london restaurants

that cock tavern on mare street is brilliant now, imo. went last night and just thought it had a lovely dingy feel, like a pub in dublin, and their beer selection is incredibly good, ridiculous amount of choice and really helpful and friendly staff. can see it becoming my favourite spot.

have you guys been to dinner by heston? (any good?)

haven't been to fat duck either but seems like it'd be impossible to book for a particular day.

suggestion for somewhere fancyish to go for a nice dinner would be welcome!

I really want to! It's possible to book either but only way way in advance aiui.

Fancy: Viajante is my favourite, I love it completely.

I did accidentally go to 10 Greek Street last night and it was very good indeed, better than I'd expected.

that cock tavern on mare street is brilliant now, imo. went last night and just thought it had a lovely dingy feel, like a pub in dublin, and their beer selection is incredibly good, ridiculous amount of choice and really helpful and friendly staff. can see it becoming my favourite spot.

― Know how Roo feel (LocalGarda), Sunday, 26 August 2012 11:40 (4 days ago) Permalink

just saw this, totally agree. have sat the bar a few times w/ a friend and talked to the bartenders... seems like its doing well too

oh and ken - my favourite fancy restaurant is the ledbury, would definitely recommend.

I've been to Dinner by Heston, it was lovely! And the man himself was there. We did book at the start of December for a place at the end of January, mind (and may have benefited from January blues).

Yeah I've been to Dinner, it is excellent but don't expect a Fat Duck kind of experience.

I keep bottling it with Viajante, the idea of not having a choice what ends up on my plate puts me off somewhat, and I've heard decidedly mixed reports about it, along the lines of "always interesting but not always actually pleasant to eat".

would rather go to corner room than viajante but fuuuuuuuucking no-bookings policy. THAT DOESN'T FIT INTO MY LIFESTYLE.

my inability to plan more than a week in advance ABSOLUTE MAXIMUM ensures i cannot eat at so many nice restaurants :(

(i don't actually know what a sensible time to book in advance is. but two days doesn't cut it for ceviche or duck & waffle apparently)

need a sort of rochelle canteenish place for the weekend, relaxed but still elegant enough for a semi-occasion, ideas plz

I like no-choice menus, fwiw. I really love having a skilled chef work out a whole meal for me rather than leave me to choose a series of dishes which might complement each other well or less well (not that I object to doing that for myself, you understand, just that I like it the other way too; plus I am an indecisive bastard and so having someone take away the agony of choosing is a pleasure).

On a similar tip, Ken, Roganic is amazing, though its decor doesn't scream FANCY in the way some of the above do.

housemate recommends duke of cambridge in islington? xp

Would go Great Queen Street ahead of Duke of Cambridge, it's less pubby and the food's a lot better. You mightwant somewhere swisher than that altogether though.

(I haven't been to Roshelle Canteen, mind, so I might be way off.)

Rochelle Canteen isn't swish in the slightest, it's basically in a converted school bike shed. Excellent food though.

I'm struggling to think of anywhere that fits that vibe and wouldn't be full of yuppie parents with buggies on a weekend afternoon though. Great Queen Street as good a call as any.

yeah bit of austerity moreso than swanky swishy i was leaning towards

or maybe i should just knock all that on the head, get pissed beforehand and go for something big and stupid like brasserie zedel, anyone done that place yet

yeah that's a terrible idea isnt it

how about... what's a place that feels... conspiratorial?

xpost Haven't been - friend of mine was raving about their cocktail bar last night fwiw. Menu looks very reasonable.

yes exceedingly reasonable! i was a little worried it might be a bit of a canteen meat market though, lot of covers

Great Queen Street is a good call I reckon.

Corner Room would be good for rtc's request too, it is no booking but I've never been turned away.

or st john b & w but not conspiratorial obv

cheers lads

conspiratorial is a challenging demand.

bistroteque?

kinda secretive from the outside

I understand you can get a booth in Bob Bob Ricard but I've never been in and I suspect that may fail on the expense front. But you can conspire in a booth, for sure.

Bistrotheque or A Little of What You Fancy for the 'conspiratorial' vibe.

Shit that looks like an onion article etc etc

the food in bistrotheque is pretty bad imo. plus i've seen a mouse there as has another mate.

also that quite nice bar they have promises a certain amount, then the bar staff can barely serve two people at once, let alone make anything even approaching a decent cocktail.

Moro: YES

steamed clams and artichoke hearts were divine, all the meat main courses were solid and hearty, totally recommend their yoghurt cake if you have room for dessert

Last time I ate in Moro I could barely move by the end of it.

Yes, Moro: YES. Though weirdly my main memory of the place is of amazing chickpeas.

Quo Vadis feels quite conspiratorial. Excellent food and drink, too.

Does anyone have any recommendations for where to get a good Bloody Mary in Dalston or Hackney?

Went to Morgan M on Friday, the food is amazing (they do weirdly excellent things with savory sorbets - tomato with one course, red pepper with another), but the decor is offensively bland and the place is really short on atmosphere.

went to brasserie zedel for lunch: it's marvellous just to be in it, as it's such a staggering recreation of the brasserie it wants to be. The food is very good (maybe not worldstopping, but definitely delicious) and really not pricey but it is the sheer effrontery of the place for existing that I liked the best.

and its 'american bar' looks amazing, who wants to go and drink one cocktail there very slowly with me?

did everyone hear mason and taylor is becoming brewdog shoreditch in a few weeks?

kinda pleased i guess, just for the sake of a change. good to hear they're keeping the same staff too. on the other hand i fear brewdog's brand may attrack more "rock" twats.

attract... that was freudian as hell

i guess it'll be nice for them to have a space that's bigger than the camden bar, which gets ridiculously crowded. and maybe if they've more pump handles they might deign to serve something under 5% on the regular!

Shame, I liked M&T and I'm not really a big Brewdog fan.

agree

i love their beers, but not them as a thing. m&t was good but the space isn't very nice.

anyway the cock tavern is my new regular spot, so i'm happy enough for a change at m&t.

i am hoping that the m&t people will be moving onto an interesting new place/project like they said on twitter? otherwise i will be like all the other online blowhards who have been going 'cannot believe this INDEPENDENT is being swallowed up by a CHAIN PUB, man'

it does all of a sudden give brewdog that feel. also to be fair their bars do sell lots of other beers and judging by their twitter it's at least as interesting a selection as m&t, possibly more interesting.

i think brewdog are a lot more than meets the eye, they have so many beers besides the main ones.

i like brewdog beers but haven't been to any of their pubs, all that aesthetic all in one place seems like it would be a bit much.