london restaurants

http://britishpages.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/hobgoblin.jpg

could put me off real ale for life tbf

Fuck I hate that poster.

Hi dere all, this is the London restaurants thread and we are talking about pubs and public transport. Should we just start a FAP thread like in the old days?

If we're applying the Rule of Threes then we need to FAP at the #meateasy (don't forget the hashtag!) every night until March...

I've never liked the Hobgoblin chain in any instance, but the Hobgob in NX has always had a... just... *nasty* crowd when I've been in, the beer is horrid but that's the same for all Hobs. The crowd could have changed as I've refused to go in for over 3 yrs now but if the beer has improved I will eat that hobgoblings hat with salt pepper ketchup hotsauce.

i didn't realize it was a chain - there used to be one in brixton that was known as the go-to place to score drugs.. there was actually a sign above the pool table that said "the selling of drugs in this establishment is strictly forbidden"!!

lol yeah I remember you recommending that place on one of the weed threads, but it's long closed down iirc

The one in Canterbury was alright actually, yer standard issue student town rock pub. Would probably hate it now.

I was about to add that the one in Preston was OK, but now I remember it was actually a Firkin (and the juker was free). So, sux 2 b Hobgoblings. (The Hob on, er... Holloway Road? was where I first heard of the "TVR" - further damming evidence).

There used to be one on Holloway Road, yes. Dingy student dive. Can't remember what it's called now, but it's not much better.

Holloway Road is shit for pubs actually. There's the Swimmer, Big Red can be alright if it's not too rammed, and that's it.

there was actually a sign above the pool table that said "the selling of drugs in this establishment is strictly forbidden"!!

There was a similar sign in the Castle just off Commercial Road (site of all-night mega-FAP a few years ago) which amused me, coming as I do from a hotbed of drug-dealery, where no pubs would dare stick up such a sign (possibly because they would lose all their customers if it was enforced).

the Duchess of Kent is like a minute from the holloway road and pretty good.

once i went to a Hobgoblin in Tokyo. it was one of the more, uh, cognitively dissonant experiences i've had because it was like every other Hobgoblin everywhere (except the (ex-)devonshire arms in camden).

ha, i've been to that tokyo hobgoblin too - that's where anna-marie's brother was working when we went. in fact was that when you went there too?

oh god the commercial rd castle. many a night has been lost behind the sofa there, though not for aaaages.

Oh yeah, I forgot the Devonshire was a Hobgoblin now. Like you say, can't imagine that's changed it at all. Me and a mate went in there for lols once, and almost didn't get let in cos the bouncer thought we were going to pick fights with the goths.

Holy crapoly:
http://www.hobgoblin.jp/Roppongi/tabid/119/language/en-GB/Default.aspx

Blimey they've got Doom Bar which is more than I have ever seen a HG in the UK have. They probably can't get a license to export their own vile brew for H&S reasons.

I think the Castle has gone respectable and only opens until 2 or 3 now.

lex: you know, i don't remember at all? it was the one in roppongi iirc, which was an area of town i'd managed to avoid for the previous 6 months or whatever, so the whole experience was fairly unreal.

i'm sorry i don't see how japanese public houses get any of us any closer to a big stack of meat + cheese in New Cross.

Went looking for weed in Clapton one time and seeing this sign "the selling of drugs in this establishment is strictly forbidden" in the pub we knew we'd hit the jackpot. It was shit weed though unfortunately.

I love The Cinnamon Club in Westminster, too expensive, but really good high end Indian.

seeing this sign "the selling of drugs in this establishment is strictly forbidden" in the pub we knew we'd hit the jackpot

Hahah I mean yeah, exactly.

I haven't been to too many high end indians, but I've always been disappointed when I have. I can get a better curry from my local balti house TBH (Monsoon in Dartmouth Park, I think it's a gem).

i'd be up for a meatswag fap (would be my first eeek!)

letz do it. i suggest matt dc organises cuz he's good at that. (after one particularly hideous like-herding-cats venture into the world of organising social events a few years back, i swore off it forever.)

we need to pick a weekend when tpp is back, and when cis is in london?

feb works best for me if it's still going then

I am soooooo in for this.

Urge to splurge?

Thomas Keller, USA's best chef, is opening a 10-day pop-up in Harrod's.
http://www.bighospitality.co.uk/Venues/Thomas-Keller-plans-Harrods-pop-up-restaurant

So is our little meateasy joint going to happen?

went to meateasy tonight was absolutely manic but still as delicious as the wagon. we went and had some drinks in the pub below and then went in as soon as it opened and then it's kind of a raffle ticket system for getting served. would suggest fap maybe in the week when it might be slightly more quiet.

Heston Blumenthal's new restaurant at the Mandarin hotel = A+++++++++ would eat all this food again.

you are a lucky man

earliest booking i could get was the end of freaking may

It was a surprise birthday thing, I didn't actually realise where I was until I had been sitting at the table for 10 minutes. Admittedly part of this was thinking the restaurant wasn't due to open for another few months.

going there for lunch on monday, any particular recommendations matt?

Isn't it a set menu type deal?

not yet - they have a short 'cheap' set lunch menu but other than that it's all a la carte, their tasting menu isn't ready yet and wont be served for another couple of months

I am still up for the meat easy btw, anyone in?

My cousin works in the kitchen at The Anchor and Hope in Southwark, had a Sunday there last week which blew my mind. So good.

Sunday roast I meant! Tho the Sunday in general was good too.

The Anchor & Hope is the best pub for food in the whole of London. Hell, it beats most restaurants hands-down. Anything game-related there is a winner.

truth bomb

Matt I am mad envious of you, that place just sounds staggeringly great (and i am not normally 'into' fine dining).

Dinner, that is.

re anchor & hope, the cooking there is generally v good and their sourcing or raw product is fantastic but their bullshit no bookings policy (apart from sunday lunch) means I no longer bother chancing it. imo the harwood arms is doing the best pub food in the city, though it's not nearly as well located as h&a

sourcing OF raw product

Ate extremely well at the Anchor & Hope five years ago, so good to hear it's still on form.

Had a fantastic Sunday lunch at St John in Farringdon last weekend. Bone marrow with chard, capers and parsley; you scraped the marrow out of the bone and onto your toast, then added the other stuff on top with a handful of salt. Then braised ox heart (a day ahead of Valentines!) which was amazing - kinda like thin-sliced fillet steak, but smoother. Finally, a huge bowl of rhubarb Eton mess: great big dollops of the stuff, no faffing around with the presentation. Will definitely re-visit.

Love the anchor & hope; don't mind no bookings there, prob bcz I've been lucky with getting a seat generally, and it's near a workplace (& nearish home) for me. Would feel diff if I travelled some & had to drink among braying foodies for hours to eat some stuff (imagine polpo/polpetto being like this at the mo, cld be wrong).

Def still on for Meateasy. Might be going tomorrow, but with girlfriend. Going to avoid 'Darling, here are some people I barely know from the internet', but I imagine I'll be on to go again.

love the a+h, it's almost exactly between work and home and i go there a fair bit for lunch. if you don't mind an early dinner then getting there before six should get you a table, if not straight away then without too long a wait. or it has done in the past...

yeah polpetto is kinda that way at the moment, or at least it has been any time i've wandered past. sworn off any place which simultaneously doesnt take reservations and serves to attract the digital slr brigade since standing for over an hour outside franco manca in brixton after about 2 hours sleep a few months back.

yeah i guess a&h is ideal if you are basically traveling past it twice a day, but for me it isn't the kind of place i would be bothered to rush to immediately after leaving work just to have a hope of being seated in a reasonable amount of time

no-bookings policies are so shit

Yeah, they feel likeable if somewhere's super convenient for a pop-in and you have figured out the rhythms of its custom. Otherwise maddening. (esp when I suspect I am being made to stand around w/ overpriced drinks in order to create a sense of 'buzz' around yr establishment.)

No bookings policies are fine in a pub, which is what the Anchor & Hope is really.