Food for thought – wonky veg

At Trafalgar Square this lunchtime, 5000 portions of veggie curry were being given out, free. All made from ingredients that would otherwise have been wasted: surplus food saved from going to food mountains or vegetables rejected due to being the ‘wrong’ shape…

All the fun of the foodie fayre – Battersea

Why are snails (rubbery gastropod mollusks) and oysters (grey, slimey, mucus-textured bivalve mollusks) considered a delicacy to eat?

Thai at Ye Grapes, Shepherd Market

Ye Grapes is one of several good old real ale pubs in Shepherd Market, and serves both traditional British pub grub and Thai food…

St Christopher’s Inn – genuinely welcomes Tastecard

There are many traditional pubs serving real ales and gourmet-style, British food around London Bridge, SE1. St Christopher’s Inn sets itself apart with competitive prices and by genuinely welcoming Tastecard.

Draft House – home of the thirds

Draft House Tower Bridge is the third branch in the chain. Having visited the Clapham Junction and Battersea branches a few times and enjoyed the selection of real ales, and the ‘home of the thirds’ concept (you can try a third of a pint of three different beers to maximise tastings) we’ve been keen to try the food for a while. We did so last night at Tower Bridge.
Located a five minute walk away from London Bridge station, the Draft House was nicely busy but much less packed than those by the station (it was a Friday night, the start of the weekend). We were celebrating a birthday so tried a good selection of draft ales (including Mac’s Gold NZ, Porterhouse red, Wandle ale, Budvar dark) and bottled (the Brooklyn chocolate stout was wonderfully treacly with deep dark flavours but thoroughly lethal @ 10% volume and not one I’d be able to drink much of regardless of the price @ £7.25 a bottle).

Upstairs at The Clarence

Lamb shank pie – slow cooked lamb shank in Cabernet Sauvignon and redcurrant gravy, topped with rosemary puff pastry @ £11 I’ve walked past The Clarence pub on Dover Street many a time over the years but didn’t venture in as I thought it looked a bit rough. I was wrong. I went to the [...]

Jerusalem Tavern – Clerkenwell

I haven’t eaten here (yet!) but the Jerusalem Tavern deserves a mention in the Lardbutty index. I popped in here yesterday – about 6pm – while walking through Clerkenwell to Darbucka and it was packed, though it is a small venue. It’s interestingly quaint – very battered and higgledy-piggledy – and the building dates from [...]

The Lost Angel

The Lost Angel is a new sister pub to The Lost Society (lovely rickety pub in a restored barn dating from the sixteenth century, serving great food and drinks) but without the charm. The Lost Angel does have potential with its quirky and interesting interior (includes a phone box and a hat collection, looking something [...]