Mildred's restaurant. From Londonist Flickr Pool

London offers some of the best vegetarian food available. The capital’s veggie restaurants and cafés vary from offering light bites and food on the go to fine dining. They take their influences from the UK, the Mediterranean and of course South India amongst many other cuisines.

Many vegetarian places are hugely popular with veggies and non-veggies alike. As we draw to the end of national Vegetarian Week, we choose our own favourite restaurants.

Please leave your comments and let us know your favourites and we’ll add them as we go along.

Mildred’s
Mildred’s is one of the busiest and most popular vegetarian restaurants in London. Offering a diverse range of fresh and exiting food from Sri-Lankan to Mediterranean dishes and veggie burgers, it has become one of the most vibrant eateries in Soho, if not London.

Starters come in at around £6 with mains costing between £7 and £11. For the quality of food, this is incredible value. Mildred’s don’t take table bookings, so you have to turn up on spec. This can mean a bit of a wait but with a great selection of drinks available and the promise of some fine food to come, its not too much of a hassle! The one room you can book is the upstairs private dining room, which has a collection of vintage porn on the walls.

Midlred’s is at 45 Lexington Street, London, W1F 9AN. Our review.

Vanilla Black
Vanilla Black takes inventive vegetarian cooking to the highest level. This Michelin recommended restaurant originally opened in York before moving to its current location in the heart of the city. Since then it has delighted restaurant goers with its funky, modern take on vegetarian fine dining.

The mouth watering culinary creations on offer include such delights as “fried mushroom mousse and pernod pancakes with whipped cider, fennel and butternut squash”.

A great location for a treat or a celebratory meal. The set menus help to provide a more affordable option. Lunch is available at £18.50 for two course or £23.50 for three.

Vanilla Black is at 17-18 Tooks Court, London, EC4A 1LB. Our review.

The Gate
Hammersmith’s The Gate has been a favourite with vegetarians since opening in 1989. Run by the brothers Adrian and Michael Daniel, the food is a fusion of Asian flavours mixed with Mediterranean influences. Starters cost around £6 with mains varying from £10 to £15.

The restaurant also periodically offers cookery workshops and the chefs have published two recipe books. Due to the ongoing success of the place, the brothers are opening a second restaurant in Islington on 1 June.

The Gate Hammersmith is at 51 Queen Caroline Street London, W6 9QL. Our review.

Food for Thought
Covent Garden’s Food for Thought is a well priced, friendly café that is a great option for a quick bite while out shopping. The menu changes regularly but often includes bean stews, quiches, burritos and much more. You can get a fantastic main with a plate stacked full of salads and sides for between £5 and £8.

As the café is quite small and gets pretty busy. It can be a good idea to go either a bit before or after the lunchtime rush.

Food for Thought is at 31 Neal Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9PR

Vitao
Serving up a buffet of wholesome salads, bean- and pulse-based concoctions and much else besides, this friendly and inviting vegan café has become a favourite among London’s vegetarians, and visitors to Soho alike.

All the food on offer is organic, wholesome and well priced. All you can eat costs between £6 and £9 depending on the time of day.

Vitao is at 74 Wardour Street, London, W1F 0TE.

The Bonnington Café
The Bonnington Café is a community café run by a collective of volunteer chefs. The menu rotates with the cooks and there are normally a couple of different options available.

It started life as a squat café during the 1980s and has been a fixture of the community ever since. Starters and desserts cost £3 with mains coming in at £7. The Bonnington is a quirky, friendly and fun place to have a meal. It’s also good to support a local community enterprise that’s run on a not for profit basis.

The Bonnington Café is at 11 Vauxhall Grove, SW8 1TD. Our review.

Sagar
With restaurants in Hammersmith, the West End and Covent Garden, Sagar offers some of the best-value vegetarian Indian food available in London. The menu is based on dishes from south India and offers incredible value with selection plates and Thalis available at lunchtime for around £5. They also serve these preposterously large crispy roll things.

Sagar Hammersmith is at 157 King Street, London, W6 9JT
Sagar West End is at 17A Percy Street off Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 1DU
Sagar Covent Garden is at 31 Catherine Street, London, WC2B 5JS

Manna
Primrose Hill’s Manna has been nominated as the best vegetarian restaurant in London during this vegetarian week. Its an accolade that is much deserved.

Manna offers modern, stylish and inventive vegetarian food that takes in a huge range of influences. With dishes varying from organic bangers and mash to burritos, Indian dishes and tofu based concoctions, there is something for everyone here. Starters are approximately £8 with mains coming in around £14. Truly exciting veggie food.

Manna is at 4 Erskine Road Primrose Hill, London NW3 3AJ

Tibits
Situated in Piccadilly, Tibits is one of the capital’s best vegetarian and vegan buffets. Offering eat-in and take-away options, Tibits serves up a diverse selection of enticing fresh flavours with dishes taking in salads, African cuisine, Asian influences and much more.

With all this on offer alongside a well stocked bar, Tibits is a great place to drop into if you’re out in central London.

Tibits is at 12-14 Hendon Street, London, W1B 4DA

Reader suggestions
OK, that’s our recommendations. We’d love to hear your favourites, though, and we’ll add them here.

From Twitter:
@paddy_wagstaff suggests Rasa
@DelveBand says inSpiral Lounge in Camden has great food and lovely people
@bonny_vivante recommends “Amico Bio at (ironically) Smithfields for great organic Italian vegetarian dishes. Omnivore friends have been uniformly impressed”

From the comments:
James suggests Woodlands in Panton Street – looks like they also have branches in Hampstead and Marylebone
Probably Jon says Pogo Cafe in Hackney and Jai Krishna on Stroud Green Road or Turnpike Lane 
Dave Cross recommends Blah Blah Blah in Shepherd’s Bush

Returning for a second year, the festival will feature vendors of every cuisine under Her Glorious Sun, from Taiwanese tea to Balkan kebabs. The festival runs from 1-5 June near the Southbank Centre and is totally free to wander round (you will, of course, have to pay for your nibbles). An impressive list of vendors can be found here.

This could be one of those rare occasions when something described as a smorgasbord actually contains a smorgasbord.

Image via psyxjaw in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Forget the studenty fare of many of London’s veggie cafes; here you may find a daily special of hickory-smoked beans on soda bread with cheese and herbs (£7.95). Beans on toast it ain’t. A popular option on the a la carte menu is Yorkshire cheddar and savoy cabbage pudding served with heritage potatoes, creamed celeriac and red wine jus (£8.50). The sharp, tangy taste of top-notch Ribblesdale lifts what could have been a humble, stodgy dish of cabbage, bread and potatoes into something special.

Don’t miss the daily changing selection of cakes, pastries, cookies, scones, buns and tarts, such as the light and delicious early season-strawberry and rhubarb tart (£3.95), or lush, moreish spiced Williams pear and walnut cake with butterscotch (£3.50). Wash it down with a small selection of soft drinks, hot beverages, wines and beers.

Despite the uninspired décor of cream walls, pebble stone floors and clunky dark wood furniture that’s unintentional homage to Cranks circa 1970s, what sets this cosy eaterie apart is the attention to detail. It underpins everything from own-made bread cooked in the basement kitchen (next to a large communal table), to welcoming and knowledgeable staff who don’t miss a thing.

At the entrance to the long, narrow ground floor dining room, there’s a small takeaway counter and grocery, which sells foraged ingredients like currently fashionable wild garlic, and alexanders, an old, forgotten vegetable you may not have heard of. The forager delivers on Thursdays. You’ll have to hurry – word is spreading fast and tables here are not easy to come by, though for fine weather there’s ample shaded seating area outside.

Orchard is located at 11 Sicilian Avenue, WC1A 2QH. 

By Sejal Sukhadwala

This post is in partnership with Zagat.

The winners of our competition were treated to Soho’s finest street food and free drinks on Tuesday night, courtesy of Zagat. We tagged along for the fun (and the food!) taking notes and pics along the way. Here are the highlights.

Fledgling pizza makers Pizza Pilgrims of Berwick Market gave a delicious and hands-on demo of how to make proper Neapolitan pizza on the streets of Soho.

Accompanying the fresh pizza, booze-on-a-bike pedallers The Travelling Gin Co provided on-the-spot G&T refreshment before we moved along for more street treats.

Rounding out the evening, our group gathered inside the cosy nook that is Yalla Yalla at Green’s Court, where heroic amounts of Lebanese dishes came our way.

Zagat’s Nightlife Survey is still going strong so head here to vote for your favourite London pubs and bars.

Photography/Chris Osburn 

Where’s the best fish and chip shop in London? Our Fish & Chips Detective tours the capital’s chippies armed with an experienced palate…and a trusty weighing balance to discover who gives the best portions. For fish aren’t the only ones with scales.

The shop

Oliver’s is a year-old addition to Steeles Village, the well-to-do area between Belsize Park and Chalk Farm in Camden. The shop’s a real looker. Its gleaming green and white tiles match up smartly with the newly painted Sir Richard Steele pub next door. Oliver’s does a booming takeaway trade, but also has a small restaurant space at the back (book ahead, and don’t wear too many layers…it gets warm). The words ‘tradition’ and ‘quality’ are printed on every menu and placemat. We’re happy to say that Oliver’s largely fulfils both its watchwords.

What’s the food like? (The subjective bit)

• Haddock: a true whopper, which would give anyone called Jonah a nasty flashback. This is the biggest portion we’ve yet seen. The batter is delicious, fried to order in vegetable oil, with crispy and soft patches. It somehow looks like a natural part of the fish, in a good way. Inside, the flesh is well-cooked and chewy, just how we like it. “Responsibly sourced where possible.”
• Chips: Lightly cooked and dry, which will appeal to the healthy denizens of Haverstock Hill (as will the copious salad garnish), but might disappoint the cohort who prefer a more greasy chip. Portions come in two sizes: massive or colossal.
• Peas: whipped into a paste with hint of mint. Pleasant enough, but left us hankering for some chunk.
• Service: Variable. On several visits, the counter staff got a little flustered with the pressures of trying to juggle takeaway, restaurant and phone orders (for they also do home delivery). But Oliver’s army (or ‘crew’ as it says on their shirts) are always polite and friendly.
• Packaging: You know the phrase “couldn’t punch your way out of a paper bag”? Well, the paper bags offered by Oliver’s would make admirable props for anyone wishing to attempt the challenge. They need to be big, as each item comes in its own box. It’s fish and chip apartheid. If you order for four people, you’re likely to come away with several bags-worth. Fortunately most of this packaging is recyclable.

What are the portions like? (The objective bit)

We weighed each portion so we can compare the value with other chippies (see table below).

• Haddock: £7.25. 315g (visit 1), 340g (visit 2). That’s 2.2p per gram.
• Chips: £2.75 (large). 525g (visit 1), 475g (visit 2). That’s 0.6p per gram.
• Peas: £1.25. 180g (visit 1), 170g (visit 2). That’s 0.7p per gram.
• Total: £11.25 for 1,003g. That’s 1.1p per gram (after rounding).

OK, we cheated and had some fish cakes, too. Mmm, salady.

Summary

Oliver’s is easily the most expensive of the three chippies we’ve visited so far. This reflects the portion sizes, which are about 25% more generous than other outlets we’ve tried, but also the quality and presentation. If you’re looking for an inexpensive, no-frills meal, this ain’t it, but if you want the nearest thing to gourmet fish and chips, Oliver’s is a reliable option. The menu also includes healthier options such as grilled fish and salads.

Table

The following are ranked by value (i.e. how much you pay divided by how much you get). This, of course, doesn’t take into account how tasty the stuff is. You’re probably prepared to pay more for less, if the meal is superior. Hence, we’ve also included a ‘subjective score’, which reflects our opinion.

Note: The Fish & Chips Detective compares the chippies of London on a number of criteria. To help the comparison, we focus on just one meal: haddock (the king of takeaway fish), chips and mushy peas. If you’re more of a fishcake person, or prefer to be slipped a battered sausage, then speak up in the comments with your assessment. All shops will be visited at least twice.

Oliver’s Fish & Chips is at 95 Haverstock Hill, London, NW3 4RL

Business: The Bowler — Gourmet Balls
Based: “The Lawn Ranger” HQ in Bermondsey
What: Meat, fish and veg balls, served with fresh sauces and sides

The Bowler dishes out tantalizingly tasty meatballs, far removed from the overly salted yet bland balls with gravy slop that are all too common. No, these are made from quality ingredients and individually rolled. That’s thousands of meatballs, all made by hand. With Love. The throngs of people queuing at the grass-carpeted van attest their popularity.

Founder Jez can often be seen proudly working on the ground, stirring sauce, serving (and charming) patrons. Not surprising really, given his culinary journey. A few years ago, he embarked on an intensive three-month cooking and farming course in Ballymaloe, Ireland. It proved to be a life-changing, inspiring experience where he “lived, learnt, cooked, ate, drank, fished, walked and met local producers”. Upon returning, he put his skills and knowledge into practice, working in farmers markets and with organic soups.

So, why meatballs?

“I’ve loved meatballs since I was a kid,” he tells us. “And I have an issue with the quality of mince sold in supermarkets.” It’s not just the quality that’s important; creativity is key, “and the combinations are endless”.

Indeed, the interesting concoctions and explosion of flavors are a major pull. Take the Swedish-inspired ‘Bjorn Balls’ served up with mash, cucumber pickle and ligonberry jam. Great balls of Fire (pork shoulder and beef chuck balls, spiced onion and tomato sauce) are another crowd pleaser. Our personal favorite, however, is ExciThaiBall — pork meatballs packed with green chili, ginger and garlic, swimming in a fresh coconut curry sauce and quite addictive.

No longer will we settle for any old balls that come our way.

Find The Bowler

Thursdays in May at Eat.St, Kings Boulevard, N1C (thereafter check listings)
Wednesdays & Thursday evenings in May at The Imperial Arms, Kings Road, SW6
Fridays at Street Feast, E1
And don’t miss a thing on the website, Facebook and Twitter.

See other interviews with London’s food vendors.

Yoobi serves made-to-order temaki (nori wrapped sushi cones you can eat with your hand) in a neat and attractive spot in the heart of Soho. To be sure, the origins of temaki are Japanese. Whereas it was always just a humble item on the side of a menu in Japan, temaki took off in a big way among the Japanese immigrant community in Brazil to become an ultimate and yummy dine on the hoof kind of everyday treat.

Yes, more street food for London. Prices are right, serving sizes ample enough (more than satiating without feeling stuffed) and the minimal vibe with classic Brazilian music piped through is pleasant.

Yoobi’s temaki come as simple (£3.20), special (£3.60) and deluxe (£4). They also serve maki rolls, sashimi boxes, sides and more (they had fresh guava juice on our visit – yum!). Londonist particularly enjoyed a spicy tuna temaki (£3.60) with line caught tuna, romaine lettuce, croutons (a healthy crunch alternative to fried tempura), special sauce and rice.

It was fun watching our order be rolled by hand. Compared to the packed Pret and some other nearby eateries, Yoobi was a 1pm walk-in wonder with hardly anyone around when we popped round for a weekday sample. We suspect that won’t be the case for long, but for the time being, you can leave the crowds at less tasty check out lines.

Yoobi is located at 38 Lexington Street, W1F 0LL.

Photo/Chris Osburn

Disclaimer: Londonist visited Yoobi upon invitation of the restaurant.

And the winner is...The Scolt Head.

Part ‘D’ of our two-year alphabetical pub crawl around London.

We asked you to vote for your favourite pubs and bars in the Dalston area, and you duly obliged. Here are the results:

1. The Scolt Head, Culford Road
2. The Duke of Wellington, Ball’s Pond Road
3. The Prince George, Parkholme Road
4. The Talbot, Mortimer Road
5. The Three Compasses, Dalston Lane
6. Railway Tavern, St Jude Street
7. Dalston Superstore, Kingsland High Street
8. Junction Room/Hysteria, Kingsland Road
=8. The Haggerston, Kingsland Road
=8. The Yucatan Bar, Stoke Newington Road

We specifically left the definition of ‘Dalston’ up to you, leading to some curious inclusions (Bar Kick in Shoreditch and the Approach Tavern in Bethnal Green being two particularly far-out examples). Indeed several of the top 10, including winner The Scolt Head, might be considered outside of Dalston proper. But that’s of no importance. The point is to put together a pub crawl of great places in the Dalston area, so that’s exactly what we’re going to do…

Please join us for a crawl around the top four pubs on Monday 28 May. The itinerary will be the Duke of Wellington (6.30pm), The Scolt Head (7.30pm), The Talbot (8.30pm), The Prince George (9.30pm). (And if we’re in the mood, we might head on to the Three Compasses for a final drink.) If you’d like to join us, please email matt@londonist.com, so we can keep an eye on numbers. Everyone who comes along gets a Londonist booze badge, and the first person to find us gets a T-shirt.

Here’s a map showing all nominated pubs. Dotted green pins are the top four, yellow pins show the rest of the top 10, and red pins show the remaining choices.

View Dalston pubs in a larger map

Previously in the A-Z pub crawl

• A = Angel
• B = Brixton
• C = City of London 

It's not always this grim.

Can you recommend a good pub or bar in the Dalston area?

This is the fourth part of our two-year-long alphabetical pub crawl of London. Previously you voted for the best in Angel, which we subsequently visited (pictures here); the cream of Brixton (photos here); and the best pubs in the City of London (pics here).

Our attention now turns to part ‘D’, and we’ve chosen Dalston (sorry to anyone holding out for Dagenham). This notorious hipster hang-out has its share of concept bars and trendy speakeasies, but there are also plenty of traditional pubs lurking in the back streets.

But which pubs or bars do you rate the highest?

Here’s how to play:

1. Let us know (in the comments, on Facebook, or by tweeting #bestDalstonPub) your favourite pubs in the Dalston area.
2. We’ll tally up the votes early next week.
3. We’ll then arrange a pub crawl around the three or four most popular choices. You’re welcome to join us.
4. You can nominate anywhere in the Dalston area. How far that extends is entirely up to you.
5. By ‘pubs’, we’re using a shorthand — you can also vote for bars.
6. You can nominate more than one place. All nominations count as one vote, whether you rank them or not. Likes on Facebook and retweets of someone else’s vote are also counted as new votes.
7. Venues should be open to the public with no pre-booking, entry fee or membership required.

So, where shall we go?

Image by Alex Pink in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Welcome to our occasional series which lets us shine a light on some of London’s best artisan producers and food businesses that attend markets around the city.

Business: Anna Mae’s – Southern Street Food
Based: West Hampstead
What: London street food inspired by The Southern States

Anna Mae and Tony have always been passionate about Southern food. Having friends in America plus many trips equaled countless opportunities to sample stateside cuisine and check out some Harlem haunts (Dinosaur Bar-B-Que is a big favourite).

Thanks to Ms Marmite Lover’s projects, they dipped their toes into the underground farmer’s market scene. “It was basically a little market but all over her house and garden,” Tony recalls. “As it was on a small scale with little cost to try out, we were able to use it as a trial run of doing our pulled pork and work out if it was something we’d leave our office jobs for!”

At one point, Anna and Tony were simultaneously faced with the prospect of renewing their respective work contracts. Instead of signing on the dotted line, they did what many dream of doing — packing it in and embarking on a research trip that took a few months and culminated in pages and pages of recipes, a stack of which they are only part way through playing with.

Pork is a pretty big deal, both over in the States and over here in jostling London market stalls. While competition is stiff, they have much more up their sleeve, such as Texas chilli and hushpuppies. Their deliciously diet-busting Mac ‘n’ Cheese, with a range of toppings, is going down a storm at Eat Street in King’s Cross. Now Anna and Tony are working their way up to festivals and catering for private parties. The duo will be at all kinds of events over the coming months, including Made in Clerkenwell at the end of May.

In short, this is simply satisfying comfort food we can’t get enough of. Especially the ‘Notorious P.I.G.’ BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Wonderful. Do we have sauce on our mouth? Really? More to the left? …wait, your left?

Find Anna Mae’s:
Every Thursday at Eat Street Kings Cross, N1
The best way to keep updated on other events is through the website, Facebook and Twitter

The place has been around for about ten years, and maybe its ultra sleek black-on-black minimalist décor comes across as ultra dated, but a newly renovated a la carte menu has freshened things on the plate at least.

The new menu’s a rather fanciful one. Green mango and puffed rice salad with tamarind dressing (£7.50) is a coriander-yummy starter. Served in a sort of poppadom cone, it’s especially attractive if not the most straightforward dish to eat. From the grill, star anise marinated duck kebab with chilli jam (£11) is juicy, flavoursome (the duck more so than the jam) and certainly ample. Stir fried okra with water chestnuts, a good veggie side; cumin and saffron pulao (£4), a nicely done serving of rice. Naan (£3) is to an expected standard. A rose sauce enhanced pistachio kulfi (£8) delights.

Service is conscientious and efficient. Table seating is comfortable. The vibe feels removed from the hustle and bustle. The bottom line? It’s a pleasant enough restaurant. You won’t be bored with the new menu and you might very well be impressed.

Mint Leaf is located at Haymarket Theatre, 18 Suffolk Street, SW1Y 4HT.

Photo/Chris Osburn

Disclaimer: Londonist visited Mint Leaf upon invitation by the restaurant.

Our caffeine-fuelled quest to find the best coffee shops in London.

Cafés — like bars and restaurants — are plentiful in Angel. So when one arrives on the scene that is a cut above the rest, it’s worth taking notice. Kipferl relocated fairly recently from smaller premises in the Barbican area and the Austrian coffee shop and eatery has added a continental flavour to the ever popular Camden Passage.

Stylistically, Kipferl fuses Viennese sophistication (smart staff, beautiful tortes) with an Alpine spirit (wood panelling) to produce a clean, contemporary atmosphere. It’s not cold or pretentious though. Old fashioned touches like newspapers attached to reading sticks give the space a lived-in, mittel-European charm.

At lunchtime, Kipferl is split in two with the back half serving hot food — Austrian specialities of course — while the front keeps to the café style with coffee and cake running the show. The coffee menu is inspired by 19th century Vienna, when patrons could choose drinks according to strength. So, the coffee is recommended according to your ‘palette’, from mild (like the melange, an espresso with hot milk) to the strong (Verlängeter — a bit like an Americano).

Like a lighter cappuccino, the melange is delicious, while the accompanying Linzer torte, dense but lightened with fruit jelly, doesn’t disappoint either. It’s also a nice touch that Kipferl coffee comes with a small glass of water and accompanying chocolate. A great place to stop off at in N1.

Open all days except Monday, find Kipferl at 20 Camden Passage, N1 8ED.

See previous reviews in the series on the London Blend Map.

3-7 May

The Alma, Canonbury. The pub’s bank holiday beer festival showcases 14 award-winning seasonal ales, from 5 microbreweries. Entry is free and pints are £3.50, with a 10% discount for CAMRA members.

4-7 May

The Windsor Castle, Carshalton. Over 40 ales and ciders from nationwide microbreweries will be on offer, alongside a BBQ in the garden. The Friday night preview kicks off at 7pm, otherwise the festival opens at 12pm every day. The pub will be offering live music throughout the bank holiday weekend, including an open-invite jam session on Monday evening.

11-12 May

Kingston Beer and Cider Festival, Kingston Workmen’s Club and Institute. Over 50 real ales, 12 ciders and perries, food and a spacious outdoor area are all on offer at this CAMRA festival, which celebrates the centenary of  Kingston’s Aircraft industry. The festival is open from 11am both days: admission is free before 4pm on Friday, then £3 thereafter, or £2 all day Saturday with a £1 discount for CAMRA members at all times.

16-19 May

Surrey County Cricket Club Beer festival, Oval. Over 50 beers and real ales will be available from 11am each day. Admission into the grounds, including the beer festival, is £10, or free after tea. Beer can be purchased via tokens that area available in books of £5, £10 and £15.  Visit the website for match details.

26 May

Crystal Palace Beer Festival, Selhurst Park. Running from 12-7pm, the second annual Crystal Palace Beer Festival will offer up to 100 ales from around the UK, including its special ‘Palace Ale’. The big screen at the event will show highlights from various championships and the Red and Blue Bar will offer live music, pub food and special guest appearances.

Extra beer-related goodness:

Advanced tickets for the Great British Beer Festival are now on sale from the official website.

The Draft House is opening a new pub in Dulwich at 21 Lordship Lane on 8 May.

There’s a new London based cheesecake maker, the English Cheesecake Company. Londonist tried (via couriered delivery) ECC’s “Notting Thrill” cake. Filled with “a huge slab of chewy chocolate brownie topped with more chunks of brownie, toasted pecan and liquid caramel on a chocolate cookie crust” it was a bit rich to say the least. But we think that was the point. If that sounds like your kind of slice, the Notting Thrill costs £26 and serves 12.

René Redzepi, head chef at three times annointed World’s Best Restaurant” Noma in Copenhagen, has announced plans to unveil “A Taste of Noma at Claridge’s” as he joins forces with Claridge’s hotel this summer to mark the celebrations of the London Olympics 2012. A Taste of Noma at Claridge’s will be available for both lunch and dinner in Claridge’s Ballroom from 28 July to 6 August 2012. René Redzepi will be in attendance every day together with his team of chefs from Noma. Tickets go on sale Wednesday 9 May. The five course menu will be priced at £195 per person. For further information and to register your interest: www.claridges.co.uk/atasteofnoma

In more “World’s Best” news, Fine Dining Lovers reports that famed el Bulli chef, Ferran Adrià plans to open a new venue next year in London.

Draft House is adding to its portfolio of specialist beer pubs. Tuesday 8 May sees the opening of a Draft House at 21 Lordship Lane in East Dulwich. Later this summer, the pub group will take a leap across the Thames with a first location north of the river. It’s an impressive place to land too: Fitzrovia, in the former Northumberland Arms at the corner of Goodge and Charlotte Streets.

The Rib Room Bar & Restaurant an array of interactive “Ginbilee” masterclasses with Bombay Sapphire’s expert mixologist, Sam Carter. Available on Saturday 12, 19 and 26 May from 2.30pm to 5pm, an intimate gathering of 10 12 gin lovers “can spend the afternoon in The Rib Room learning to make five unique G&Ts specially. To reserve a place on the ‘Ginbilee’ masterclass please call 020 7858 7250 or email reservations@theribroom.co.uk.

Photo/Chris Osburn 

Mexican food in Camden Town

Here’s a 15-second history lesson: Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for 5 May) marks the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla in 1862, in which Mexico’s underdog army overran the occupying French (unfortunately for the natives, France won the second battle). Traditionally celebrated across parts of Mexico and much of the United States, Cinco de Mayo has also proven a hit among London’s ever-expanding collection of Mexican and Tex-Mex bars and restaurants.

Below are some of the places running events and offering special deals this weekend. If you know of any more, let us know in the comments and we”ll add them in.

• El Burrito in Charlotte Place is holding a Cinco de Mayo party from 6pm on Friday night, with specialities  including pozole, tostadas and tamales on offer.
• At their Oxford Circus branch Benito’s Hat are also holding a Cinco Eve Fiesta Party on Friday, with free Mexican tapas all night long, a Casco Vieja tequila & Jarritos bar (grapefruit Jarrito + tequila makes a wonderful paloma, trust us), a DJ set and a “Tabasco challenge”. Five quid on the door, including a free frozen margarita, but turn up wearing a sombrero or ‘tash and you’ll get in for free. More details here (PDF).
• If you want to finally move on from the Old El Paso fajita kit and bring some finesse to your Mexican cooking, then this course from native chef Sofia Larrinua-Craxton is the ticket. Sofia will show you her favourite street foods, including sopes and tostadas, and teach you how to classic dishes such as tinga poblana served with lime and coriander rice. The course costs £99 and is at Central Street Cookery School on Friday, 4th May
• Cantina Laredo are keeping things simple by offering margaritas made using La Herradura, a premium tequila, for £5.95 all this month. Print off this voucher (PDF) to claim yours.
• Mestizo restaurant on Hampstead Road near Euston is going all-out with a special Cinco de Mayo performance by Mariachi Mexteca on Saturday night. Bookings recommended: call 020 7387 4064.
• Barrio Norte in Islington are offering margaritas for £4 until 8pm on Saturday, and DJ Jim8Track will be spinning into the wee hours.
• Not strictly related to Cinco de Mayo, but Leather Lane market stalwart Daddy Donkey is currently offering a two-for-one deal for the whole of May, and if you work in the area (or even if you don’t) it’d be foolish not to take them up on the offer.

Photo / Stephskimo

Heddon Street is lively with drinkers and diners on a Friday night but one end particularly holds a queue of people in search of an alternative nightlife experience – one in a bar made entirely of ice and kept at -5 degrees. We went along last Friday to test-drive a special deal, combining the cool of the Northernmost Attitude ICEBAR with the warm of their modern European restaurant.

Descending the stairs, all is cosy and serene in ICEBAR’s belowzero restaurant. A virtual fire flickers on the wall, seats are comfy and attentive service warms the cockles. Pay attention to your waiter though, the menu options for this deal are a little complicated, but the food is great with a good vegetarian selection and the choice to dine tapas style or take a traditional 3-course meal. The cocktails are imaginative and made with care and aside from enjoying our dinner, we admired the space-age plates and unexpectedly intimate setting.

The ICEBAR runs to a tight schedule, with visits timed for 40 minutes and a ticketing system for drinks. One of the bonuses to this deal is that you’ll skip the normal ICEBAR queue and be scooted to your sub-zero appointment ahead of those who haven’t lined their stomachs downstairs. Don your thermal cape, put on your gloves and be first at the bar. Don’t spend too long marvelling at how pretty it is, get your cocktail order in and find an ice ledge to hang out at. With up to 60 people in the bar each session, it’s pretty lively and excitable, with lots of smartphone snaps going off and an upbeat house soundtrack. Find a good vantage point and you’ll be grinning at the contemporary Frost Fair style gathering you’re a part of.

Want to try this evening of contrasts for yourself? Enter the simple prize draw below for a chance to win an ICEBAR & Dine package for two people to the value of £79. That’s dinner for two in the warm plus the uber cool ICEBAR experience, including thermal cape and gloves and a cocktail served in an ice glass.

Drop your details in the form and hit submit. A winner will be picked at random on Friday 11 May at 5pm and notified by email.

THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED.

You must be over 18 to enter this competition. Usual competition policy applies.

Book your ICEBAR & Dine experience: Midweek from £27.50, Weekends from £35.50. Includes ICEBAR thermal cape and cocktail. To find out more, call the ICEBAR reservations team on 0207 478 8910 or head to www.icebarlondon.com.

ICEBAR by ICEHOTEL London is at 31-33 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BN.

Put down that pre-mixed can of gin and tonic. If you’ve a taste for juniper, there’s a club you need to join. If your perception of gin is along the lines of “mother’s ruin” or that stuff that makes you cry after a bad day, hold up. The London Gin Club can change your mind.

The Star at Night in Soho has been serving great cocktails, expertly made for yonks. But with the recent launch of the London Gin Club, they’re publicly declaring their devotion to gin in all its glorious diversity.

On our first visit we had a Gin and It, just to see what it was. It was divine.

Our subsequent and diligent research has focused on tasting different G&T combinations in the care of the super knowledgeable and friendly staff. This has led us to some surprising discoveries. For example, London Dry Gin tastes completely different to a Genever (go with a friend, try both). Depending on which botanicals have been used to make the gins, they have distinctive flavours and colours. Plymouth Gin Navy Strength might be 57% abv but paint stripper it is not (seriously nice). Oh, and whichever gin and whichever tonic you plump for, it will taste better hand-made at the Star and served in a balloon glass. Don’t bother with a straw.

There are around 40 gins on the current list, with new ones being added all the time. Additions last week included Haymans 1850, which is cask rested and created in the style of the gin-palace gins of the Victorian era and Ransom Old Tom, an American gin which has been created by an historian to be an accurate revival of gins from the golden age of cocktails in the 1800s.

It’s free to join the London Gin Club by emailing thelondonginclub@gmail.com. Once you’ve got your membership card benefits include invitations to gin themed events, a loyalty card scheme, discounts on bottles of gin and a lovely feeling of being in on something really special.

Or you can drop into the Star (open Tuesday-Saturday, 6-11.30pm) and sign up there. This Friday it’s a night dedicated to G&T — the ideal opportunity to try out that balloon glass and the expertise of the staff.

Find The Star at Night at the junction of Hollen Street and Great Chapel Street, W1. For table reservations (recommended) call 020 7494 2488 or email info@thestaratnight.com.

Photos by Peter Berthoud.

You can’t really go wrong here. Veggos are thoughtfully catered to but might miss out on what truly makes this such a sensational restaurant – Iberico pig’s cheek with sweet potato and almond? Oh God yes please. Pescatarians are as well looked after as the carnos. Hake with purple broccoli, clams and St George mushrooms? We’ll be back!

And compared to similar experiences (such as last week’s lunch at the fabulous Opera Tavern) as well as Pizarro’s own and much-lauded “Jose” tapas bar up the street, prices are almost as delicious as the actual food. Most starters cost around £6.50; most mains about £15. And speaking of comparisons, the space, pace and menu are favourable reminders of another recently reviewed Iberian mainstay, Eyre Brothers: grown up, elegant, relaxing. Maybe Eyre is a tad more refined and Pizarro a little more inventive with the cuisine.

Vino? Si. 2010 Pazo de Marinan (Godello, Treixadura), Monterrei (£23 for the bottle) sips confidently alongside pork and fish and affirms the all Spanish list is a winner. Coffee (£2 for a solo/cortado; £2.50 con leche) is like that cup you had at that wonderful little place in Madrid you stumbled into that one time. Puds are fun and a mix of Spanish trad (Santiago cake) with yummy nuevo ice cream flavours (lemon zest, cinnamon).

Complaints? None really. The place is just a little bit too expensive to be anything more than an occasional treat (for a poor Londonista anyway) – but what a treat it is. Deciding on which dishes from the menu to order can prove exceedingly difficult…and even tougher when your server lays in with the chalkboard specials! Still, if you’re uncertain, staff, the manager and possibly even Jose himself (if he’s around) are glad to evangelise about what’s tasty.

Pizarro is located at 194 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3TQ.

Photo/Chris Osburn

Disclaimer: Londonist visited Pizarro upon invitation by the restaurant.

All wines presented at RAW have to fulfil the following “quality of character” criteria:

• Grapes must be farmed organically and/or biodynamically, whether or not certified;
• The entirety of the Domaine from which the grapes are issued must be farmed organically and/or biodynamically, whether or not certified;
• Grapes must be hand-harvested;
• Only indigenous yeasts may be used except in the case of the second fermentation of sparkling wines, when neutral yeasts may be added;
• No winemaking additives may be used in the cellar bar; and
• No ʻheavy-manipulationʼ has been carried out using winemaking gadgetry such as reverse osmosis or cryo-extraction, spinning cone, and so forth.

Essentially, Raw showcases wines with integrity and an indie spirit.

Whether you’re looking to quaff some environmentally friendly vino, keen to sample something dramatically different than that same old Tesco pinot grigio or you’re simply curious about what might just be the next big thing in viticulture, Raw takes place at the Old Truman Brewery, London on 20 and 21 May from 10am to 7pm.

Tickets cost £20 in advance or £25 at the door and get you a catalogue, a tasting glass and the opportunity to taste some 500 natural wines, attend related talks and tasting seminars and meet dozens of inspired artisan producers.

Photo/Chris Osburn

Want to join Londonist and Zagat on a special street food tour of Soho, including stops at Yalla Yalla, The Travelling Gin Co., Pizza Pilgrims and more?

You could be one of six lucky Londonist readers to win a pair of tickets to this great foodie night out.

To be in with a chance to win, sign up here now.

Then register at zagat/sociallondon and begin voting and commenting on the bars and pubs you’ve visited in the past year.

Each new comment will be judged as a new entry in the competition. On Thursday 10 May, Zagat will select six winners based upon the quality of their reviews. These six winners will win two places each at the Soho Street Food Crawl with Londonist on Tuesday 15 May from 6.30pm.

Here’s a sample of the kind of content Zagat will be looking for:

It’s all about the scene at this Italian hot spot where the stylish crowd, slick decor and designer-clad staff are all equally gorgeous. You definitely pay for the spectacle, but the well-prepared food is worth it too – if your waiter can tear himself away from the mirror long enough to serve it.

But you can do better than that, right? Sign up for the competition now and get reviewing.

Please note: You must be 18 years of age, and a resident of London or Home Counties to be eligible. If there are multiple Zagat-sponsored contests with overlapping contest periods, entries will only be counted in the first contest for which you register.

Photo courtesty of Pizza Pilgrims

This weekend, the London Hop Shoot Festival will celebrate the historic connection between London, brewing and the land. On 27 April, London beer brewers will pick hop shoots in Kent and deliver them to pubs, bars and restaurants across around. They will challenge the venue’s chefs to “get the hop shoots onto the plate and flex their creative muscles on this new-to-many ingredients” with twittering Londoners the judges. For more info and a list of participating venues, visit the festival’s Facebook page.

But it’s not just about the beer this weekend. The Cheese & Wine Festival runs this Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 8pm (Sunday to 6pm) at the Southbank Centre. It’s free to visit with more than 35 stalls providing visitors with the opportunity to taste artisan cheese and dairy, shop for foodie gifts, and of course find ideal wines, from as far afield as Italy, Australia and South America. The press release promises “no wine snobbery”.

Demarquette Fine Chocolates on the Fulham Road has created a Kentish cobnut chocolate diamond praline especially for the Diamond Jubilee. Sourcing its cobnuts from Hurstwood Farms, an award winning cobnut supplier in Kent, the pralines are especially tasty and a less robust hazelnut counterpart’s a real run for the money.

Also commemorating the Diamond Jubilee, Berry Bros & Rudd is offering “an exceptional and very fine Old Tawny Port” that was produced in 1952, the year The Queen ascended to the throne. The Graham’s 1952 Tawny is being exclusively offered by Berry Bros. & Rudd, purveyors of fine wines to the Royal Household and holders of two Royal Warrants, from 1 May and is priced at £275 per single bottle, £795 for three bottles presented in a hand-crafted wooden box and £1,800 for a Jeroboam (4.5 litres).

Still can’t get a rez at Copenhagen’s famed Noma restaurant? René Redzepi, head chef of the twice awarded “world’s best” restaurant has announces plans to unveil A Taste of Noma at Claridge’s, as he joins forces with the Mayfair hotel this summer to mark the celebrations of the London Olympics 2012. A Taste of Noma at Claridge’s will be available for both lunch and dinner in Claridge’s Ballroom from 28 July to 6 August. René Redzepi will be in attendance each day together with his team of chefs from Noma. The five course menu is priced at £195 per person.

Photo/tezzer57

A newcomer to the St Giles scene (they’ll be serving iced macchiatos in hell before we casually refer to the area as ‘Midtown’) is Damson Café.

Moving into a coffee-competitive area — (only minutes from Nude Espresso on Soho Square and Wild and Wood on New Oxford Street — Damson’s proprietors have wisely focused on the basics. The coffee served on our visit was from Tanzania’s Blackburn Estate, and an espresso promised a “soft blackcurrant flavour” which, truth be told, wasn’t something we detected on the palate, but the taste was smooth and not at all bitter.

Visually, Damson conforms to the twenty-teen café dress code, from the chalkboard menu to the wooden table in the centre and the rustic vibe gleaned from the assortment of door and window frames assembled on the back wall. The windows are on rollers that can be slid away to open the café up onto the street, should the rain ever stop. It’s easy to imagine this becoming a very popular place come the summer.

Damson Cafe is at 64 St Giles High St, London. You can also follow them on Twitter @DamsonCafe

See previous reviews in the series on the London Blend Map.

We’re big coffee fans here at Londonist. Not only does the London Blend series chart the capital’s contemporary cafe culture, but we’re interested in coffee history too. This week’s edition of the Londonist podcast, was recorded at London’s first coffee house, the Jamaica Wine House in Cornhill.

London’s coffee heritage is reflected here by an image of the plaque that marks the spot of the most famous of London’s 18th century coffee houses. Sailors and merchants gathered in Lloyd’s Coffee House from the late 17th century to talk news, trade and insurance, just as artists, politicians and literary types drank the brown stuff at their own chosen venues.

Today, coffee shops retain their social appeal and still function both as places of work (all those freelancers armed with macs and muffins) and leisure. This set of images shows Londoners doing what they should while enjoying a coffee — chatting, sitting and contemplating.

Featured are some of London’s popular coffee spots, including Monmouth (not sure which one), Milk Bar and Shoreditch Grind, which here is somehow reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s famous painting.

All images courtesy of Londonist Flickr pool contributors: Matt from London, Pete Zelewski, Stephskimo, bobaliciousLondon, heytobster, acwozhere, BeboFlickr, makipon and markspokes49. 

See also: London’s best coffee shops mapped.

Chipotle Mexican Grill opens a third London restaurant at 181-185 Wardour Street tomorrow, Friday the 20th.

To celebrate its tenth birthday, Marylebone’s Caffe Caldesi will spotlight two dishes that have been on the menu from its start: Linguine Caldesi with tomato, chilli and cream; and the restaurant’s “legendary” tiramisu that uses Tuscan fortified wine instead of the traditional Marsala. Anyone who orders one of these dishes over the Caffe’s birthday weekend (21 and 22 April) will receive either a free glass of prosecco or a bag of Caldesi pasta to takeaway.

London food collaborative, Parlour Tricks, returns with a spring inspired dinner party, the second in their series of pop up feasts. Following the sold out success of the Feast of St. Martin, “Spring Forth!” will be a celebration of flowers, spring and the English countryside. Taking place in a Hackney florist, dinner will be served amongst the flowers, followed by a candle lit soirée with live music, Djs and booze. Tix are £45 and include dinner and party. Reception is at 7.30pm and the fun lasts till 2am. Address revealed upon booking. Visit www.parlour-tricks.co.uk to book.

Harrods has a couple of “Chop, Slice and Dice” workshops lined up for Saturday 21 and Friday 27 April. The 21st will see Michel Roux Jr demonstrating knife skills along with recipes from his latest book which he will be available to sign. It’s a freebie. On the 27th, Mark Sargeant will host a private knife skills masterclass where no more than 20 “customers will be able to learn tricks of the trade under the tutorage of Mark Sargeant as well as trialling a sampling menu inspired by dishes from Mark’s restaurant, Rocksalt”. Tix for the Sargeant masterclass are £80, £50 of which will be redeemable on the day when a minimum purchase of £150 is spent on certain related kitchen products.

Comedian David Baddiel will host an “exclusive gourmet evening for 200” at the Floridita, Soho, with chefs Alyn Williams, Ben Spalding, Jose Pizarro, Mark Poynton, Mickael Weiss and Michelin star winners Russell Brown and Phil Thompson, to create a one-off menu to fundraise for CALM, the “campaign against living miserably” which operates a helpline and texting service four nights a week. The 30 April event follows the suicide of the chef Kevin Boyle, with the intention of enabling CALM’s helpline to run to 3am every night of the week. Tickets are on sale from skiddle.com and priced £200 per head for the meal matching wines, a champagne reception, live entertainment and an auction.

Photo/pollyblue 

Celebrated restauranteur Antonio Carluccio will host a lunch at the Notting Hill Carluccio’s on Wednesday 16 May at 1pm.

The event marks the launch of the book he co-wrote with fellow chef Gennaro Contaldo, Two Greedy Italians Eat Italy, and its accompanying four-part BBC series.

Guests will be treated to prosecco and grissini with proscuitto and olives plus a three course lunch featuring ham hock minestrone to start, fish stew including prawns, clams, sea bass and mussels, with tomato, garlic and a hint of chilli for main and a light panna cotta and lime syrup for dessert (vegetarian option available). Guests will also be able to purchase copies of the Two Greedy Italians Eat Italy book at the special launch price of £15 and have it personally signed by Antonio.

Interested? Best act fast. It’s first come, first serve and places are strictly limited to just 16. Tickets for this greedy Italian lunch cost £35 person and can booked directly at the Westbourne Grove restaurant by calling 020 7243 8164.

Carluccio’s Notting Hill is located at Westbourne Corner, 108 Westbourne Grove, W2 5RU.

Photo/Tony Briggs

Beef tartare (fillet of Aberdeen Angus beef prepared at your table, £16 starter, £32 main) is among the most expertly made and presented in town … and if you know just how you like yours prepared, it’s something of a carnivore’s bespoke dream. A starter of organic Stilton and pear salad, walnuts, honeycomb and croutons (£10.50) provides a rather wholesale yet nonetheless delicious intro to what could prove to be a most indulgent dining experience. Indulging from the first taste is easy enough though. Consider the lobster and smoked salmon, pickled cucumber, Charlotte potato salad with egg yolk dressing (£20) or go retro with the Rib Room prawn cocktail, served with Marie Rose sauce and cos lettuce (£18).

Mains are meaty. And the most recommendable (at least for first timer customers) has to be the beef rib four ways: braised short rib, slow roasted flank, char grilled tournedos and marrow bone burger (£29). Every bite is gorgeous. And as macho as it sounds, the dish comes to the table looking dainty and neat. No slabs o’ cow spilling over the plate. It’s a good way to savour an epic feast while at least appearing to show some restraint.

Dessert’s no afterthought here. Macerated blood oranges, vanilla bean ice cream, hazelnut sauce and popcorn honeycomb (£8.50) satisfies and completes with a scrumptious harmony of flavours and is but one of a handful of yummy afters.

Not sure which wine to choose? If the sommelier’s around, she’ll be happy to sort things out for you. Head sommelier Louise Gordon knows her stuff and recommends her quaffs affably and with confidence. A bottle of 2004 Château de Beaucastel Côtes du Rhône Coudoulet de Beaucastel (£69) seemed a smart selection during our visit. But before you call for her, at least have an attempt at choosing your own vino via the iPad wine list. It’s a lot of fun and nifty use of technology in this otherwise old school setting.

All that – and service too. The Rib Room’s wait staff is among the most competent you’re apt to come across in London. For example, waiter Mindy’s been with the restaurant for decades. He’s intuitively gracious sharing the knowledge to help make your read of the menu translate into happy dining.

The accolades could continue (we haven’t even mentioned the craftsmanship going on behind the bar!), but the point’s been made: this is proper upscale British cuisine minus the stodge and without any hype.

Young’uns and tweeting foodie upstarts may blather on and about meat this and meat that as if nobody in England had eaten an animal before the onset of the 21st century. But the 50 year old Rib Room reassures that enjoying masterfully made meat dishes in London is something that’s been going on for quite some time.

The Rib Room is located at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower hotel, Cadogan Place, SW1X 9PY.

Photo/Chris Osburn

Disclosure: Londonist visited the Rib Room upon invitation of the restaurant.

Camden Town's brewing process diagram

Already a firm favourite with London’s beer connoisseurs, Camden Town Brewery has now opened its on-site bar. Nestled in the arches of Kentish Town West Overground station, the brewery boasts some of the most advanced brewing equipment in any UK micro-brewery.

The bar opens on Fridays and will soon open Thursday through Saturday each week. It offers Camden Town’s full core range of beers – Hells Lager, Camden Wheat Beer, Camden Pale Ale and the thick dark stout that is Camden Ink. The brewery also produces limited edition beers including the brilliantly named Black Friday, produced for the Friday the 13th launch of the bar.

The brewery produces an impressive range of beers to suit all pallets, from their hoppy pale ale to the deep and dark tones of their stout. The joy of drinking in the brewery bar is having the full range of Camden Town beers available in a place where all the staff are knowledgeable about the products and how they are produced.

It’s also satisfying to support a local brewery by enjoying its products on site rather than drinking a beer from a major multinational, shipped an enormous distance. Drinking at the bar also provides the opportunity to better understand the brewing process, aided by a brilliantly simple and informative diagram displayed in the brewery and on the walls of the toilets (pictured).

The bar (being in a brewery and all) is of course aimed at beer fans, but a couple of wines and a few spirits will sate anyone who doesn’t enjoy the brown stuff as tipple of choice.

The bar still feels a little bit too shiny and new, which will no doubt improve over the coming weeks. It also feels relatively sparse as not all the furniture is in place. Having said that, the high ceilings, location below the train station and the outside seating area lend the bar a certain charm that will come into its own over the summer.

For the real connoisseur, the brewery offers regular tours on Thursdays and Saturdays. For £10, you’ll be able to see this brilliant little brewery in action, with one of their fine beers thrown in for good measure. Throughout the summer, the bar will hook up with catering vans from Byron Hamburgers and a couple of other operators.

Although the bar doesn’t feel entirely complete yet, it’s an interesting location to sample some of the finest beers that you will get at a small London brewery. The passion and enthusiasm of the staff for their products really shines through.

By Andrew Taylor

Camden Town Brewery and bar is at 55-59 Wilkin Street Mews, NW5 3NN. The bar currently opens between 4pm and 11pm on Fridays. Towards the end of April it will start opening between 4pm and 11pm Thursday -Saturday.

Image from the restaurant's web site.

It’s a stretch to describe Madison, the swanky bar and restaurant on top of One New Change, as a pub. Nevertheless, the venue will hold what it describes as a “posh pub quiz” on 29 April, as it tries to entice some clientele into the City on a Sunday afternoon.

MC for the evening is Chris Madigan, described as a writer, broadcaster and all-round quizmaster maestro. All quiz-goers will receive a complimentary drink on arrival, with tapas and cocktails on the menu (not free). You can also enjoy one of the best views in London, from the sixth floor of One New Change, opposite St Paul’s.

Teams can include up to four people, and you should email onenewchange@showmedia.net to register, giving your team size and stating whether you’d like to eat. It’s technically free to enter, but teams are encouraged to give a £10 donation to The Prince’s Trust, the shopping centre’s charitable partner.

Mexican food “with integrity” restaurant group, Chipotle, is now offering a “Burritos by Fax” service with a downloadable order form, enabling customers collect orders straight from the cash register without having to queue. For orders of more than 30 burritos (apparently this isn’t too uncommon), Chipotle offers five free ones. Ordering 50 or more? Chipotle will hand deliver them (within a 0.5 mile radius of the restaurant ordered from). The “Burritos by Fax” order forms can be downloaded from the “Order Now” tab at the top righthand corner of the Chipotle website.

Smoked bacon with crumbled paneer, apple and chilli chutney; egg bhurji (spiced omelette) with tomato salsa and fresh corriander; full Indian breakfast wrap with Goan sausages and a coffee lassi? Soho’s Indian street food darling, Mooli’s will start selling breakfast wraps on Monday, 16 April.

Hot dogs and Champagne. That’s the menu at restaurant-to-be Bubbledogs. Opening this July in Fitzrovia, Bubbledogs is the brainchild of husband and wife team James Knappet (Roganic, Noma, Marcus Wareing) and Sandia Chang (The Ledbury, The Berkeley, Noma). The Charlotte Street eatery will offer a menu of ten hot dogs (from £6) and a “concise Champagne list comprised exclusively of grower Champagne and sparkling wines”. A separate Kitchen Table will seat a maximum of 19 guests for intimate meals hosted by Knappett and his team.

“Proper hamburgers” group, Byron, has created a “Chilli Queen” green chilli cheeseburger to “celebrate Her Majesty’s 60 years at the helm”. The Diamond Jubilee effort is the result of teamwork with hamburger specialist Fred Smith, Head Chef of the Admiral Codrington in Chelsea. The limited edition special will be a 6oz hamburger with green chilli, chipotle mayo, shredded iceberg lettuce and American cheese served on a glazed bun. It will be priced at £8.75 and available in all Byron restaurants from 3 May to 5 June.

Photo/Chris Osburn 

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry ‘God for Harry, England and St. George!

In addition to the freebie drink and the mega-toast, there’ll be Morris dancing from noon, an all-day pop-up bar outside the pub and red and white decorations in and around the market as well.

The Lamb Tavern is located at 10-12 Leadenhall Market, EC3V 1LR.

Part ‘C’ of our two-year alphabetical pub crawl around London.

Last week, we asked you to nominate your favourite pubs and bars in the City of London. The biggest surprise was just how many people think the ‘City’ or ‘Square Mile’ is the whole of London, rather than the ancient quarter where the bankers hang out. We got votes for pubs as far away as Lambeth.

Here are the results, excluding votes that weren’t for venues in the City…and see below for a pub crawl of the top four:

1. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
2. The Blackfriar
3. The Old Red Cow
4. The Cockpit
5. The Jamaica Wine House
=5. The Tipperary
7. Thee Hoop of Grapes
=7. The Banker
=7. Dirty Dick’s
=7. The King’s Arms

Here’s a map of all the recommended pubs in the area. Dotted green pins denote the top four, which will form our pub crawl (see below), yellow pins represent the rest of the top 10, and red pins indicate other nominated pubs.

View City of London pubs in a larger map

Voting was less popular than for previous pub crawls, possibly because few people live or regularly go out in the City. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese ran away with the votes, getting 17 nods, more than double the second placed Blackfriar (8 votes). That said, more locations were nominated than either of our previous pub crawls, with 44 venues (see map).

So, now, the pub crawl. Join us for a tour of the top 4 on Monday 30 April. Three of the pubs are close together, while the fourth (the Old Red Cow) is a bit of a trek. Here’s the itinerary.

6.30pm The Cockpit
7.30pm The Blackfriar
8.30pm Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
9.30pm The Old Red Cow

All participants will get a Londonist booze badge, and the first to find us gets a t-shirt. If you’d like to come along, please send an email to matt@londonist.com, so we can keep an eye on numbers. Beers in!

Previously on the A-Z pubcrawl

• Part A: The Best Pubs in Angel
• Part B: The Best Pubs in Brixton

Image of the winning pub by Beth PH in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Long before Shoreditch got all chock-a-block with spiffy upscale restaurants worth turning London’s foodie focus east, there was Eyre Brothers. This well-established fine dine of a restaurant does up simple and savoury Iberian dishes in a handsome and low-key setting. Odds are that service will verge on the impeccable whenever you visit.

Lunch here is a treat, special but not too dear. During the day, service stays formal but is a bit relaxed and there’s a feeling that a few savvy customers know they can have the place to themselves with room to stretch out a bit. And if you’ve got the time, Eyre Brothers a fabulous setting for overdue catch ups.

Starters hover mostly around the £8 mark with most mains priced around £16 or £17. If you’ve got a few more quid than that, the grilled fillet of acorn-fed Iberico pig marinated with smoked paprika, thyme and garlic and patatas pobres (oven potatoes with green peppers, onions, garlic and white wine) for £21 is substantial and gorgeous. It’s highly recommended you go with the restaurant’s suggestion of having it cooked medium rare. Puds cost about a fiver and continue to please. Eyre offers tapas and petiscos of the “authentic gutsy” variety too.

Wines by the glass and bottle are all Portuguese and Spanish. There’s something for all budgets. A wise diner would strongly consider saving a bit room for a fortified quaff at the end of his or her meal. The restaurant’s list of sherries, ports and Medeiras amazes. A glass of fino or similar will set you back around £6.

Eyre Brothers is located at 70 Leonard Street, EC2A 4QX.

Photo/Chris Osburn

Disclosure: Londonist visited Eyre Brothers upon invitation by the restaurant.

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Ping Pong dim sum restaurants (they’ve got 11 locations in London at the moment and a few more in Sao Paolo, New York and Dubai) are trying to get the word out about the kitchen craft behind their handmade parcels of traditional Chinese yum by hosting complimentary dim sum classes. Two sessions (5.30 and 6.30pm) are offered every Wednesday night until the end of April at different restaurants across town. Each session lasts 45 minutes and has a maximum of ten participants. To find out about upcoming sessions attend book in advance visit the What’s On page of the Ping Pong website.

The Carluccio’s calendar is filled with lots of buona Pasqua a Londra happenings for the whole family with a range of Easter events such as a series of children’s biscuit decorating classes, throughout April. These “fun and interactive classes encourage kids to get creative and messy, whilst parents relax over a coffee” and offer young ones a chance to in the decorate Easter egg and bunny shaped biscuits with rainbow sprinkles and colourful icing.

Starting on Thursday 26 April at 7pm Mexican restaurant group, Benito’s Hat, will begin monthly masterclasses at their Great Castle Street location. Pueblan-born executive chef, Felipe Fuentes Cruz, will guide guests through the “art of creating simple Mexican dishes packed full of fresh ingredients” including Benito’s Hat signature burritos. The classes cost £15, last approximately two hours and include dinner and drinks. Visit the restaurant’s site for more info and for contact details.

Docklands pub, The Gun, is offering a free Monday to Friday lunchtime shuttle service to and from Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs. The complimentary ride is valid for parties of two to eight people when book at least 24 hours in advance, and all guests must have a minimum of two courses each from the a la carte menu in the dining room. For more details and to book your ride, contact Vanessa or Anna at The Gun on 020 7515 5222.

Bea’s of Bloomsbury is doing classic movie nights “over at our Druid Street Arch this spring” promising evenings that are, according to Bea, “kind of like the old school neighborhood block parties with tables of picnic style food, and kids on picnic blankets and lawn chairs to watch movies!” Films will include cupcake-able favourites like The Goonies and The Princess Bride. The first movie night will be 17 April and cost £5 to attend. The boutique bakery with four London locations has also launched a new online store.

Photo/Chris Osburn

6-8 April

The Victory Club, South Norwood. Open 11am-11pm on Friday and Saturday, as well as 12-4pm on Sunday, the festival presents nine ales and a cider alongside family-orientated events.

6-9 April

The Fox, Hanwell. 20 beers from all over the UK, as well as ciders, will be available at the Spring resurrection of their biannual beer festival. A hog roast will also be available on Good Friday.

Brodies Bunny Basher, King William IV, Leyton. 40 Brodies beers, including some brewed in collaboration with stalwarts like Mikkeller and the Kernel, will be available for £1.99 a pint from 11am till late. Check out the list here.

6-12 April

The White Horse, Parsons Green. Over 50 beers, showcasing the best of hoppy beer styles, will be available at their ‘Over The Hop’ festival. Special festival events include blues music from Steve Morrison on Sunday evening and a six-course beer & canapé tasting with Melissa Cole on Tuesday. Don’t miss the BBQ if the sun shines!

6-15 April

Hoopers, Dulwich. The ‘London and Home Counties’ beer festival offers a selection of new local brews, as well as old favourites and brews not currently sold in London.

12-14 April

Bexley Beer Festival, Sidcup. Over 65 real ales will be available at the Sidcup Rugby Club from 5-11pm on Thursday and 11am-11pm on Friday and Saturday. Hot and cold snacks, ciders and traditional games will also be on offer, and general admission is £2.50 for the general public, or £1.50 for CAMRA members (who also get in free on Friday before 5pm). To see the beer list, click here.

13-17 April

The Three Compasses, Hornsey. Their ‘Right Royal Beer Festival’, brings a range of royal-themed UK cask ales for a Jubilee celebration. Food,  including Sunday roasts, will also be available.

19-22 April

The Strongroom, Shoreditch. The prize for latest-opening beer festival goes to this Shoreditch bar, which continues until 2am on both Friday and Saturday. More importantly, it features over 20 London-made brews, locally sourced food and live music. Entry is free and further details, including opening times, are on their website.

19-23 April

The Willoughby Arms, Kingston. Over 40 ales and ciders are on offer at this St George’s Day festival, as well as an ale trail, Sunday quiz, live music and more. The pub is open until 12pm every day.

20-21 April

Hook Beer Festival, Surbiton. Beer gives you wings, or rather rotors, at this festival in support of London’s Air Ambulance. Food will be available alongside a varied beer selection from around the UK, although it’s strictly over 18s only. The festival is open from 6pm-10pm on Friday, as well as both 12-4pm and 6-10pm on Saturday. Entry, including a festival glass and programme, is £5 and you can book in advance here.

20-22 April

The Angel, Hayes. This mini beer festival, running from 11am-11pm, presents 10 real ales alongside live music on Friday and Saturday evenings.

20-23 April

The Chippenham Hotel, Maida Hill. Up to 12 real ales and ciders will be available from 4pm-11pm during their St George’s beer festival. 

21 April

By The Horns Brewery, Wandsworth. The brewery will be launching its new 6×6 Oat Pale Ale (made with six hops and six malts)  between 11am and 7pm. You’ll also be able to purchase a selection of their other (very London-themed) brews, as well as BBQ food and snacks from the Earlsfield Deli.

26-29 April

Waltham Forest Sports and Social Club, Walthamstow. Celebrating the beers of Sheffield and Derbyshire, their 8^th beer festival features 25 ales, ciders and perries, food and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. Open from 12pm every day (closing 11pm Thurs, 12pm Fri/Sat and 5pm Sunday), social club and CAMRA members can get in free, otherwise entry is £1 before 8pm and £3 thereafter.

For more pubbish ideas, get Londonist’s Book of London Pub Crawls for less than the cost of a pint.

Image by dbtelford in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Can you recommend a good pub or bar within the Square Mile?

This is the third part of our two-year-long alphabetical pub crawl of London. Previously you voted for the best in Angel, which we subsequently visited (pictures here); and the cream of Brixton (photos here).

Now we turn our attentions to part ‘C’, and we’ve chosen the City of London. This most ancient part of town contains some of the best boozers in London, from the well-known selection on Fleet Street through to former banking halls and coffee houses in the heart of the Square Mile.

But which pubs or bars do you rate the highest?

Here’s how to play:

1. Let us know (in the comments, on Facebook, or by tweeting #bestCitypub) your favourite pubs in the Square Mile.
2. We’ll tally up the votes next week (probably Tuesday lunch).
3. We’ll then arrange a pub crawl around the three or four most popular choices. You’re welcome to join us.
4. You can nominate anywhere in the Square Mile. There’s a good map here (PDF), if you’re unsure of the boundary.
5. By ‘pubs’, we’re using a shorthand — you can also vote for bars.
6. You can nominate more than one place. All nominations count as one vote, whether you rank them or not. Likes on Facebook and retweets of someone else’s vote are also counted as new votes.
7. Venues should be open to the public with no pre-booking, entry fee or membership required.

So, where shall we go?

Tortilla Wimbledon is located at 22 The Broadway, SW19 1RE.

So, a couple of weeks back we reviewed Jamie Oliver’s newish pizzeria…erm we mean flat-eria, Union Jacks, and have since found ourselves sauntering across the Central St Giles piazza to sample what’s on offer at neighbouring restaurant Cabana Brasilian Barbecue.

At the base of one and within the shadows of all those big and vibrant Central St Giles office towers, Cabana is a little less cosy and more sterile than Union Jacks but nevertheless a cool enough place to hang with an urban but spacious feel to it. And the Nandos-esque straightforward efficiency of ordering food here makes up for any possible lack of atmo.

The menu is less accommodating, a bit difficult to choose from and somewhat difficult to describe. There’s plenty going on, and the uninitiated might have trouble figuring out how much to order without underdoing or overdoing it. The good news is that there’s some really tasty stuff to choose from and the smily Luso lovely servers and staff do a splendid job explaining and advising.

Cabana does up meat on parade in deliciously Brazilian style with a much more streamlined approach to the giant roving skewer AYCE process than at some other typical rodizios around town. Diners get a red/green, stop/go card to flip when they want to be served more or when they have had enough.

At first glance the menu might seem to be all about the carne, but a substantial and savoury side order of black beans cooked with cumin, onions and garlic (£2.95) proves even vegans need not necessarily eschew a chow down here. Likewise with the cassava chips (£3.45) – super tasty while they’re hot. Still, if a place slaps “Barbecue” at the end of its name it best be serving up some quality chunks of chargrilled yum. Cabana does. Pork and papaya sausages (two for £4.50) are but one bite-worthy suggestion.

Brazilian beer (284ml of Sagres from the tap at £2.95), cachaca, cocktails, refrescos and even Brazilian wines provide the wash down for a lunch that’s “tudo bem”.

Cabana Brasilian Barbecue is located at 7 Central St Giles Piazza, WC2H 8AD. There’s another at Westfield Stratford City too.

Photo/Chris Osburn

Disclosure: Londonist visited Cabana upon invitation by the restaurant.

Guess what features prominently on the menu of this couple of months old Peruvian restaurant in Soho? Yep, Peru’s national dish, ceviche. Flip the menu over and it’s an equally Peruvian proud read of cocktails and shots centred around Peru’s famed grape brandy, Pisco.

If your mood is raw, then Ceviche is the place for you. From the simple raw fish/lime/chilli/sea salt creations on the front of the menu to the raw egg white/Pisco/lime/sugar syrup/bitters concoctions on the back, the restaurant does this trendy cuisine delicious justice … and just in time before heavy weight Peruvian chef Virgilio Martinez opens the doors to his Lima restaurant later this spring.

Dishes are tapas size and made for sharing. Three or four savoury dishes per person is the recommendation. At roughly six or seven quid per item, a proper dine here is not cheap but as good a deal as any on Frith Street. Quality of the food and drink is high. Service is warm, efficient and incredibly accommodating (or at least it was during our lunchtime visit). The vibe is mellow yet still has a bit of a buzz about it.

Dishes worth sampling? The Don Ceviche (fresh sea bass ceviche in ají amarillo chilli “tiger’s milk”, ají limo, chilli and red onions, £6.75) and the pulpo anitcuchos (grilled skewers of braised octopus marinated in ají panca chilli anticucho sauce with a “coriander cool” Peruvian potato mini cake and anticuchera olive sauce, £8.75) are but two deserving special mention. As for drinks, the house Pisco sour (Pisco Quebranta,lime,sugar syrup,egg white and Amargo Chuncho bitters, £5.50) sets a tasty standard for action behind the bar.

Think of Ceviche as the Peruvian equivalent of Wahaca, Camino or Dishoom. And if this newbie Latin resto can garner similar success, then London will be all the yummier for it.

Ceviche is located at 17 Frith Street, W1D 4RG.

Photo/Chris Osburn

Sunday brunch works best when it offers a comfortable setting from which to stretch one’s weekend a little bit further and deny ever so briefly that inevitable onslaught of Monday morning blues. If the food’s good too, then all the better. Bread Street Kitchen’s newly launched Lazy Loaf Sunday Brunch achieves sumptuous success providing the right vibe and menu for pressing pause before the impending week ahead commences.

A menu featuring a best of breakfast line up along with some Sunday roast favourites; a bloody Mary centric bar; a relaxed jazz and soul soundtrack performed live in a massively multi-storey yet nonetheless intimate setting. These are elements of “ah” and splendid procrastination. And the Lazy Loaf doles ‘em out with near expertise. Still, reality does seep into the experience from time to time.

Prices are perhaps a tad steep but not shockingly so. Starters and “brunch” items cost from £6. Mains are from £12. Sides are £3.50. It can be kind of confusing trying to figure out if a “brunch” dish is just a breakfast-y starter or if it would be substantial enough to eat on its own or as a main. Servers (ranging in style from incredibly charming and helpful to lackadaisically out of sync) are, thankfully, patient enough to work through a read of what’s what. More bacon (as an add-on to brunch dishes) would probably be an appreciated menu enhancement.

Minor grumbles aside, there are some delectable reasons to give the Lazy Loaf menu a go. Eggs Benedict (with ham, spinach or smoked salmon, £7) is perfectly worthy of repeat visits. Ricotta hot cakes with banana and honeycomb butter (£7) salutes one’s sense of indulgence without over doing it. Saltwater prawns and crab on toast (£12) is as prettily presented as it is moreishly agreeable to devour. Sides are yummy value. Carrot and red onion coleslaw is a pleasure. Macaroni cheese with garlic-roasted crumbs is tasty too (but it comes across as much more béchamel-y than one might expect). Puds are a treat. Chocolate tart with salt caramel ice cream and honeycomb (£7) is an obviously popular choice and does not disappoint. Iced yoghurt with a choice of toppings (£7) refreshes.

The cocktail list delights more evenly than the food menu. Well, that is, as long as you like bloody Marys. Indeed, it’s hard to beat an £8 chance to “concoct your own perfect” DIY bloody Mary “from an array of ingredients at our Bloody Mary buffet”. And for the omnivorously curious epicurean, a Surf & Turf Mary (£8) with Grey Goose, BSK oxtail broth and clamato juice presents a sort of liquid BBQ that’s peculiarly savoury.

A few functional hiccups aside, Bread Street Kitchen slices a Lazy Loaf brunch that’s worth recommending.

Bread Street Kitchen is located at the south east corner of One New Change shopping centre, 10 Bread Street, EC4M 9AB. The Lazy Loaf brunch is available every Sunday from 11am to 8.30pm.

Photos/Chris Osburn 

Around the corner from Clapham Junction station, Jamie Oliver’s shop-cum-kitchen is hard to miss. With its startling pink exterior, Recipease resembles a giant marshmallow. On entering, however, you are transported into a bustling kitchen full of nooks littered with peculiar cooking implements and crannies hiding intriguing spice jars.

The school offers a variety of lessons, from Vietnamese or Mexican street food to cooking the perfect steak or risotto. It also teaches every kitchen knife-skill on the planet: a brilliant way to show off back home.

The chefs – or ‘Food champions’ as they’re called – combine an infectious love of their craft with excellent hands-on teaching methods. The lessons are perfect for couples, or those on potentially awkward dates, as everything is done in pairs. You are encouraged to get your hands dirty and make mistakes, an ethos aided by a complimentary wine or beer.

Cooking a South Indian prawn curry, not only do you craft a mouth-watering main dish, but you also learn how to make your own vegetable bhajis. Chilli and spices are in abundance, but as you make it yourself you can choose whether to leave with your mouth on fire or not.

Once your masterpiece is complete, the class sits down together to enjoy the feast. The shock that your DIY meal tastes really good is a welcome and unexpected surprise. Illusions of gastronomic genius set in: your inner cook has been unleashed.

Jamie’s aim for the project is “to create buzzing little community hubs where people can really get involved with food”. It is all this, and more. Recipease, like its founder, makes cooking fun.

Lessons range from one and half hours to two and half hours. Book your place here.

Recipease can be found at 48-50 St John’s Road, SW11 1PR. A second branch is open in Brighton.

By Simon Anderson