Where should I eat in London?
- Thread starter Melchior
- Start date
grizzleb
Well-known member
Staying on high street, right next to 'the rex'. Until yesterday I hadn't noticed theres actually a fucking cafe right outside my door. Walking about with my eyes closed.
Will check out that place luka. Romford road seems like the place to be, not had a proper walk down it yet.
Will check out that place luka. Romford road seems like the place to be, not had a proper walk down it yet.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
any decent cheap-ish restaurnats around the strand/covent garden that anyone can recommend for a quick meal this evening? thanks
viktorvaughn
Well-known member
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
bloody hell, that place divides opinion...."fantastic"; "quite simply the worst restaurant experience of my life"
Anyone been to Lupita on Villiers Street?
Anyone been to Lupita on Villiers Street?
Slothrop
Tight but Polite
Too late now, but Leon's alright - not somewhere to show off to all your mates as this amazing little place that you know, but good if you want reasonably cheap tasty healthy food reasonably quickly before doing something else, ie getting blind drunk in the Harp.
It struck me earlier that one thing that really winds me up in restaurants is self-satisfied wannabe-cultishness - the classic example being "have you ever been to X before" before proceeding to explain at great length something that either you could have guessed without reading the menu or at least have realized within about five seconds of starting to read it - but also the tendancy to write dishes on the menu with the name of the restaurant in them - "X fish pie" where "fish pie" would do - or refer to "X's special tomato sauce" or to make up new names for fairly obvious concepts (cf Moolies). And Leon does this in spades - presumably because it used to be genuinely cultish when it was smaller - but the food is good enough and cheap enough considering the location that I'll tolerate it.
It struck me earlier that one thing that really winds me up in restaurants is self-satisfied wannabe-cultishness - the classic example being "have you ever been to X before" before proceeding to explain at great length something that either you could have guessed without reading the menu or at least have realized within about five seconds of starting to read it - but also the tendancy to write dishes on the menu with the name of the restaurant in them - "X fish pie" where "fish pie" would do - or refer to "X's special tomato sauce" or to make up new names for fairly obvious concepts (cf Moolies). And Leon does this in spades - presumably because it used to be genuinely cultish when it was smaller - but the food is good enough and cheap enough considering the location that I'll tolerate it.
luka
Well-known member
dear mr tea, i worked at romford dogs for three years. let me know how it went. there is nothing to eat there whatsoever.
grizzle, youre at the other end of stratford fom where i was raised. i grew up on the forest gate side. so bow caf is too far away for you. there is a place near the mall that is quite good. next to the post office.
grizzle, youre at the other end of stratford fom where i was raised. i grew up on the forest gate side. so bow caf is too far away for you. there is a place near the mall that is quite good. next to the post office.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
The plan at some point had been to go to a restaurant but that kind of went out the window and we ended up going straight to the dogs, where we had burgers and (actually fairly good) chips. There's not 'nothing' to eat, but it's basically burgers/hotdogs/chips or chocolate bars. I didn't win anything but I didn't bet a whole lot either. Still, it was quite exciting to do PROPER BETTING for the first time.
Back on topic, The Seven Stars, near Lincoln's Inn Fields, has some of the best pub food I've ever had. Obviously home made, not gastro-poncey and not gastro-pricey either. A huge portion of roast guinnea fowl with creamy mash and gravy came to £11, I recall. I was there again on Saturday and had chicken, ham and chestnut pie, again with good mash, for a tenner. My girlfriend had picked herrings and potato salad. The pub is > 400 years old and usually has Dark Star beers on tap, plus Addlestone's cider. It also has an old, rude, deaf landlady with pink hair and a resident cat who eats his dinner off the bar. I really can't think of a single bad thing to say about it.
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baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Thanks for the rec.
What winds me up is similar - the constant need to state the supposed provenance of the ingredient/recipe,t o make it exotic and authentic, like. Israeli couscous salad in Sainsburys - is it really Israeli? Really?
Edit: Obviously this is a bad example, seeing as Sainsburys shamelessly advertising food as Israeli is the more salient point.
but returning to the original gripe, it's somewhat like all those awful Orientalist books such as the Cellist of Grozny, the Harpist of Kabul, the Graphic Designer of Basra....
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Slothrop
Tight but Polite
Yes, I know what you mean - it's like gastropubs where they charge you an extra 50p for each adjective they can get into your sandwich. TBH if I want a really nice sandwich then I don't want to go somewhere that advertises a "Throgspottle Farm organic mature cheddar sandwich with home made wild aubergeine and single estate balsamic vinegar chutney", I want to go somewhere where I trust that something described as a "cheese and chutney sandwich" is made with nice, well chosen ingredients rather than processed cheese singles and sainsburys basics piccallili.
Having said that, israeli couscous is actually a different variety of couscous. It's white and it's got bigger grains than normal couscous.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
yeah true, I should have pointed that out, having eaten it. actually better than ordinary couscous also. A bad example to choose, but point stands, as you say.
if anyone wants a stellar meal tonight for under a tenner, go to Chili Cool near King's X and order sea spicy aubergine. Can't be beat.
if anyone wants a stellar meal tonight for under a tenner, go to Chili Cool near King's X and order sea spicy aubergine. Can't be beat.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Does anyone have the technical skills to put all the restaurants recommended on a map - if I knew how to do it, I would. Getting unfeasible to look back through all the recommendations.....
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
best review ever:
"Terrible place, food tasted like cat. Service dreadful. Vodka expensive, again a taste of cat. Do not go unless you like cat."
"Terrible place, food tasted like cat. Service dreadful. Vodka expensive, again a taste of cat. Do not go unless you like cat."
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Will give this a go! 