london restaurants

xpost to MAtt I did have Loubet Deja Vu even as I typed. But thought it was just deja vu, not that we'd had the exact same conversation two years ago.

I know there are tons of good recommendations on this thread (and I am sure that it was Matt and IH whose recs I vaguely remembered when we decided to go to BBL) - thanks for all of those. I want the world to be smarter about talking about that stuff not the on-trend stuff. I don't know how. Perhaps it's impossible.

(LG did I walk straight past you at Hammersmith Broadway earlier? I think I did, and if so I'm sorry, but if not someone who looks like you luckily avoided uncomfortably explaining to me that they are not, in fact, you.)

xpost that must have been me, yeah Tim, I work very near there (grim location.)

I didn't see you actually so no need to apologise at all, my rudeness rather than yours.

It was one of those things where I thought "know that face..." but by the time I'd worked out who / how you were a little way past me and I was in a hurry and... oh well.

i really need to go to a szechuan place that isn't gourmet san (which is just too overcrowded and dour in my experience, to really be enjoyed.)

try 'my old place' on middlesex st. it's just as good and you can always get a table.

angeles in kilburn

is that yr fav sichuan place ken? i'd probably lean towards chilli cool (but havent tried angeles)

i've only ever walked past there and never once been in but i still feel certain ken is talking bollocks

Both are good to be honest. Angeles is very nice actually i'd recommend it if you're e.g. going to a gig at the good ship. it's not fashionable in any sense though and you have to remember to not walk into the buffet side of the restaurant (unless you want buffet)

but it would be kind of weird to make a special trip for it because it's in kilburn and nothing is worth that.

Stet and I have just shared a porterhouse at Hawksmoor (Seven Dials) and I am pleased to report it was the best steak I have ever eaten, ever. Also great: cocktails, marrow gravy, beef dripping chips, mushrooms, bread, stilton, service.

Hawksmoor is always brilliant.

Any recommendations for dinner near the museums (south Kensington)?

... or Victoria.

daquise

sunday is always a good day for polski smak

i haven't been in a decade or so but daquise is amazing. have the pork knuckle if you have the appetite, the pork cutlet is delicious too. and the potato platzke isn't to be missed.

they have changed ownership in that time iirc, i havent been v recently either but it all looks legit

There's a great (if a little garish) Azerbaijani place called Baku on Sloane street.

dotori i love u but please be open more

i was anticipating bibimbap so hard today and then, bafflingly, closed

I don't think I've discovered any good restaurants in Victoria despite working there for over 20 years.

I was just reading Peter York's 'Blue Riband' : a shortish penguin book on the Piccadilly line published as part of the 150th anniversary of the tube, and his description of the area is accurate:

"I'd been terribly excited by the idea of Westminster, but was it ever boring - Victoria Street was just like Croydon: dull shopping, dull corporate headquarters and dull Government buildings, mostly late sixties."

I wonder where Channel 4 execs go for their lunches - perhaps the Tate Britain restaurant ?

I like Chimes in Pimlico, but that's as much about their cider as it is their (still very good) pies.

Some recent happy re-visits:
Tohbang, a homey / neighbourhoody Korean on Clerkenwell Rd just at the top of Leather Lane, where we've been a few times but last week it seemed better than before. "They seem to have upped their game" said my lovely wife and she was right.
Upstairs at the Ten Bells: haven't heard much about this place recently, it had been all the rage with the blogs (yes yes the ones I moan about yes) a while back. We went back and bloody hell it was good. One of those times I wanted ot eat everything on the menu. they have a snacks section, a starters section and a mains section, and I can't really tell the difference between the snacks and the starters. I will say that that is a recipe for me being very stuffed indeed. And I was.
Dragon Castle: well-known for its dim sum, this has been an irregular cheapish Saturday lunchtime treat for us. "We have a new team and a new chef and we are trying our best..." said the waiter, and my heart sank. It had got better, hooray! And my number one favourite fried dough cheung fun was still on the menu. I was very happy indeed.

Upstairs at the Ten Bells: haven't heard much about this place recently, it had been all the rage with the blogs (yes yes the ones I moan about yes) a while back. We went back and bloody hell it was good. One of those times I wanted ot eat everything on the menu. they have a snacks section, a starters section and a mains section, and I can't really tell the difference between the snacks and the starters. I will say that that is a recipe for me being very stuffed indeed. And I was.

is this still going? i thought now that that "clove club" thing had opened in shoreditch town hall that that meant the end of this.

Bibendum on Fulham Road is +++ if you are still looking, ledge.

xp i think the chefs have just changed? i remember reading something mentioning that. i went when it first opened & tried to go back a couple of weeks ago but it was all booked up

xp ta, but have booked (i hope, email confirmation pending) daquise for weds, fingers xed there are suitable options for vegetarian aged p.

Yeah, no sign of Upstairs at the Ten Bells shutting down, I'm pleased to say. One interesting thing: the coffee there is nowhere near as good as it should be. The first time we went it was downright terrible, someone had pushed the plunger down on the cafetiere too soon. The other night it was passable, but I needed milk and sugar to make it taste worth drinking, and that's not my usual way. It's ridiculous when they seem to pay such attention to the quality of everything else. I might write them an email.

second meh experience at the anchor and hope last week

they've been rude a couple of times now. the first time i saw the place i popped in on my lunch break to ask if i could see a menu, grumpy waiter guy: "we don't do menus here" "we don't do bookings here" in such a snarky fucking tone, i rolled my eyes and walked out. just wanted to get an idea of prices / type of food, y'know? i hadn't heard of the place before, i'm so sorry for not being aware of how your institution functions!

anyway, popped in last week for a meal before the steve reich gig, had to wait 30-60 mins for a table, nbd, it was a lovely afternoon. immediately got a funny vibe from the waitress, i'd imagine because my girlfriend and i probably didn't look like the kind of couple that's going to spend a million pounds or something, or because we're young people, i dunno. she'd just got back off tour i'd been helping a friend out in his studio, we weren't dressed up for a big night out or anything, ffs it's a gastropub! don't be so up your own arse.

so the other couple sat opposite us got complimentary bread while they waited and they were also given wine glasses with their wine. we didn't get any bread (for the considerable wait after we had ordered) and were given these pathetic little beaker things that look like ash trays. we politely asked for wine glasses, for our £40 bottle of wine, to which the waitress kind of aggressively obliged?! wine may as well have been a £3.99 screw top according to my gf (i know v little about wine but she goes away on these tasting things and buys for her bar and she's french, she drinks wine every day, she seems to know what she's talking about).

anyway, on to the food. terrine de foie gras was very nice, the boozy prunes matched it perfectly altho there wasn't enough bread (i noticed the couple opposite us who had ordered the same were using their free bread to augment their dish, ha). i love foie gras but it wasn't anything remarkable, M brings back stuff in jars that's just as good as that back from france. we shared some big steak thing for 2 people for the main because we were both starving, again, very nice but not a patch on say, the hawksmoor or gaucho where i've had much better steaks recently. about 1/3 of the steak was inedible chunks of fat. the bechemel sauce, nothing spectacular, standard pub chips and that was it. bit of a letdown!

guess i'll give them one more chance, i do wanna try their sunday roast, but i'm beginning to think it's err, just not the place for me, or something.

Where's fun for a nice solo birthday lunch? Looking to spend no more than £15 really. Sorry to be a cheapskate.

If the snarky waiter was a handsome young blonde boy, I know him and will tell him to buck his ideas up.

Koya on Frith Street?

If the snarky waiter was a handsome young blonde boy, I know him and will tell him to buck his ideas up.

my cousin is a chef there, i may have met your friend.

xpost Ha, I was going to say Koya, I do like it there. I was trying to think about places where the music or vibe or view is reliably good, all or any of which would be good for solo dining. But I couldn't think of anywhere to fit the bill. And I do like eating on my own in Koya. So, Koya.

i don't remember the waiter tbh, i think he was bar staff, this was last summer when i first popped in. the manic ginger girl who runs everything was really great, overall it wasn't a totally bad experience, just disappointing. just want somewhere v chilled out where i can eat amazing food and not feel rushed, squashed or uncomfortable!

anybody tried les trois garcons on bethnal gr road? a friend mentioned a new french place in bethnal green as well, but the name is escaping me- he was v excited about it.

Ronan...does the name Fran ring a bell?

xp i think the new place is the one on mare st right next to the dolphin, but i havent tried it

those a&h beakers are their standard glasses afaik, and they do have menus so dunno what grumpy waiter was on about.

yeah dwight, i have met him once or twice, don't know partic well but my cousin is quite good friends with him, i think.

a friend told me the french place by the dolphin is good. bouchon fourchette i think it's called.

if dotori is shut/busy lex worth trying hana on seven sisters road round the corner... i have never had the bibimbab there mind but their sushis were good and it's run by koreans so i would expect that to be decent..

i had a meal at les trois garcon once (1/2 price groupon deal lol) it was nice.. the meal was good, interesting decor inside. think they have a couple of other places (loungelover is a japanese bar thing or something)

service was great also btw especially considering we were "groupon people"

LG: Wicked...small, small world.

Koya looks wicked, yeah. It'll either be there or I'll be boring and go to Honest Burgers for the first time.

A place I keep meaning to try in that neck of the woods, but I've never managed to find with the necessary space is the Pitt Cue Co... think they have a tiny amount of seating upstairs by the window which might be a good place to perch for a solo lunch.

brawn lunch deal is pretty unbeatable if yr in the bethnal green area

Cheers everyone. Can I ask another question: what's a really nice pub near Whitechapel/Aldgate? Doesn't have to be too close, just somewhere I can meet a mate for a chat over a decent beer before going out for dinner that evening (going here for tea: http://www.lahore-kebabhouse.com/)?

I go for The Pride of Spitalfields round there, on Heneage St... Lane..., opposite Fashion Street. Lahore Kebab House is still always excellent.

hmm the best, no idea

my favourite is indo, small place, bad service, good music, decent drinks, if you let me know when you'll be there you can most likely have a chat over the ilx beatles covers comp, i tend to pass through most evenings cuz friends work there and stuff

tarfumes's contribution to the beatles comp is now on one of the playlists there, it was quite a hit the other night!

Had a v. good lamb in the Anchor&Hope the other night. Place felt totally chaotic, but in an organised manner. Service was pretty much invisible, in the good way.