Rory's reviews
Review of The Crown
10 Sep 07, 18:11
Best pub in Holloway if not the world 
From the outside The Crown can look like a dark and foreboding place and from the inside it looks much the same. Decked out in traditional pub style with dark red upholstery everywhere you look The Crown is the kind of pub that hasn't changed since the day it was opened. Run by some lovely Irish folks, there's a strong gaelic contingent. It's the kind of pub where people will cheer if someone scores against England (it shows both England and Ireland matches if both are playing at the same time). For all that it's far from being unfriendly and there's a good bit of banter with the locals. Not sure if it's still the case but the pool table used to be only 70p and all pints were below the £3 mark. Even before 24 hour licensing it had a 'relaxed' attitude to closing time and would rarely close if there were more than about five people in the place. All in all it's just a really great pub.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of J and R
10 Sep 07, 17:38
GENTS HAIR CUT 
Gents hair cut is what it says above the door and coincidentally that is what goes on inside. Cutting the hair is a jovial and bald man. I'd say he's about 40 and probably Greek. Whilst cutting your hair he throws his comb up in the air and catches it, usually in time to whatever Radio 2 is playing in the background. The haircut you get is pretty standard (I usually go for short back and sides natch) and costs a tenner which is pretty reasonable for London. Aside from the throwing the comb thing J and R gets 4 stars because I once got a free hair cut in there. No idea why but I did. So there.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of ONeills
10 Sep 07, 15:04
All sport all the time
It's a chain pub, Boo! Hiss! Even worse, it's an Oirish chain pub. Well, yes, there's no getting away from that really and there are signs in gaelic and the obligatory Guiness memorabilia dotted around the place but it's usually quite dark inside so it's not hard to ignore. Thankfully it's also a very well-run pub. There are always plenty of people serving behind the bar, beer is good although there are no ales on tap and it's got about 6 screens showing sport. The sport coverage is its main selling point. Unlike most pubs in London, all the screens aren't locked on the same feed, so it can show different things at the same time. On international football days it manages to cover all of the home nations even though the games are being played simultaneously. They also post notices below the TVs telling you what match will be on that particular set. Hardly earth-shattering but amazingly something nowhere else seems to do.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of White Hart
05 Sep 07, 10:49
Pretty Good Local
The White Hart has all the things you need from a good local: well kept beer (Lowenbrau and two ales on tap), decent food (Thai and pub grub) and a couple of big screens to watch the football on. It also has that little something extra to keep things interesting. The first time I went in there, with a friend who wasn't hugely fond of the area, a guy on the next table landed a punch on his mate's chin. Then they both carried on drinking as if nothing had ever happened. On the whole people in the White Hart are really friendly in a no-nonsense kind of way but there are two evil old women who drink in there occasionally. Their tactic is to get talking to the nearest punter, giving the impression they are harmless old dears, and then unleash a volley of truly filthy abuse. Avoid them and you'll be fine. One of them pretends she's French.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Costcutter
04 Sep 07, 16:56
Best Before 2003 
It's hard to put into words the bile I feel towards this shop. Not only has it poisoned me twice with out of date food and BAD meat but it's a mecca for all the ne'er-do-wells of Whitechapel High Street: tramps, prostitutes and worst of all, teenage American tourists. Having selected your third-rate produce you're invariably stuck in the queue for ten minutes while a tramp counts his coppers and noisy yankees giggle about which bottle of hideous liquor they should buy from behind the counter. If you ever do have the misfortune of shopping here, don't buy milk. It goes off on average 4 days before the best before date. I've given the shop one star because you can buy papers there. That's all it's good for.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Taro
04 Sep 07, 16:36
Good cheap Japanese food
If you're bored of going to wagamama go to taro, it's cheaper, the food's better and you don't have to sit on benches next to strangers. The signature dish is chicken teryaki don: succulent pieces of fried chicked with teryaki sauce over sticky rice. The portion you get is huge and you walk away with change from £7. The rest of the menu is similar fare to wagamama but about a pound cheaper and the staff are friendlier and more efficient. They also serve sushi if you like that kind of thing. I don't.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of The Rose
21 Aug 07, 15:15
Together in Electric Dreams
Myself and a few of my friends have an unhealthy fascination with the song 'Together in Electric Dreams' by those titans of 80s pop Phil Oakey and Giorgio Moroder. The Rose, near London Bridge, feeds this fascination with what I believe to be the best jukebox in London. It really is incredible, the jukebox has an amazing range of music and I don't mean in an Andy Kershaw eclectic way. You can gauge how good your selection is by the reactions of the regulars and it is not unknown for seperate groups in the pub to break into song at the first strains of an old Elvis number or even something by The Specials. The pub itself is bizarrely decorated with appropriately dim lightling at all times. To the left end of the bar as you enter is a strange kind of shrine with a model of a brain as its centrepiece and behind this painted on the back wall is a huge mural which my friend reliably informs me comprises more sexual innuendo then any picture ever painted. Despite this singular decoration the punters are far from arty, trendy, types. In general there are three groups; the old locals who look like they've been propping up the bar since it was built, medical students from the nearby hospital and everyone else inbetween. The beer selection is pretty standard and prices are about £3 a pint, there's a big screen for football and it's open late pretty much every night of the week. What else do you want?
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.
Review of Khushbu
21 Aug 07, 14:48
Khushbu - best curry on Brick Lane
Shining like a beacon of blue fluorescent light, Khushbu is more like a caff and takeaway joint than a restaurant. All the surfaces are white and there is a kebab shop-style counter where the food is ordered and dispensed. The fact that the tables and chairs are garden furniture gives you a hint that this isn't a place to go for a long drawn-out meal. If, however, what you want is a really good no-nonsense curry without the 20% off nonsense and other mysterious additions to the bill you get on Brick Lane, you can't go far wrong with Khushbu. There are usually about 5 curries available with a mixture of lamb, chicken and vegetarian options and a small selection of grilled meats. The quality of the curry is always excellent and for those nights when you're stumbling home after one too many they even do a decent chicken doner which comes served in a naan. Lamb curry, pilau rice and naan comes to about £8 or £9 which may seem expensive for a takeaway but when you consider that it's better food than pretty much anywhere on Brick lane it's not bad value. For the anoraks out there I know it's not actually on Brick Lane but it's close enough to be counted as part of that area.
1 out of 1 person found this review helpful.
Review of Genesis Cinema
21 Aug 07, 13:48
Genesis Cinema
According to the charmingly amateurish website the Genesis is a 5-screen 'multiplex'. For me the word multiplex is synonymous with huge, depressing buildings in out-of-town retail parks. The Genesis is certainly not one of these, built on a site that's been used for theatres for the last 150 years, it manages to retain a fair bit of that charm despite being given the identikit cinema decor treatment inside. The staff are young and not zombies and it has a reasonable bar upstairs as well as the usual range of eye-poppingly expensive snacks. The auditoria are clean and comfortable and sound and vision quality is as you'd expect from a modern cinema. Try and avoid the smaller screens though as you may be left with the feeling that you could have just paid your mate to watch the pirate on his big flatscreen TV. The best thing about the Genesis is the price, at the moment, standard tickets are £4 Monday-Thursday and £6.50 at weekends, with concessions £1 or £1.50 cheaper. This part of east London is not particularly blessed with cinemas and as a whole London is full of expensive ones, which makes the Genesis a good choice in my book.
0 out of 0 people found this review helpful.