london restaurants

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?

Where's good near LSO St Lukes? Qualifications:
a) Open on a Sunday
b) Possible to get a table around 2.30pm
c) Easily walkable in the company of two pensioners

I thank you.

Last (well, only) time I was at St. Luke's we went to Cay Tre beforehand; website says it's open all day Sunday.

Cay Tre would probably be my choice too. If you want something a little nearer, I have heard good things about the Malaysian just over the road, Sadap, though I've never been there (or, for that matter, ever knowingly eaten Malaysian food, which gives a clear sense of the value of that recommendation).

Come to think of it, I've been to that Malaysian place too - it's very tasty, if not quite in the same league as Cay Tre.

i really want to give a shout-out to the Railroad Cafe, on Morning Lane. it feels like the middle of nowhere (even though it's a stone's throw from Hackney Central) and you feel like you've stumbled upon the last homely house. it's a tiny place, the vibe is perfect, the service is super-attentive - i would put it on a par with any high-end restaurant you could name - and the menu changes every few days, and it's always been good, whether for lunch or dinner. i feel seriously lucky having it so close. it's better than anything in the Lauriston "village".

There is a Malaysian near FOPP isn't there? Went once years ago.

Thanks for that reminder tracer, need to go back. Last time we were there to see music in the basement and the food on everyones plate looked super good.

Btw if yr further north in the clapton area and feel like a snack i highly recommend this tiny hole in the wall - http://cuizine.tumblr.com/post/2070961295/neden-urfa-clapton-ponds-finest - so great!

i've never eaten in the railroad café - been to events in the basement a couple of times. it's, uh, cosy.

i shall have to pay neden urfa a visit.

stumbled across a mini food fair in the grounds of that big hackney church y'day - was v pleased to see a takoyaki stall! run by these women, it turns out: http://www.pompomtakoyaki.com/

Och, I was going to go to that little fair yest but went to the kings cross one instead. Couldn't shake the feeling I chose the wrong one..

i've heard railroad cafe is good tho for years walking past i've felt irked by the clientele, possibly irrationally. my former flatmate used to go there a lot and she was really insufferably trying to be posh.

i was in dollar today, cos morito was closed. so fucking overpriced, the menu has the comic touch of "dollar burger" or "dollar salad" having £10 or £6 next to them.

also was in zetter town house, lovely as always, brilliant service, a perfect place for a drink, and the fox and anchor in smithfield, nice little pub imo with actually imaginative and original pump ale selection which seems to not exist elsewhere in london.

Ended up playing safe with Byron in Hoxton Square. But noticed, almost opposite St Lukes, a Malaysian place called Sedap, with some very complimentary cuttings in its window. Anyone tried it?

my former flatmate used to go there a lot and she was really insufferably trying to be posh.

this is the sort of thing that can really put me off a place too. they serve Square Mile coffee, which may attract a certain type... but don't let her spoil it for you! tbh i had only ever been there for brunch/lunch (when it is cheaper and more casual) until the other night. me and my wife were coming back from the hospital with two irritable, hungry boys and a giant buggy full of bags and jackets and somehow in that tiny restaurant the staff figured out how to get everybody in without squeezing and they both settled down immediately because everyone was so nice and the food was so awesome.