West-End Fast Food

The Porcupine, Leicester Square, London, WC2H 0BS
Not a bad pub considering its location amongst so many horrible places and I was pleasantly surprised that they had a few decent guest beers on offer. it's all very old fashioned really inside with the dark wood with glass and leather topped stools. I went for a guest ale called Amber Ale I'd not seen before surprisingly with the name and photo of Brian Turner (a ready, steady, cook regular) adorning it. But it is a really good light IPA style brew with reasonable floral hoppyness and I'd consider ordering again if I come across somewhere else.

Gaby's, Leicester Square, London, WC2H 0DE

Been here before and no doubt I'll end up here again but that's not a bad thing, this place has character but all it is a takeaway really you just happen to sit down. The food is healthy and simple but when I go here I'd always go for either salt beef, falafel or humous and that's exactly what we did. We had tender salt beef if a lovely chewy bagel and falafel with houmous in pitta, everything seems to come with a different but simple salad generally with a couple of crunchy pickled chillis. Good value for money, good food and quick service means this is always a place that'll come to my mind if I need a fast feed round here and it even stays open as late as a lot of takeaways.

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Afghan Curry

Camden Head, Angel, London, N1 8DY

A really good example of an old victorian pub, its even got the brass water taps on bar still. The beer selection is pretty poor and most of the ales on the pumps were off but didn't feel missing much as I've drank quite a bit of Doom Bar recently and have gone off London Pride totally, instead I went for a Leffe and it was pretty decent. Overall this isn't a pub I'd go back to and I'd made that decide without factoring in the soft rock soundtrack, Bon Jovi is quite possibly my least favourite band ever.

Afghan Kitchen, Angel, London, N1 8DU

Just around the corner from the Camden Head but unlike that it's on a busy road in the heart of Angel. There is a small space with two tables downstairs and only a few more tables upstairs, we were seated upstairs at table with two couples. The service was slow and they seemed a little stressed, most people just seemed to be drink water with their meals and after we had a glass of red wine we saw why - it was ridiculously cheap and even chilled, wasn't fit to call itself wine and we just left it. The food was a totally different kettle of fish though...

Lamb with Spinach

Tender stewed pieces of lamb sitting in a mass of spinach, the spicing was very simple and quite subtle but brilliantly done. Tasted and looked like real proper authentic Afghanistan curry not an Anglicised version and with the amount of spinach and the lack of greasy coating it seemed quite healthy.

Chicken with Yogurt

This was just a fantastic curry, the cool yogurt was fighting with the deep and hot chilli as well as the generous refreshing mint. Easily one of the nicest curries I've ever eaten and just thinking about it now is making me hungry.

To go with the curries we had some excellent rice to go with our bread, the bread was like a thick wholemeal nan but much heavier - obviously just out of the oven it was so nice soaking it in the yogurt sauce with came with my curry. We also ordered some pickles and chutney, unfortunately the chutney was all done for the day, I really liked the pickles which were just like normal but spicy British pickles with the cabbage being especially good - I was the only person who though they were nice though, I am partial to strong acidic vinegar though.

For what it is this place is superb, what it isn't is a restaurant, it's an informal laid back almost haphazard place to eat which you should treat that way. I can see people going here and getting wound up by the service and drinks but just go and enjoy the curries because you're unlikely to get something so tasty for such a good price almost anywhere else.

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Camden Town on a Sunday

Hawley Arms, Camden, London, NW1 8QU

Rebuilt after being burnt down with Camden Market a couple of years ago it does actually have a similar vibe about it, we popped in for a couple to have a little rest bite from the hordes outside since it was a Sunday. We sat outside in the little courtyard area since the winter weather seems to be finally making the change to spring. They have a decent selection of four guest ales on tap and we went for the seasonal Greene King Hare Raiser first which was a nice floral traditional bitter, the bitterness was on the heavy since for me, I did enjoy it but wanted something lighter really took a gamble on the Okells Old Skipper and it paid off big time - beautiful golden colour with a slight hint of citrus with combined with slowly maturing flavour which actually was bitter but a totally different milder bitterness than the Hare Raiser, a beer I'll hope to bump into again.

Camden Eye, Camden, London, NW1 9NX

Right next to the tube and sandwiched between two roads this is nicer than it should be, the menu looked appealing and I would think about eating here at some point. The beer selection was minimal and we rather predictably went for the Deuchars IPA which I think was by far best on offer and is a really good afternoon session beer - it was a quick decision at the bar. I wish we'd stayed for another pint of this rather than venturing across the road for old memories sake.

The World's End, Camden, London, NW1 0NE

The classic meeting point for a lot of people when rendezvousing up in Camden for a pre-gig drink or two. But really its not up to much and show when we were resigned to drinking Caffreys which is just mass manufactured piss really, should have gone for Guinness. I know it's Camden but the music playing on the stereo was shocking metal and turned my mind to avoiding here - but you know I'll end up in here again one day before some gig down the road, it feels like it'll always be here and always be the same.

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Cheap pint in the West End

The Cock Tavern, Oxford Circus, London, W1W 8QG

It could only be a Samuel Smiths pub when you walk in, busy, bustling and a great mix of people. It always amazes me the amount of change you get in these pubs even in the west end of London. And amazingly for this price the beer is of much better quality that the a lot of places charging twice as much. I wanted to have a pint of good old Yorkshire bitter so went for a pint of the aptly named Old brewery bitter and was just as anticipated with its strong bitterness and no nonsense taste. I did move onto my favourite Sam Smiths beer after that though and I really rate the Pure Brewed Lager as one of the best German style lagers that you can get. The walls are wooden panelled and is normal it's a little bit like walking back in time when you enter one of these pubs, but it's a brilliant reminder of what a good old pub where the only food is crisps and nuts can be like - an antidote to Wetherspoons.

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Beer served by the stein

The Rake, Borough Market, SE1 9AG

Another visit to The Rake so the first time I've mentioned the same place on here more than once. As expected all the beers bar a couple on draught were different than the last time I was here and I decided to go for a Bear Republic American Wheat ale even after the bar staff warned me it was £7 a pint. Not as white as a lot of wheat beers you normally see, this had an orange hue and was extremely cloudy, it was also refreshing with a slight sourness, I liked it but I didn't feel it was that much better than other more normally priced beers on offer at the Rake, but I suppose it's a beer rarely seen outside America and I was glad to have tried it.

Katzenjammers, Borough, SE1 1TY

As we wandered looking for somewhere to go for a drink next we went past here and one of our friends mentioned they'd been in here recently and it was good so we went down the steps. It's obvious as soon as you go down that it's a German bar and we really should have realised by the name but you never quite know in London. My face lit up when I saw they were serving good German lagers in proper thick rimed steins, I went for the Paulaner and was probably the nicest Paulaner I've had. As was likely after drinking steins the evening was quite raucous from then on but what made it was the fantastic band Oompah Brass who I'd seen only a few weeks ago at Proud Cabaret - they were thoroughly entertaining again with their German oompah style mash-ups of modern classics such as Bohemian Rhapsody, my only disappointment was missing their amazing version of Britney Spears song Toxic. A brilliantly entertaining evening which was heighten by the ad-hoc nature of the arrangements and fact just three of us going out for a drink ended with ten of us dancing in a German bar drinking steins of beer.

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Really makes the cut

Anchor & Hope, Southwark, London, SE1 8LP

Probably the best gastropub I've been to in London so far and it shows with the busy bar area full of the hungry. There is no reserving of tables here as it's all done on first come first served basis as is popular with many places nowadays - this works here really well considering the amount of people wanting a table, we turned up at about 6.30pm and got seated about 75 minutes later. This wait passed quickly with the good beer selection on offer and we were in no way ever cheesed off with the delay.

Kahlrabi with cow curd and watercress

Raw kahlrabi is a delight and it's excellent to see it on a menu at this time of year when it can be one of the very best British grown vegetables available. The bite to it was a welcome contrast to the creamy fresh curd it was served with. A simple and effective dish which done slightly differently would have been a real fine dining joy.

Potted shrimp served warm, hint of cayenne with toasted brioche

Very classic dish that I felt was done well but not massively inspiring, but it is a good example of a British dish that has often been out-shined over the years by insipid continental pate - it was certainly much better than any pate I've eaten recently.

Snail and bacon salad with croutons

This was my first ever experience of eating the French favourite of snails and I was pleasantly surprised, actually they were nicer than that - they lacked all the chewiness you would associate with snails but did retain a nice bite to the texture. This dish will definitely put them to the front of my mind when I next see them on the menu somewhere, soon hopefully.

Whole roast pheasant with smoked sausage, boiled potatoes and cabbage

A true feast worthy dish for two to share, we couldn't resist ordering this and what a choice we'd made. Combining everything that epitomises filling British food for the wintery weather and perfectly timed cooking too. The pheasant was served whole so you carved it yourself at the table, the golden bird was perching on top of the massive portion of boiled potatoes, shredded cabbage and big hunks of the smoked sausage. Try as we did the two of us couldn't finish the whole thing and reluctantly admitted defeat. Thinking about it you could quite easily share this between three for a main especially if you wanted to move onto the appetising modern British puddings on offer.

I think what makes this place stick out from the run of the mill gastropubs is two things; the food was spot on just fantastic, but as well as that the value for money is like nothing I've felt anywhere similar - we had 3 starters, 3 mains (the pheasant was priced like two normal mains), 2 bottles of house red wine - and the bill only came to £90. £30 per head for this quality on in Central London is just astounding considering how much I've paid in places which were non-comparible to here. The high turnover caused by the lack of reservations must enable them to do this and fair play to them.

The Ring, Southwark, London, SE1 8HA

After our good feed we only made it about 100 yards down the road before deciding a relaxing pint would help with the digestion process. I've been in this boxing theme (the name is nothing to do with Lord of the Rings) before and quite liked its simpleness. The beer selection is reasonable but of all the beers I've tried here I've always had the same beer elsewhere much better. We tried the Sharp's Doom Bar but I'd go for the Jennings Bitter which was nice and creamy but just not a touch on what it's like in lake district.

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