[...]

emine

I do actually think Venezia now do BEST PIZZAS IN AREA. Or am I just susceptible to Medi's marketing strategy?

emine

Oh, and Petek is great. Never once had a bad experience there.

Emma

I love Petek - it will be the thing I miss most about SG when we leave. My "usual" is grilled mackerel.

pie eater

Getting back to the point of the thread, I always have a great meal in Petek and they are always super-accommodating, especially when we have guests to visit. If you like salmon, their salmon is great as the portions are huge.

The other lovely thing is that the manager ALWAYS makes sure he is there to get the door and thank us on the way out.

andy

I think the worst Tex-Mex-themed meal I ever had was in Mexico. I also had the most hysterically cliched Italian meal in Rome. The correlation between postcodes and authenticity is not strong.

rainbow_carnage

There's a brilliant arepas place in the East Village in NYC. We eat there every chance we get. My Venezuelan friend says it's one of the best Venezuelan restaurants she's been to, and she lived in Venezuela for 20 years.

I don't even mind that it's not 'authentic'. I just hate the cactus-themed decor. And the food sounds disgusting. There's no good reason why a Mexican restaurant in London has to serve tinned baked beans.

katiejane

@ Emma - sad you're leaving - where are you off?

re: Petek. I think food and wine is consistently good. However there are two experiences. Petek when John's there and Petek when he's not. If you're lucky enough to get the former, it's a joy.

I know he's busy with his three boys though - wondering if we could clone him?

Emma

Off to the opposite end of zone 2 (Brockley). It has an online forum, phew.

Jon has a touch of the Yul Brynner about him, perhaps we could create a Westworld-style robot of him, which I could take with me and open a SE London Petek! Malfunctioning rampage notwithstanding I can't see any flaws in this idea.

sharybo

I ate in Petek a couple of weeks ago and was quite disappointed as I was expecting good things after all the comments here.

We waited ages before we could even order a drink (the restaurant was not at all busy, so there was no excuse). I had lamb chops and my friend had a mixed kebab. I had a glass of house wine and he had a beer. The bill was £40, which for two mains and two drinks I think is quite expensive for a local restaurant.

Yes the food was lovely, but it wasn't good enough to warrant that sort of price - we could have wandered over to Green Lanes and had the same food for at least half the price.

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Papa

I love Petek. We've been eating there since it opened, which I think might be nearly six years now. John is a great bloke, the food is very tasty, the portions are massive and the atmosphere is exactly what you want from a local restaurant. Everyone, we've ever taken in there has said they love it and wish they had somewhere like that near them. Some times it's not been quite as good as others, but that happens everywhere. What I really like is that the cost of the meals has not gone up by much (especially when you consider food price inflation over that time) and the free fresh bread, chilli sauce and olives keep on coming. Those freebies are bigger than a starter in most places, very tasty and in my eyes anywhere that starts you off with that kind of gesture bears the hallmark of quality. London is blessed with many great neighbourhood restaurants and Petek stands up there with the best of them.

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tosscat

We were in Petek on Saturday night Mc: we go to an awful lot of the same places. See you at the Coleridge Christmas fair?

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emine

I was in Petek on Saturday night too! Disappointingly, I had the worst meal I've ever had there - grilled veg smothered in white pepper. I couldn't eat it. It won't put me off going again, because I love Petek (and John) but in future I'll stick to fish. I don't know why white pepper even exists as a foodstuff, it's vile.

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Ian

I was in on Friday. Jon was on great form, with his running shirt on from the Marathon making everyone sponsor him. He fixed us a nice Mojito to celebrate.

RedSturgeon

My partner first went to Petek the day after it'd opened and we've been back many many times since. Jon is a great host and always remembers us by name. Quite how he has the time to run around smiling and being merry at quite so many loyal customers I don't know, but I'm in awe of him for it! Producing brats has impeded us going as often as we'd like recently, but on our last visit a couple of months back I thought the food was as great value and super-tasting as ever.

RedSturgeon

I was intrigued by the imagery in Misscara's text but puzzled about what it might actually look like. Happily, you can find [anything]() on YouTube...

emine

It's the ideal local restaurant - I hadn't been there for ages, and John still remembered me and looked pleased to see me. And the food (despite white pepper etc etc whinge whinge) is ace. @Misscara, I believe labradors, like goats, will eat anything, even stuff that tastes like the floor sweepings of a farmyard. I've been meaning to come back to knitting group for ages but my Thursdays always get taken up by something else. Can't come this week, but will come next week. I want to knit some socks.

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tosscat

I didn't see you. I uncharacteristically sat with my back to the window in the extension: I'm half convinced I've spotted you cycling along Mount View though.