Rub - Slow Food & Milk Bar

Mirandola

I'm getting nostalgic for Melody Maker reading these.

ChangN4N6

Place quite busy all afternoon with families tho not many 'teens' that I could see. Was this Dudley's pancake shop? Similar crowd. Chang

harpistic

@ChangN4N6 According to @poxy';s post (http://www.stroudgreen.org/discussion/comment/62407#Comment_62407), Dudley's became Mexicali. Rub used to be Continental Café. <br>

ChangN4N6

Thanks. It was never that 'continental' tho , was it? Chang

Becky D

Hi - I don't usually post but I'm really disappointed with this new restaurant so hopefully the owners may read this - and I'll go in in the week to speak to them too, but I can't see this place lasting. The only vegetarian food was chewy dried soya pieces on rice. The milkshake was good, but small - so not enough of an event to pop in for one on its own as you would in other diners. The decor was good - but our 2 (not very nice) veggie meals, 1 side and 2 milkshakes cost £25 which wasn't good value. Someone above mentions that places round here survive on repeat local business and I think there's too much competition for Rub to make it unless they widen their selection and the quality of their food and presentation improves. Hope they sort it out!

Mirandola

To be fair, they're not exactly pitching it at vegetarians.

gardener-joe

...

SkiJumpNose

I visited rub last week, and at the risk of turning this thread into something you're more likely to see on square meal:<br>Pulled pork - ok, but very dry, which pulled pork shouldn't be - the experience comes from the moisture you get from the pork fat. Dry pulled pork is very underwhelming. Coleslaw down right weird - lumpy, watery with big chunks of apple in (new one on me). Vanilla choc-chip milkshake very tasty but the chunks of choc left were too large to suck up through the straw, so ended a tad messy.  No offer of sauce or cutlery, so had to locate these myself which isn't exactly a hardship, but you know....<br>WCs rudimentary.<br>Maybe a number of these things will improve with time - a new restaurant with new (and maybe inexperienced?) staff takes time to gel.   I really dig the concept and the fact it's not another chippy/kebab shop, but previous comments allude to the main point: Is there enough to take you back again and again.  At this stage, probably not, but good luck to them, I hope to see it get busier and busier. <br>

dion

We had takeaway the other night and thought it was quite good which is quite an accolade for us as we are pretty fussy. Might have been nice to have some peas in the rice. As with any new venture it must be hard work to get everything perfect from the off. I remember dotori's chaotic service when it started...

ChangN4N6

Yes dotori used to be crap at service, now it is ...ok

Papa

Dotori<br> Season<br> Petek<br> Front Room<br> Dhonia<br> Pappagone<br> La Porchetta (my preferred option)<br> Jai Krishna (too veggie for my tastes)<br> Old Dairy<br> Il Piccolo Diavolo<br><br>That is a fantastic list of stuff to have on your doorstep and those are just the established good places within Stroud Green Road reach. <br><br>They might not be top end, destination restaurants, by we should consider ourselves absolutely blessed to have that level of choice and quality. All independent places with their own character and more often than not great owners / managers / staff who care about their regular customers.<br><br>Think about most of Britain's identikit High Streets and how much atmosphere these places bring to ours.<br><br>I think they are great and I hope Osteria Tufo, Rub, Ole Pera and any other new places manage to pull off a similar trick.<br><br><br>

djmattyoung

don't forget La Favorita on Tollington Park I really like the place and glad it's doing well I choose it over Pappagone. 

andy

@papa l - great post.

nancyccampbell

Agree with @papa - we have an amazing selection of restaurants (plus great pubs and the brilliant Vagabond). So much more interesting than Muswell Hill and Highgate where they're stuck with the likes of yawn-worthy Cafe Rouge and <span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height: 16px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Giraffe</span>. Our restaurants have a certain quirkiness I like - it feels as if they're trying a bit less hard to be cool than in Crouch End and Stokie, which makes them much friendlier. The only things I wish for is a great wine shop (like the Sampler on Upper Street) and a good deli - though it sounds like this might be on the cards? Wouldn't live anywhere else in London! 

poxy

Exactly. And I stand by my initial assertion that Rub was pitched perfectly for the location.

conformable_kate

Yes to @papa - impressive list - I wish we hadn't lost chez Liline though. And I'm always amazed by how little I am tempted to go and eat in any of the Crouch End places. It's a bit off location but any recommendations for over the hill?

miss annie

None. I had a really good lunch in the Tufnell Park Tavern, I'd recommend it. Takes approx 20 mins to walk from our bit of SG.

vetski

A friend of ours says Bar Esteban, the new tapas place in N8, is great - I think it's a pretty limited menu compared to La Vina, but would be interested to hear others' experience of it.

Patso

My wife raved about and I have to say when I went there I was not disappointed. As a result its absolutely heaving however if youre prepared for that the food wine and service are great. For weekend tables booking essential.

Ilovegreyhounds

@vetski Bar Esteban is very good! We went for lunch on their opening weekend and really enjoyed our chorizo raciones and Spanish omelette in a roll. We haven't been since as it has become a popular place in weekend evenings and we are not organised enough to book for dinner. They have an active twitter feed letting people know what fresh fish they are currently sourcing and they have started doing suckling pig. They also include Wildes Cheeses on their board together with Spanish ones. I'm looking forward to visiting again soon and try more dishes.

vetski

@Ilovegreyhounds, you had me at suckling pig! Thanks for that!

Kerrymagorian

<p>Does anyone know the opening times per chance?</p><p>Had a quick Google but couldn't see any.</p><p>We went Sunday and it was closed all day. We tried again last night after work but it was again closed.</p><p> </p>

harpistic

It was open when I walked past at 6.15pm today. It was closed by about 10.30pm yesterday. I had a look earlier but there aren't any opening hours on display.

ChangN4N6

They ain't selling themselves are they? Good milkshakes tho Chang

Kerrymagorian

We went tonight as was open when we walked past after work. We were the only ones in there but the food was delicious. Lots of people walking by stopped to look at the menu in the window. Came to £21.50 for two of us to have a mains, 1 side and a drink each.

Reg

Went to Rub tonight and loved it. Food was perfect - just hot and spicy enough to be interesting without being overpowering. I had pulled pork and madame had jerk chicken. Both moist and tender and right up my strasse.<div><br></div><div>Looking forward to a long and spicy love affair.</div><div><br></div><div>And anywhere with a Warriors poster on the wall is a-ok in my book. Great tunes too by the way.</div><div><br></div><div>What with Osteria Tufo, Season, JaiK, PappaG, Petek, Vagabond, Front Room, Ajani, Hummingbird and the mighty mighty Nandos I am never moving</div>

Kerrymagorian

This is Rub's response to opening hours via their Facebook: "<span data-reactid=".r[39rwf].[1][4][1]{comment507366919346644_3371991}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2]" data-ft='{"tn":"K"}'><span data-reactid=".r[39rwf].[1][4][1]{comment507366919346644_3371991}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0]"><span data-reactid=".r[39rwf].[1][4][1]{comment507366919346644_3371991}.[0].[right].[0].[left].[0].[0].[0][2].[0].[0]">Hi, at the moment we are opening Tuesday - Saturday but will be extending our hours in the next couple of months. Tuesday - Thursday 5.30 - 10, Friday 5 - 10.30, Saturday Lunchtime till 10.30"</span></span></span>

RubDiner

Hi! Elly from Rub here, our customers keep encouraging us to get on the forum... so here I am!<div>I will try and reply to the main points:</div><div>Our opening times at the moment are - Tuesday - Thursday 5pm-10pm, Friday 5pm-10.30pm and Saturday from lunch time - 10:30ish. </div><div>Over the next couple of months we will be extending our opening times.</div><div><br></div><div>Alcohol - we totally agree with all of your alcohol related comments and we are very pleased to announce we are in the process of applying for a licence!</div><div><br></div><div>We are not trying to compete with the BBQ gods - Fette Sau or Pitt Cue, we love these restaurants and we are always trying to perfect our recipes.</div><div><br></div><div>Our Vegetarian option - we also agree that this needs some work, I am so sorry Becky D you were very disappointed with your meals, we have a new special vegetarian main and would love to invite you back to try it for free.</div><div><br></div><div>We have also had some amazing feedback, thank you everyone! We really appreciate everyone's comments, we really want to create a place that serves good food in a nice enviroment with good music.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers, hope to see you soon!</div><div>Elly</div>

Arkady

Good stuff Elly, keep it up.<br>

krappyrubsnif

Welcome to the parish pump, Elly.<br>