Pomelo has a new name

I noticed today the Chinese restaurant on Chamberlayne Road, Pomelo, has a new name (and looks a bit different). Is that a recent thing or am I telling you things that happened six months ago?

Sacro Cuore pizza

So we tried their takeaway service. I called up and they said 'it'll be ready in 5 minutes' which was a little quicker than I expected or even wanted but we were hungry so I decided to go along with it anyway.

A temporary website with menu is here.

The pizzas were, as hoped for, excellent. In fact really excellent. Quality and plentiful ingredients, and extremely tasty.

It was quite full although the outside terrace area was not being used.

I'm still a big fan of Primi in Queen's Park and think it gets a bit unfairly overlooked (and they deliver, which Sacro Cuore doesn't). But the pizzas here were brilliant and this is certainly a very welcome arrival in Kensal Rise. 

A few things

Today we went to the Car Boot Sale near Queen's Park. Seemed most old clothes but we did arrive far to late to give a good guide. We also went to the Children and Baby shop Izzy Jones which seems a good addition.

Then we wanted to buy some lunch, and realised Queen's Park lacks a decent deli. So we decided to eat out at Taste of Chamberlayne, which I only went to for the first time just before Christmas but have found really good on both occasions. I had the Eggs Benedict, my wife the Eggs Florentine and for the baby a Croque Monsieur without the mustard. The first two were great but the Croque Monsieur was fantastic, with absolutely delicious fried bread. Probably not the best thing for a small child, so I ate most of it instead...

Lucky Chip burger van

In the truely useful fashion for which this 'blog is internationally famous, my review comes as I think the Lucky Chip burger van has finished it Harrow Road/Chamberlayne Road stint, but apparently it is travelling around and will be back in May so you might see it again. The burgers were very tasty, with a lovely relish, and nice beefy burger (all sourced from the Brooks Butchers on Chamberlayne Road) and the chips were classic US diner style. In all we were very pleased with our meal from there, and it's a great idea.

8 Station Terrace review in Time Out

I'm not sure this web one is the same as in the print edition, but it's a pretty good review. We went again a few days ago and enjoyed it - the poached egg and smoked salmon starter was particularly nice.

8 Station Terrace, Kensal Rise - a short review

We went to the new bistro-style restaurant on Station Terrace last week. We shared a cheese and leek quiche to start, followed by lamb chops with a side of greens, and for me salmon and (I think) prawn fish cakes with a tomato salad. We share an Eton Mess for dessert. To drink a diet coke and two glasses of red wine.

We thought the food was simple and well done - the quiche was exceptionally tasty and our only complaint is that it was a little overpriced - £6 for one slice of quiche - £5 would be about right. The fish cakes (£10) were just the right amount of fishy and not too much potato. "You can't go wrong with lamb chops" (£10) apparently, and they didn't. The Eton Mess (£4 - good value) was fantastic, lovely home-made tasting meringue and juicy strawberries. Both red wines were excellent. Service was friendly and not overly fussy.

Inside was nice with lots of pictures on the wall - I agree with the commentator who said the front window is a little bare, looking out as it does onto the railway side. On the other hand during the day I imagine it is nice to get so much light in.

So, minor quibbles aside, we think it is an excellent addition to the Rise - filling a large gap in the market.

New restaurant, old(ish) restaurant

As some of the commenters have noted, the brasserie on Station Terrace has opened with the useful name 8 Station Terrace. We looked in at about 5pm today (Sunday) and it was packed. The interior looked nice and the menu looked good too (I don't know if it was just for today or changes daily). A commenter noted the wine is reasonably priced by the glass (although I thought the Prosecco at 25 quid a bottle was a tad expensive). Anyway the proof will be in the pudding, and the starters etc, and so I will report back when we've been. Certainly on the face of it a very welcome addition.

We also went recently to Ida, and had a very reasonable three courses for £20 or something like that. Food was excellent, very filling and tasty.

Out and about

We went for a Kensal Rise stroll today - and a few things are worth mentioning.

It began in the library, which has had a refurb and although my initial sceptical view was that it would mean fewer books, and I'm not entirely sure that isn't the case, the automatic machines to get books out are amazing. Once you scan in your library card, you simply put ALL the books below the machine, and it immediately recognises all of them without any scanning or opening etc. I assume this is RDS technology, but it's very impressive.

Next we went to Retrouvius, a tardis of a second-hand furniture/collectables place. It's quite trendy and is featured a lot in magazines such as Living Etc, and well worth a visit from time-to-time.

Then we looked in the window of Ammonite2000, and then moved on to the William IV. This was refurbished last year and we liked it, although it doesn't quite work - it falls a bit between being the Paradise and being a All Bar One style place. The menu looked good though and I'm glad there are pubs still showing the football.

Finally, back on Chamberlayne Road we asked at the pizza place that was opposite Tesco what was happening. Apparently it is going to be the same people running a pizza place, but this time a restaurant, and it will also do Mediterranean food, whatever that is.

A bit of news

Not a lot to report at the moment. Does anyone know what the place behind black chipboard frontage on Chamberlayne Road is going to be? And what's that strange box that's appeared at Miro's tapas place on the pavement?

We're getting more good reviews about Luca - this time being offered wine as you get your haircut.

Meanwhile here's a man I've never heard of but who likes living in Kensal Green/Rise. He recommends a fish and chip shop - Seahorse on Harrow Road - which I've also never heard of. Is it any good?

New brasserie

I think a commenter said this but today as we were looking at the Olive Branch we noted that Brilliant Kids has an licence application to reopen as 'The Brasserie', which sounds excellent. If you want to see the application it's here (but you've missed your chance to object - that was up to Friday).

Hugo's

Slightly away from Kensal Rise, but for the second time we went to Hugo's tonight for dinner. We had planned to go to the pizza place further North on Salusbury Road, but it is closed for summer (reopens on August 17th).

I like Hugo's. I like the atmosphere, and the way you can sit inside yet outside at the same time on a quiet road. The food is good, we had beetroot and goat's cheese salad, fish pie, and haddock with poached egg. I'd say about 10-15% too expensive, but isn't everywhere? It's not somewhere I would go more than once every six months or so, and I've never been for a jazz night, but it was all pretty good.

One for meat eaters

The Paradise apparently does 'host your own roast', if you have a lot of friends who need feeding on a Sunday.

Miro's Bar & Kitchen

We went here for dinner last week - a range of Tapas and small plates. The food was good - we had Baba Ganoush, chicken wings, Arabic salad - and we thought reasonably priced. The wine remains excellent, with good sized glasses for 3/4 pounds (although the Prosecco could have been slightly colder). There was a nice ambience in the place but we noticed a lot of tables had been reserved, and while we got a table no problem it might be difficult around 8pm or later.

Restaurants in Kensal Rise featured in Evening Standard

Apparently we are trendy. Nothing in the article that will be new to most of us, but good to see the favourable publicity.

Restaurants

Here's a list of our favourite restaurants (not pub restaurants, although I realise two are pubs as well), in only a vague order of perhaps how often we go to them (as you can't really compare some of them)

Bawarchi
Paradise by Way of Kensal Green
Pomelo
The Island

We keep meaning to go to but for various reasons haven't Ida, on Fifth Avenue, but haven't got around to doing it.

I should also mention my favourite burgers of Kensal Rise. This is...

The Regent, where the burger is large, meaty, not too complex. It was much better than The Diner. I'm not sure about The Chamberlayne's burger, and we find the meat a little expensive (big fans of the pub, though), but their prawn cocktail is about the best thing going.

Eat Sushi

So we tried out the new sushi place at 16 Station Terrace, Eat Sushi. Website is here although (8th March) it's not fully operational. We has a box of ten sashimi (that's just fish), the sushi starter pack (which had six nigiri, which is the rectangle of fish on a bed of rice, and salmon rolls) and two miso soups. This came to about £20.

I eat quite a lot of sushi when at work, until recently from Itsu and more recently from You Me Sushi, on Marylebone Road, which is excellent. I would say this seemed tastier than both of their offerings, although the portions of fish were perhaps a little on the small side (but in some cases cheaper too). The miso soup was very good and it all tasted very fresh.

So we will definitely use it again, although sushi is never a cheap option.

A late and short restaurant review and misc

I don't think we ever got around to reviewing Pomelo, a Chinese restaurant on Chamberlayne Road. I don't remember much about it except the food was very good, large portions and the owners friendly and helpful. It was bring your own wine, which meant it was pretty inexpensive too.

A reader has asked about Samsom Miro. I must say I always liked the look of it, both outside and in, but didn't use it very often as I had a large stock of wine from France. Now the question is has it closed? I noticed the other day they had put paper across the windows, which might support the refurbishment idea. On the other hand there were no notes (now) which said that was still happening.

Finally it looks like soon to open is the cafe, or 'tea shop' as one commenter suggested, on the corner of Chamberlayne Road and Harvist Road.

Sushi bar/restaurant?

We walked past feverish activity on Station Terrace, Kensal Rise, tonight, and asked them what was being installed, and was told it was 'sushi'. It looked quite small, so perhaps just take-away (but is that viable?). Anyway more new things, and many people have now confirmed to me that the AP Foods rumour is true (or at least they have heard it too).

But I see Home has gone. Not a surprise, dare I say? It didn't seem to sell much, and what it did sell seemed rather niche, even for a posh homeware shop.

The Diner, a review

We went to the Diner last night. It was opening night I think, and very busy, but our overall impressions were good.

We had two burgers, one with cheese and bacon. Fries, and "Diner Fries", black beans, a cheesecake and one Margherita and one "Diner lager".

I can only speak for myself but the burger was excellent, tasted of beef and fitted into its bun. I find burgers (Gourmet burger is a good example) which you can't eat with your hands to rather miss the point. It also didn't come with too much sauce or so on. The chips were good, and portions large, you could probably do with one between two unless you are very hungry. 'Diner' fries were thicker chips (I'm not sure the menu made that clear) and coated cajun spice. My cheesecake was also a perfect New York style baked cheesechake. The service was good and the room pleasant, noisy but not too noisy.

The two downsides were the Margherita, which apparently 'tasted like lemsip', i.e. too sweet and artificial. This is a little strange as it clearly wasn't made with lime cordial but fresh limes (I saw them). The 'Diner' lager was a solid thirst-quenching beer. Second criticism might be that the cheesechake was rather small, I wondered whether it was because they were running out.

Still all that came to about 30 pounds plus service, which seemed reasonable. Also having the burgers, whilst something one often does, ignores the fact that there was a lot of diner-style food - chilli, hot dogs, tacos, and American-style breakfasts (waffles, pancakes, eggs in any style) that are much harded to find in Kensal Rise. Thus I think it's an exciting addition.

The Diner

The Diner, Kensal Rise version, appears to be open or about to open. Report as soon as we've been will be here.

The website is rather basic at the moment, but the chain's other sites have more detailed ones (although not strangely the Camden one) so I assume we will get those sooner rather than later.