london restaurants

sounds fucking awful.

thanks for that interjection. certainly more to the point than your usual drivel.

ha ha! yes, little in the way of sunshine over here. standing about in the cold, unless are fireworks, always find problematic. love you too LG.

:)

You'll need a bit of jogging across Victoria Park and Hackney Marshes to burn all that food and beer off, LG.

Just been to Daquise with the parents, we liked it a lot. I don't know if it's faded grandeur or just faded, but they're decidedly unashamed of their bare and decaying plaster walls - one section of which they've gone so far as to preserve in its crumbling state under glass. The head waiter kept on retreating through a doorway leading to the stairs down to the kitchen to sip from what was probably just a cup of coffee, but the shelf the cup was on was some distance along the wall above the stairs so to pick it up without descending he had to lean forward, supporting himself against the door frame in a manner which made one think whatever he was drinking was a lot stronger. And despite an abundance of waiters for such a quiet period (although it was picking up as we were leaving) the food was mostly served by the kitchen staff, from aluminium pots straight off the stove top - at one point we had four of them leaning over us spooning food onto our dishes. The food itself was great, delicious pierogi and wonderfully tender pork knuckle. Excessive quantities though, especially the pierogi, and zero veggie main course options, fortunately my mum eats fish and was happy to have the cod.

oh yes, the knuckle! also love the dill on the mashed potato...

You'll need a bit of jogging across Victoria Park and Hackney Marshes to burn all that food and beer off, LG.

it was all v small, and i had like, two beers. plus i ran 5 miles before going and walked from bethnal green to dalston junction and back. think i'm safe!

Ended up going to Franco Manca for lunch, was as tasty as ever. Can't quite get over the value either. Top stuff.

For a quiet pre-dinner pint we ended up at the Old Blue Last which served it's purpose well.

Lahore Kebab House was great. Loved the canteen at Butlins vibe upstairs.

has anyone else been to the northern chinese bbq place on roman road?? it looks pretty generic from the outside but we went last night & it was really nice. also they've highlighted the good things on the menu which means its less likely that you'll come away going 'maybe we ordered wrong'

is that the one just by the market square?

yes! i think so. google tells me that its at 129 and is called 'top taste' but i couldnt see a name in english on the outside, just chinese characters.

Weirdly I went once ages ago for takeaway and it was fairly poor, but the mate who recommended it told me you have to ask for their authentic menu or something, otherwise you get the usual gunge. This seems so weird that I never went back, but I live really near so I will give it a go for sure now.

yep this is the same place, the waitress checked which menu we wanted when we sat down. seems like a good place to go with a group of ppl, get a plate of bbq skewers of various things & then some big bowls of other slow cooked or stir fried things.

ah cool i'll have to ask for the secret menu next time. that's within hangover striking range which could be useful.

someone else has been there > http://meiweifood.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/liao-wei-feng/

it'd been years since i last went, but i'd forgotten how good bedford & strand is http://www.bedford-strand.com/

really top-notch steak tartare & blood pudding salad, bloodies meal i've ever head

Meant to revive this to say the bar at the clove club is awesome. Not tried the restaurant.

Was at ceviche yday, thought it was good but the actual ceviche wasn't great IMO, kind of soggy, flavours not mixed well.

The other dishes were good and it had a great atmosphere.

Anyone been to Kopapa in Covent Garden? Going there for dinner tomorrow and not sure quite what to expect.

Had a great meal at Asakusa last night, made a homesick Japanese friend very happy. Thanks for the tip, london restaurants thread!

Followed by Ryoji Ikeda at the Barbican as a kind of reverse palate cleanser.

has anyone been to floyds in dalston? going there for a birthday dinner on saturday

Kopapa? Don't expect to see AA Gill.

Was it any good? Looks a bit pricey but possibly worth considering on a pre-theatre deal?

does anyone have recommendations for good sunday lunch places? got some cousins visiting and kinda realised i don't know that many restaurants that are

- central-ish (say from soho roughly along the 38 route up north/east)
- light/airy looking, i guess the restaurant equiv of smart/casual? a lot of the places i frequent are a bit "well it looks like a kebab shop on the outside" or, like, basements or the kind of place that's fine for dinner but you can't quite imagine lunching there

(any cuisine really, except hipsterburgers obv)
(not brunch - i have brunch type places covered if they want it)
(i'm sure i KNOW places like this but jog my memory plz!)

i suggest this all the time but... st john b&w?

or is that not in the right area

Our meal at Kopapa was great but we played it relatively safe and shied away from anything too fusion-y - some of the dishes certainly had the potential to just not work at all, which might explain the wildly varying reviews I've seen of it.

The space is really nice though, kind of modern and bar-y and would feel pretty good to eat in at any time of day.

Lex - go for St John for a (reasonably) expensive option or somewhere like Brasserie Zedel if you're looking to spend less money. Zedel has the advantage of a bit of visual wow factor and the awesome Bar Americain adjoining it.

st john is def an option - oh yea the other thing might be "short notice booking" as they still haven't got back to me about definite plans :/

(Zedel is a basement as well but it's a very light and airy one)

oo brasserie zedel looks pretty great

Medcalf on Exmouth Market is great for Sunday lunch!

barrafina is pretty quiet on sundays, unlike the rest of the time.

right, they seem to have requested a PUB, and the duke of cambridge, which was my first thought, is fully booked. anywhere else? am basically thinking "somewhere near the 38 route" but only roughly

Down at my end, there's the Eagle and the Easton.

Yeah the Eagle's good, If you can get there early in the short Sunday sitting. The Fox and Anchor might do the job also.

have had the eagle recommended but i CANNOT DEAL with no-res policies esp if i'm carting three cousins i barely know around london

which would you say had more historic interest out of the easton and the fox & anchor? (real shame the grapes in limehouse doesn't seem to do food on sundays, the mckellen connection would've def gained me kudos)

O WAIT i actually phoned the grapes up and they DO do food on sundays it's just not the main menu

sorted

was gonna suggest wetherspoons but this is probably a better option

Not a restaurant as such but the gelato at Cremeria Vienna on Blackstock Road is excellent. Probably as good as anything I've had outside of Florence and reasonably priced.

otm- I live over by clissold park and quite often get off the tube a couple of stops early to walk by this place. I think I read maybe it's quite a big chain in italy?

not really a restaurant question per se but does anyone have any recommendations where to buy good crab meat in london? suzy?

on restaurants, has anyone been to beard to tail? am going next week, the menu looks brilliant but the reviews i've seen have been...mixed

re: crab, steve hatt on essex rd

ahh thx for that!

Steve Hatt seconded. But the Chapel Market fishmonger's stall is also a good option - and a bit kinder on the wallet.

On crab meat, depends if you want fresh or frozen. If you're happy with the frozen, the big Chinese supermarkets are fine. (Wing Yip, at Staples Corner, also has one of the best wet fish counters I've ever seen in the UK, specialist fishmongers included.)

anyone been anywhere good lately?

was at quality chop house last weekend, it was mixed, really. great wine, some good dishes, some stuff a bit weird or disappointing. probably would go back but more as a small plate and a drink type place.

also the street kitchen pop-up on shoreditch high street is one of the better ones i've been to.

that sucks to hear, was just going to book in quality chop house for my gf's birthday

Finally going to trullo next week!

Went to NOPI a couple of weeks back. The vegetarian main dish was a bit of a let down but other mains were good, I was told. The small plates really made up for it, as you'd imagine. We were downstair in the store cupboard, good use of space!