London ILXers. Where do you live, what three things about might interest non-Londoners?

When we've got a few more entries, will someone send this thread to NYT travel editors?

the twee café is called cakey muto :(

i haven't heard of shane's, the ones i frequent regularly are the crêperie (does what it says it will) and l'épicerie (opposite it, kind of a deli-cum-café place - you can buy stuff and eat it outside in the summer but usually it's more of a takeaway. the freshly made stuff, from pastillas to clafoutis, is highly recommended; their cheeses, wines, breads etc are all good quality but rather overpriced). there's venetia's café too, i've only ever had one sandwich from there and it was too salty.

the elderfield pub is probably the best in the area, happily less than a minute's stumble from my front door. feels weird recommending pubs specifically though.

e2

1. Palm Tree - Nothing ever changes here, this is the best and worst thing about it. Time stood still at some indeterminate point in the past. Good band playing Sinatra covers and similar Thurs-Monday, sporadically nice/narky staff though always nice once you've been in a few times, someone asked to charge their phone there when I was in on Saturday, anyone who's been there will know what a lol that is.

2. Corner Room in Bethnal Green Town Hall - High-end food and it's relatively cheap. Great wine, good service.

Struggling a bit for a third if I have to keep to my immediate vicinity. I would say the best general thing is, as someone said, walking, there are loads of small pockets of goodness in wider east London and you can walk from one to the other very handily, once you're not in a hurry.

I find myself enjoying a long walk through a good number of the nice places in Hackney/Dalston and maybe Stoke Newington, all on a Sunday where you can meet diff friends in different places.

x-post think shane's literally opened last week, I read the menu and a review and it sounded great.

Have you been to Viajante?

ronan the fountain off globe road has a nice pool table if you like that sort of thing (at least it did 3 years ago when i used to go frequently - it may have been 50p a go I think back then??)

has this thread become uninteresting to non-londoner yet? (i don't know!)

Might be of interest to non-londoners that apparently we spend 60% of our time in the pub, 30% in restaurants, and 10% in the park.

not been to viajante no... never quite took the plunge as i believe it's expensive. you?

how is the fountain? it always looks menacing.

anyone ever go in to the railway tavern on globe road? went in once a few weeks ago to see how bad it was. it was bad. met an irish guy who was severely delusional.

Not been to Viajante yet either but it feels like a proper "destination" restaurant.

I have been to Viajante and it is tremendous (as is the Corner Room, but going to Viajante feels like more of an event). We've been to quite a lot of restaurants around London and Viajante is my wife's favourite, and maybe mine also. We're going there for her birthday next month, hooray.

I too have been to the Railway on Globe Road, as part of an unfinished project to visit every pub in London called The Railway, with a view to proving they were all rubbish. Looking back, I was unnecessarily kind to this one: http://freakytrigger.co.uk/pumpkin/2004/11/pub-science-experiment-1pub-2-the-railway-tavern-globe-road-e2/

Yeah that's the vibe we got, everyone sat at the bar, total "fuck off" atmosphere. I assumed the fountain would be the same. Did consider a blog where you go to all these places (the Shakespeare on Bethnal green road looks a good shout) but might ultimately be a bad idea.

i walked past shane's on my way home, it is literally a minute from my house

<3 my new ends, crossing fingers so hard my landlady doesn't decide to sell up :/