearer (also wd've preferred veal?), and some fagiolini in lemon and butter, v good, and a glass of wine. Wd like to try their pasta/meat/fish before giving it a proper seal of approval. I can't possibly imagine they'll stay open very long on these terms. The place is large, and the prices are extremely fair, and the menu is excellent (inc. grilled sausage and turnip top, gnocchi with tomatoes and scamorza, sausage polenta and pecorino, tagliatelle with artichokes, stewed cannellini, cod and potato + standards) . The bread is made on the premises (give a fuck about bread tbh, but i had a bit, and it was v good, and more importantly is indicative of their current frighteningly inefficient attention to detail), and the wine as far as this ingleterran paesano can tell was good. Go! I don't imagine it'll stay this good and reasonably priced for long.

was at 32 great queen street tonight, had roast leg of kid between two people, it was excellent. good starters too, cuttlefish with wild garlic and peas and smoked herring with broccoli and leeks.

Fizzles, you ever been to 500 in archway? it is p damn good iirc

Thanks C#M. Will head up there soon and report back.

I just moved to archway! will go check this out mmmhmm

not sure what else is good around there.. heard that sitara is good although not sure about this "jazz" business

but then since hillmarton tandoori deliver to us i don't see any reason to eat out.

I keep meaning to go to 32 Great Queen Street as it's right round the corner from my office. Isn't from the Anchor & Hope guys?

yep. its p much anchor + hope but you can book (i.e way better)

It feels way less hectic than A&H I think, love them both in their different ways,

it's a little diff to anchor & hope I guess, but not much. I agree with Tim, the A&H benefits from the fact it's a pub. 32 great queen street was more a restaurant.

How do y'all rate the Marquis of Cornwallis. I did some time in Russell Square not long ago and enjoyed it.

Peter G. (American)

― queequeg (peter grasswich), Monday, February 6, 2012 3:33 PM (1 month ago)

Thanks for chiming in you precious twatz.

Peter Grasswichy

Any recommendations for lunch near Paddington Station?

pearl liang?

if you fancy dim sum (and depending on how much time you have)

Dim sum sounds great, though we probably just have an hour or so...

an hour prolly enough depending on the day (and if you book a table)

Recommendations for pubs near Bunhill Fields?

... big and quiet enough to accommodate 15-20 people on a saturday afternoon?

Artillery Arms is usually quiet most of the time, except for a weekday evening rush after work. Not sure I've been there on a Saturday though so it might be shut. I used to take a book there and read with a pint when I had time off in the week.

Artillery Arms, right there next to Bunhill Fields. It's not big bit it's generally quiet enough on a Saturday.

xp yeah

Will try it out, cheers.

Yes do check in advance - so many pubs in the area shut at the weekend. Don't forget to say hello to Blake and... who else is it there? Milton?

Bunyan and Defoe are the other two big men there. Milton's in St Giles (the one by the Barbican, not the west end one).

The web says it's open - and there's The Fox a few streets away, if it's full. Will be going there with a drawing group so good to know about Blake!

I really like Bunhill Fields. & I was curious about why you're going there with 15-20, but decided not to joke in case it was something to do with the dead, or you were on a conventicle outing to the Museum of Methodism (but I had trouble casting you as a practising methodist, and anyway if you were why would you be going to a pub?)

Of course it's Bunyan. Just kept on thinking he MUST be buried in Bedford.

Bayes is there too.

I like Bunhill Fields too, an oasis of calm in that part of London. I've been to the Artillery Arms when a group of Blake-followers have been commemorating his birthday. Lots of bearded hippies declaiming poetry, it was fun!

Ate two of these last night - delicious!
http://youngandfoodish.com/burgers/the-best-1-50-steamed-burger-in-london/
― Super Receptor (Barnaby, Hardly), Tuesday, 7 February 2012 09:28 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
haha i rememeber eating this before - was very good value for £1.50!!

― Alan Shearer (ken c), Tuesday, February 7, 2012 1:34 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark

My current Saturday lunch - they're great.

has anyone been to BURGER AND LOBSTER yet

Is that the place in Mayfair? I haven't been yet, but I'm tempted. The pricing structure seemed a little odd iirc, and by 'odd' I think I mean expensive.

cheap for lobster, expensive for burger

So I hear, was at hawksmoor spitalfields bar on tues. great poutine, highly meaty and very British burger, cheaper than the restaurant and more casual, pretty great option overall once you don't boost the bill by drinking way too many kernels.

Anyone been to Eliot's in Borough?