Dragon Castle, Elephant & Castle

A month ago, Jon and I went to see the highly-entertaining (popular, even) Pop Life exhibit at the Tate Modern, and afterwards, we somehow reasoned that because Elephant & Castle was so “close by,” we should try out Dragon Castle for dinner, which TimeOut loved.
So we hopped on the Northern Line at London Bridge and [...]

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Pilpel Falafel, Spitalfields

Of the many amazing memories I have of my trip to Israel last summer, eating the best falafel and hummous of my life ranks up there. So imagine my excitement when Pilpel opened near Spitalfields Market (which is where I work). For the past three months, I’ve found it a colossal exercise of [...]

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Young Bean, Barbican

Because two friends independently emailed me about Young Bean on the same day, I couldn’t not try it out.
Young Bean is a mostly-Korean restaurant perched on a “highwalk” close to London Wall, but somehow, despite its isolation, the place was packed at lunch when I visited last week.
Theoretically, £12 may seem a bit pricey for [...]

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My Old Place, Spitalfields

Back in January, I first visited the divey-but-certain-dishes-are-delicious Gourmet San, and so I was thrilled to learn that Gourmet San has a sister restaurant near Spitalfields Market called My Old Place (now that I work near Spitalfields, I’d like to find a nearby Chinese restaurant that’s good for lunch).  So two weeks ago, four friends [...]

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St. John Bread and Wine, Spitalfields

An old friend who used to live in London and now lives in Hong Kong was back in town last week, and he wanted to eat pig products, English-style.  Obviously, that meant  St. John Restaurant.  Sadly, the Restaurant had no available tables on my friend’s only free evening, but its more casual sibling, St. John [...]

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Boho Mexica, Spitalfields

Two weeks ago, some of my expat friends and I read this glowing review of Boho Mexica and knew we had to check it out immediately. If you know any American expats in London, you’ll know that Mexican food is our catnip and crack, rolled into one. (It’s an odd phenomenon, of course. [...]

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Shilpa Indian Restaurant, Hammersmith

Last Friday, Jon and I met our friends at the Lyric Hammersmith for a performance of “Punk Rock” (which, by the way, was pretty forgettable). The show ended at 9:30 pm and I needed food, stat. Thank goodness for Tamarind & Thyme’s July post on Shilpa Indian Restaurant. The restaurant is near [...]

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The Compass Pub, Islington

Despite the good number of tasty gastropubs in Islington, it’s still nice when a new one opens in the ‘hood. The Compass has been open about three months, and for a place that doesn’t want to be known as a gastropub (they insist they’re a pub that happens to serve food – whaaat?), the place [...]

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Gold Mine Chinese, Bayswater

Usually when I eat Chinese food in London, it’s dim sum, which means it’s rare that I go out for “regular” Chinese food.  So it was a nice change when our friends decided we should meet them at Gold Mine this past Saturday.
The TimeOut review of Gold Mine claimed that the restaurant serves “Queensway’s finest [...]

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Caphe House, London Bridge

Last Friday, Jon and I had tickets to see Romeo & Juliet at the Globe (and obviously, Jon was very excited, because what man doesn’t love R&J?). And because the show started at 7:30 pm, the challenge was finding a quick, tasty, nearby place to eat dinner. (Much as I love the South [...]

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Princi, Soho

I’ve been on a theater kick lately (the second half of Arcadia is a stand-out, by the way), and one of the major challenges associated with theater-going is finding a place to eat that’s quick, tasty and near the theater. So I finally got around to trying Princi, the Alan Yau-backed London branch of [...]

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Keelung, Soho

These days, Chinatown seems to be divided between two major players – the Bar Shu people and the Leong’s Legend people. Both restaurants have been building on the success of their initial ventures and expanding in the neighborhood. Presumably there’s a rivalry in there somewhere, and if so, I side with the Leong’s [...]

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Banhmi 11, Broadway Market

Banhmi11 is a stand in Broadway Market that sells one thing only:  banh mi.  Very exciting.  In case you didn’t know, I’m a banh mi fan.  The obsession started years ago when I lived in Washington, DC.  There, the Song Que grilled pork banh mi was worth the hassle of driving out to suburban Virgina.  [...]

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Bocca di Lupo, Soho

Surely I’m the last one in the London food blog community to make it to Bocca di Lupo. But it’s not for lack of trying. I’d heard the place served mid-priced, high-quality Italian cooking. So *of course* I’d tried multiple times to get a booking. I was always negged, though. Clearly no mojo.
Finally, last Wednesday, [...]

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Ten Ten Tei, Soho

For a couple of weeks, Jon had been telling me we should go to Ten Ten Tei. He works near Covent Garden and apparently Ten Ten Tei has become a lunch fave of his. By way of background, I should explain that Jon isn’t the world’s biggest fan of sushi, mostly because he [...]

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