Where should I eat in London?

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
I found a good little place for lunch. It's on Pitfield St in Hoxton. It's a nice little place but the right side of twee and the food actually tastes like proper home made stuff..

http://www.facebook.com/CuriousYellowKafe

77 Pitfield St - CuriousYellowKafe
winter veg & pearl barley broth £3.50
Persian Lamb Soup w/ veg, butter beans & chickpeas w/ bread £3.50
Butternut Squash, chickpea, baby spinach & feta tart w/ salad £5.00
free range Chicken, spinach & mushroom white lasagne w/ salad £6.50
Aubergine & French Bean coconut curry w/ rice, mint raita £6.50
Gravlax w/ Swedish Potato, salad & rye bread £7.00
Swedish Meatballs, Linguine & Parmesan £6.00
Smoked bacon, mushroom & Wenslydale cheese tarte w/ salad £5.00
 

luka

Well-known member
went to local friends and gourmet san. gourmet san much better but friends was alright. really enjoyed gourmet san.
 

mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
what's the Sichuan place next to Kilburn Station like? Anyone have any experience?

Angeles? It used to be really good - it was the first Sichuan place I went to in London - dunno about now though. I suspect competition has meant it's less good than it seemed now.

Worth a punt, if that's the one you mean. They'll try to give you the Cantonese menu but ask for the 'real' one lol. Oh and go in the right hand door, left hand door is pure all-you-can-eat buffet.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Angeles? It used to be really good - it was the first Sichuan place I went to in London - dunno about now though. I suspect competition has meant it's less good than it seemed now.

Worth a punt, if that's the one you mean. They'll try to give you the Cantonese menu but ask for the 'real' one lol. Oh and go in the right hand door, left hand door is pure all-you-can-eat buffet.

Yeah, that's the one, thanks. I'm at Kilburn once a week, so always pass it, but haven't been in yet. The prices look fine, so I'll try it sometime
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.

it's like all obsessions, isn't it. you have to stop it becoming about status and hiding behind an identity. the first person sounds okay, though learn to cook ffs! Not difficult. And her weekly spend is insane. Headed for disaster. The second person sounds intolerable, possibly a sociopath. The third one, a bit sad.

More than anything, the journalist is shit and shouldn't accept money for such banal presentation of a potentially interesting angle on why these people have constructed an identity out of food ("Everything revolves around food and my relationships have been shaped by it" is the first line of a novel that I fear has already been written, but should never have been allowed)
 
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viktorvaughn

Well-known member
I hate that cos it seems to perpetuate the idea that to eat well in London you have to constantly spend shit loads which I don't think is true at all....
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
i dunno, the first woman (I think) mentioned the democratisation of eating out, so that you don't have to spend shitloads, and was specifically not interested in name chefs. More what got me was the line between an interest being a part of one's life, and the point at which it consumes you and turns you into a monomaniacal twat. And particularly with an interest that can so easily be divorced from either politics (in the broad sense) or emotion. I like food a lot, but am suspicious of anyone who says it's their absolute main interest to the exclusion of anything else (as opposed to the arts, which I think are more inherently linked with emotion and, hopefully, with connection**).

** though of course the collector impulse can take over, and music etc becomes just an object of consumption/status and nothing more
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
"wow, that's quite an article. *runs off to eat instant noodles forever*"
"thats it i never wanna go to a resturaunt again cheers rich"
Sorry and sorry. Although I guess it could save you money.

"The second person sounds intolerable, possibly a sociopath. The third one, a bit sad."
I have to admit that I didn't make it to the third one.

True about the line between interest and personality replacement. Possibly something I don't want to think about too much in general.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps

[some precious cunt] looks at the menu. 'It really irritates me when people don't spend time looking at the menu. In France no one speaks until they have studied the menu. I can't bear it when people talk before ordering.'

Heaven forfend! This delicate soul should make it his mission to educate us poor ignoramuses on the French, i.e. correct, way to use a restaurant and instill in us a suitable degree of solemn reverence.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Sorry and sorry. Although I guess it could save you money.


I have to admit that I didn't make it to the third one.

True about the line between interest and personality replacement. Possibly something I don't want to think about too much in general.

Really, you need have no such worries.

@Tea, yep, that line was the nadir
 
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Slothrop

Tight but Polite
i dunno, the first woman (I think) mentioned the democratisation of eating out, so that you don't have to spend shitloads, and was specifically not interested in name chefs. More what got me was the line between an interest being a part of one's life, and the point at which it consumes you and turns you into a monomaniacal twat. And particularly with an interest that can so easily be divorced from either politics (in the broad sense) or emotion. I like food a lot, but am suspicious of anyone who says it's their absolute main interest to the exclusion of anything else (as opposed to the arts, which I think are more inherently linked with emotion and, hopefully, with connection**).
I'm not sure - I've met plenty of people who are make fantastically empathetic, emotionally rich art but are complete twunts in real life. People are just happier to put up with it from artists, musicians, actors etc because they produce something that's of external worth.

I think the point where this sort of thing gets iffy is what Rich is getting at with "personality replacement" - or more to the point, self-worth replacement. The situation where your sense of self-worth is so bound up in being good at your hobby that you can justify being an arse in other respects, or where you can't deal with changes that threaten your hobby or with the realization that you aren't as good at it as you thought you were...
 

4linehaiku

Repetitive
Went back to Chilli Cool for the first time in a couple of years on Wednesday. Not sure how typical this is these days but it was stupidly busy (was there about 8). Clearly overwhelmed staff, food took over an hour, and then arrived one dish at a time (rice last obviously), didn't manage to bring us a single drink despite reminding them constantly etc etc. Was a bit shit to be honest. Food was good though. Worth avoiding at peak times? Or maybe that was a one off.

What's the amazing aubergine dish a few people have mentioned on here? It was top of my agenda, but 'aubergine' was all I could recall which had 3 candidates. Went for the Sea Spicy one in the end which was pretty good but not really rapturous.
 

baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
I'm not sure - I've met plenty of people who are make fantastically empathetic, emotionally rich art but are complete twunts in real life. People are just happier to put up with it from artists, musicians, actors etc because they produce something that's of external worth.

I agree. Didn't mean to suggest the opposite, but maybe I did inadvertantly. I was more talking about people who are into food or into music, rather than people who make it (and who therefore can use the music they make to 'swallow up' the emotional parts of their personality, I guess). Again, there's no hard and fast rule, but being completely and utterly into food just seems like (at its extreme points) it would produce someone more divorced from emotion than being completely and utterly into music or film or art or whatever.
 
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