The Landseer
37 Landseer Road
N19 4JU 

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, January 18th, 2009

The Victims: Gerry, Ben

The Damage: Less than £20 for some beer and a bowl of French onion soup.

The Background: I wrote a while back about how I thought 2009 would be the year of playing games in pubs. So it was that I found myself on a Sunday afternoon at The Landseer in Holloway with my bag of tricks. I convinced Gerry and Ben to play Quiddler and despite Gerry's dislike of word games, she managed to kick all of our butts big time until I squeaked ahead in the last possible round!

The Entrance: The Landseer has a lot of big windows. On a chilly but sunny Sunday like the 18th, this really makes it the most perfect place to hang out it. Really, it was lovely.

The Service: Super congenial. Someone had definitely taken their happy pills.

The Food: I ordered French onion soup and some chips. The French onion soup was pretty bad. Gloupy in a bad way. And there were lots of little sticks in it. Like someone had thrown in the twigs from a lot of old bay leaves.The chips were nice though…nice shoe-stringy frites.

The Verdict: Go back for the windows. And the frites. Also, they have pretty much ALL the Sunday papers, which makes it a nice place to while away a few hours.

The post The Landseer first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

The Vicitms: Al, Louise, Darshak, Abba

The Damage: £35ish because Al was kind and didn't make me pay for the wine. This means that he enjoyed nearly an entire bottle on his own. I'm sorry, Al.

The Background: Ever since Al & Louise moved to Archway and Gerry & Ben moved to Holloway, I've been expanding my geographic horizons. I've been getting to know the London bus system better, assisting me in my "Year of the Bus" campaign. (At 90p, how can you not take the bus???)

I'd heard raves from both couples about St. John, so I was really eager to give it whirl. Al managed to get a late booking for a Friday night, which I felt awful about because it meant bundling up baby Oscar and keeping him up past his bedtime. (To clarify, Oscar is Al & Louise's baby; not mine.) But really, Oz didn't seem to mind and we didn't hear a peep out of him all night, bless him.

So–Entrance: Entrance is good. I like it. There's a bar up front and a restaurant in the back. I like the restaurant decor. There are many portraits on the wall, seemingly by the same artist. It's cool. It's somewhat library-esque too, although it's not a library. I can't explain it. Gentleman's club maybe? Regardless, it was dark and warm and inviting. And it's raining outside (again). So we're all very cozy.

Random Thoughts about Alcohol: So I'm taking a break from alcohol this January. I noticed Girl Dates London is doing the same, although January doesn't seem to be slowing down Stonch over at Stonch's Beer Blog or Douglas over at The Daily Wine. In veto'ing the vino, I've noticed a couple of things:
1. There's a lot of food out there with alcohol in it. (More to come on this in a bit.)
2. People look at you funny on a Friday night when you order a cranberry & soda. (I think C&S is much more interesting than just sticking with tap water.)
3. Some waitstaff can handle the non-drinkers more maturely and appropriately than others. (I will come back to No. 5 Cavendish Square in a few days and highlight how annoyingly pushy they were, and insensitive given that we were dining with a number of Muslims–obviously so. And maybe I was over-analyzing it the other night but I think the servers at Roka were desperate for us to order something besides water and tea.)
4. It's amazing what you can accomplish on a Saturday morning at 8 a.m.

I digress, so let's get back to the food…

The Starters: I order the crab bisque. And then I realize that there's probably alcohol in it. Al tries to reassure me that all the alcohol has been cooked off, but if I'm going to do this no alocohol thing, I'm going to do it right. I switch to the artichoke soup and it is FANTASTIC. I would love nothing more than to come home to this on a Sunday afternoon when it's raining outside, Nina Simone is on the radio, and there's a yellow lab at my feet. (For the record, I'm allergic to dogs, but this is a nice image isn't it?) We are off to a good start.

The Mains: I can't choose. I end up with the ribeye and chips which is odd for me because I'm not a steak person, really. The chips are nothing special. The ribeye is kinda messy. How can a steak be messy? It's almost like it's part braised or something. Or perhaps cooked once to rare and then cooked again to medium? I can't explain it. But it was just not for me.

The Dessert: I ask for the caramel ice cream. They're out. But our server recommends the rum raisin ice cream. No no no…alcohol–it's everywhere! I opt for vanilla and it's served with a little piece of shortbread that almost redeems my steak.

The Loos: Dirty, dirty, dirty. And cold. Cold and dirty is a bad combination. A good power washing, a smelly candle, and a flower or two would do wonders.

What I Learned: Abba assures me that there are NO monkeys in Delhi. This is interesting because my co-workers swear they were mauled by a swarm of wild monkeys in Delhi. 

The Verdict: I'm going to give St. John another shot. It's the artichoke soup. I can't stop thinking about it.

The post Gastro: St. John (Archway) first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.

Hot Chip – The Warning

Date of Last Visit: Sunday, October 21

The Victim: Me

The Damage: £10

The Background: Sometimes, a gal just needs to get out of the house. I was tired of laundry, shopping, TV, blogging, my Blackberry, many things. A while back, I questioned the staff at Kobkhun Thai on the Essex Road about where they go for Thai food, the response was pretty unanimous: Nid Ting, on Holloway Road, across from the Petrol station. I’ve been storing this little nugget away for just the right day. This was it.

Nid Ting’s location on Holloway Road is on a bit of a bleak stretch. There are fruit machines everywhere. I was a little curious about the last vestiges of a street market  I passed as I made my way down from Archway Tube, but not so curious as to stop and research.

The Entrance: They’ve JUST opened. There are many news clippings in the window. Charles Campion is staring back at me. The staff’s children are in control of the restaurant when I enter, but they’re sent to a back corner once I take my seat.

The Starter: They are dumplings of some sort. I am imagining gyoza/pot stickers, but what I get are big golf balls of pork and veggies. They are only okay. I am disappointed.

The Entree: I go for the Lad Na, which is my 2nd favorite Thai noodle dish after Pad Se Eu. It arrives and it is a soupy mess. I think there is some fake crab meat in there. I am not an expert on fake crab meat, so don’t quote me. But it all just seems overly gloopy to me. And there’s a surfeit of noodles. It’s mostly gloop. And carrots. I am so disappointed.

The Departure: The staff wish me a warm farewell. They are very sweet. (And I like their outfits.) The loos could use a good powerwash. 

The Verdict: Not worth the trip for me. 

The post Thai: Nid Ting first appeared on Passport Delicious | Solo Travel Blog | Solo Female Travel.