london restaurants

you dont think of some of the things they serve as kind of austere? like... at other restaurants if it said peas in a pod on the menu i'd think 'wonder what they'll do w/ that' with st john, they give you peas in a pod.

yeah i guess minimal isn't the word i'd use, it seems to imply an aesthetic which i don't think st john has. i think it's more a case of simplicity there, and informality.

yeah i know what you mean

haven't discussed the word minimal in a while, really takes me back.

HORSE steals its idea from EAT

suppose ~minimal~ connotes clean lines and futurism and 'mnml'

i guess it's part of the wider trend to high-end artisanal stuff

like u can be assured u would have the best most scientifically produced horsemeat cooked in a chrome plated oven at exactly 237.8743 degrees....it's about doing basic things with lots of precision

Does anyone have any east London vegetarian recommendations?

no, but I think all HORSE's horsemeat should could from a particular farm that is named in the menu.

farm/knacker's yard

I suppose there's always Rasa in Stoke Newington.

Anyone eaten here? http://www.carnevalerestaurant.co.uk/

yeah. don't.

Noted!

This place looks good...

http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/ritas-bar-and-dining-dalston.html

yeah it does indeed. i posted a link upthread to a thing about it. might try it this weekend. heard their place in vauxhall (i think) is really good.

real talk...they actually LITERALLY just serve peas in a pod? What kinda chump buys that.

Me! What of it?

(not from St John, admittedly). (But I am a chump.) (But not for that reason).

I suspect the question is more "What kind of chump buys that at St John prices"

I mean, yeah, cool, eat peas at home, but don't SHELL OUT FOR THEM AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAH

if it's in the context of a meal i don't really see a problem. it's not like you go there to eat solely peas in a pod and if their cost is 10 per cent of what you ultimately pay then live and let live. though in general how other people spend their money doesn't tend to bother me.

xp rollingpeasinasteeldrum.wav

Yeah why buy an Eccles cake at St John when you can buy a St John Eccles cake for ££ less by going to the St John Bakery and buying a St John Eccles cake and eating it on the street? Because you're eating in St John at that point, right?

peas in a pod >>>>> burgerzzz

useful comparison

how do you feel about say, apples v oranges?

apples >>>>>> oranges

i agree actually. citrus gives me a headache.

remain to be convinced that birthdays is a passable environment in which to eat food, nevermind the quality. praying for an aa gill review

have luncheoned in the vauxhall place, it were good. confit duck leg w/ caponata, well conceived. took a while to turn up tho and punchable matey service didnt help

i should say carnevale would probably be alright for lunch tbf, it's just not quite got the oomph for dins

yeah the birthdays thing was subtly dropped.

i think it was mentioned upthread but i am keen to try that flatiron place above former good pub the owl and pussycat.

http://www.faerietalefoodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/menu.jpg

seriously is no one else sick to death of americana with bells on by now

i guess i am saying lex otm despite the st john aesthetic being just as cliche

that menu is a bit more than just americana to me, in the same way as say, pitt cue co. ox-heart taco for instance.

mostly will just judge it based on the food/service and atmosphere of the individual places.

i don't feel the need to travel far and wide for a burger, but mainly cos i live near where lucky chip are so if i want one i go there.

i do think tho in the bracket you pay for the americana stuff, there isn't a lot to challenge it.

like re-reading it, that is quite an original menu for london.

going to Silk Road in a couple weeks, anyone been?

sadly i almost never eat out in london, would like to more

did london get the artisinal/locovore thing here yet?

locavore i mean

xxpost otm. that place dukes brew & cue is an example of it being done badly

silk road is great, would recommend the medium plate chicken and the DUMPLINGS! (i think the lamb ones?)

first time i went there it wasn't good, second time it was p good but not amazing. nice beers tho. pitt cue blows it away.

there are a ton of avg burgers tho in the twitterrestaurantsphere

xpost my first line was about dukes

i enjoy a nice burger as much as anyone but they're fundamentally ordinary comfort food to me - when i go out to a restaurant i want to taste stuff i don't usually get to taste, a dish that's not something i encounter in my everyday life or a combination of flavours i'm unfamiliar with. like i'd be way more hyped about going to ceviche or somewhere. st john easily passes that test despite being somewhat of a cliché (by now), it was the first place i'd ever had sweetbreads and they were SO NICE.

or this place, just been recommended it http://www.limalondon.com/

when i go out to a restaurant i want to taste stuff i don't usually get to taste, a dish that's not something i encounter in my everyday life or a combination of flavours i'm unfamiliar with

this is possible with some of the burgers being done, but i largely agree with your post. i can understand that people want to keep searching for an even better burger though, it's not by any means like all the pop up places are the same standard.

someone once told me dukes had become a big lesbian hangout t/f?

i had a lucky chip burger the other day for the first time in that boozer down the little alleyway on mare street, it was... yeah, alright? didnt twist my melon or anything

idk i think if i'm having a burger i want a great big fucker that will lay me out for a week

and yeah big cosign on wanting to go to ceviche

xpost Yeah I saw a v positive blogpost about Lima the other day, sounds good but expensive. Ceviche has had much more mixed reviews.

Honest burger did me aburger unlike any I've ever tasted, involving stilton and pig cheek and wild garlic and gawd knows what else, similarly the kimchi burger at Hawksmoor is pretty surprising the first time. Past that kind of thing the Lex OTM.

maybe try this then rtc:

http://www.pittcue.co.uk/main/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Big-Ode.jpg

i only like the original lucky chip one, not keen on the variations, but the original is pretty much exactly what i'd want from a burger.

that is odd about dukes, if true.

xpost was gonna say, i read a few bad reviews of ceviche and went to barrafina instead when i was around that way recently.

'the original is pretty much exactly what i'd want from a burger.'

yep

Oh and coal, London most certasinly has got "the artisan thing", yes, in pretty much any strand of food you feel like eating. Less so the locavore thing, it canbe fairly hard to source what you need within easy striking distance of London. Partly this is a scale-perception thing: I once saw a menu from somewhere in Seattle which proudly boasted that all of its ingredients came from within a 200 mile radius of town (I may be mis-remembering this but it was something along those lines.) In London that would include most of England and a chunk of France /Belgium. There was a restaurant called Konstam which sourced 85% of its ingredients from within the M25. It closed down, I miss it.