london restaurants

Silk Road is amazing. Went for the first time last year. Keep going back. DUMPLINGS!! yes. Also hand-pulled noodles in a sweet hot broth that I swear gave me a boost for days after.

it is great! i seem to remember a large stew of some kind, potatoes etc, maybe lamb.

Any thoughts on the Ottolenghi restaurants? Will be visiting London in a couple of weeks. I love the man's cookbooks and am curious about the restaurants. I realize they run the gamut in terms of style/price, but would love to hear about anyone's positive/negative experiences with them.

Twice in the last month I've heard a waiter call a (male) customer 'buddy'. Is this a coincidence or a thing?

It's a thing.

It's a definite thing, usually delivered by posh boys who are trying not to be, in a particularly vacant way that signifies a complete lack of engagement with the person they're talking to.

As an aside to Grenfell Tower, one of the residents there runs the open-air fish café on Golborne Road, £7 for a fine plate of pescatarian/crustacean bliss so if anyone is West tomorrow, go spend some quality time and insist Hamid keeps the change from your £10.

anything good near trafalgar studios besides say, barrafina?

i'm guessing probably not...

The Tandoori Chop House on St Martin's Lane is good, although they don't do rice, which is kind of weird. Bit further down but Daawat, the Indian restaurant in the Strand Palace Hotel is excellent - the food there was as good or better than somewhere like Dishoom but without any of the queuing or hype.

The other weekend we went to Henrietta, the new Ollie Dabbous place in a hotel of the same name between Covent Garden and the Strand. That was really good although I think I ordered badly by going for the sirloin, everything else was a lot more creative. Possibly a bit much for a pre or post-theatre thing, mind.

I think Daawat has been replaced by a carvery now.

Fuck, really? That was an absolute banker for me in that part of town.

Yep - just double-checked and it's a carvery.

thanks for the tips - might try tandoori chop house. the dabbous place sounds good for future ref.

while i'm itt should add that i went to that kiln place yesterday, in soho, a thai restaurant. i had been before but it was a lot better the second time, not that the first was bad. very good meal.

I had the same thing - first time thought it was good, second really very good.

that glass noodle dish is great - tbh i can imagine going in and just getting that for a fiver or whatever it is. it was a big enough portion for one person.

Agree it's delicious; can't imagine myself having the self-discipline to go in there and just have that one thing.

one thing that bothers me generally about restaurants, and i think this happened both times there, though not so bad the second time(fool me once etc) is when it's a small plate place and you ask how many you need and they overstate it. way to annoy and embarrass your customer. it's worst when you're solo and they do it, and the amount that arrives is not possible to finish and huge, and feels like a chore.

kiln wasn't the worst like this but they still suggested four things, i got three, and that was easily enough. i guess it's tricky sometimes to make suggestions for one person in a small plates place, but still.

I am greedy enough that I have never experienced that problem.

Dunno if you've already been to Trafalgar Studios but it occurs to me that Terroirs is pretty close by and I think (having been once!) it's good, especially if you are in the market for interesting wine by the glass.

(The size of that glass noodle dish is out of proportion with other similarly-priced things on Kiln's menu also IIRC).

Have been to Winemakers Deptford enough times now to feel confident in championing it to everyone within earshot. Food with big flavours, great cooking but unfussy, interesting wine selection (had a delicious Serbian Muscat a couple of visits ago), great atmosphere.

With that opening up near home and Noble Rot round the corner from work I've struggled to eat anywhere else in the last while.

I work near Noble Rot as well and keep meaning to go. Like the sound of the Deptford place as well.

Any SE Londoners been to Sparrow in Lewisham yet? Reviews have been excellent although full of the usual condescension you get when the writer has to go more than 5mins south of the river.

I didn't think the food in Noble Rot was all that when I ate there. It was good but it didn't blow my mind by any means. I would go back but prob just for wine and charcuterie. Maybe I got it on an off day.

I don't think it's food to blow your mind really. The restaurant as a whole is just the sort of place I want to spend time - nice staff, intimate buzzy atmosphere, simple tasty food and that ridiculous wine list.

It's the opposite of somewhere like The Square - the menu under their new(ish) head chef is incredibly exciting, but it feels so oppressive inside, not relaxing at all.

It's the same with a load of those places, Pied a Terre or wherever, the food can be the best thing you've ever eaten but it can feel like you're eating inside a museum.

Any suggestions for child friendly good food places around central London? Hardly a narrow category I know but taking granddaughter down for the bank holiday weekend.

Turkish restaurants are always child-friendly IME, and Tas is a reliable mini-chain: http://www.tasrestaurants.co.uk/

I don't think it's food to blow your mind really. The restaurant as a whole is just the sort of place I want to spend time - nice staff, intimate buzzy atmosphere, simple tasty food and that ridiculous wine list.

i agree with you yeah - i was actually going to say it was a bit like st john or somewhere, or the delaunay, the food is as good as it needs to be. i do think though that you can have that and have a higher level of food too. eg 40 maltby street.

xpost

How old is your grandaughter, wtev?

xp

I'd go along with that, though I would say that if the food at NR was considerably lower quality than at 40MS then you definitely caught it on an off day.

Has anyone been to the no-waste restaurant Silo in Brighton? Going to the soft launch of the London restaurant they are opening with Mr Lyan and wondering what to expect.

5 Madchen.

Tayyab's has been closed by Immigration!

nice things, can't have, etc

Fuckers! I hear they swept Lahore Kebab too.

Is this being reported anywhere?

Time Out, but mainly a rehash of the info on Twitter.

wtf :(

City AM and Metro have the story. City AM reproduces a tweet saying "Be back soon" but it seems to have disappeared from the @1Tayyabs feed.

back open today apparently

https://london.eater.com/2017/8/31/16232238/cult-punjabi-restaurant-tayyabs-closes-immigration-authorities

hi london
where do you go for a doner kebab these days?

Bala Baya

Sorry, not for doner

It's an Israeli restaurant in Southwark and it is amazing

Go hungry

My favourite dishes were the cauliflower and the aubergine

Go hungry

But with a full wallet.

Where is good with a private dining room seating c. 15 people in Central London? Mid-market only really.

We had a private dining room at Gaucho Piccadilly for a work thing last year and it was pretty good for what was needed.

went to pollen street social recently with a voucher (xmas present from parents) - we still spent more than we ever have in a restaurant even with a £200 discount. fine dining is crazy eh

The Lexington has a private dining room.

Delaunay maybe? I know they have a private room - I guess with drinks etc it could get quite expensive.

Dunno if there are better value places that have private rooms.

While I'm here - what's good near Russell Square/King's Cross? For a quick solo meal - don't really mind what type of place once it fits that bill.

xpost

The French place on corner of Tavistock Place and Marchmont Street

Go hungry

But with a full wallet.

― angelo irishagreementi (ledge), Wednesday, October 4, 2017 1:49 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes - it can get expensive if you order as much as they tell you to, but you don't actually need to eat much to be quite full, possibly because of the approx 1/2 pound of butter they cook everything with (seriously, i sat at the bar and it was something else to watch the chefs cook plum tomatoes on the vine with sage and pastis and as much butter as i would use in a week). anyway it is REALLY good.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DL4u8BPXkAA3Pc7.jpg:small

intriguing thread on UK chicken shops named (US State) Fried Chicken