Non-SG restaurants

sincers

I went to dinner at Giuseppe's on Borough High street a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of friends and it was amazing. They have a chap singing all the greats (Volare etc.) while you tuck in. It then it turns into an impromptu disco after they've cleared everyone's plates away. Great atmosphere, great food. I think it helps if you've had a skin-full.

Mirandola

Don't want to spark off a 500 war here, but I went there last year and thought it was great. Especially the rabbit.

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dfmb

best ice cream in London? Scoop on Endell Street Covent Garden and I believe a 2nd shop on Brewer Street in Soho.

miss annie

@dfmb
Best ice cream...
Gelupo in Archer Street, Soho and of course the delightful Marine Ices in Chalk Farm.

dfmb

Marine Ices? No way. Sugary, with very little creaminess. Fine for kids nurtured on Carte d'Or! Next time you're in the west end, try Scoop, it's proper Gelato.

I'll give Gelupo a try, anything for ice cream!

miss annie

I like Marine Ices precisely because it reminds me of being a small child and eating non gourmet ice cream at the seaside. It's has nostalgic appeal.
Do try Gelupo, it's amazing - proper, grown up ice cream.

crouchend tiger

I really like Lalibela (ethiopian) in Tufnell Park. And it is possible to stagger back to SGR on foot afterwards - in fact it's postitvely helpful to do so as the portions are huge.

sincers

I went to Dans le Noir recently. Its the Parisian concept restaurant where you eat in complete darkness, you get served by blind waiters and you have to guess what's on your plate. Great experience if you're not too fussy. The menu was unexpected - Shark, Crocodile and Ox Cheek - highly recommended!

tosscat

Here here for Gelupo, though I can't get past the granitas and invariably get the worst Slush Puppy headache as I wolf them down too quickly. The sour cherry one is really nice.

krappyrubsnif

How much would you pay for a restaurant meal for two? I have a young lad laying some paving slabs on the back patio at the moment, about 20, nice lad, funny, clever, good company, just starting a day-release college course. I wouldn't have thought laying paving slabs is a highly paid job. He told me he and his girlfriend were out at an Indian restaurant in the West End on Saturday and a meal for two had cost £170, which he thought was great value. It was not a special occasion. No wine - he doesn't drink. His girlfriend had three courses. 'But we did give them a nice tip'. I was staggered. Two people earning, no outgoings, no kids, no mortgage, no car, I suppose. Do people really spend that kind of money? I'm no slouch but I start feeling queasy when the bill comes in over £75 for two (and that's with drinks).

Arkady

KRS - I'm with you on the bills. Fro £170 I'd want it prepared by Madhur Jaffrey in front of me. Possibly with dancing girls. Dans Le Noir is ace. Really fun experience. I did mistake my tie for my napkin for much of the meal though, which was fairly horrible in the light of day.

miss annie

I say that £75 for two is the maximum for local dining. Although we did get a bill for almost £150 in Monkeynuts a couple of times (drinkcentric lunches), which was quite shocking.

sincers

£170 is a lot for an indian. You'd have to go to somewhere like the Cinammon club near parliament square to get that kind of bill. £100 for 2 is certainly top end for my blood, £150 if you add the odd cocktail and a bottle of wine that isn't first on the list ('cos you're trying to pretend not to be a povo). lol at tie/napkin Dans le Noir. Good advice is also to not wear a white shirt. And don't have a few pints before you go in because you can't go to the toilet unless you want to announce it to everyone in the room!

krappyrubsnif

I've just looked it up . It was Bombay Brasserie in Kensington, which is very high end, top celeb spot, five star all round and "serious cash for stunning cuisine". That explains it. I don't blame him, you certainly have to experience a place like that. I still don't think I'd spend that much, especially to be intimidated by the waiters.

Tallboy

Has anybody eaten at Juniper on Highbury Park? I'm thinking of trying it out.

tosscat

Someone has - use the search function.

missisclack

The food at Dans le Noir is terrible! You pay for the 'experience'.

I went to the one in Berlin first, about 3 years ago. There was lots of misbehaviour. Think nakedness and food flinging. Very juvenile.

The food was slightly better 'though.

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Arkady

I'm pretty sure there was at least one cheeky five-knuckle shuffle* at our table, it did get a bit out of hand. Alas I was not the recipient (or the purveyor). I agree the food wasn’t very good, but it was excellent fun. *Initially auto-corrected as ‘five-knuckle soufflé’, which sounds really really gross.

Arkady

Clandestino’s looks ace. I can recommend the Suppercub (<http://www.supperclub.com/#/london> – absolutely insane, but expensive. Be warned, the website might make slightly uncomfortable viewing at work. It’s in some cavernous rooms underneath the Westway. Slightly less expensive but also a crazy burlesque-fest is Last Days of Decadence in Shoreditch: <http://www.thelastdaysofdecadence.com>; - this place is great fun. 1920s speakeasy upstairs with piano players and good food. Downstairs – madness. Strippers setting fire to themselves, drag acts, the works.

miss annie

I love Last Days of Decadence and indeed anything 1920's/30's the more burlesque and decadent the better. I can recommend Boom Boom Club or any of the club nights here... <http://www.thebathhousevenue.com/home.aspx>; The venue is glorious.

ADGS

I've been to Last Days of Decadence a couple of times and, even aside from the try-hard tautology of the name (I remember when it was the Ditch Bar, and it's not changed that much), I wasn't too impressed. If you're trying to encourage decadence, don't have seating which melts PVC, you berks!

miss annie

ADGS Try the Boom Boom Club, I'm certain that it will live up to your expectations. Oh, and at least pvc is a 'wipe clean' surface.

bennyfromtheblok

The Bathhouse is an excellent venue and I highly recommend the Boom Boom club. I used to work around the corner and that venue used to be an Italian restaurant! I've not been to clandestinos, but have been to something similar - <http://www.stolen.it/>; they do theme nights based on other famous restaurants except at much lower prices. A lot of these type of places are run by great chef's. There was one going called The Loft run by Nuno Mendes who used the place as a test pad while he was opening <http://www.viajante.co.uk/>; which I've been to and would say is a lovely experience. Anyone interested in more of these supper clubs can get more info at <http://supperclubfangroup.ning.com/>; They are a fun and more often than not you all sit on communal tables so it's very sociable too.

Tallboy

My experience of the London Supperclub (see Arkady's link) was very disappointing. Food was cold and dismal. Everybody sits on a white mattress that runs around both floors of a "not as impressive as it look on the website" room - different but impractical.
Three cabaret acts on my night were awful - bloke in his undies standing on one arm, woman dancing around in too much chiffon and another woman who breathed on fire but never swallowed.
About as subversive as a plate of tapioca.

ADGS

Miss Annie - PVC is no longer wipe-clean if the venue seating has somehow melted it off the lining, which was what the seats at LDoD did to the (admittedly fairly old) trousers in question.

Arkady

I think we're learning a lot about each other on this thread. PVC trousers?

ADGS

Oh dear, and the Boom Boom Club has Frank Sinazi appearing. I've seen a lot of the acts they list elsewhere, and not been massively impressed, but he's just shit. Singing Frank Sinatra songs with lyrics altered to be about the Third Reich, passably amusing. But then randomly widening the remit to do them about terrorists, doesn't really go with the schtick - and if you do an act like that, you should surely be prepared to cope with hecklers, which this schmuck clearly wasn't, having only stock comebacks which weren't great the first time, let alone when repeated.

ADGS

Yeah, I'd had the trousers since my student days (being loath to throw anything away until it's completely and verifiably beyond use) but on this occasion my girlfriend was wearing them. These were the silver ones, she'd already been the death of the black ones on a previous occasion (but that was just through their fragility and her dancing, not killer venue seating).