london restaurants

My dad's in Aldgate on Friday for a work thing...is there anywhere alrightish around to go for a dinner? Quite up for decent pub grub.

Can't think of anywhere I'd go round there for pubbish food on a Friday (the pubs tend to be rammed with actual drinkers at that point in the week). Obviously there's Tayyabs and Needoos round behind the East London Mosque.

My best recommendation not too far from there would be Upstairs at the Ten Bells (right opposite Spitalfields Market, probably 7 or 8 minutes walk from Aldgate East, I'd guess) if you can get in. It's several cuts above pub grub but not astronomically expensive (mains tent ot be £16-18 kind of range). You'd need to book. We go there as often as we can.

/tent ot/

"tend to", that says.

I often wonder about this place but I've never been: http://www.chezellesbistroquet.co.uk/

Go for a pint at Indo, right opposite the mosque, then a kebab at one of the places Tim recommends or (my favourite) Lahore Kebab House on Commercial Road.

Lahore and Tayyabs are great shouts actually, nice one guys.

oliver conquest aldgate haven't dined there but the grub looks nice

Thanks for all the Camden tips. Much appreciated.

Ended up in Chicken Shop after all, as the vegetarians dropped out. It was okay, but really just a slightly more upmarket version of Nando's. Did the job though.

Happy to have much better options to try next time around.

kentish town: I hear e mono despite the ecoli sounding name apparently does good kebabs (or maybe it's just the decor was good I can't remember - I don't eat many kebabs and I've never eaten there)

queen of sheba was good when i visited.

around chalk farm - if you can stand eating dim sum at any time other than morning/afternoon - this place is surprisingly not shit and decent value with this offer
http://www.yumchasilksandspice.co.uk/offers
but eating dim sum after 5pm makes me want to hurt myself

dwight - did you have any DUMPLINGS! while you were at silk road? think that's their thing (with the old lady making them sometimes), i think they are almost as good as the ones i make.

there is some legendary kebab place in kentish alright - i was there once but i forget the name. it's v near the tube station.

There's a Woody Grill round there IIRC?

xpost E Mono is the king of kebabs in Kentish Town, by an enormous distance. There was a very good one on the eastern side of Kentish Town Road, which used to have a proper sit down bit in the back, but that closed down years ago and the site has been through several different (failed) restaurants since.

xxpost Chicken Shop is fine, but madly overpriced for what it is, just like Dirty Burger round the back.

As a Kentish Town resident, my favourites within 10 mins' walk are …
1/ Market
2/ Kentish Canteen
3/ Tapping the Admiral (when it has pies on; at the mo just doing average Thai)
4/ Viet Anh (the one next to Market)
5/ Bengal Lancer

out of interest, are there any particularly good choices to be made in those situations where you're on brick lane and are faced with a thousand curry houses? every one i've ever found myself going to has been no better than okay.

shampan was the one i used to go to - last visit about four years ago though.

i have never had an amazing curry there but then i go for the one that gives me the biggest discount..

yeah they're all kinda gunge imo

the best choice is to get a salt beef bagel and a can of beer from the shop

otm. or walk 10 mins to any one of the numerous alternatives.

Shampan is probably the best, but you're better off going a bit further into Whitechapel where there are many much better options.

There's a blue neon lit Bangladeshi cafe right at the bottom whose name escapes me that does better curry than any of the actual restaurants. It's one of those ones where they've got everything laid out and literally reheat things though but its usually full of Bangladeshi people, which is a good sign.

i remember having a lovely meal here though (not far from brick lane)
http://www.lahore-kebabhouse.com/

xposts

ah yeah, i've been there and enjoyed it but had completely forgotten where it was. cheers.

bagel and beer would have been a good option, except when i was on brick lane on saturday some community wardens moved us on for drinking on the street. has it always been that way?

Meraz Cafe just off Brick Lane eastwards on Hanbury Street is pretty good and unusual; it does a dried spinach thing which is ridiculously delicious.

I know people who swear by the Standard Balti House but I've never been.

The Standard Balti House isn't even any good, I went about a year ago for the first time in ages and it was weirdly flavourless. It's the Doric Arch of curry houses.

Sweet and Spicy is the old Bangladeshi men's caff - and it has the best, cheapest lamb samosas.

Yo, Ken C: Yeah, we tried all the DUMPLINGS!, all were great. I wussed out on the egg/leek/shrimp ones but am informed they were really nice as well. The fried ones were...woah. Then we just grabbed a few mains (Big Plate Chicken was the highlight) and some hilariously spicy vegetarian sides. Nice atmosphere in there as well: bustling but you didn't feel overwhelmed.

Sweet and Spicy was grebt but when I walked past a couple of months ago it looked like it was no more. Replaced by a hot dog place iirc.

*cries*

ya srsly :(

hiya

throw some recommendations at me for some mid-level fancyish type places, like say £80ish for two people or maybe a touch over

i have a list but i never shy away from piling indecision on to everything i do

(by fancyish i don't mean decor or anything, just AMAZING FOOD)

Arbutus in Soho is seriously good value for the quality of food you get, or it was two years ago.

Maybe Social Eating House or Bistro Bruno Loubet as well, the latter has the bonus of being attached to the Zetter Townhouse for awesome cocktails before/after.

The Grill at the Dorchester has a set lunch menu for £27 (more on Sundays). Very, very good food indeed and utterly ridiculous decor (tartan carpets, murals of chieftains and lassies).

Andrew Edmunds.

had a great meal there a few years back, really classy little spot.

Last time I went, it was for a dinner given by Tate Britain following an event I was asked to moderate. One of the other guests was Jarvis Cocker, who took us on to an after-hours club where he a) bought us all champagne and b) wound up drunkenly leading the room in a sing-song of various Andy Williams tracks.

Possibly one of the best nights out I've ever had (also followed by a hangover that easily made my personal top five).

Andrew Edmunds is lovely and romantic - but the downstairs is pokey, and the upstairs can be cheek by jowl. used to go there a lot.

i liked duke's brew & cue last night. it felt like a good mix of london and new york. vast range of hoppy beers and the two pork ribs meal is a steal at a tenner. i haven't been to pitt cue but i've eaten a lot of bbq in my life and this was good. also EXTREMELY CLOSE TO MY HOUSE which is U+K.

i also have a soft spot in my heart for any place in london that will do a wedge of iceberg lettuce smothered in bacon bits and creamy dressing (blue cheese is best imo but ranch will do)

don't think they had that rib deal when i was there, my memory is that it was v expensive. maybe they've responded to that.

apart from the sliders everything else was incredibly expensive :(

Tracer we missed each other, we were there for the brunch at 3pm just before the kitchen closed to prepare for dinner.

I had an average eggs benedict. wasn't cheap. it was probably to pay for the staff as there was probably as many staff to people eating at the time.

oh actually you would have been there the night before

Yum Bun in Old Street - fantastic pork bun thing - really the loveliest bun dough I've ever eaten.

The chicken filling tasted like a McChicken sandwich though.

anyone been to soho diner? i was at the notting hill electric diner a few months back and it was pretty good diner food, great room, but the soho one is even better imo. had excellent steak frites, great service, big booths, nicely lit, really classy place.

Any suggestions for a decent cheap/mid-range place in Clerkenwell/Farringdon?

polpo any good?

ooh been wanting to go there for a while, many thanks, good call!

Went to the Duck & Waffle on Saturday afternoon - obviously the view is amazing and it's worth going just to get the glass lift up the outside of the tower. Food is great as well, basically ponced up breakfast foodstuffs but I'd definitely go back.

Also the other week we went to Restaurant Story just down from Tower Bridge - you have the choice of one of two taster menus and the £55 six-course one is seriously good value. Probably the most creative menu I can remember eating - you get like four amuse bouches before the first course and the whole thing is presented with narrative flourish. It takes a while before they let you know that the candle that's been burning on your table is actually dripping you can dip your bread in, one of the courses is listed as having "coal" as an ingredient, but the food is delicious and unexpected throughout - this review is pretty accurate. Really nice space as well.

The “street food” fad kicked off a few years ago and shows no sign of going away. I get that it has become a way for aspiring restaurateurs to get started in the business and I don’t resent that ambition at all. What I do resent is the sheer smugness of the so-called “scene” and the idea of paying over-the-odds for food just because it’s served out of a twee vintage VW camper by some gushing “gap yah” type called Seb, Jocasta or Benji. I’ve christened these toothy toffs “coq au van”.