Le Grenier appears to be the official retailer of 70’s Crockery. Full sets of brown and orange tea cups, sugar pots and tea jars interspersed with eclectic jewellery, retro furniture, exciting knick knacks and old record players in suitcases which are so pretentious it makes me want to throw up. This shop probably survives in [...]

One of the last remnants of the pre-gentrified Broadway market, F. Cooke dates back to the days before the street was thick with Cypressa vans delivering organic goods. When I politely ask if I may take a photo, I get an obvious “aye roll along” with a weary sigh and a “what’s it for?” “My [...]

This was the first so-called ‘gastro pub’ in London started by one of the Eyre brothers. That is the main reason I like it. It looks much the same as all other gastro pubs but being one large room with the bar along one wall and lacking any nooks and crannies it somewhat lacks an [...]

A night out with Drage is one of my favourite ways to spend an evening. He’s the perfect male, just effeminate enough to not only cite but tell the difference between good jeans and lesbian jeans, yet you wouldn’t catch him standing in front of a mirror, feet turned slightly inwards pulling at the corners [...]

You might think that there wasn’t much in Hackney Wick and that’s because there isn’t apart from a lot of unemployed people who call themselves artists. Anyway for months i’d been going to a fairly nasty cafe as there wasn’t anywhere else. Then a great little place opened up, eclectic and quirky, like sitting [...]

Unless you live there or have a particular fondness for pound shops and general tat then it’s unlikely you will find yourself on Walthamstow High Street. However if you do feel like a trip out east or you just wake up there then Rio Café and Ricco’s opposite are the places to go. A friend [...]

The best thing about this place is the fact that you would never know it was here unless you knew it was here. Part of a school and hidden behind a tall brick wall, you have to ring a buzzer to get in (the buzzer list includes the likes of….. who are also located in [...]

A quirky little Moroccan bar on Brick Lane with tiny ornate tables, beautiful and well though out wall hangings and elaborate chairs with hookah pipes taking up every corner. They specialise in tea with a few light bites. However don’t think about bringing your laptop or getting too settled as it’s not especially comfortable and [...]

Cay Tre is Vietnamese food for white people. If you want something more authentic you are better off with any of the 101 Vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road. However if like me you are scared of food poisoning then ‘Cay Tre’ is for you. Of all the inexpensive Vietnamese restaurants I have been to in [...]

There is little point really in reviewing vintage shops, (I might as well just list them) as they are more of less all the same and stock the same stuff depending on the trend. If leather jackets, lumberjack shirts or old t-shirts with baseball team logo’s on them ever go out of fashion most of [...]