The Princess of Shoreditch: spoiled, superficial and inconsistent.

Feckin fitting. The darling gastropub of Shoreditch is just as much a vacuous wannabee as the crowd that now infests the neighborhood.

Just as the gritty, cool, authentically care free and creative generation that made Shoreditch is now copied by empty, overly produced shells, so is the Princess of Shoreditch a try hard, mediocre place to eat.


Yeah, there's some nice fluorescent portraits, and everything is in the de rigueur shabby chic, muted style. But the food is crap. I mean, the sticky toffee pudding was great, granted. But I've pulled better things out of my own ars£$%$. My friend had this ravioli, which turned out to be this doughy, oversized, clumsy mess.


The roast was £15 quid, and I can get better for half the price around town. The bloody mary was appalling.


And Mischa Barton, darling, you desperately need a new colourist.



Blargh.

Vietnamese restaurants in Hoxton

These joints are London classics. For some reason there are several adjacent vietnamese restaurants on Kingsland Road. These places are always packed, and swarming with the hipsters de rigueur....

My absolute favourite is the Viet Grill. I shall do a better review soon enough, with photos and what not. I guess this is a place I come to so often, I end up never getting round to doing this properly.



There is also its little sister on Old Street, Cay Tre. Gorgeous food. Curries, Pho, seabass, lemongrass. Outstanding.


But this is the ultimate London cheap eat. I UUUURGE you to pop round.

You can have a tipper at the Jaguar Shoes afterwards, classic Shoreditch night out it is...

Infos
Viet Grill
58 Kingsland Road
Shoreditch, London E28DP, United Kingdom
020 7739 6686

Quirky bake sale for Red Cross Japan

This Friday, in Shoreditch, some of the city's top bakers are having a bake sale for charity. All the money is going to Red Cross Japan.



The cakes look amazing, shaped like sushi and other cute japanese-themed stuff. Top London patissiers such as Ms. Cupcake, Ed Kimber and Molly Bakes are contributing.

all photos from cakesforjapan.wordpress.com

Infos
Japan Bake Sale
Maiden, 188 Shoreditch High Street,
London, EC2.
http://cakesforjapan.wordpress.com/cakes-for-japan-london/

Shoreditch

Shoreditch High Street station taking shape...

Normal in Shoreditch

Having lived in Shoreditch and struggled to find things that were not uber hip and designer, this website really did crack me up:

http://www.normalinshoreditch.com/

How to find normal stuff in Shoreditch. Brilliant. It all started when Alex couldn't find a nice, normal bath towel amongst all the kooky designer hubris....

Shoreditch hipsters

this is hysterical.

London Markets 3 - Columbia Road Market

On Sundays, there is Columbia Road market (http://columbiaroad.info/), a beautiful flower market, which is sure to fill your heart with sunshine for the rest of the week. Or at least your house with freesias. Anyhow, it s still quite the same hipster crowd, maybe a bit more grown-up. It's on Columbia Road, also in East London, quite close to Old Street station. This is one of the few markets that runs on Sunday, because of the largely jewish population that used to inhabit the area.


Columbia Road Market

You can hang around the market, buy flowers of course, but also interior design, vintage fashion and specialist perfumes from Angela Flanders. For lunch, there is a lovely Sunday roast at “The Royal Oak”, which is one of the few pubs I know in London with good looking, non dorky, straight men. The roast isn’t half bad either. Book ahead, they’re always packed.


The Royal Oak

Or you can have a late brunch at Bistrotheque, near Mare Street, the bloody maries are ace and there’s a pianist playing pop tunes. The fare is “modern British”, with posh fish and chips and scrumptious eggs royale (eggs, bun, hollandaise, smoked salmon and a dollop of caviar). Wear Comme des Garcons and look artsy. You will most definitely need to book here too.


Bistrotheque

Addresses
Angela Flanders
96 Columbia Road
Shoreditch
London
E2 7QB
Tel: 0207 739 7555

The Royal Oak
73 Columbia Road
London E2 7RG
Tel: 020 7729 2220

Bistrotheque
23-27 Wadeson Street,
London, E2 9DR
Tel.020 8983 7900