Latest favourites and wishlist by gilka

The Engineer - review by meikejean

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:24:39 +0000

The Engineer - review by meikejean

Rating: 3.2

Location: 65 Gloucester Avenue, NW1 8JH, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7722 0950

Website: http://www.the-engineer.com

Tags: pretentious, gastro pub, standard pub food, beer garden

Today was a glorious Autumn Sunday in London - possibly our last for 2008 - and everyone was out and about making the most of the city, with smiles as bright as the sunshine. That's everyone except the staff at The Engineer, who were grumpy and rude and contemptuous from the moment we arrived.

We had a booking for a large group of 12, which we all understand can be more difficult to look after in terms of serving meals etc so we split our group into a table of 6 and table of 4 as requested - this pub doesn't do bookings for more than 10. The waitress 'looking after us' in fact told us that their kitchen can't handle tables larger than 6.

Our plan for the afternoon was to sit in the beer garden on this beautiful day, eat a yummy lunch (which it was), and share quite a few drinks with some friends but the staff at this pub seemed intent on making sure that didn't happen - we were sick of the treatment so left as soon as we'd finished lunch to go to another pub nearby for a few more drinks.

The staff at The Engineer don't seem to understand the concept of the hospitality business. They were anything but hospitable. I won't be coming back or recommending it.

Apostrophe - review by sophietemples

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:31:09 +0000

Apostrophe - review by sophietemples

Rating: 3.0

Location: 138 Notting Hill Gate, W11 3QG, London, United Kingdom

Tags: average brew

I was warned off this cafe by a good friend after their staff rudely refused to let her son use the toilet during the carnival a few weeks back, despite buying coffees and several snacks for the kids. However my husband visits their branch in the city and swears by their coffee, so we popped in while passing over the weekend. My husband flashed his evening standard card for his usual discount and staff looked at us blankly! I don't know who was more embarrased.

Disappointing, but I should have known to steer clear of the chains.

Foundry - review by abcjess

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:07:34 +0000

Foundry - review by abcjess

Rating: 3.3

Location: 84-86 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3JL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7739 6900

Tags: live music, live, electronica, pretentious, underground, relaxed

When it comes to the foundry, it really does depend on the experience, Iâ¬"m not sure where I stand with it. Iâ¬"ve had enjoyable times there and recently, less enjoyable times there. It depends on the crowd and who youâ¬"re with. The toilets and graffiti are pretty but that feature can be found anywhere in the area really. I have heard good things about their art installations and live events and did enjoy one, but I found the noise from upstairs invasive.

The bar is quite small and can get very crowded, which can be hard for someone a bit smaller (like myself) to get served â¬ but once served, drinks come fast. It has a nice outside atmosphere, and I find people are much more friendly outside.

Bar Italia - review by beckyfox

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 22:00:03 +0000

Bar Italia - review by beckyfox

Rating: 3.8

Location: 22 Frith Street, W1D 4RP, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7437 4520

Tags: lively

Went here with my best friends after a fab dinner out. it is the best night club to go out with the girls. The staff are friendly and very attentive! The music is great and the atmosphere is fab! the cocktails are yummy can't remember which one we choose but a big frozen blue one is so good!! the music is a real mix or the classic oldies with the new chart hits!! the club is very clean there was a girl constantly mopping the dance floor. also my friend's feet hurt and a bar waiter overheard and got her flat shoes to wear for the rest of the evening if that isn't service i don't know what is!!

Shunt Vaults - review by gregwo

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:04:58 +0000

Shunt Vaults - review by gregwo

Rating: 4.6

Location: 20 Stainer Street, SE1 9RL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7378 7776

Website: http://www.shunt.co.uk/

Tags: relaxed, cool & smart, young and fun, underground, friendly

The Shunt Vaults have an atmosphere that can't be matched-- deep in the tunnels of London Bridge Shunt is making amazingly craetive work in the context of a members bar. It's a fantastic evening where you can enjoy some drinks and check out whatever is on offer that week to see-- bands performance art, theatre or a range of other things. The place has a great buzz about it and there's nothing that I know of like it around. The work they create there is so interesting and diverse, you'll always be in for something new every time you go!

Most definitely worth checking out!

Dove Free House & Kitchen - review by gregwo

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:29:00 +0000

Dove Free House & Kitchen - review by gregwo

Rating: 3.4

Location: 24-28 Broadway Market, E8 4QJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7275 7617

Tags: relaxed, excellent pub food, young and fun, friendly

The Dove is a great pub with a relaxed and rustic atmosphere. It's right on Broadway Market, so it's great to pop in for a drink on a Saturday afternoon when the market is on or in the evening. It's always a friendly crowd and there's a huge selection of beers and great guest ales.

My partner and I frequent the restaurant as well-- we seem to have become regulars as the food is so good and the restaurant staff extremely welcoming and friendly. I specificly recommend their selection of burgers and salmon fishcakes. The price is a little higher than cheap pub food, but you're getting good quality for it-- completely worth it. I definitely recommend The Dove!

Passing Clouds - review by MGEEK

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:53:18 +0000

Passing Clouds - review by MGEEK

Rating: 3.3

Location: 440 Richmond Road, E8 4AA, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7502 2789

Tags: pretentious, mature

I have been to this venue exactly TWO times, and will never grace it's corridors again.

A friend of mine organised a night there, which I did a spot of dj-ing at, and he got nothing by pain and strife from the guy who runs it.

Apparrently the fellow who runs it is very particular about the sort of night he puts on, and the type of people he wants to go. Personally I find that kind of stance a bit annoyingly elitist, but each to their own.

Therefore, my friend ran EVERYTHING by this guy- the type of acts that would be playing, the type of music the dj's would be playing...everything with no problem.

UNTIL the actual night of the event, when the owner basically ran around flapping his arms about everything, going 'this is all wrong, this is all wrong, this isn't the sort of thing we want here at all'!- To which I say- organise your own nights then!

My first hand experience of this, was when I started dj-ing...I hadn't set up the sound system, but the mixer LOOKED like it was going into the red- wasn't a problem, there was no distortion or anything. Until I played a single by Del Shannon- 'move it on over', which is a garage classic, comped on one of the teenage shutdown records- and well known for being an EVERYTHING IN THE RED, distorted and LOUD mix.

This guy, the owner, came running up to me and started shouting in my face, as if I was going to blow things up! I couldn't believe it...

Anyway! Why am I telling you all of this? You're probably reading this because you are interested in a night out there, or something, not because you're putting on a night there.

Well...I think this kind of attitude filters down, and creates a nasty vibe in the place. It DOESN'T seem like the friendly, hippy type venue it so wants to be, because the guy running it is like a crusty version of Basil Fawlty! Then you start to notice other things...you can only buy bottles of beer- at three fifty a pop...a night in this place is going to cost you SERIOUS money if you like a drink.

I'd avoid it at all costs, personally.

Oh, and at the end of the night, when my friends partner wanted to count the takings- would the owner let her step out of the crowd and into the bar area? Would he ever!

A fake hippy venue, run by an angry little man. Don't go there.

Dove Free House & Kitchen - review by papayoyo

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:13:55 +0000

Dove Free House & Kitchen - review by papayoyo

Rating: 3.4

Location: 24-28 Broadway Market, E8 4QJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7275 7617

Tags: jazz, gastro pub, excellent pub food, cool & smart, live, young professionals, students, trendy, relaxed, cool, live music

The Dove, situated on Broadway Market beside London Fields, is a somewhat genteel and refined establishment, with a real coal fire, candle-lit tables, a wide selection of connaisseur beers and ales, board games, live jazz and a fine dining area. It has the widest range of beers I've ever seen in a pub including gems like Delerium Tremens which will soon have you falling of your seat at 9% alcohol, not to mention the Â£3.50 per glass. So it's a little expensive but offers a cosy but classy atmosphere to impress a date with. The food is excellent if again a bit pricey but the decor is all oak beams, antique artwork and it has, somewhat incongruently, the finest high-tech unisex bathroom of any pub I've seen. It's always quite packed with young artsy-media types but an enchanting experience any day of the week.

Bar Italia - review by boxinghefner

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:38:38 +0000

Bar Italia - review by boxinghefner

Rating: 3.8

Location: 22 Frith Street, W1D 4RP, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7437 4520

Tags: quick bite, average brew

You don't go to Bar Italia for the food or coffee (which is always 'standard' at best) you go for the ambiance; the strange mix of gay men, italians, bikers, police and whom-ever else may wander by. Grab a coffee and spend the next two hours glaring at strangers, I dare you.

Shunt Vaults - review by girlswear

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:11:44 +0000

Shunt Vaults - review by girlswear

Rating: 4.6

Location: 20 Stainer Street, SE1 9RL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7378 7776

Website: http://www.shunt.co.uk/

Tags: live music, indie, cool & smart, live, electronica, young and fun, pool, underground, trendy, friendly, cool

This is one of my favourite places in London. The Shunt Vaults situated beneath the London Bridge, you can still feel the dampness and musty air of this Victorian vault.

No matter how often you visit, it's a different experience on it's own, mainly because each week is curated by a different artist including art, performance art, dance, live band and DJs. Permanent area includes a small pinball arcade and pool. You can go into different rooms with different things happening, or find that secret vault with your friends. Shunt is a MUST experience if you've never been, and you'll be addicted.

Shunt Vaults - review by chrisp

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:02:31 +0000

Shunt Vaults - review by chrisp

Rating: 4.6

Location: 20 Stainer Street, SE1 9RL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7378 7776

Website: http://www.shunt.co.uk/

Tags: trendy, cool & smart, young professionals, glamorous, young and fun, students, sexy

An extraordinary place, like stepping into a Jack-the-Ripper film set, only with alcohol and burlesque dancers. Set in a good acre of sooty disused railway arches and long-forgotten brick vaults underneath London Bridge station, Shunt is a completely unique experience and well worth the effort finding it (it's almost invisible from the outside). Drinks may be nothing special, and they didn't even serve food as far as I could tell, but you can have hours of fun just wandering through the grimy urban spaces, hiding in the shadows or dancing in the spotlights. There's nowhere else like it.

Song Que - review by Alita

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:51:52 +0000

Song Que - review by Alita

Rating: 4.7

Location: 134 Kingsland Road, E2 8DY, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7613 3222

Tags: lively, cheap eat, crowded, vietnamese

I really want to try more of the non-Song Que Vietnamese cafes along Kingsland Road but this restaurant draws me back time and again. Choose the right dishes and you'll get a selection of some of the most cheap, fresh, delicious food to be found anywhere in London. Avoid the deep-fried starters and chinese-y stuff and order some rice paper rolls, a Vietnamese pancake, a bowl of decent Pho and top it off with a Cendol for dessert. You will not be disappointed and will probably come away with change of Â£30 for two.

The Engineer - review by chrisp

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:16:04 +0000

The Engineer - review by chrisp

Rating: 3.2

Location: 65 Gloucester Avenue, NW1 8JH, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7722 0950

Website: http://www.the-engineer.com

Tags: lively, british, gastro pub, international, good value

As should be perfectly apparent to any readers of my reviews, I am no photographer. It's pushing the limits of my meagre ability just taking an in-focus shot of an immobile plate of food three feet from my face, so whilst for many people a trip to London Zoo would provide a bounty of photogenic opportunity, the best I could manage was a slightly blurry shot of a group of lazy lemurs, barely recognisable behind thick chicken wire. I do possess other skills, however - not least the ability to sniff out a gastropub within half a mile, and so as the queue for the zoo stretched halfway down Albert Road at 1:30 on Saturday afternoon, I suggested we have lunch first and give the crowds a chance to dissipate.

The Engineer is a handsome, rather eclectically decorated pub in the handsome, eclectic neighbourhood of Primrose Hill. Staff were cheery and slightly hippified, in keeping with the area, and the menu followed suit, containing a variety of standard gastropub ingredients (chicken breast, cod, lamb) served with some less-than-standard sides (harissa, bok choi and mash, barley and grape salad). It was tempting stuff, and our rickety little corner table was beginning to feel very much like home as I sipped on a pint of Hook Norton ale and gazed out over the well-heeled crowd.

It being only lunchtime, and mindful of the looming Â£15 zoo entrance fee (that place goes up by Â£5 every year, I swear), we had one course each. As you can see, my lamb fillet was nothing if not a pretty plate of food, coloured by pomegranete seeds and flecks of chilli, and the meat itself was rich and tasty with nicely roasted potatoes. But the barley and grape salad was, as you might have already decided, perhaps just a little into 'weird' territory. Not quite enough to stop me wolfing down the whole lot, obviously, but nothing I would go out of my way to recreate at home or order again somewhere else. I need dishes like this though occasionally, just to be reassured that some people are brave enough to try new flavour combinations, otherwise you'd just end up being offered the same stuff everywhere. So well done The Engineer - your barley and grape salad is wrong, but don't stop trying.

We did eventually make it to the zoo, and despite the price rise it's still one of my favourite ways of spending a sunny afternoon. In summer they have a hugely overpriced BBQ set up near the penguins, serving many of the animals you're paying to go and see roasted inside a sesame seed bun. It's a slightly surreal experience, and one guaranteed to set your moral compass spinning, so I would recommend following your own gastro radar some place else if you're need of sustenance. There's no shortage of options, and I can thoroughly recommend the Engineer at the very least.

Dove Free House & Kitchen - review by Rossmcross

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:05:22 +0000

Dove Free House & Kitchen - review by Rossmcross

Rating: 3.4

Location: 24-28 Broadway Market, E8 4QJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7275 7617

i went here last Sunday lunchtime to introduce a Polish friend to a good old Sunday Roast... what a mistake... the whole place smelled of stale beer, service was surly, charge on debit cards (whatever the amount!) and the sunday roast was horrible! Roast potatoes tasted deep-fried, meat was grey and bland, apple sauce was from a jar and i reckon the Yorkshire pudding was from Aldi! For a TENNER!!!

Avoid.

Shunt Vaults - review by kellytron

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:12:39 +0000

Shunt Vaults - review by kellytron

Rating: 4.6

Location: 20 Stainer Street, SE1 9RL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7378 7776

Website: http://www.shunt.co.uk/

Tags: relaxed, young and fun, students, underground, trendy

This place just amazed me. I couldn't think of a more perfect venue. Massive space (with hidden nooks and crannies so pick how loud/busy an area you want to be in), performance, live music, art, pinball machines, cheap booze and even a truck with chairs on the tray to sit in. I actually passed about 30minutes pretending to drive this truck and honking the pretend horn - but this isn't compulsory although it does speak volumes about how much of the aforementioned cheap booze I may have consumed.

It's the sort of place you could take a jaded Hoxton-ite and actually get an impressed look out of them.