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Best Restaurant in Your Town

14:26 / 02.12.04

Where is the best eating establishment in your town? What's their signiture dish/ your favourite dish.
I know theres been a couple of links like this which have been Londoncentric- but this is for all nations and all towns London included.

What gets you going foodwise? Can be anything from cheapest fry up in Daves Diner to dinner for 2 at the Wolsley. whats the best place, cheapest treat, handiest etc etc.

Mine are all London based as thats where i am at the mo..
so heres a coupl to start things off..

For convenience: Itsu on wardour street is always ace- I love pushing a button for service as it dismisses with all the "can i catch the waiters eye" crap and lets you enjoy the meal- it may be cold but damn it's convienient. The fact that cos its all on a conveyer belt you just sit down order a drink and start eating straight away is also good if your going out/ cinema/ theatre etc- not excessively priced either- i think dishes start from about £2.00 but they can rack up...
I'm mostly partial to their dumplings (yum) salmon sashimi new style (sweet ginger marinade- *almost sounds like adam west speaking*) and the beef carpacio, as well as lots and lots of fiery wasabi!

For Comfort food: The highgate in Kentish Town- always chilled out good fresh board of food reasonably priced gastropuby type thing. comfy sofas ace sunday roast high ceilings and serve food all day sundays yum.
I guess its typical pub lunch stuff like roast beef and sausage and mash that it excells in.

For a great occasion: J Sheekys- quite simply THE best restaurant in London- sister to the ivy. Fish based, amazing service (no matter who you are/ what you look like) fantastic food and opulent surroundings. My advice is book early, be prepared to spend money, get there early and sup champagne at the bar.
always order oysters they'll be great, the poshest fish n chips are also ace as is the fish pie..

I'm sure i'll come up with some other catagories- or think of your own, breakfast, sandwiches, friends that cook! Think food Barbeloids

14:40 / 02.12.04

planet india, top of preston street, brighton UK (the curries are also available from Bradley Smiles on upper lewes road but i'm supposed to keep that secret and they're closing down soon anyway.

they're just the best curries in the whole world - eat in or take-away. simple veggie dhals (sp?) with no ghee or msg, just medium-hot tasty flavour joy that you can eat half a ton of in five minutes. red kidney bean is a big favourite too, as is this other one with tiny little lumps of cheese that i can't remember the name of aaarrggh. they've started doing fried yoghurt lately too, which is just heaven on a plate. parathas and coconut rice are the usual/best accompaniment.

the recipes have been handed down from ol'mama smiles to her daughter-in-law, who's just had a baby of her own so planet india's only open on the weekends at the mo. d-i-l's versions of the family classics aren't quiiiite there yet, though it's impoossible to say what the difference is. wisdom, probably. really wish i hadn't already bought dinner now.

15:06 / 02.12.04

There is plenty of great food in Boston, though sadly my skinny wallet has prevented me from trying very many of them.

For breakfast, my man & I are hooked on the breakfast sandwiches at Fanuiel St Market just down the street. I get the Ham-Egg-Cheese on a bulky, he gets the American-Bacon-Egg-Cheese on a bulky. There's nothing unusual about them, they're just perfectly done - real (not fake-scrambled) eggs fried hard so no dripping, fresh deli meat, cheese all melty, and the bread soft and warm but still fluffy. Droool.

For special occasions, Fugakyu on Beacon Street. Very good sushi. There is often a line on weekend nights, but wait in the bar with a cocktail and you won't mind at all. Nice long menu, everything fresh of course, and the waitresses are super-attendant without crossing the line to annoying. It's been so long since I went there that I can't recall a dish in any great detail, guess I'll have to go again soon....

Scrambled Password Bogus Email

15:42 / 02.12.04

Bengal Lancer in Kentish Town - bloody marvellous curry, with nary a mention of the usual suspects anywhere on the menu. Plus a whopping 25% off if you order takeaway and collect it yerself.

Zara in Hampstead. Just opposite the station. Turkish, warm, cosy, and wicked food.

15:45 / 02.12.04

In Tooting, where a plethora of good Indian restaurants fight for attention; Sri Krishna is fantastic, southern Indian food, mainly vegi, always very tasty, and cheap.

Also the Kastoori, also Indian, also vegi, also out of this world.

Frog and Forget Me Not (Tooting, not Clapham) does such good thai food for a pub, the Tofu Pad Thai is gorgeous, they actaully make the tofu taste of something more than wet old cheese.

There's an old cafe (not sure of the name, but one of their boards has the faded name Layla on it) in Balham, does great vegi breakfast fry ups.

In Tooting again, a place called Ricks Place, does really really nice food for the more special occasions. I took mum there for her birthday last year, very good wine stock as well.

For something on the go and in central London, Leicester Sq's Gaby's Deli do the best Falafal's I've ever had.

In LA, El Conquistador's and Garden's of Taxco's are great mexican places, with really good, fun interiors and staff. And more snacky is Signor Fish in Eagle Rock.

15:48 / 02.12.04

If by some amazing fluke anyone ends up on Main Street in Manayunk, there's a Japanese restaurant called Hikaru which does really, really good sushi (as well as various other dishes and teppanyaki). Very reasonably priced and high quality. Try the live scallop sashimi starter, it's beautiful.

live scallop sashimi

19:12 / 02.12.04

i live in canberra and would have to say we are spoiled for choice with many medium priced places that do really excellent food. i would say, though, that perhaps 'chairman and yip' - who do a truly fantastic east/west hongkong inspired menu - & 'rubicon' - who do delicious and delightful mod-oz ("modern australian" to you not of paradise, which is a scintillating melding of our traditional european cuisine with asian influences all applied to remarkably fine natural produce) - are the two picks...

at the slightly lower budget range, sammy's kitchen in town is brilliant and my second kitchen! their shantung chicken is to die for...

but as i was bred in sydney i just want to cheat on the thread a moment and say a vote for 'tetsuya's' on sussex street - tetsuya-san is regarded as THE chef in this country and i am SO looking forward to being taken to his restaurant for our staff xmas dinner - and i have got the boss to pay!! (almost $300 a head for 13 course degustasion w/ wines - oh drooool just thinking....!! have to go now)

mmmmm...... food! should this be a whole barb section in its own right??

22:39 / 02.12.04

(not to threadrot, but quick London food question

About 3 years ago, while in London on stopover, I had a really, really, amazing bowl of soup from a tiny place around Poland St (or the area north of Shaftesbury, south of Oxford, east of Charing Cross..) that sold nothing but soup. I could never find it again though... anyone know of this place, and if it's still around, where it is?

22:52 / 02.12.04

That will be Soup Works, on D'Arblay Street. They have all sorts of things you can add to your soup like Parmesan and lovely fresh croutons in whatever quantity you like.

Baz, you are right, it's fabulous. Everyone, go there. Oh do go there. *Swoon*.

Goodness Gracious Meme

02:10 / 03.12.04

Oh gawd. This is hard as we are very lucky round here(Brighton). Buuuut, Gambit's choice is a good one, ridiculously cheap *home-style*(in my exp, anyway) indian food, not rubbishcurry.

And, if yr eating in, stupidly cheap good beer, nice surroundings and music.

Buuuuuut, there's also:

Terre a Terre, which is, IMO, the best vegetarian restuarant in the country. People come from all over the UK to eat here, and it deserves that.

Food that is a joy to eat/smell/taste/savour, stylish presentation, really imaginative menus(pretty much every time I go, as a huge food obsessive, I end up something which I have no idea about, becoz I've never heard of half the ingredients), astonshingly good veggie/vegan wines and *still* not terrifyingly formal/scary.

It's Ace. But not exactly cheap(if you eat 3 courses and drink a couple of glasses of wine, you're looking at £40/head)

Then, there's Kambi's, which is cheap (tenner a head would be taxing the digestive system) - looks like/is a kebab house at the front.

But fab: excellent middle eastern food, stews, curries, roast halloumi, babaganoush, the best humous in town etc. and lovely atmosphere/excellent mint tea

And there are loads more....

05:22 / 03.12.04

Danny's on High OWNZ Penrith. The best pizza, best pasta, best service, best atmosphere, all this and BEER.
The seafood pizza doesn't skimp on mussels and baby octopus, the crusts are FUCKALICIOUS, and the prices are actually pretty good. And there's this garlic fetta foccacia pizza entré me and the wife fight over like rabid schnausers.
There is nowhere else to eat in Penrith. NOWHERE! ALL IS VOID!

07:49 / 03.12.04

Back to the soup thing- soup works now doesn't exist- damn shame cos it was good.
Their lentil and pancetta was my favourite.
Weirdly about 3 years ago there were soup places all over town but they all seem to have vanished, worn down by mcpret..

09:31 / 03.12.04

I go to Garner's on Store Street every day for soup - as do all the other Senate House staff and most of the British Museum staff as well. They have four or five to choose from, they're always nice, and only a pound. They serve it in polystyrene beakers and the servings aren't large, but they're good enough...

09:45 / 03.12.04

If you fancy something a little simple, Manzes Pie and mash on Tower Bridge road is hard to beat. Absolutely fantastic double double (two pies double mash) when smothered with liquer and chilli vinegar.

Fantastic stodge, and by far the greatest hangover cure of them all

11:06 / 03.12.04

Monster Mash. No contest. You get mash and stuff. What else do you need?

14:32 / 03.12.04

pear, that sounds fucking fantastic. Chilli vinegar: inspired!

I'd also like to second Meme's Terre a Terre recommendation. The food is ultra-modern, and deeply mysterious.

I went recently and ordered three courses. I had no idea what I was going to get before I ordered, I had no idea what I had eaten when the last morsel was chomped, but it was all very yummy indeed.

Oh yeah, and it turns out I like savoury ice-cream. Who knew?

15:43 / 03.12.04

My two favourite eateries in Hull (bear in mind I am a veggie) are Hitchcocks and Zoo cafe (both vegetarian restaurants).

Zoo Cafe is a small place tucked away down Newland Ave. that serves nice little dishes which vary day to day, depending on what ingredients they have left. It's always full of friendly staff, and has a very boheme squatter feel to it, although the mood is always light and chirpy.

Hitchcock's is a bizarre establishment in the city centre. It runs lock in all-you-can-eat buffets, so you have to book in advance. Also, if you're the first to book for a night, you get to chose the theme, bonus. I've been to mexican and greek nights, but I've heard they've catered for an S&M night, and would probably be willing to have a go at anything. Oh, and did I mention the desserts are all-you-can-eat aswell?

Our Lady Has Left the Building

10:43 / 04.12.04

GGM- What's that veggie Indian place near Euston? Their stuff is delicious.

Oriental City on the Edgware Road has one of those food courts with loadsa different countries and their variations on your standard Chinese takeaway fare. Greasy but goody.

Goodness Gracious Meme

17:15 / 04.12.04

Ah, I think you mean the Diwana Bhel Poori House, Drummond Street, Euston. Wonderful and cheap South Indian cafe - dosas, panni puri etc...