Latest reviews by kellytron

The Hoxton Pony

kellytron — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:31:32 +0000

Rating: 3.0

Location: 104-108 Curtain Road, EC2A 3AH, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7613 2844

Website: http://www.thehoxtonpony.com/

Tags: pretentious

Souless west end vibe in Hoxton - why bother?This place didn't appeal to me at all.

Sure it's nice and sleek looking, and the cocktail list was impressive, but I found the whole thing too slick, the crowd fairly dull and the whole thing lacked soul.

It has a real west-end vibe if that's your bag: but there are dozens of better options within a one kilometre radius - including sitting in Hoxton square with drinks from the offie.

Ye Olde Axe

kellytron — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:28:23 +0000

Rating: 4.7

Location: 69 Hackney Road, E2 8ET, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7729 5137

Tags: cool, underground, friendly

Not just a strip clubNow I am not advocating strip clubs at all, although I am sure the ladies that work here are just top nocth.

What I am giving 5 stars to is the club nights they have post 11.30pm on a Friday and Saturday night.

I was dubious too, but with the Friday night 60's theme and Staurday night Rock-a-billy theme, it is a fairly initimate venue (no pun intended) with a great crowd.

Drink prices are a little steep though: as I imagine strip club prices tend to be.

Le Mercury

kellytron — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:14:17 +0000

Rating: 4.1

Location: 140A Upper Street, N1 1QY, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7354 4088

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

Sure it's not the best French food you'll find in town but for the price it's a total steal. Quite a nice (and romatic if that's your thing) setting too.

Shunt Vaults

kellytron — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:11:14 +0000

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

Jaw dropping excellantThis 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.

Story Deli

kellytron — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:05:14 +0000

Rating: 4.4

Location: 3 Dray Walk, The Old Truman Brewery, E1 6QL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7247 3137

Great coffee, great pizza, some good looking breakfast and some decent looking customers too.

Galvin at Windows

kellytron — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:01:29 +0000

Rating: 4.3

Location: 22 Park Lane, W1K 1BE, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7208 4021

Website: http://www.galvinatwindows.com/

Great views (which is reflected in the expensive, yet skillfully produced, drinks list) and I love the olives they ring out with your drinks. Not the sort of place I'd chose to go on my own (preferring an element of grime to my normal venues) but I certainly havn't complained about coming here a couple of times for work.

Rich Mix

kellytron — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:56:51 +0000

Rating: 4.8

Location: 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, E1 6LA, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7613 7498

Website: http://www.richmix.org.uk

Great tickets when compared to most places and almost half that of the west end (Â£7 for an adult), a nice mix of hollywood and arthouse flicks and comfy couches to wait on before your movie starts. I'm yet to check out any of the exhibitions but as my local, I struggle to find a complaint.

Aura Kitchen & Bar

kellytron — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:52:30 +0000

Rating: 1.0

Location: 48-49 St. James's Street, SW1A 1JT, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7499 6655

Tags: expensive, awful, pretentious

So awful I feel like I need a drink to recoverAwful, awful venue that attempts to make you feel like it's a priveledge to be there. But it's not.
Trashy women, horrible music (think of bastardising Michael Jackson with really bad disco tunes), expensive drinks and posers ordereing drinks with sparklers coming out of them

Honestly, I feel like a worse person for having been there.

Ottolenghi

kellytron — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:54:50 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 63 Ledbury Road, W11 2AD, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7727 1121

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

Tags: expensive, vegetarian. cafe, family & home feel, crowded

Really yum (but helps to have deap pockets)Now the food here (mainly salad, breads and cold meats) is just amazing tasting and even better looking. But it really isn't cheap.

Four types of salad on a plate for Â£13 (i think) is a lot, even if they are the nicest salads I've ever tasted.

So until my pockets get deeper or my live of salad gets stronger I might stick to walking past, drooling and stealing ideas for salads to make at home!

NB: I have eaten at the one on Upper Street, Islington

St John Bread & Wine

kellytron — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 16:48:05 +0000

Rating: 4.0

Location: 94 Commercial St, E1 6LZ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7251 0848

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

Tags: meat, british

Scary animal bits = pretty tasty My friend and I decided to slink in here one day for a quiet Sunday dinner while nursing hangovers and were pretty impressed. Granted, this may have been a dangerous call as a restaurant known for the assortment of animal parts on their menu and a hangover don't seem to go together, but it worked out well.

The menu changes daily with a variety of starters (great for sharing) and a couple of main options. They sell the bread to take way and it is well worth buying too.

First up, I found the service charming especially as we were asking lots of questions in an attempt to figure out exactly what part of the animal was being served. And we got to try some dessert for free! (but couldnâ¬"t fit in anything else after our sample)

I can't remember the details of the food but here is a summary. We shared four starter plates and one main)
Cuttle fish: (Really tasty. Generous portion.)
Quail: (I didn't really try this as its pinky purple flesh scared me. Maybe this is the right colour but my hangover wouldn't let me try it)
Pork belly bits (I forget its proper name: Really moreish. We ate these until we felt ill. And then ate some more.)
Blood cake and poached duck egg: (Pretty tasty but we had a fair bit of this left over as you can only eat so much blood.)
Venison (main): (Nice and succulent)

We shied away from the more 'scary' animail bits such as heart, but they are meant to do that really well if you like that sort of thing.

Comptoir Gascon

kellytron — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:54:20 +0000

Rating: 4.4

Location: 63 Charterhouse Street, EC1M 6HJ, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7608 0851

Website: http://www.comptoirgascon.com

Tags: cosy, good value, french, romantic

Cute deli hidding a fantastic resturantWhile describing themselves as a deli, they also serve as a resturant that I adore and find any excuse to go back to.

While being well priced for the food (mains average £10-13) it has a cosy intimate atmosphere that makes it perfect for lazy dinners over a bottle of (also reasonably priced) wine.

Service is also lovely, despite feeling a little pressure to make up our minds on the last visit.

Mains are generous (although they seem to do the duck better than the rabbit in my opinion)and sides generous and super tasty. The starter of Piggy Treats is more of a Piggy Feast (and a baragin at £6ish)and stuffed the two of us easily.

I can't think of a bad thing to say about it and am currently looking for an excuse to go back. Is there a reason to celebrate July 18?

93 Feet East

kellytron — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 18:56:25 +0000

Rating: 3.7

Location: 150 Brick Lane, E1 6QL, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7247 3293

Website: http://www.93feeteast.co.uk

Tags: young and fun, indie

This place isn't pretty and the wine is pretty nasty but I love this place. It's great for lazy sunny weekends in the courtyard and for less lazy nights. A big plus is also the friendly crowd as it lacks the snob factor that's found in a lot of shoreditch hangouts.

But the best thing about this place which wins it a firm place in my heart is the arts and crafts Sunday that they some times have (i've been twice by sheer fluke).

Basically there is a big table jammed packed with FREE (how often can you say that in London!) arts supplies so you can paint, cut, sew or play with pipe cleaners til the cows come home (or until your drunk friends start to paint on you). It's like being at primary school again but with booze. Excellant stuff.

Bar Music Hall

kellytron — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:04:03 +0000

Rating: 3.8

Location: 134 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, EC2A 3AR, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7613 5951

Website: http://www.barmusichall.com

Tags: Shoreditch

This place is good... I thinkThis place may deserve more stars, or less. I can't be entirely sure.

All I know is that I went to BMH late one saturday night and in the morning I was posiive I liked it and wanted to go back soon. That's really all i know.

I'm aware this is a really bad review so I WILL go back and then I will update this review once I do.

Canteen

kellytron — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:09:24 +0000

Rating: 3.5

Location: 2 Crispin Place, E1 6DW, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 0845 686 1122

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

Tags: British, Overrated

Big, fat, nice looking let downI'd heard good things about Canteen (which the weekend lines also suggested) but was sorely disappointed.

Maybe they had an off day, but the service wasn't great (the tall skinny blond guy was good tho) and the food a let down. The fish and chips would have been a disappointment in a pub, but at least in a pub £12 would get you 2 serves. Likewise my Eggs Florentine were overcooked with a nasty tasteless hollandaise sauce - which my boy suggested tasted like "snot".

The side of Potato Gratin was fairly tasty, but so oily I got pimples looking at it.

On the plus side the location is great, I love the communal benches and its nice to see so much natural light on a sunny day.

London Zoo

kellytron — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:25:21 +0000

Rating: 3.5

Location: Regent's Park, NW1 4RY, London, United Kingdom

Phone: 020 7722 3333

Website: http://www.zsl.org/

I love the zoo (despite being slightly evil)so this gets two stars anyway, but this is really the worst zoo I've been too if I'm totally honest.
Small, confusing design, so many empty areas/work in progresses and expensive. It cost Â£4 to get into Tokyo and that kicked this Zoo's ass (as do Melbourne, Sydney and Budapest - all highly reccomended)