london restaurants

NOODLE BAR is probably about level with that palace of botulism on Bethnal Green Road we've been to, Lex.

do you mean NOODLE KING? I've been there now and again, it's incredibly cheap, admittedly sort of nasty, but some of the dishes are okay. Always full of coppers. Literally if you ever walk by, take a look in, almost guaranteed to be 5/6 "old bill" closing the book on the mystery of the special curry.

Hahahaha yes, NOODLE KING. Let's just say I wouldn't trust the Met to recommend food, I just assume garbage in from all the garbage out. Places like NOODLE KING generally have *one* good dish and there, I cannot be arsed to find it.

I am hearing good things about Chang's Noodle, in one of the dodgy streets south of the British Museum. Szechuan/Hunan apparently.

Hahahaha yes, NOODLE KING. Let's just say I wouldn't trust the Met to recommend food, I just assume garbage in from all the garbage out. Places like NOODLE KING generally have *one* good dish and there, I cannot be arsed to find it.

true and all, but did you see the recent hygiene grades when they came out? quite surprising. "a little of what you fancy" was in the lowest of the low 1 camp along with a few kingsland road viets, no surprise with the latter.

yea i saw shanghai got the same

NOODLE KING.

no. one i was looking for seems to have gone, thought I'd try the stone cave, already feelin it may have been a mistake. empty. should have gone for one of the numerous less restauranty busier ones.

On this track, I'd just like to hurl down a shoutout to Charlton Church Lane's very own Cattleya, the only Thai/Spanish fusion restaurant that I know of

it's really, really good - REALLY good, even - delightful and very generous tapas with what appear to be ingredients sourced from Spain (there are also Thai tapas), flavoursome Thai mains and crispy churros to round off, all at a low price

the two cuisines merge really nicely (especially at the tapas phase), despite the spice differential

We went to a Japanese/Peruvian fusion place in Beunos Aires so I see exactly how the cuisines merge. It was Argentina's big restaurant trend a year ago.

i always keep meaning to try out that old polish-mexican bistro in shepherds square in mayfair

not sure if it's quite fusion exactly tho

i mean i just walk past and picture like a burrito stuffed with kabanos

yeah I think 'fusion' is a slight embellishment - there aren't many dishes (although there are a couple - you'll be amazed what chorizo can do!) that actually combine techniques

all gets mixed up in your stomach though, as my mum used to say

any recommendations for somewhere quickish and pescetarian-friendly near tate modern?

the river thames

tate modern cafe. table on southwark st. leon.

not in order of speed, quality, or distance.

http://thetablecafe.com/ prob the best nearby tbh.

you're a ledge

Taz Pide opposite the globe is quite cheap and ok. They have tiny chairs though.

The table isn't as good as it used to be now that they actually have table service.

anyone been to the shed in notting hill yet? was in last night, very nice small plates of british food, really excellent start to finish and quite a cool little room.

The Orchard by Brockley Station is a lovely place to while away a Sunday afternoon (books, board games, nice beer, giant fish tank, excellent food). You'll probably need to reserve a table though, it's really popular.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, 15 January 2013 14:11 (4 weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also i work here

ate in Gujarati Rasoi on Bradbury St a few weeks back. it's run by the same dude has the excellent veggie thali stall on Exmouth Market. might be tricky to get a table at without booking as the place is so dinky, but the size also means the menu is basically option #1 or option #2 for mains. the upside of that is that you get to try everything if you go with a partner, which is great if like me, you suffer from terminal post-menu-choice regret.

haha, no way Plax. I live on Tyrwhitt Rd so am always walking past the Orchard. Is it ALWAYS full of babes or do I just walk past at good times?

not to be creepy, but i live on Tressillian Rd.

RIP 'Sounds Around' Dave

NO. WAY.

just foolin. Adelaide Ave all the way.

Orchard FAP anyone?

the first place i lived in london was tyrwhitt road. not for long. i live on jerningham now, by nxg station.

the place IS always full of babies. i know how to warm a bottle in hot water. prams are so much bigger than when i was a baby i think. i would rather be raised by wolves. i want to quit so bad.

those don't seem to be the same kind of babes dwight yorke was referring too

lol i read babies. it is always full of babies.

yummy mummies i suppose

man...Jerngingham...that's the big leagues to me after 5 years as a new cross/brockley resident. My first girlfriend lived on Drakefell Rd in Brockley so seeing her meant a long trek up Jerningham, then heading down Sandbourne. Memories, eh. Once took me literally about 45 minutes to walk down Jerningham whilst on a comedown.

Whereabouts on Tyrwhitt did you live Plax? Also I'm very sorry I never responded to your DM-via-ILX a while back. Forgive me. I'm still at Goldsmiths/the shop if you ever want to say hello.

BEST ROAD IN NEW CROSS/BROCKLEY THREAD?

Twenty years ago, Jerningham Road was nothing but squats!

The bit around Brockley station and Brockley Cross felt pretty sketchy even 15 years ago, not even rough per se but just that dark and empty railway arch feel, one big derelict pub in the middle of it. It's completely unrecognisable now. It's unsurprising because the old houses around there are both massive and beautiful and would've been really cheap even by London standards.

Bragging time ITT because my girlfriend took me out for a surprise birthday thing last night and we ended up going for cocktails at 60 Colebrooke Row and then for the seven-course taster menu in the library at Sketch. Pierre Gagnaire was in the kitchen. The starters alone were fucking works of art.

Seems like a justified brag. Jealous!

walking to my friend's place on upper brockley road from the station in the evening still gives me the willies a bit.

do you all find you get a bit more worried just by being in an unfamiliar part of london, even if there's nothing ostensibly sketchy? i find that from time to time, like it appears fine but you are out of your comfort zone so maybe it's not. and the sketchiness of your own area becomes familiar after a while, recognising the same tramps and stuff.

every time i go to east london.

I've pretty much narrowed London down to:

Walking from my house to Goldsmiths (where I work/study)
Walking from my house to Deptford Market on a Saturday and then onto Grenwich, then looping back on myself.
Walking from my house to Amersham Rd in New Cross to catch a bus, then walking from Aldwych to Birkbeck to go to my other job.
Walking from my house to Lewisham.
Occasional jaunts to Brixton, starting with a walk from my house.

But yeah, new parts of London make me feel a bit apprehensive. I remember driving with friends from NX to Wood Green and finding the walk from the car to our friend's house really eerie.

Where's a good, maybe slightly out of the way part of London to have a wander around? Kind of a charity shop/coffee/quiet pint afternoon trip.

Stoke Newington?

i have never felt unsafe in any part of london. i got chased into my back garden by two guys who were i think on acid once. my main reason for thinking this was one of them repeatedly screaming "i'm on acid." big menacing guys but nothing happened beyond that. still, shit like that only seems to heighten my sense of contrast and feeling that such things count as mere anomalies. i've felt unsafe other places. usually smaller, lawless towns. that said brockley station is ideally designed for meeting dealers and a guy i work with had a gun pulled on him near there recently. he does *really* look like a cop though.

yeah i mean i've never felt in danger as such, just a bit warier in some places. overall i feel way more unsafe when in dublin at kicking out time on a saturday, like in the very centre of the city. it's always much more likely that someone says something to you, which can lead anywhere.

Good shout LG.

Dwight, do you do library work by any chance? If so I believe we know each other IN THE REAL WORLD!!! You can probably guess who I am...

I work in the student shop in RHB...though I spend most of my time in the library...REVEAL YOURSELF NEIL S.

ha okay my friend IRL works at Goldsmith's and London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicice, not Birkbeck. Sorry to get your hopes up!

Check whatever account you get ILX emails from Neil.

Re: food in London. Finally went to Franco Manca last weekend. Oh. My. Fucking. God.

Brockley's pretty much the only place in London where I don't feel a bit on edge! I can't imagine anything not exceedingly middle class happening there. Gunpoint drug deals in the station, I guess I should rethink that a bit.

Franco Manca's been on my to do list for about eighteen months, I'm bad at London life.

yeah i mean i've never felt in danger as such, just a bit warier in some places. overall i feel way more unsafe when in dublin at kicking out time on a saturday, like in the very centre of the city. it's always much more likely that someone says something to you, which can lead anywhere.

Yeah this is true, I still feel a bit wary walking around quieter bits of Hackney at night although I'm sure I'd be fine if I lived there. Brockley is quieter in general and anywhere that's both quiet and unfamiliar can feel a bit unnerving at night even if it's basically safe. But you're probably less safe on a busy suburban High Street full of plastic pubs at 11pm on a Saturday.

i have neither been here nor do i have any plans to be in that neck of the woods in the foreseeable, but i'm just putting this here for future reference because omg that menu

http://www.stjohnstavern.com/menus

we went there last summer, its marvelous - and a really lovely room. had a rabbit pasta started that i still think of to this day.