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The Westbridge

The Westbridge
74-76 Battersea Bridge Road
SW11 3AG

Date of Last Visit: Monday, March 2nd, 2009

The Victims: Many

The Damage: Free. This was a freebie.

The Background: After our tour of Sambrook's, we head over to The Westbridge for pints of prawns and platters of oysters. Oh yes, and six different beers. (1/3 pours. Don't panic. It's only Monday after all.)

The Food: My photos of the prawns didn't pan out so well. But they oysters look luscious, don't they? I ate a lot of oysters that night. And Lizzie, Niamh and I cleaned up all the prawns that went uneaten as well.

The Beers: Adnams Best Bitter, Porterhouse Red, Thwaite's Nutty Black (my favorite), Oyster Stout (I took off after this one), Draft Guinness and a choice of either Sleemans I.P.A, Maredsous, or Duvel Green.

Funny: He-Man Wallpaper on the way down to the loos.

The Verdict: We thought the prawns were really fresh (smallish though, but you did get a very generous pint of them) and we loved the oysters. I also liked the big table we sat at at the back of the pub. If I were in the area again, I'd go back here.

Woolpack

 

Woolpack
98 Bermondsey St
SE1 3UB

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, January 4, 2008

The Victims: Matt, Carolyn, Gerry, Ben

The Damage: Cheap. Probably £10 each? We were buying rounds so I lost track.

The Background: We were having one of those lovely random London days. We'd met at 2 p.m. on the South Bank to watch a man covered in Holly climb out of the Thames. We raced the crowds to The George Inn, where we enjoyed some drinks and talked to some Italians. Eventually, it was time for a change of venue, and some of us (uh, me) hadn't eaten all day. So it was time to get fed and potato chips/crisps weren't cutting it.

The Entrance: The Woolpack is nothing special from the outside. On the inside, it's this odd mixture of old and new. I dig the tilework though. Big time. I just wish people wouldn't try to hang things on tiles. It really ruins the effect.

The Beer: There's only Green King. Well, let me rephrase. There are a lot of beers, but there's only one ale. Green King. That's fine. We load up. And we get some hummus and pita too. And some fries/chips. They're all fine.

The Garden: Hey, there's a beer garden! With crazy London transport signs as tables. I'm a sucker for this sort of stuff. I would come back here in the summer. I miss beer gardens.

The Loo: I bit confusing, that one. I almost got lost. Before I even got there.

The Verdict: This was fine. Just fine. I'd go back for the garden.

The Pembury Tavern

The Pembury Tavern
90 Amhurst Road, Hackney, E8 1JH
http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/pembury/

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, December 17th

The Victims: Gerry, Ben, Matt, Carolyn

The Damage: £10

The Background: I've been wanting to go to The Pembury for ages. Because they have a lot of beer at The Pembury. Stonch has written about beer at The Pembury a number of times.

Luckily for me, Gerry has organized tickets for a Christmas pantomime at The Hackney Empire and The Pembury is a convenient meeting place beforehand.

The Entrance: The Pembury is large. It's a solid sort of place. There's nothing dainty here. There's also no one in the place at 6:30 on a Wednesday night, and for that, I'm grateful. As soon as the kitchen opens, we put in our food orders. We've already started making our way through their beer list.

The Service: The food takes FOREVER to arrive. This is bad. Because we seriously have to scarf it and run. We make it to the theatre with about three minutes to spare.

The Food: Parsnip soup for me. It's okay. It's very plain. I think it was advertised as being "spiced" parsnip soup. I can't taste much of anything. Eh.

The Verdict: I like The Pembury. I'm not so sure about the food, however.

Another Pub with Food: The Lowlander

The Lowlander
36 Drury Lane
WC2B 5RR
Tel: 020 7379 7446

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, July 6, 2008

The Victim: Louise

The Damage: £14 each. I owe Louise though because I only had £8 with me.

The Background: Louise and I have just completed the British 10k. She in pretty much exactly an hour, me in 1 hour and 8 minutes. This is quite a bit off from the 8 minute mile I used to run, so I've signed up for the Nike Human Race on August 31st in Wembley to force me to get back into fighting shape.

After the race, we really want a beer. Or maybe it's just me that really wants a beer, because I drink my beer pretty quickly while Louise nurses hers.

The Entrance: We're at The Lowlander in Covent Garden, which is empty for 12 noon on a Sunday. It's so empty, and so is the service. We ask for tap water. They forget. We ask for ketchup. They forget. We ask for the bill. They forget. Come on people!!!

The Food: My burger is pretty decent. The bun too--it's not one of those doughy piles of nothingness. The chips are just chips though.

My Legs: Are killing me. Really. I'm dying. I need a massage.

The Loos: Surprisingly clean and tidy for a place I'd imagine is pretty high mileage in the evenings.

The Verdict: Well, don't go expecting anything fantastic. There's a huge beer menu. And a decent selection of food. The service just needs to be a little bit more with it.

Lunch: Coco Momo

Coco Momo
79 Marylebone High Street
W1U 5JZ
Tel: 020 7486 5746

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, June 8

The Victims: Al, Oscar Rutton, Richard

The Damage: £15 or thereabouts each

The Background: It is just so very lovely Sunday that we must get out and go somewhere. We debate a picnic in the park but Rutton wisely decides that buying all the stuff will be too much work. So instead Richard suggests Coco Momo, right on Marylebone High Street.

I am late--I've been with the accupuncturist, my new addiction--and I'm feeling very light-headed in a good way as I slowly make my way around Marylebone to meet the boys. I approach from the west and run smack dab into them, sitting at a sunny table on the pavement, looking very 2008 with young Oscar in tow.

The Food: Salads for all of us. Nice salads. Very refreshing and relaxing and perfect for a day like this when all you want to do is sit and have something light and get a little color. After lunch, we buy some ice cream and Pouilly Fuisse and lay around Regent's Park for hours, playing backgammon and watching Oscar push his pram around.

The Verdict: Nice. 

Butler's Wharf Chophouse

Butler's Wharf Chophouse
36e Shad Thames
SE1 2YE
Tel: 020 7403 3403

Date of Last Visit: Wednesday, April 30th

The Victims: Aunt Ursula, Uncle George

The Damage: £50 or thereabouts

The Background: U&G have been to see the Tower of London. I've stayed home to catch up on life, but I find myself quickly at loose ends. They call me to punch in around noon and I express my boredom and offer to meet them for lunch.

They are so very cold and wet when I pick them up at the Starbucks on Shad Thames that traveling for food is not an option. We walk into the first restaurant available, which is the bar at The Butler's Wharf Chophouse.

I love having no expectations. I assume my food at the Chophouse will be good, but not great. I assume service will be okay. They exceed our expectations in so many ways as to have me repeatedly wonder out loud, "And why is it that I have never eaten here before?"

Firstly, the bread. There's bread with rosemary in it. It's amazingly good and zingy. When our bread bowl is empty, my uncle asks our server to just fill it up with the rosemary slices. Over on the sideboard, there's an oasis of bread. Hundreds, if not thousands of slices, ready to be served. We are enraptured. (OK, I am exaggerating on the thousands bit.)

Secondly, my carrot soup. It's the perfect remedy to such an awful, awful day. It is warm and comforting and salty and (perhaps not surprisingly) full of carrots. I am in love.

Thirdly, the fish and chips. This is my aunt and uncle's first and only experience with fish and chips in London. My uncle is a heavy duty recreational fisherman. We're talking tuna, here, mainly. Lots and lots of tuna. He used to have a license plate that said Blue Fin. (Don't worry, he understands more than most about what's happened to the world's stocks of blue fin tuna.) My point in telling you this is that he's caught the fish and cooked it himself (or skipped the cooking entirely and just eaten it directly). He knows fresh fish. And he is in love with his fish and chips. He notes that if the fish were any fresher, it would leap from the plate. Days later, and they are still talking about the fish and chips with that starry sort of wondrous look in their eyes.

I have the sea bream and it's nice and healthy. Then I go and ruin it all by eating all their leftovers.

The Verdict: I will be back, and I'll order my own fish and chips thank you.

Bar Food: Westbourne House

Westbourne House
65 Westbourne Grove
W2 4UJ
020 7229 2233

The Date: Sunday January 13, 2008

The Victims: Rutton, Evren

The Damage: £20 or maybe even a bit less.

The Background: I've walked into a Timeout photo shoot. Seriously. They are there taking photos of the cocktails at Westbourne House. Good sign, I think. But too bad I'm not drinking. Sigh. It's too early for a cocktail anyhow. It's not yet 3 p.m.!

My college roommate Erin--her grandfather had these rules. Firstly, Gin & Tonic is a summer drink. And only a summer drink. White Russians are acceptable at other times of year.  Secondly, there is no drinking before 3 p.m. These rules still boomerang through my brain when I find myself at a garden party on a Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. Because you know, that's what I do with my Saturdays.

Well, I'm not at a garden party and it's not Saturday. And I don't even like gin & tonics. But here I am, sitting in a very empty Westbourne House during PRIME brunch time. And there's nothing going on. Maybe they should offer pancakes or something. Blueberry pancakes would be nice.

But in come Rutton and Evren and there are no blueberry pancakes. So it's a steak sandwich and a steak sandwich (no bloody Mary, but I was so very tempted to put it on the Underhills bill) and a club sandwich of some sort. Fries on the side. Hmmm.

The Verdict: Only if it was my only option. Good. Just good. Nothing special. I was kinda miffed for heading all the way across town for this one.

Random Excitement...I'm bringing in the pros and Botoxing up the blog. I've suggested Matt Bites, Food Beam, Lovescool, and Amateur Gourmet as sites I like the look and feel of. Are there others? As I've been trolling the Internet for inspiration, I've been been awed by the numbers of Bloggers out there. Who knew we had so much to say?

Even More Random Excitement...I remembered some other sites I like the look and feel of...Eggbeater, Find Your Craving, and Pomegranita/Love Made Visible.

Coming Soon to this London food blog...Cancun Round-up, Tokyo Diner in Leicester Square, pastries in Chinatown, Magdla in Belsize, Oops in Covent Garden...

Bar Food: Big Red

385 Holloway Road
N7 0RY
Tel: 020 7609 6662

Date of Last Visit: Friday, 18 January

The Victims: Gerry, Ben

The Damage: £10 or so?

The Background: In Chicago, one of my favorite bars in the entire world was Delilah's on Lincoln, just south of Diversey. Great music. Mixed crowd. Excellent beers. (Who doesn't love $2 PBR's???) So when Gerry and Ben were talking about Big Red and the music and the crowd and the bar, I got pretty excited about the prospect of visiting because it sounded a lot like Delilah's. Now, going to a bar when you're taking a break from the sauce is an interesting thing...but out of all the people I've encountered this month thus far, the folks at Big Red gave me the least amount of hassle. Tap water? Fine. Diet Coke? Coming right up. Cranberry and soda? Done. Gotta give 'em credit for not blinking. I get the sense they've seen it all before.

The Entrance: Big Red is dark, and I'm very grateful for the smoking ban. The crowd early in the evening is gentrifying. Later in the evening, it's punk and goth and a little metal thrown in. Plus some dear old regulars, who I have to wonder about. Do they like totally dig Metallica? Because the juke box is playing Metallica. And Muddy Waters. And Talking Heads. And at £1 for three songs, I'm a sucker.

The Food: I go for the burger and fries; Gerry and Ben opt for fajitas, which look much better than they taste, apparently. My burger is serviceable but they forgot to toast the bun, which is unforgiveable. That's a lazy man's burger.

The Decor: The neon promises Coronas and Coors Light, neither of which are to be had. TVs blare "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" It all feels so random, yet so right.

The Loos: Need a power washing. But I've seen worse.

The Verdict: I'll go back for the crowd and the juke box. But first I need some tatoos.

P.S. Added a new post code. N7. Now that hasn't happened in a while.

Wine Bar: Cork & Bottle

44-46 Cranbourne Street
WC2H 7AN
Tel: 020 7734 7807

Date of Last Visit: 29 December 2006

The Victims: K & A

The Wine Mark Up (Heath, this is for you--as a replacement to the counterbalance): Hard to tell. We bought a bottle of Pierre Sparr Pinot Noir Reserve 2004. Alsatian. Cost us £24.50. Can't find it online elsewhere, although I can find a few Pierre Sparr whites.

The Damage: £40ish total (so £13ish each). Exact figure unknown. K paid.

The Background: I have just arrived back in the country. After the longest wait in immigration EVER (but yet the fewest questions ever--perhaps they finally trust me), I was on Heathrow Express, in a taxi, and back home in NO TIME. Seriously, it was the cheapest and fastest ride back to my flat and well, most importantly, my bed, ever.

I let myself lie about only so long (OK, but that was very long) before planning my next meal. K & A were game to meet up and I convinced them to split the difference. We were in the mood for a wine bar, and the reviews for the Cork & Bottle were fantabulous. I thought maybe Leicester Square would be fun on a holiday weekend, when London is just so empty.

The Arrival: Well, I didn't see much of Leicester Square, so I can't tell you if it was packed or not. Exiting the tube station was a bit of a nightmare, but lickety-split, I was at the Cork & Bottle (smack dab in the middle of it all) and I managed to snag the last No Smoking table. It was folksy inside. Home-y. Convivial. I had hopes.

The Starters: In our country, cheese and crackers are not a pudding. Heck, that sentence wouldn't even make any sense in my country; people would look at you like you were crazy crazy. This is me trying to say that K hooked us up with some cheese and crackers (well...the crackers were actually more like a baguette) to start us off, along with some potatoes and some tomato and mozzerella salad. It was good. Only good. Nothing great. But we liked the wine!

The Mains: They were out of burgers. They were out of the day's special (ostrich) and they were out of the famed ham and cheese pie. These had the misfortune of being our top choices. So we were kinda screwed. And so we didn't eat. 

The Service: No table service. K ran to the bar, so I couldn't really tell you.

The Verdict: Eh. I left hungry. It may be everyone else's favorite wine bar, but it wasn't mine!

Wine Bar: Hamptons

15 Whitcomb Street
WC2H 7HA
Tel: 020  7839 2823

Date of Last Visit: Friday, December 8, 2006

The Victims: K & A, Chrissy, Joe, Diane, David, Kevin, Hannah

The Damage: £20 each, assuming David didn't buy us a couple of bottles of red on the sly.

The Background: We were all over at "Christmas Drinks"--where I had narrowly avoided giving a speech!--and wanted to extend the frivolity. K had noticed a little wine bar that she felt could fit us all and wouldn't cost an arm and a leg. Not knowing how many were with us, space was key. Hamptons Wine Bar offered just that.

The Approach: It was very cute. Apparently, people from my country are the only people that use the word cute. It was simple. Nice. Cozy. Wooden tables. Wooden floors. Friendly servers. We were not there for foie gras and sauterne, but rather cheap red and cheese and crackers. I wish I had taken a picture to show you what I mean by all this...I actually had the camera with me, but totally spaced out. Sorry!!

The Food: K&A ordered us up a storm, but apparently the kitchen isn't open on the weekends, so they had to "give us what they had." This meant cheese, crackers, cheese, bread, crackers, cheese, bread, and some deep fried springrolls. And you know what? I was totally okay with this. Although I had originally hoped to get everyone over to Chinatown for some crispy duck (LOVE the duck), I was perfectly happy with my carbs and protein.

The Drink: Most of the wine was less than £20 a bottle, so we again ordered up a storm. I forget how many bottles we ordered, but it was a lot. I get the feeling David paid for a few on the sly...tricky!!!

The Verdict: You know, it's not a destination. And the food was just bar snacks. But if you are around Trafalgar Square and need a place to go with a large group for some drinks and snacks, Hamptons will do you just fine.