Brighton numbers...

Kensington restaurants are educational

He says...




Kitchen W8 on Abingdon Rd... pricey but I like the sound of the Côte de Boeuf with Persillade (which Wikipedia tells me is a sauce made of parsley) of Bone Marrow for two - mmmm...












The 17th Parallel Vietnamese outlet in Whole Foods, named after the Vietnamese demilitarised zone...

Mat and Cat

She says...

I've just seen another blog by a Matt and Cat!  Who also review restaurants! But just on the Isle Of Wight - wouldn't it be fabulous to go and meet them whilst trying out previously mentioned restaurant 'Seven' in Brighstone!

However, last night we booked Table 7 in Chingford, so maybe if we end up at the Isle Of Wight music festival, Bestival, in September, we'll make a contact.

Meanwhile, turns out David Beckham and Samantha Fox have been residents of the Essex suburb we're off to on Monday, but Birds Of A Feather was actually set in Chigwell. But, joy! it's literally just next door. So, I think a leisurely stroll to work off the lunch might be in order to do a bit of celeb spotting.

Within the M25

she says...

OK so we probably won't make it past the M25 again, so I've searched closer to home...

SevenStars is a pub near the Royal Courts Of Justice and Fleet Street in central London. Clearly we'd have to watch what we said in this place! A proper old school pub, it looks a great place for a relaxing pint, but not so sure of the food options. Apparently the landlady, Roxy Beaujolais, is a bit of a character though... well you'd have to be with a name like that.






Finally though, I think Table 7 stands a good chance of winning our custom. It's near a rail link heading North East out of London into Essex. Chingford apparently makes Matt think of Birds Of A Feather. I think this is a good thing. The only way is....

May Bank Holiday

she says...

Oh excuse me whilst I break my back picking up the names...

I, meanwhile, have been involved in somewhat more worthy pursuits, volunteering to be Front Of House Manager for a production of The Vagina Monologues at the very cool, and chilly, Bussey Building, a converted warehouse in Peckham. A 4 night run of Eve Enslar's infamous play and sister production A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant & A Prayer, in aid of a couple of women's charities. The cast was brilliant and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience, although the food choices in Peckham leave a lot to be desired.

Apart from the Bussey Building itself, which has a quirky bar/cafe on the first floor serving a great selection of teas, beers, wines and homemade style cakes and nibbles, there is nothing at all inspiring to eat round there. I wanted something hot one afternoon and was advised that Burger King was definitely the best option within walking distance. There are an encouraging array of independent butchers and green grocers along Rye Lane, but nowhere doing interesting takeaway or cafe style food. If anyone is thinking of opening something along these lines do it here! In the end it was a toss up between Subway and an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet takeaway and I shouldn't have gone for the Chinese. The beef stir fry dish only had lumps of bones left in it, or maybe had only ever had them in in the first place. Ah well, at least it was warm on a cold, rainy day.
A bit of a contrast to how the other half has lived this week!

So I'm looking forward to splashing out a bit on #7. We're thinking a long boozy lunch as it's a Bank Holiday - somewhere we won't be rushed, that has an interesting menu and wine list worth spending time exploring.

However it's definitely not gong to be the posh place Matt mentioned as it's closed on Mondays. Typical.

I quite fancy this place called 'Seven' on the Isle Of Wight. I like the fact it got it's name from being seven miles from 3 of the nearest towns and it's on the #7 bus route. It's also a B&B so we could go Sunday and stay over. Except it's full.

Then I found this small chain Seven Fish. There's one in Ringway, on the edge of the New Forest near where I lived for a few years as a child, and one in West Sussex. Neither place is near a train station though and I don't want to drink and drive. And I have to drink, of course.



I'm off to Brighton next week for a conference and, if only we hadn't invented this new date rule, eating here could have matched up nicely. I didn't know there was also a Seven Dials in Brighton, but this place looks modern, smart yet affordable. I'll bear it in mind whilst I'm there anyway.
And, yet more! there's a Number Seven Wine Bar And Restaurant in Cheltenham. This blog is at least doing wonders for my geography as, until now, I'd no idea Cheltenham was nearly in Wales. I'd always thought of it as just outside London. Well, if you're being a proper London snob, most of the country is, to one degree or other I guess. ;-)

10 Cases... Blacks... Bukowski

He says...
Rather by chance I ended up going to 10 Cases for a workie lunch today, the restaurant in Covent Garden of which I posted a photo just a few days ago - I had a rather lovely oxtail and foie gras terrine and a slightly boring black seabream.

But most notable was the fact that they only have four main courses to choose from, and the menu is on a chalk board on the wall. The combination of these two factors caused much neck-craning amid concerns that we were missing something on another wall just around the corner.

But more excitingly, this evening I went for a dinner at Blacks, the rather sexy underground members club on Dean Street where I got talking to someone who I think must be owner Giuseppe Mascoli. He told me about his new venture, the Bukowski Grill, which is situated in a shipping container in Shoreditch and named after the great great 'low life laureate' Charles Bukowski... (Another literary bar in the mold of The Hunter S, which opened recently and apparently doesn't quite live up to its name...)

And if that's not cool enough, he's launched it with Robin Freeman who is the head chef at Blacks and a one-time touring chef for Iggy Pop and PJ Harvey among others.

The rabbit and mashed potato at Blacks was bloody superb too - as a nearby couple said to us, the best thing they'd eaten all year. Enjoyed over a good glass of red and a tale from my host about sharing a drink with Francis Bacon at the legendary members club The Colony Room back in the 80s...

It's days like this that remind me how truly great London is...

Your starter (, main course and dessert) for ten...