Penny Blood's Black Book » Eat and Drink

Pogo Cafe

Penny Blood — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 07:58:27 +0000

Now Pogo Café is a full on no frills vegan cafe and is where I come when I don’t want to feel like I’m in London. It’s the sort of cafe you’d find somewhere uber-liberal like Eugene, Oregon. On the other hand you could find it extremely irritating if you were the type to take all that anti-establishment crap seriously. They go to town with the shredded carrot, but it’s all so satisfyingly healthy and cheap. You’re unlikely to stumble across it unless of course you are unfortunate enough to live near by or you’re a street level drug dealer or one of 5 kids to a white trash single mom. What I’m saying is, this is a dodgy street, where delinquents walk down the middle of the road refusing to move for cars and where kids half my size look like they’re gonna kill me just because I don’t wear jewellery from Argos.

www.pogocafe.co.uk

76 Clarence Road, London E5 8HB
020 8533 1214
Wednesday – Saturday 12.30pm – 9pm Sunday 11am – 9pm

Favela Chic

Penny Blood — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 22:44:19 +0000

There is nothing I love more than taking a Third World theme and throwing a shit load of money at it thereby creating the ideal place for posh kids to hold their birthday parties all the while discussing their current holier-than-thou missions with the red cross, UN or whatever. The theme is in the title and I can surely say it summarises the place entirely apart from the fact that it is absolutely nothing like a favela or anywhere else in Brazil for that matter. However salsa music, disco balls, furniture that looks like it was washed up on a beach, flea market lamps, kitsch paintings and wallpaper, graffitied bathrooms, staff dressed head to toe in American apparel and imported Japanese trainers, cocktails and delicious Brazilian inspired food with exterior walls covered in carpet is good enough for me.

http://www.favelachic.com/london/

91-93 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A3HZ
020 7613 4228
Tuesday – Thursday 6pm-10pm Friday – Saturday 6pm-11.30pm

Lorelei

Penny Blood — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:41:48 +0000

It was after talking to his Royal Lowness, King of Soho, Sebastian Horsley that I decided to try out the Lorelei as it’s one of Sebastian’s favourites. I’d walked past it countless times without it registering, mainly because it always looked closed and I never trust places in Soho that aren’t widely known. Well the Lorelei as it turns out is widely known (I’m just clueless, but not as clueless as you) and what a place it is. You couldn’t squeeze more character into it if you tried. Tiny with little Formica tables (since well before they were fashionable) and an epic mural of a mermaid on the wall it’s one of my greatest finds, let alone the fact it’s in Soho. It’s nice to be able to recommend somewhere that isn’t Busaba Eathai. The Lorelei hasn’t changed a stitch since it opened back in the 1940s (or thereabouts) and feels like walking into a back alley restaurant in Naples. It’s Italian with pretty much 2 things on the menu, omelettes and pizza. Both are good and cost about £6. My Greek company for the evening sums up the menu “I haven’t seen a dessert menu like this since I used to go on holiday to Cyprus as a kid, the only difference is this one is spelt correctly”. They appear to have various flavours of ice cream and sorbet but when we enquire as to what flavours the tiny little waitress just stabs her finger at the menu squawking “vanilla”, hmm anything else? Any sorbet? “VANILLA” ok ok we’ll take vanilla. Our smirk as she pulls a giant budget sized carton out the freezer quickly disappears as we soon realise the ice cream tastes wonderfully homemade. It’s the small things like the fact that there appears to only be one bottle of ketchup, one set of salt and pepper and one jar of sugar for the whole place so the tiny little Asian lady is constantly grabbing them for whoever asks, not to be returned so make sure you take as much as you need.

21 Bateman Street, London, W1D 3AL
020 7734 0954

Hackney Pearl

Penny Blood — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 07:54:57 +0000

Hackney Wick is clearly on the up and the Hackney Pearl is definitely a symbol of that. Oh don’t worry the area still looks like a deserted wasteland only fit for amateur fashion shoots, but salvaged Formica tables, school chairs and copies of the observer are a slap across the face reminder of where we’re at now over in the Wick. For quite a while people seemed reluctant to open any kind of business as the area was rife with gypsies who’d been kicked out of (sorry re-housed), Stratford. However so far so good as the Hackney Pearl looks to be attracting all the RIGHT KINDS of people. The staff here look like extras from (all and any) music video but are really friendly all the same. The food here is great and the carrot cake is off-the-scale delicious. It’s the kind of place where they cook muffins there and then and leave them on the counter as if your mum just made them, awww sweet, that just tickles me. The spacious interior is styled so perfectly it rivals any established café in London. I’m so proud of it being in my very own Hackney Wick.

http://thehackneypearl.com/

Hackney Pearl, 11 Prince Edward Road, Hackney Wick, London, E9 5LX
0208 510 3605
Tuesday – Saturday: 10am until 11pm Sunday: 10am until 6pm

Lucky Spot

Penny Blood — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 21:39:58 +0000

Ahhh just opened up my note book to write up Lucky Spot and out fell a great postcard I nicked from an art gallery, don’t you love that, when you nick something, stash it away stealthily and then forget about it, only to discover it again later…. I am debating deleting this as I sound like one of those people who buy a can of beans from a shop and ask for a spoon with it.

The reason I’m here is by pure chance. I’m looking for a church and it’s supposed to be on this street. I’m already late but I pass by this little café/restaurant, which immediately grabs my attention. I take a quick peak inside and realise I’ve found a hidden gem. It’s a bit medieval, a bit Austrian ski village, a bit Italian and a bit grannies living room. And it’s in Mayfair of all places, minutes from Selfridges and the American Embassy. It’s opposite Starbucks which sadly has many more customers (that is of course why I write this blog, to highlight child poverty, the war in Darfur and the growth of chain coffee shops)* . It’s the fact Lucky Spot is so out of place that makes it so special. I just don’t give Mayfair enough credit. There is only one other person here, a young man who’s staring at me, he must think I’m attractive, on the other hand I’ve just noticed I’ve got crumbs and raspberry jam on my face from breakfast. Seriously how long has that been there?

*sorry this sentence is so try-hard and not funny.

14 North Audley Street, London W1K 6WE
020 7493 0277

Wild and Wood Coffee

Penny Blood — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:08:19 +0000

These days it is getting increasingly more difficult to find nice places to go in central London. We are losing everything to corporations. I know that’s such a cliched thing to say, but it’s true and should be pointed out more often. It’s not all bad though. A few little places pop up now and again, god knows how they afford the rent. My new favourite for central London is Wild and Wood Coffee. New Oxford Street is not the most likely street to find such a place, a fact which makes Wild and Wood Coffee even more special. It’s a tiny little place that mixes raw concrete walls with parts lined with the wood of old shutters. The booths are made from old church pews and the best part… it has a teeny little ‘nook’ with little shelves for the sugar it’s so cramped. They do great sandwiches and the coffee is good too. In theory it’s the perfect place to hide away. However my tranquility has been spoiled by two ‘corporates’, one being interviewed for a project…ugh…blah….gross…management consultant job. Every time she refers to the ‘CP database’ I think about cutting her head off with a bread knife.

PS I like the sign on the wall stating, “Be prepared for the fire alarm going off on Tuesdays”.

Wild and Wood Coffee, New Oxford Street 1 unit 19, London, WC1 A1BA
07525155957
Monday – Friday 7.30am-6.30pm Saturday 9.00am-6.00pm

http://wildandwoodcoffee.co.uk/

Market Coffee House

Spiazzo Italian Foodhall

Penny Blood — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:45:30 +0000

In Los Angeles, there is a Jewish cafe/restaurant called Canters which is a staple in old Hollywood. It’s full of screenwriters in big white trainers and khaki shorts writing C-list scripts about zombies (there’s a huge market for zombie films in LA). It’s bright and full of booths and the staff are older than most of the buildings.

The Italian Foodhall doesn’t have the history and only a fraction of the atmosphere of Canters but a fraction all the same. Italian rather than Jewish, the deli has shelves stacked high with all that lovely Italian confectionery in amazing packaging, biscotti, amoretti biscuits, dark chocolate, marzipan sweets etc… The restaurant has high-backed red leather booths providing ample privacy and space, something you just don’t find in London since real estate prices force proprietors to pack in the customers. The food is that kind of home-cooked variety you see on American sitcoms and adverts, bruschetta piled high and bowls of olives and buttery ciabatta. The staff look Italian but that’s about it.
26 The Broadway, Crouch End, London, N8 9DE
020 83476065‎

http://www.spiazzo.co.uk

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Balham Bowling Club

Penny Blood — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:00:19 +0000

It may be way down south, miles from anywhere but the Balham Bowling Club is the best pub ever. It’s pouring with rain and I had to cut an epic breakfast at Little Georgia with Morgs short as the night before I had the stupid idea that Sunday lunch at the B.B.C was a good idea even though it meant trekking down from Bethnal Green in monumentally shit weather. And just as I get there I get a call saying that they are all still at home eating gluten free pancakes, that’s bloody great. So out of 8 people I’m the only one here, what a loser! Not to worry though this place is just great, there’s nowhere quite like it. It’s decorated in a theme somewhere between an old school and a sports club, like a set from the History Boys with gaudy furniture and tapestries, basically one giant junk shop neatly arranged. There are billiard tables and Chesterfield couches and big rooms with lots of nooks and crannies to sit in. Only thing is it’s not very cosy but at least it’s not crowded.

7 Ramsden Road London, SW12 8QX
020 86734700
Monday – Saturday 9am-6pm

The Eagle

Penny Blood — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:49:44 +0000

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 element of ‘cosiness’, although in it’s favour it does look like a pub rather than an over-gentrified ‘gastro-pub’.* The food however is great. I love ordering fish and getting the whole fish. I generally inhale my food so picking through all the bones gives me something to do for an hour and a half. Like all good gastro pubs the menu changes daily and attracts all the kind of people who live and work in the area thus not feeling too cliquey like local residential pubs.

*Note that I have no problem what so ever with over-gentrification, I’m not going to pretend that I like being surrounded by poor people.

159 Farringdon Road, Farringdon, EC1R 3AL
020 7837 1353
Monday-Saturday 12-11pm Sunday 12-5pm Lunch served Monday – Friday 12.30-3pm
Saturday-Sunday 12.30-3.30pm Dinner served Monday – Saturday 6.30-10.30pm

Cafe Picasso

Penny Blood — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:53:43 +0000

A Chelsea institution and a perfect place for celebrity spotting. Every walk of life comes here from supermodels to actors to tourists, to rich locals and down and outs. It’s a pretty standard London cafe, a bit dowdy but charming as it hasn’t changed since the sixties with the usual stodgy caff food. A few years back whilst doing an internship at Storm Model agency up the road I used to frequent Café Picasso to get soggy chips for one of the bookers who I downright couldn’t stand and therefore resented this job above all else. Model bookers are generally VILE BEASTS who I would gladly knock off the face of the earth with the long arm of the lords mighty wrath. I would love to be one though. Likely as not you will see Bob Geldoff here too, he was always a bit of a fixture as I used to work next door at (I’m embarrassed to say) Prime Time Video (which in my defense was cool in those days) and I don’t think a day passed when I didn’t see him there. His wife’s a bitch by the way. And he never returns his videos on time.

http://www.dinos-restaurants.co.uk/picasso.htm

127 King’s Road, Chelsea, London
020 7352 4921
Monday – Saturday 8am-11pm Sunday 8.30am-11pm